Cecchetti-Free Fridays

Dancer Silhouette (Hmm… have I seen this somewhere?)

So much went on during my first Cecchetti-free Friday! Here are the details…:

To begin my story, I will have to go back in time. At the beginning of the year, Miss Sara realized that the Friday ballet class is HUGE! There are so many girls (enough to need two extra barres) coming to class each week; she didn’t know if we would be able to manage. With this thought in mind, Miss Sara went in search of a second teacher to divide the class in two, conducting a “New York style” group in the meanwhile. However, this didn’t last long– Bethany came to us last month! We divided the dance sisters into separate groups (highest level and second-highest) and gave one to Bethany for the month of October (second-highest level). Every month, the groups switch teachers and studios. Last month, I danced with Miss Sara in Studio C. Through the rest of this month, I will be dancing with Bethany in the “old” studio (which is not really old).

Bethany,” as we have been instructed to call her, is awesome; I really like her! She is a lot like Miss Sara, although she is Vaganova trained (v.s. Cecchetti). I think it will be a great learning experience to have two different teaching styles, although I will be sticking to most of my Cecchetti work. One of the things that Bethany has in common with Miss Sara is the fact that she can make up some helpful (and quite amusing) quotes. Here are some of the ones I have memorized…:

“If you don’t breathe, you die.”

“We might be a hot mess, but at least it’ll be a hot mess!”

“If you can’t smile in ballet class… yeah…”

I love it.

Next I had pointe, which was AMAZING. Miss Sara was able to “fix” my shoes so that I am really on top of them! They look and feel fantastic. I even managed to complete a set of chaines turns across the floor…!

Waiting impatiently for her Cecchetti scores,
Aquinnah