dance – Page 3 – Dancing Angel

02/11/2016

Life is like…

Happy [belated] New Year to all of you lovely dancers! I’ve been meaning, and meaning and seriously meaning to write this, but between school, dance classes, teaching dance classes and driving hours alone, life is like… *cue Lorelai Gilmore* Falling Pizza Box

… this pizza box.

But forget about the measly trials and tribulations (Please excuse me while my brain explodes.) of the 16-year-old girl. We’ve got happier things to talk about!

It’s February, and Recital choreography is moving into full swing. “Dawn” is the Pre-Training piece (and also the 2005 theme song for Pride and Prejudice because you absolutely wanted to know that above all else. Not that I’m an Austen fanatic or something because… eh em. Whatever.). “Darkest Before the Dawn”, lovingly called, “God’s Warriors”, is our Intermediate Pointe 2 dance, and if anyone would like to share with me the secret to pancaking pointe shoes, I’m all ears. We’ll be using bows (We would’ve been okay with lightsabers, too, but it’s no big deal. I’m sort of totally in love with the bows.), but the audience is not to fear; we’re going without the included arrows. Advanced Modern’s “Requiem for a Tower” has us crawling around in the orchestra pit (Can you say, “YAAAASSSS!”?), and “Daylight” makes the Training 3s want to cry artsy tears. Sorry for the bad description– I’ve written a lot today. Both Requiem and Daylight will be finished soon. We haven’t begun choreography in Leaps and Turns, Ballet/Tap or Ballet 1A just yet, but I know that “I Will Sing of My Redeemer”, “Daddy’s Girl” and “Simple Gifts” are bound to be spectacular. “Spanish Dance”, the combined Training piece, is challenging without all of the 1s and 2s, but we’ll get there. We always do. Until then, I’ll be over here rolling out my calves and trying to remember all of this stunningly beautiful choreography like…

Yeah.

In other news, we’ve changed the Leaps and Turns costume to an equally beautiful dress. I don’t have a picture, but April is coming, and Picture Week is soon to follow. Recital info was sent out this week, so I’ve been compiling Recital Central for the year, but I figured I should elaborate on this great stuff first. Consider my elaboration pretty much over. Except you definitely want to…

Dancing Lorelai

… see The Fall, Faith’s upcoming performance. I’ll be helping backstage, but you don’t want to miss this show.

The crazies are coming, so don’t forget…

Lorelai on Sleep

and enjoy every minute. *heart emojis*

To return very soon,

Aquinnah

GIF One (1) Credit: OMGYASKWEEN. Pizza, Nodding. Digital image. Giphy. Giphy, 11 Feb. 2016. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.

GIF Two (2) Credit: KRWELCH3. Coffee, Gilmore Girls. Digital image. Giphy. Giphy, 11 Feb. 2016. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.

GIF Three (3) Credit: OMGYASKWEEN. Dancing, Pizza, Nodding. Digital image. Giphy. Giphy, 11 Feb. 2016. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.

GIF Four (4) Credit: Tumblr. Pretty, Sleep, Gilmore Girls. Digital image. Giphy. Giphy, 11 Feb. 2016. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.

12/18/201502/18/2019

Christmas Dances 2015

I just love Christmas. I love snow, and hot chocolate (massive toss-up between peppermint and caramel right now), and movies (I think I’ve seen Elf three times already….), and pajamas, and bells and music.

I performed my final Christmas piece of the season yesterday, and I’m almost ready for break… because combined Training class, of course! Last week’s Friday lesson ended up being the nursing home outreach and a hot chocolate party, so I’m super excited to see what this final class of 2015 brings.

I’m having a terrible time cutting the video of Christmas Eve in Sarajevo, but if I ever figure it out, I’ll post a part of that right HERE. Before we performed the T3 piece, Miss Sara taught us the Spanish variation from Nutcracker. It was a good day.

Wednesday was rather awesome, too. We drank hot chocolate and created group pieces in jazz, and then I taught both ballet/tap and 1A. I wasn’t sure what to expect from my first tap class as a teacher, but it was such a joy to work with the kiddos! The 1A kids learned half of the Sugar Plum variation, which was a total dream come true for me. By the smiles I was getting, I think the little ballerinas were pretty happy. 🙂 Christmastime is just the best.

Enjoy these hours leading up to the big day and a very happy New Year to you and yours,

Aquinnah

12/16/2015

Nine Days until Christmas

The final week of Christmas performances has struck again, and I’ll be teaching two classes today. I’m so ready to be done with Personal Finance for the year. On a more random note, since we don’t perform One Small Child until tomorrow night, Moriah, Emma and I decided to have tea yesterday. Presenting the best three minutes of your day thus far…:

I think it’s safe to say that my writing is better than my camera face. *cheesy smile*

xoxo,

Aquinnah

12/06/2015

Recital Costumes 2016

It’s been a weekend of SATs, Christmas decorations, glitter and a second Thanksgiving spent at home, all preceded by a week of costumes and Christmas dances by the ballet/tap and 1A kiddos. I am happier than I’ve been in weeks. The holiday season usually sees to that.

Pre-Training

Intermediate Pointe 2

Leaps and Turns (with tan tights and tan jazz shoes)

Ballet/Tap

Ballet 1A

Advanced Modern (skirt in black with black leotard)

Training combined (with fans)

Gorgeous, right? This year’s Training 3 piece will be performed in our navy leotards and black wrap skirts. I am so super excited about all of these dances! For now, we’ll be performing Mary, Did You Know tomorrow and Christmas Eve in Sarajevo at a nursing home on Friday. It’s going to be a good week.

But first!– super secret Christmas projects to complete before Monday strikes again.

