Author: Aquinnah

Well, this has been an extremely long week. That stated, this is going to be a very long post. I apologize in advance!

First off, this post is dedicated to “my peeps”, who drove all the way down here from Wisconsin to vacation and ended up sweeping, moving mattresses, cleaning bathrooms, installing ceiling fans, cooking, doing laundry, taking out trash and fist fighting over who the heck was going to pay for groceries.

It has been such an amazing start to July. Honestly, I push for this week every year. Because this week means Bible Conference at the ministry, and Bible Conference means Alex and Julie and my peeps, all gathered together in my home state. This year, that meant moving seven extra family members into our new house!

It was amazing. We did everything from swimming [in the pouring rain] (Yes, I have played 500 before. No, I’m not going to beat you at it.), to Texas Road House (“More soda!”), to mini golfing (“This is how the pros do it!”), to a campfire (“Here, Kaden, you can toast my marshmallow. You’ll love it!”), to a barbeque (“Well, Kaden, it looks like I’m stuck here. You’ll have to go get my dessert for me.”), to Five Guys (“Just get the little hamburger!”), to an Avengers movie marathon (“Wait, who’s he? Is he important?”).

Memorable quotes from the B&B adventures? We got those covered.

Dad: We were ready to have a fistfight in the middle of King Soopers. That would have proved highly entertaining for all of the other shoppers.

Mom: Will you just relax, please? You’re on vacation for crying out loud!

Me: I have no idea who you are. But I’ll take your barbeque ticket!

Kaden: No, I don’t have a wife! I’m not married!

Brody: We could go get slurpees….

Gauge: Aw, you guys live here, too? This is awesome!

Dan: I’m going to go install the ceiling fans.

Becky: Live long, live strong!

Jerad: We’re going to have to stop this movie like every two minutes because I’m not going to get it.

Jace: It was the grass!

Emma: Men!– they do what they wanna do.

Needless to say, we get along like a big, happy family of ten people, whom no restaurant can seat at the same table. I was so sad to see them go.

Somewhere in there, I managed to make it to Leaps and Turns, where we worked on switch leaps and jazz fouettes, and ballet, where I flat-out failed multiple across-the-floor combinations because I was so exhausted.

And fall classes are here!

Monday: Training 3 with Miss Mia

Wednesday: Advanced Modern and Training 3 w/pointe with Miss Sara

Friday: Training 3 with Miss Sara/Miss Bethanny and Intermediate Pointe One with Miss Mimi

As you lovely dancers are perfectly aware, this blog is about dance. Lots and lots of dancing and dance-related fun. Because, you know, dancing is right up there with breathing and smiling and living. It’s that important.

However, as you are also aware, I’m a huge fan of reading, which has been made apparent in previous random posts. I’m still inching my way through Rick Riordan’s The House of Hades, gobbling up my allotted two chapters a day (talk about a mini heart attack this morning, when that wind bomb blew up in Piper’s hands…).

HOWEVER (Yeesh, me and this word!), I have never really expressed my passion for writing. I guess I’ve always just assumed that I didn’t need to, since, after 203 blog posts, it’s more of a fact than an assumption. So, I’m going to go at this like a winner and just say:

I love to write.

I have tons of incomplete short stories and manuscripts, and I’m proud of it, too! When I get a good idea, I write it down, and when I get bored, I move right along through all of my other ideas, searching for one to add on to. Because stories are really just ideas. All of the characters and settings and plot lines that people have come to adore? Those all began with an idea. And thank God for people like Shannon Hale, Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Heather Vogel Fredrick, Suzanne Collins, Rick Riordan, Wendelin Van Draanen, Margaret Sidney and Noel Streatfeild, who, like me, responded to those ideas. One day, like them, I hope to hand my ideas off to people like me, whose love of reading is so outlandish, they tend to forget…

Yesterday was beyond awesome.

Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without ballet. Probably pirouette around Bass Pro Shop (No, I didn’t do that over break! Why would you even ask that?).

But fear not, lovelies, for summer classes have come to my rescue, lest I lose my mind! Speaking of which, I have not forgotten about my owing you a random post. I just haven’t found the right words yet….

