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Nike’s Arc Angels– this is new!

Lovely dancers, we (Emma, Anna and others along with myself) are in a predicament. It is truly the “conundrum of the in-between.” Here are the details:

Last year, I was told that I would be moving into Training 2, the highest ballet division at my studio. What an accomplishment! The only draw-back was the fact that I was not on pointe at the time and would not be able to participate in the Thursday Training class (as it is made up of pointe work). I am on pointe now, however, but am not at the same level as the “Thursday twos.” That said, I will not be on pointe in the Training 2 recital dance– beginner pointe will have a wholly separate dance instead.

Our predicament stems from the fact that we must still do some ballet work in the recital. The question is: do we (Emma, Anna and others along with myself) join in the Training 1 dance (and have a separate part) or dance with the twos in our flats? Also, no matter what choice we make, there is not a single class in which the entire Training Division is together; there aren’t even classes where all the ones and twos are grouped.

This, dancers, is the conundrum of the in-between, which I do hope will be resolved sooner, rather than later.

On the up side, the modern Christmas Dance is coming along smoothly! We have about 20 seconds left to choreograph. So fun! April and I dance in a part that requires us to preform shoulder rolls— ouch! My shoulder is all red now…! Despite this, I am really enjoying the dance and modern in general.

Come to think of it, I have another piece of recital information, this one revolving around modern. To put it basically, Miss Sara teaches a beginner modern class (as well as mine) in which she only has four students. One of the girls cannot participate in the recital, leaving only three to be in a recital dance. Miss Sara asked us in class today if it would be alright to have the six-year-old dancers join in our dance at recital time. We did not hesitate to accept!

Pointe Dancing

An interesting title if I do say so myself…! I am quite sure it will tie in somehow.

Today, yet another Cecchetti-free event, has been busy! Miss Sara has given me an official two-month assignment (relax my hip and work on my turn out), which she claimed is coming along nicely. Exciting…!

The bulk of my eventful day stems from the cherubs class. Miss Jennifer and I, 15 minutes early, struck up a conversation about the Presidential Election (Phew– it’s almost over!) and soon let the little princess inside. We had a fairly full class today; only two or three girls were missing! They did their “tummy-stretches” first and proceeded into their forward-rolls (as we skipped the name-game). We had a little trouble lining up for the rolling period of class; a certain girl attempted to “cut” in line, which resulted in a bit of a breakdown. Despite this, we managed to get through the rolls and moved into “silly songs.” Afterwards, we began the cherubs’ Christmas Dance! It is an adorable little dance, choreographed to a funkified version of “Joy to the World” (Funny… my modern dance is done to the same general song!).

At the end of class, I was put in charge of handing out lollipops to the girls (ah-ha!). Miss Jennifer gave me a helpful suggestion at the beginning of the year– give everyone the same color to avoid breakdowns. Usually, this works out grandly. Today, however, as I was handing one of the princesses a green lollipop, she burst into tears and begged me for a different color. Going by the “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit” rule was hard today.

Anyway, all Christmas Dances are coming right along! The ballet dance is a bit tricky, but we’re getting better at it. Modern looks really great right now, as does the cherubs’. Yay…!

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…!