Happy Sunday,

Girl who Had to Ask for Extra Time to “fill in the corresponding circles” on the SAT because Her Name is So Long

11/09/2015

DDD 2015

Hey, Autumn! AUTUMN! No, move OVER, Winter… WINTER. I’m not TALKING to you! Autumn! SLOW DOWN!

*poof* Brain cells.

I can hardly believe that the first week of November has come and gone, leaving me with six Christmas dances, impending travels and a whole lot to write about.

DDD was this weekend, and though it was significantly different from last year’s fundraiser, I won’t soon forget it. I love Ms. Patrizia’s master classes, and I love the local high school, and I love my artsy community. My studio may stick out in a crowd… but that’s what happens when you pray, “Let us be light”.

Saying goodbye to Arise was hard. I didn’t want it to go. I think I could have performed it at every show for the rest of my life and been okay, but change is a necessary part of life, and A LOT of things are changing… hopefully for the better. While Pre-Training, ballet/tap combo and ballet 1A learn “Charlie Brown Medley” and “Born is the King”, I’m practicing Sugarplum and “Christmas Eve in Sarajevo” in Training 3; “Mary, Did You Know” in pointe; and “One Small Child” in modern. I’m also making college pro-con lists like a true Gilmore and trying to survive Personal Finance. Gotta love Personal Finance.

On the 30th of October (Wow, I’m behind…), we combined the Training Division in one awesome ballet class with Miss Bethanny and Miss Sara, as we’ll be doing each month through May. I hadn’t realized how big Training has become. I loved being able to meet our new family members. They’re awesome.

I’ve been teaching one combination per week in Pre-Training, and I’ll be teaching most of ballet 1A on Wednesday. I’m going to have to learn a whole lot of choreography on Thursday because next Thursday, I’ll be on my way to Clemson University. Fifteen-year-old me is beating up 16-year-old me right now, after being previously pummeled by 12-year-old me last week, but I’m really, really excited to get to South Carolina.

To new adventures,

Aquinnah

09/27/2015

My Newly Discovered, Jumping Up and Down in a Hot and Sweaty Crowd Life

Title credits to Moriah… 🙂

I never expected to attend a school dance. I started homeschooling full-time in my freshman year of high school, and I never looked back. If I want to, I can graduate this year, and I do want to. I’m ready to move on, and my previous opinions on college have changed drastically. I might even consider going.

Last year, between eating spoonfuls of ketchup (which I can’t recommend) and making prank calls (“Hey, this is Alex…”), I signed a piece of paper and promised that I would attend Homecoming 2015 with Moriah. Adysen agreed, too. I was pretty sure it was a joke.

Needless to say, it wasn’t.

One flat iron and two curling irons later, my hair was ready, along with my makeup and even my nails, which I never bother to paint because PERFORMANCES, of course. I put jewelry on, including my great-grandmother’s pearls, and bought new shoes. And, after hours and hours and hours and HOURS of shopping… my parents found this beautiful dress. I could never express how thankful I am for those two who know me so well.

Ask Adysen, Moriah, Sarah or Olivia– I take on school dances like a ballerina. My whip and nae nae looks like second position preparation and croise, and I had to take off my heels before I could do any kind of jumping…. But it was fun! I got advice like, “Harness your inner monkey.” We had a big studio group, and we jumped, and danced and sang as a group. We laughed as a group. We ran around looking for people and water bottles. We watched glow sticks (and various people) fly across the gym. We also came up with seemingly random things like Cookie Butter and Icee and took this college-worthy picture:

So, thank you, Moriah, for making us go to homecoming. I won’t forget it, and neither will Adysen, since they decided to play Turn Down For What. #onpoint Thank you both for a winner of a shopping trip and an even better dance. You never know how strong you are until you dance in heels… or something like that.

Here’s to hot pink and sparkly butterflies, hot and sweaty crowds and our first and last homecoming as the three musketeers. I love you guys!

Aquinnah

09/17/2015

How Penguins Run

There used to be a relevant story as far as the title goes, but now I can’t remember the details.

I’ve never been a fan of change (who is, really?), so it’s been a challenging week. It wasn’t always nice, especially when I got my expanders yanked out yesterday, and I cried all over the dentist (They were happy tears to begin with, but then I realized just how much my mouth hurt….). More importantly, I’m adapting. I get up and finish my schoolwork as fast as I can, and one of these days, I’ll be finished with mathematics… forever! And once I reminded myself that 50+ little ballerinas aren’t as intimidating as they seem, I was able to settle into my new intern position. And, of course, it’s always nice to leave life’s various stresses behind and just dance for a few hours. This paragraph is dedicated to Moriah, who so kindly shared her good day with me last Wednesday. 🙂

Our first leaps/turns warm-up of fall semester was done outside in the sunshine. That was a first and, hopefully, not last. Some change is good… especially if you’re getting your vitamin D! I’ve never had 50+ students before, but I’m loving that experience, too. I’m so blessed, lovelies, to be spending my days with these kiddos. I was even able to sub for a 6-9-year-old tap class today, which was difficult, being that I’m not an expert in tap, but really satisfying.

Training and modern are awesome. We’ve welcomed a bunch of new sisters (and brothers too!) and teachers. It’s shaping up to be a wonderful year.

Intermediate Pointe 2 with Ms. Mia started on Monday, and I’ve already learned so much. Thank God for new shoes next month!

After three weeks of rehearsals, Advanced Modern and Training 2, along with a variety of other classes, performed at an annual carnival last weekend. It was an honor to learn and perform Symphony No 8. Looking forward to DDD!

So, it wasn’t the most comfortable week. I guess, a lot of times, uncomfortable is the way to go. That’s how we learn. And today was more comfortable; basic science can explain that. Humans adapt. We’re cool that way.

Love,

Aquinnah