Miss Sara started off our first Wednesday ballet class of the mini-mester with plies, tendus, degages and ronds de jambes. After that, we had a nice stretch and then returned to the barre for grand battements. We performed a challenging adagio piece before knocking up the pace for a slightly disastrous across-the-floor combination, and after a good laugh, it was time for pointe.

Sarah and I had a semi-private pointe class yesterday– it was great. We did a handful of releves, while I cringed over the deathly state of my shoes. When it came time for chaines, however, I decided that the Mirellas must go and slipped on my Euros. They were hard and uncomfortable and hard, but I felt much less nervous as I attempted my turns. I can’t say that I was especially proud of my chaines, but I like to think that my piques made up for them…. It was, indeed, a “turn day,” working on pirouettes and soutenus besides. I decided to show Miss Sara the picture that I took of Kaden and my dad at Bass, attempting to stand in pirouette position, a row of large guns behind them. We smiled, laughed and all-in-all, felt much better about our own pirouettes! (P.S. I would totally LOVE to post that picture, but Kaden won’t let me…)

Oh, lovelies. Nobody pinch me.

Right off the bat, I just want to thank Miss Jenna for being amazing. I am seriously bouncing off the walls in happiness (OR folding massive loads of laundry after our vacation with an unprecedented vigor… your pick!).

Leaps and Turns began with a bit of a shpeel; the class will be divided into an intermediate group and an advanced group, starting next week. The advanced group will arrive an hour later than the intermediate group. Ms. Tina will be sending out email confirmations for class placement by the end of the week. Ta-da!

Then, we talked about the importance of not being too hard on ourselves because–let’s be honest–leaps and turns are not exactly plies and tendus. They are, however, my two favorite things in the book, and not even this conversation was enough to deter me from believing that I’ll be able to master whatever I set my mind to. Because that’s how God programmed me. Sometimes, I get annoyingly obsessive, but I can’t quit. I just… can’t.

So, we began class with a full-blown warm-up, including cardio and stretching exercises. The best way to describe this part of class would be Miss Jenna’s line, “Hello quads! Welcome to summer class!”

It was great.

The remainder of class was spent in across-the-floor, doing grand battements, jazz walks, chasses, soutenus and a new favorite: six-step pirouettes. Those turns were confusing, crazy and otherwise challenging, but I loved them.

When class ended, I couldn’t believe it. Even after 160 crunches, I felt like I could go for another two or three hours.

And now, I must go mope, for ballet does not begin until Wednesday. You may end up with another post tomorrow, however, and if so, you can bet your ballroom shoes that it’ll be random. 🙂

Normally, I wouldn’t use #summerlovin because the phrase, in itself, weirds me out. I don’t normally admit to this truth: I CAN BE A VERY UPTIGHT BALLERINA!— either, but obviously, this isn’t happening today.

It’s summer, lovelies. Even I can let go.

Because–honestly–who ACTUALLY minds waking up at nine every morning? Reading for the next hour or two? Eating toaster waffles and a fruit smoothie with REAL SUGAR for breakfast? Sitting outside to read some more? Starting five or six different short stories and tossing around which one you’re going to finish first? Not me!

My last two weeks have been busier than my first year of high school ever proved to be. No, I’m not working math problems, dissecting World War II and cramming a bunch of French words into my brain (Okay, so that last one’s not entirely true….); I’m doing things that I WANT to do. I’m busy LIVING instead of learning how I SHOULD.

Summer is a time to make your own rules, or so I’ve come to realize. Over the past two weeks, I’ve watched myself evolve from a girl who planned out every waking minute of her day in permanent marker, to a girl who jots down a few things she MIGHT like to accomplish on said day, and sees what happens after that. And, once again, I’m not talking about work.

Of course I’m exercising and attempting not to lose everything that I gained in dance this past year (Wow, that sounds crazy…). Because that would really stink. But these last couple of weeks have given me so much besides time for my body to recover from… well… May. These days, my mind is clearer, too. And yeah, it’s partially because it’s not overflowing with algebraic equations and historical facts, but mostly, it’s because I’m learning to relax.

I’m not a pro yet, by any means, and I doubt that I ever will be. But when I came across that field yesterday (pictured above) and thought about taking off my shoes and running around in the misty fog, I knew that I was getting somewhere.

Even moving isn’t stressing me out as much as it usually does. We’ll be heading a ways down the street on the 27th, and no, I haven’t boxed a single thing. Actually, I got up this morning and asked for Kentucky Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes for dinner. I’m embracing the cardboard and plastic wrapping scattered all over my house, and I’m actually really, really happy.

But no, parents, I will NOT be prevailed upon to leave our home state. Smiles.

And dance starts Monday, and it’s kind of hard to be sad about that… so I don’t even try. 🙂

Photo Credit to my dear Moriah

In a land far, far away, there lived a girl who couldn’t find a good way to sum up her emotions at semester’s end (especially since watching The Book Thief), so she wrote it like this.

She wanted to thank Miss Sara, Miss Bethanny and Ms. Tina, but she couldn’t find the right words. In fact, she had too many words, stuck in her mouth and choking her up. Mix-matched socks and chocolate could never really express her love for the three of them, but she tried. She tried to show it through her very last performance of Candide, but her terribly critical audience forced her to laugh instead (Thank you so much Gracie, Lily, “Little” Jenna, “Big” Jenna, Allison, Bethanny and Peter; you all are the reason we continue to improve!).

She also wanted to thank her adoptive siblings for always being there for her. For always carrying extra hair pins and hairspray, good food (whether it be carrots or brownies) and enough smiles to go around. For being able to laugh things off, whilst helping her to grow. She was so blessed by all of them. She couldn’t picture her life without them. They were family.

First and foremost, she wanted to thank her immediate family, for always supporting her. For driving her all over the city for performances and refusing to miss even one. For making sure that she doesn’t look like a hobo with too-small leotards, blue-tinted tights, penetrated ballet shoes and dead pointes (as hard as I try, too…). She thought that her five was absolutely the bomb.

But she really didn’t know how to say all of that, so she wrote it in third person, like a true winner. Now I just need Rudy to race me down a street in Germany…

I’m sorry. Really, I am. That title will make sense later on…

So, my home state had the weirdest thunderstorm/hailstorm/tornado this afternoon. It was insanity. The roads were flooded, which got me to the studio a half-hour late. My mom and I lugged my dance bag, water bottle, gift bags and treats into the lobby, only to find that Miss Bethanny hadn’t yet arrived. Anna had, though, so she (who is going to be teaching next year anyway) and I taught the remainder of ballet/tap together. For something so short-notice, we killed it. And on top of that, Bethanny arrived in time to say her farewells to all of our lovelies. I’m really going to miss them….

I dropped Miss Bethanny’s end-of-the-year gift in her box and headed over to the Training Center for modern. In class, we “took a trip around the room” (always a winner in the warm-up area), did plies, tendus and leg swings and then worked on our extremely challenging combination from last week. Not only that, but we split into groups and added our own choreography to the combination. And we didn’t fail too miserably! But could we just leave it at “not too shabby?”

Of course not!

So, Miss Sara chose a random song from her iPad for each group, and we had to fit the choreography to the music. The beginning of Abby’s, Carrie’s and my song was slightly monotone, so we ended up doing our piece twice (same song, different part). I felt really good about my performance, which I wasn’t entirely expecting, but Anna’s comments confirmed my initial reaction. Plus, I have battle scars– a bloody marley burn and several bruises. Success!

Then, we ate food. Thinking back, it didn’t feel right. I mean, did my last Wednesday of the year REALLY just come to a close?

Miss Sara made Jello, but since nobody brought spoons, we decided to drink it from plastic cups. And we may have had a little bit too much, seeing as ballet was quite the experience…

We began class with center barre and then taught ourselves most of the Candide variation from Sleeping Beauty (Miss Sara did have to jump in and clarify a few times.). I had a blast! I learned the piece on flat, however, since my Mirellas are–officially–dead. They’re DEAD, beautifuls! And it only took me three months… ah! Miss Sara stuck some glue in there, since I seem to be a platform breaker, but she doubts that they’ll make it through August (when she plans to take a group to the bodywear shop). If all else fails, I’ll just pop on my Euros and hope for the best….

With 15 minutes to spare, we ate some more Jello and watched The Chicken Dance on YouTube. It doesn’t get much better than that. <3

All else stated, I feel super accomplished. I’m really going to miss my “Sorry, I can’t do anything on Wednesdays. I live at dance.” But next year is just around the corner. Dear God, where did THIS year go to…?