Author: Aquinnah

I know it: I am child. Let’s try not to rub it in.

You were never going to watch these, Moriah, unless I stepped in (a.k.a. put up this post for all the world to see). I know you’re reading this, so don’t even try to ignore how absolutely adorable this movie looks. (They all have the huge Tangled eyes… I mean, come on.)

Translation: The Firebird

Language: French

Analysis: I have an amazing grandfather who teaches me something new every time we talk. A miniature French lesson always makes my day. Merci, grand-pere.

So, yesterday. Yesterday was great.

While the rest of my family was remodeling the kitchen, I was dancing. Not that remodeling the kitchen doesn’t sound absolutely enthralling, of course, but dance was beckoning me.

Miss Mimi taught company class, in which I successfully completed my best pirouettes of the month. Now, if I can just carry those over to pointe…

The soloists had a three-hour break between class and rehearsal, so I went home to check out the kitchen and watch Pirates of the Caribbean. The kitchen was (and is) looking beautiful, thanks to my awesome parents. What I saw of the movie (I was so exhausted, I fell asleep.) was highly entertaining. I vote finishing it once I have informed you of…

Rehearsal came in a flash and was gone just as quickly. We ran through the opening piece several times and began working on variations.

The Firebird variation is unnervingly fast.

There I was, thinking that we were around 30 seconds through the piece, and I had only learned 20 seconds. Ten seconds, let alone over a minute, doesn’t seem like much until you’re dancing to such a demanding classical song.

I love it, though, and I love to watch the other soloists perform. Bluebird and White Swan are so lovely, and Sun Queen starts her variation next week, which will be gorgeous. Everything is coming together so quickly!

The afternoon’s final dance was a dramatic scene involving the Prince of Darkness, Bluebird and me and a relatively new experience for all of us. Miss Mia declared, “You’re going to be red and bruised, but welcome to partnering!”

Red and bruised– yes, but not my ribs. No. It’s my knees. Because apparently, being stage-shoved to the floor is much harder than it looks! By the looks of my knees, I’m going to need to practice falling gracefully.

But, as Miss Bethanny so kindly pointed out on Friday evening, “Let’s be real: They put dancers in a big, empty room where we can’t hit anything, but as soon as we start walking along the sidewalk, we trip over a pebble or an ant.”

She was laughing when she said that, and so were we. That is to say, I hope that YOU are laughing now. 😉

Dancing, reading, writing and music.

I am so thankful that I belong to a studio that claps just as hard when you fall down as it does when you succeed. I’m thankful for believers– for the fact that we can do anything that we set our minds to. And yes, I’m thankful for the success.

Faith has not only stoked my passion for ballet– it has brought me closer to the crazy-amazing group of people who I’m proud to call my adopted family. Everyone is so unique, and yet we’re all the same. We’re all fueled by a God so good, He brought us all together to share our love of dance with the rest of the world.

FYB, by means of a kick-off party, was officially launched today. We all sat around and stuffed our faces with cupcakes and brownies, whilst getting to know everyone a little better. Our parents joined us, too, so now we’re ALL caught up. It was fabulous.

Time really knows how to fly. It’s already been a full week since fall semester began. If this is in any way preparing me for the rest of the year, it’s going to be a tremendously short nine months.

Yesterday was exhausting, in the best possible way. Miss Mia began Training 3 with devotional time, and momentarily, as if to answer our prayers for a great season, we did core.

Miss Mia’s core workout consists of planking in three increments, each one minute long. It involved a lot of shaking and breath holding (I don’t recommend that one…) and counting down of seconds, but we’re all the better for it.

After that, we moved toward the barre. Miss Mia’s warm-up combinations require an uncanny ability to change directions, which is something that I, for one, am going to need to practice. One of these days, Training 3 WILL be able to change directions. Just like Breathe two years ago. Just like Primavera. We’ll rise to the occasion.

We were given two minutes to stretch and three minutes to hold both our right and left splits. That exact ratio is rather new; I’m fairly certain that I’m not the only one who’s sore today.

Grand battements brought us back to the barre. We tried our best. That’s all that can be expected of anyone, yeah?

Our petite allegro was a sight, I know. I wish that I could go back and fix those echappes. But I can’t. So, I’ll make them better next week!

Thankfully, I was able to redeem myself going across-the-floor. I actually felt good about that part of class. I can only pray that it looked good, too.

Last came 32 pirouettes from fifth. I could feel my heart trying to escape through my throat. Thankfully, it didn’t.

All in all, that was one of the most difficult hours of my entire life. The great thing is: I’m proud to have made it through. I’m proud of ALL of us. I’m proud of us for accepting the challenges as they came. Most of all, I’m grateful to Miss Mia for providing said challenges. It is definitely going to be a great season.

For most teenage girls, I guess that Saturday is a darn good excuse to sleep in, relax, maybe catch up on that favorite Netflix series. Saturdays are pretty novel during the school year.

My novelties include new leotards, trash bag pants, ballet classes, fruit and four hours worth of rehearsals with some of my favorite people on the face of the planet.

Yesterday was absolutely incredible.

The day started out with a company class, taught by Miss Mimi. She would give a combination, start up some Cecchetti music and… I would automatically start performing the Grade I combo in my mind (and sometimes visibly). Bad, bad, bad, Aquinnah. It can’t seriously be that ingrained in you.

Psh, but apparently it is.

After class, Firebird rehearsals commenced. We began by reviewing the student contract. Afterwards, we were all measured for costumes, and after that, Miss Mimi sat everyone down to hear Firebird in context. Different characters were pointed out until we were all on the same page– yay! We also listened to our performance playlist.

The songs. Oh my word. They’re so perfect.

I won’t explain the exact plot line just now, but Firebird by Brent McCorkle and Amy Parker is a good outline and place to begin. 😉

Once we were all well informed, we started from the end.

I’m being totally serious here.

Yes, we started from the end. The conclusion of this ballet is so much fun!

And then, it was time for the soloists to practice. Miss Mia, Miss Mimi, Bluebird, Sun Queen, White Swan, Prince of Darkness and I tackled the opening number. Craziest of all, in an hour and a half, we nearly finished it…!

Needless to say, it was a long and fun-filled afternoon. I couldn’t believe it when it ended.

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love Fridays.

Side note: I use so much hairspray for ballet class, I could stand in the middle of a tornado, and my hair wouldn’t move a millimeter.

The first thing Moriah says when I walk into the lobby: “Hi. I like your pants. Do you have hairspray?”

Of course, I had hairspray.

I am so thankful for Ms. Tina. Every year, on Friday, she kicks Training off with encouragement and prayer. I cannot think of a better way to begin!

Miss Bethanny taught Training 2 and 3 yesterday, which was totally amazing.

Our main focus this year: artistic expression and allegro.

The expression wasn’t too terrible, in all reality. The allegro will come in time, I’m sure. And let’s not forget that Miss Bethanny’s part-time job is magician’s assistant (No, not really, but she’s so talented, we had to wonder….).

After ballet, about half of us dashed over to Studio A for pointe with Miss Mimi. It was great! We were all evaluated, both on flat and on pointe. After that, we started talking about salsa-dancing chihuahuas and Gandalf staffs (“You shall not pass!”).

Another side note: My awesome, amazing, wonderful parents got me trash bag pants for my birthday.

Moriah: “Oh, they’re plastic.”

Aquinnah: “Yes, they’re thoroughly plastic.”

Moriah: “Wait!– THERMAL plastic?”

Aquinnah: “Well, I said thoroughly, but…”

Only at dance.

But I would call that a pretty darn good evening.