Author: Aquinnah

Yes, dancer-people, the comments have arrived!

Miss Sara handed me my beloved Cecchetti certificates and grading sheets during our stretching period in ballet this evening. It took me quite a while to figure out the grading, however, because the handwriting on the sheets is nearly illegible. Despite this, I am so glad to have them in my possession! So, without further ado, here are some of the comments I received:

I have, printed on my Grade 1 grading sheet, excellent marks in theory, barre, port de bras, adage, allegro, technique and style! As for general comments, the judges claimed that I did a very nice job! I also have some things to work on, which I am grateful to know. These things include distributing my weight evenly in fifth position after completing a grande battement and correct timing in my developpes.

As far as Grade 2 comments, I have excellent marks in theory, port de bras, adage, tours and style! Good comments are located under barre, allegro and technique! When it comes to general comments, the examiners write that I did nice work! Again, I have things to work on (and am glad to know it!) such as having higher degages, keeping my hip down in grand battements and staying in place at the end of my poses.

I do believe that my Grade 1 and Grade 2 exams have made a huge and quite wonderful impact on my dancing life. It is amazing to have completed them! I am also very pleased to have had another opinion on my skills and cannot wait to improve for Grade 3 next October!

The happenings of my eighth Nutcracker Rehearsal are as follows:

I signed in and quickly walked back to the waiting area where I found Caroline jumping about her Cecchetti results. She, Emma and I chatted about the exams and soon found ourselves in Studio 2 with the rest of the “Party Crew.” We later transferred to Studio 1 and practice began!

Because Cast B began the rehearsal, I volunteered to hold the garlands (to pass to the boys) before the Garland Dance. Caroline kindly took my place when Cast A was called. We ran the entire scene with both casts and went through the dances a few extra times as well. So fun!

Next week, I plan to wear my hair accessory to rehearsal (as the color has to be checked). The week after is our last rehearsal– yikes! The performances are coming up quickly!

The scores are in!

Yesterday evening, Miss Sara e-mailed to clarify my e-mail address (as we have had some issues with this in the past). Excitedly, I replied, saying that she had found the right address. With that, Miss Sara gave me my scores through the internet. Here you have it dancers… the scores…!

Grade 1: Pass Highly Commended

Grade 2: Pass Commended

I am extremely pleased with my grades! They are exactly what I was expecting to receive (as well as my teacher).

In ballet class on Monday, Miss Sara will be handing me my grading sheets and certificates. I am so excited! I will tell about the comments I received on my sheets as soon as I can.

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…!

My family may not celebrate Halloween, but it has always been a tradition of ours to carve pumpkins!

Here I am, three days after Cecchetti Exams and still no scores have come. Despite this, I haven’t had to do a single Cecchetti combination since Sunday. Here is what I have been doing:

On Monday, Miss Sara continued a previous lesson on “cabrioles.” They are so much fun, however they can be quite difficult too. We worked with a partner on only moving the bottom leg in this type of leap/jump. It was kind of scary, seeing that your partner must hold your top leg still– I would hate to kick Valerie’s hand!

Yesterday was also Cecchetti-free; we practiced battements in center to “The Addams Family” theme song (complete with snapping) instead! Miss Sara also gave me a two month assignment– I have to work on my turn-out. We were not able to begin the 3-5 year-old Christmas Dance (Miss Jennifer had some other things to catch up on), but we do have a new student! Speaking of students, we have quite a few (I think the class may be full). Here is a list of the girls’ first names (in alphabetical order of course):

• Angie (New!)
• Brooke
• Dalainey
• Eliana
• Gabriella
• Hayden
• Kaylyn 
• Kira
• Laila
• Laila
• London
• Lydia
• Malia
• McClairen
• McKayla
• Molly 
• Natalia 
• Reese 

The spelling of these 18 beautiful names is all my own; I’m not perfectly sure they are correct. (P.S. Yes, we do have a “Laila One” and “Laila Two.”)

There was much talk of the cherubs’ costumes yesterday. Maybe I will see them soon…!

(From left to right) Caroline, me, Emma and Abby before Grade 1! Beautiful job, girls! You are amazing!

Key word: over

Extra long Friday nights.

Even longer Friday nights.

Cecchetti music dancing in my dreams.

Sleepless hours.

Theory and Vocabulary. 

Major freak outs.

Cecchetti Grade 1 and Grade 2.

Whoo-hoo! From now forward, you are reading blog posts by a Cecchetti Certified Dancer! Hello, I’m Aquinnah and I am a Grade 2! Nice to meet you again…!

Yes, exams have come and gone! Here is how everything went:

I arrived at the chosen studio an hour early. Caroline and Emma were not too far behind. We warmed up, practiced a few things, obsessed over the indoor pool, changed and all those other wonderful things you must complete before exam time. Miss Sara arrived about 15 minutes early with her husband. She calmed our fears, answered questions and suddenly looked a little nervous. The examiners were not even inside the building!

The coordinator finally arrived with the judges (sipping Starbucks coffee) about ten minutes late. She gave us chocolate (because of our “Postponed Bliss”). This wasn’t just any chocolate either– this was a bag of dark chocolate truffles. Mmmm…!

The judges set up as we pinned on our numbers. For Grade 1, I was number two. We walked in when called and completed the exam. I believe we all did extremely well!

Grade 2 presented itself in the same manner, although I was number one of two. I believe Emma and I also did well on this exam!

To speak of the examiners, they were extremely kind– we had nothing to fear. One of the ladies even reminded me of my grandmother at some points in time.

I will not know my exact scores for a few days. They have to be mailed... darn. However, as I promised, I will give you Miss Sara’s predictions:

Grade 1: Pass Commended or Pass Highly Commended

Grade 2: Pass Commended or Pass Highly Commended

I agree! I think Grade 1 was a Highly Commended, and I hope Grade 2 is the same. Just for your own record, a person can fail, pass conditionally, pass, pass plus, pass commended, pass highly commended or pass with honors.

This time tomorrow morning, I will be about 15 minutes into my Cecchetti Exam (Grade 1). Let us see how much random information I can gather up about this week to take my mind off the situation.

Well, ballet class on Tuesday was filled to the brim with Grade 2 combinations (Wow… so far I’m doing an excellent job keeping my mind off Cecchetti…). We made it all the way through the grade and had 15 minutes to spare; we managed to do some non-Cecchetti work! It felt SO good.

Furthermore, the Cherubs were measured for their recital costumes in class! They were so excited when Miss Jennifer called their names one-by-one. I still have not seen the outfits but am waiting patiently (maybe). This Tuesday, we will begin teaching the girls their Christmas Dance! What fun!

In modern on Thursday, as Miss Sara wasn’t feeling too well, we skipped a lot of warm-up and went straight to our dance. We were able to choreograph quite a lot!

Yesterday was my very last “long night.” I can’t believe how speedily everything went! We went over Grade 1, Grade 2 and even Grade 3 combinations in ballet. In pointe, we learned some new combinations and practiced some of the old ones. Miss Sara commented on my arches– I’m really starting to be on top of my shoes! Then, of course, there was the Cecchetti classes. We got all the way through both Grade 1 and Grade 2! Miss Sara also gave us her predictions (about what scores we are to get). These are to be revealed tomorrow (after the exams). I’m not quite sure when I will know the actual scores but will not forget to post them.

So here, lovely dancers, is my second random post of all my random things, simply created to take my mind off…