Nutcracker Tech Rehearsal, 12/14

Hey everyone, today was the first tech rehearsal at the Performing Arts Center. The soldiers and jr.corps members got a dressing room. I had to go through a maze of halls and doors to get there, I was worried I'd get lost! The dressing room was almost empty by the time I got there, most of the jr. corps is in the Party Scene. The room has a wrap-around counter with mirrors and lights on the wall. Everyone had decorated their mirrors with tinsel, Christmas lights, stickers, and little nutcrackers. It was so cute. We got called up to the stage after waiting about half an hour. We ran through the scene just once, and after having a little meeting with the soldiers and jr.corps in the dressing room I left. 


I wanted to take some pictures of the theater to post but I forgot! I'll get some at the dress rehearsal tomorrow.

What to Know Before Your First Ballet Class

Hey everyone, here are some things you should know before your first ballet class!


1. Dress code! Call or E-mail your dance studio and find out what you need to wear to class. You can also ask them if they can recommend a good dance supply store.

2. Location and parking. Before going to your ballet class, make sure you know where it is, and make sure you know the parking situation. My dance academy in a city, and the parking lot is very tough to get too. It's in a very large building dedicated to the arts, so it's actually on the 4th floor of the building. It is not fun trying to find parking, then the elevator, then the right floor, then the right studio (out of three) the day of your first dance class, so visit it ahead!

3. Some basics. Do NOT practice ballet AT ALL before you're first class! However, it's good to watch some videos so you'll have a rough idea of what you need to do. Here is a good video. Again, DO NOT practice this at home!

And really, that's all! Don't be nervous for your first ballet class, just relax and have fun!


Edit: The blog was uploading much slower the past few days, so I deleted a few photos from this and it seems to be going faster again. Sorry 'bout that!

Last Studio Rehearsal, 12/11/2011 !

Hey everyone! Today was the last studio rehearsal for Nutcracker! We have two more rehearsals, but they will be at the theater where we will be performing. Everyone is very excited, just 5 more days until opening night!


Today we got to see a bit of a pas de deux between Clara and the Nutcracker that we've never seen before. It was so adorable, it made me wish I was young enough to be Clara next year, but unfortunately starting late does have these drawbacks.  Hopefully I'll be able to do a pas de deux before I go off to college, but I may not ever get that advanced.


Just a side note, I'm starting pointe in late spring. I've never wanted winter to pass this quickly!

New Ballet Shoes!

Hey guys, happy Thursday. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned that for Nutcracker we need black shoes. My dance teacher recommended a spray paint-like leather dye so I could dye them in time for the show. Since I'm dyeing my current shoes, I realized I'll need another pair of pink shoes, so we picked some up today. My old shoes were Bloch split-sole shoes, and my new ones are Capezio full soles. They look much nicer then my old tattered ones and they fit much better. They aren't as comfortable, but breaking them in a bit more should fix that.

12/6/2011

Hey guys, just got back from my teen class. We got our song for the recital, it's Allison Crowe's remake of the Beatle's Let it Be. I think this is a good song for our class, it'll be good for ballet and a little lyrical. I'm front and center for the beginning of the dance *gulp*. I start on one knee, with my other leg straight out. We have the first 45 seconds done already, it's pretty difficult. We do a waltz and an attitude turn, neither of which I've ever tried before tonight. It should be fun though, I'm looking forward to learning and mastering more of the dance.

Here's the song: