Author: Aquinnah

(Random Photo!) Jessamine, April’s sister, on American Idol

Would you believe me if I told you that I am under the weather… again?

I am quite sure that you would not be too surprised. This has not been my year.

Despite my agony, I pushed through and made it to dance yesterday. It was then that I realized how blessed I truly am by my dance-sisters.

During stretch-time, Caroline came to chat with me, patiently putting up with the fact that I hardly had a voice. She gave me many “get well wishes,” and was simply herself: Sweet Caroline!

We ran the combined dance so many times, my head was spinning like a tornado! Rachel told me to go sit down; she would hold my spot for me. I declined her offer, but I was certainly thankful.

Abby, despite my many pleas of, “Don’t touch me! You don’t want what I have!” grabbed me by the wrist and said, “Do you need some protein? Yes, you do. Come here.” She then made me eat a delicious protein bar– yum!

All in all, I have been treated like a princess by my dance-family these past few days. There are no words to describe my appreciation for all of my sisters! I love each and every one of you so very much!

(The video above is strictly for your own enjoyment! Whenever I need to smile, I just watch this little clip. This is Emma performing her “signature move.” It will also reveal what goes on at my favorite studio when class is over…!)

Looking back at “My Grade 3 Contemplations,” I probably already have you on the edge of your seat with this title! So, without further ado, your details:

I was taking my daily vitamins yesterday when my mom told me, “There is a little conflict with The Nutcracker this year.“

“Why?” I asked quickly (most likely with a mouth-full of multivitamins).

My mom explained to me that my dad and brother will be deer hunting (with my grandfather) on the exact same week as performances. This would not only prevent them from seeing the show, but it would keep us separated on Thanksgiving– something that has never been before.

That said, I had to make a choice: Nutcracker or Thanksgiving with my family?

Being the family-girl that I am, I have chosen to “go to [my far-off vacationing spot], cook Thanksgiving dinner with Mom and see everyone safely off .”

Well, it certainly has been an interesting week (so far)! Corresponding with my title, Tuesday’s classes included “a little bit of everything.” Good thing, too, because today is our first snow day of the year!

Miss Sara began ballet with barre, as usual. This included plies, tendus and chasses, ronds de jambes and frappes. We then had an extra-long stretching period and headed to the center of the room for adagio. After a tough combination, we went back to the barre and did Emma’s favorite grand battements (which I happen to like too!). We did a lot of jumping: entrechats, entrechats trois, entrechat cinqs and many others that I simply cannot spell! We did an across-the-floor combination which included jumps and turns, after which Miss Sara found herself in awe; we still had five minutes left to learn! So, we completed one of my favorites: tombe, pas de bouree, glissade, sodesha, adding leaps to our list of accomplishments for the day!

Later on, it was back to the studio with me for Cherubs! The girls were quite well-behaved this week, and their dance is coming along wonderfully! Angie took pride in the fact that she has been practicing at home– so sweet!

After a nice, long weekend, I have returned with exciting news!

Miss Sara’s goal for today was to finish the combined recital dance, therefore, warm-up was a quick one. We ran through the dance a few times, and our teacher began to add on the new choreography that she had planned. With about forty seconds left in the song, Miss Sara had to hurry; it was a whirlwind of dancers! Yes, things were crazy, and it will need some fixing-up, but the dance is FINISHED! Praise God for we still have another to begin!

The combined dance is finished, we are moving through the modern dance, pointe is completed, and we are on to the Training 2 dance– look at us go!

Me a very… very… long time ago!

I’ve been thinking…: I have been posting to this blog for almost an entire year (wow!) and have never described my life outside of dance. Of course, I created this page specifically to talk about my dancing, but I do believe that some details about the rest of my life are required to make me a “real person!” Enjoy!

Me now!

When I’m not dancing, you can find me at the dining-room table, working through some algebraic equations, doing English homework or Spanish in my bedroom, or at the coffee table, playing “The Geography Game” with my two younger brothers, Kaden and Brody. All of this to say that I am homeschooled and take a short English class every Tuesday and Thursday morning. I have a passion for writing, and I’d love to be an author one day!

I love to read! I am currently attached to Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” I also enjoy crafting (card-making, knitting, etc.) and baking. I have taken it upon myself to prepare dinner for my family (of five) every Saturday– so fun!

Me and Kaden

I adore animals, especially horses, dogs and fish. Currently, I am trying to talk my parents into getting a Pocket Beagle…!

One of my favorite pass-times is a good, family adventure! As all of our grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc. live on the other side of the country, we take road trips pretty often. We recently went to see some amazing ice sculptures (about three hours from our home)!

Me and Brody

I enjoy spending time with friends as well; sleepovers are one of my favorites!

Random: And cheesecake. I REALLY like cheesecake.

Now that you know a bit more about me, I feel MUCH better. Obviously, dance makes up quite a lot of my life, but on days like Wednesday (when I have no classes), I am inclined to perform the things above…!

My New Ballet Shoes (canvas, split-sole, x-strap)!

Do not fear, lovely dancers; my title choice is not all-together irrelevant!

Both Thursday and Friday have been quite eventful (I guess it has just been one of those weeks!), but I suppose that the former surpasses the other. Your precious details:

I walked up to Studio C ten minutes early for modern on Thursday, only to find that my sisters were already dancing! Freaking out, I burst into the room, and the girls exploded, “AQUINNAH!” Confused, I looked on rather breathlessly. Was I late? It was not until Miss Sara told me to “come be a body” that I realized: my dance sisters were helping the Training 1’s practice the combined recital dance. Duh– haha!

It was soon time for modern to begin, so I rushed into my foot-paws. I broke a good chunk of my big toe-nail off on Wednesday, and quite irritatingly, I couldn’t get my Band-Aid to stay on at that moment. That aside, we completed a quick warm-up, ran the dance a few times and added some new choreography. The last, new piece that we learned involved April performing an assisted front-walkover, which had the whole room on the edge of their seats. Moriah and Allison, the “assistants,” actually said their good-byes before attempting “the easiest gymnastics move on the planet.” As a matter of fact, we all gave her a hug and told her to “come out alive.” Miss Sara decided that we should go work on something instead of watching April’s fate. “Go contemplate the meaning of life,” she said.

I said, laughing, “We are currently contemplating the meaning of April’s life!”

Ballet was fairly normal yesterday. Emma and I started talking about those amazing mugs that you can write on. She plans to put one on her birthday wish-list so that she can write something to the extent of, “I’m a dancer. And this is tea.” on it. Can’t wait to see it!

In pointe, we changed a few things in the dance and began “cleaning.” Phew!

These past few days at the studio have been quite eventful!

On Monday I attended my final, required, make-up class. During plies, I realized that my ballet shoes are much too small, so I took them off for the rest of my dance-time (excepting jumps, for Miss Sara feared that I would slip and fall). I will be purchasing a new pair tomorrow when my mom and I take a trip to see Kendra, my hair dresser!

During our ronds de jambe combination, Miss Sara came by to check my “spiral,” which I am still working on. Toward the end of the song, she told me that I had just completed the best ronds de jambes in the history of my dancing. YES!

Now, you must remember the decision that I have made about Grade 3 before I go any further. Are you ready? Well, while in Training 2 yesterday, Miss Sara talked to April, who was considering taking grades one, two and three this October. I was called to join the conversation, wherein we all proclaimed that a semi-private, Grade 3 class will come to order this year, so that the two of us can begin working on the choreography for next year. Mondays from three to four o’ clock seem like our best option, but we still have some time to think; the class may begin whenever we are ready.

Also on Monday (wow!), Miss Sara was inclined to take out a section of our dance, slide another section in and tag the removed choreography at the end. This we did; it is a little bit confusing, but we’ll get used to it sooner or later.

Miss Sara gave me a couple of new daily stretches today. My turn-out is coming along remarkably quickly, but I still have some work to do.

The cherubs’ recital dance is firmly in my brain. It is SO cute, as is Lucy, the newest addition to our class. Walking out today, she pointed at me and said, “Mommy, that’s my teacher!”