Opening Night!!

This is the theater! Not the best picture, but the only one I could find.
You can see the balcony floor at the top right, and the little private
balconies as well. There aren't stairs leading up to the stage, or that
row of lights across the stage shining on the curtains when we dance.

Hey guys! Tonight is opening night for Nutcracker! I'm super excited! On Wednesday we did a complete run-through the whole ballet in the studio, and yesterday we did a Tech/Dress Rehearsal in the theater. I got to the theater at 3:45, and we had a dance class from 4-5:30. It was pretty strange, because we didn't have a studio with barres, we went upstairs and used the railings for the balconies as barres! It really looked awesome. Then we went down to the stage for center. I totally messed up center, with the lights, size, and different floor, I was completely disorientated and couldn't get much right! Ah well. Then, we had an hour to hang around for dress rehearsal to start. We planned on beginning earlier, but our Clara had an interview. I waited until about 6:15 to get changed, and hung out with two other girls in the Jr. Corps who weren't in the first scene, the Party Scene. Then we went backstage in a little room connecting to the wings and helped the girls getting off stage do a quick change out of their big party dresses into their soldier dresses. I'm unofficially in charge of helping with two of the girls, one is a party boy so she doesn't need too much help, and the other is a party girl, and their dresses have 10 little clasps to undo and a big bow, so I need to work quick. Then I run behind the stage to get to the other side to make our entrance. After soldiers, I don't really have anything to do, so maybe I'll stand in the back and watch the performance for a little while, or help the girls in the dressing room.

Tonight I'm reporting at 6:45, the show starts at 7:30. The other girls in the company reported at 11, (yes, they missed school!) to take a class, do a run through of snow and flowers, and then practice with the orchestra. I'm a little nervous I couldn't practice with the orchestra, because they don't always play the same tempo as the CD, so we may have to go faster or slower than we're used to. Tonight, my boyfriend is coming to see me, even though I told him not too. Our costumes aren't exactly cute, and I don't dance much, but he insisted.

Well, I'm going to go get ready! To those new to ballet, in the ballet world instead of saying "Good luck!" or "Break a leg!", we say "Merde!, which is a french word for a four letter word beginning with s. 

Nutcracker Week!!!!!

Hey everyone, I'm back! Nutcracker is in less than a week, the final stretch of rehearsals is approaching fast!  On Sunday I have my normal rehearsal, 2-3:30. Monday and Tuesday I also have class as normal. Wednesday is a full rehearsal in studio (normally we'd be in the theater, but this year I guess it's full). That starts with a ballet class at 4, the run through starts at 6, and I'll be dancing around 6:30, so I'm probably going to be there from 3:45-7:00. Then, Thursday is Tech Rehearsal, which is in the theater. We run through everything, make any corrections, fix spacing, and (the most fun, in my opinion) decorate the dressing rooms! That'll be from around 5:00-8:00. Friday is opening night! The girls with huge parts report pretty early, most girls like Snow Queen and Dew Drop even skip school (with permission) to get to the studio, do a full ballet class, practice the dances with the orchestra, and then warm up for the show. I only need to be there about an hour early. Saturday is the second and final show, starting at 2. Again, I only need to be there about an hour and a half early, and then we're done! It'll be bittersweet, performing always is, because you're finally getting to show off your hard work, but at the same time, the hustle and bustle and fun of rehearsal is over. Then everyone starts looking forward to next year, guessing the parts they'll get.

How is your Nutcracker going? Tell me below!

I'm upset

Hi everyone! Today was another Nutcracker rehearsal, with the adorable mice, mouse queen, captain soldier, and nutcracker. We finally have the whole scene together! Now it's just syncing all the marching up, perfecting the timing, and choreographing the battle between the Mouse Queen and Nutcracker. I also got my costume today! It's white pants and a red long-sleeved zip up jacket with big gold buttons and decorations to look like a soldier jacket. I also got a plastic tall red and gold soldier hat. My father knows one of the mothers of a mouse, and as we were walking to our cars and they were talking the mouse asked to see the hat. I showed it to her and she put it on her head, it was so big it covered her eyes. It was adorable! I told her someday she might wear it on stage if she becomes a soldier when she's older, and she started pretending to march around holding a pretend gun like we do and spinning. It was so, so cute!

As you can see from the title, I'm very upset. I was originally going to say angry, but that's not really it. More like disappointed. At our ballet academy, we have three lovely studios and a dressing room (for the girls). Before class or rehearsal, everyone goes to the the dressing rooms, takes off sweats and jackets, does warm ups, has a snack, and/or chats. I usually stayed out of the dressing rooms, because I wasn't really friends with anyone at the studio, but recently I've become more comfortable there and started going in the dressing room and leaving my sweats, jacket, and dance bag there like everyone else. The dance studio is like my happy place, everything is ok when I'm dancing. Now, that security is pretty much gone. While I was in rehearsal, someone went into the dressing room, riffled through my bag (and I know because I put my coat on my bag, when I got back it was off to the side), and sent a text on my phone to my dad to try and ruin my relationship. Obviously, my dad knew I didn't sent him the explicit text. However, the very idea that someone went through my stuff, and probably read my text messages, destroys me. It's one of those "principle of the thing" situations. The worst part is, I pretty much know who did it. There's this one girl that has a crush on my boyfriend and always flirts with him. Even though we've never, and I mean never, had a conversation, she hates me just because I'm dating him (6 month anniversary this weekend!). And she just happened to be at the studio, in the dressing room, with only one other person, while I was in rehearsal.

So, I don't really know the moral of this story. I don't think I can ever feel at home at a studio where someone would do that to someone they don't know. Especially because I'm still kind of like the new girl, who doesn't really belong yet. I guess, keep your phone and valuables locked, or else in the studio while you dance if you think this could ever happen to you.

Happy dancing!

Friday Night Rehearsal

Hey everyone! Last night I had another rehearsal. We practiced with Clara and the Nutcracker, the adorable mice, and the soldier captain. Oh, and the soldiers of course! It has really come a long way. All we really need to do is add in the Mouse Queen, and the whole scene is finished! 

Our battle scene is different than any I've ever seen, but I really love it. It starts when Clara sneaks onto stage after the party scene late at night and sees her Nutcracker, runs over to him, and holds him. She walks over to the couch and gives a big yawn before falling asleep. Then the mice start coming out. First it's just one that runs across stage, then more come out, and finally the Mouse queen comes. Clara wakes up, and just as the Mouse Queen is about to attack, her Godfather/Weird Magical Uncle dude Drosselmeyer comes out of nowhere and scares away the Queen. She begs Drosselmeyer to make her Nutcracker lifesize. He says no, but eventually the Nutcracker comes to life, and Clara, overjoyed, runs over to curtsy to him and kiss his hands. Two tiny mice run out and scare her, and she jumps into the Nutcracker's arms. Once the little mice run off stage, she gets down and dances with him a little. He calls the soldiers on stage, and we march along the back of the stage and watch while the  soldier captain enters and gives the nutcracker a sword and then she dances a bit and we march off stage. Then we return on stage, and instead of the classic cannon, we each shoot a mouse, and they fall back and wave their little hands and feet in the air. We then do a little dancing, the soldier queen as well, and then form a semicircle around the Nutcracker and Mouse Queen as they fight. The Nutcracker gets stabbed, but thanks to Clara chucking her pointe shoe at the Queen, he stabs her and she dies. Then we walk off stage, and Clara and Nutcracker Pas de Deux. Last time was the first time we saw the pas de deux, and it was soo adorable. It's really powerful and emotional, and I hate to say, romantic (I hate to say it because he's 17 and she's like 12, but it's true!). I'm not even going to lie, I teared up a little. It was so cute.

We have our next rehearsal next weekend, Friday and Sunday, and then just Sundays until the show!

Off Days and On Days

So, Monday was a bad day. I took a three huge tests, didn't get much sleep, and was a jittery mess. In dance, I couldn't focus, and even though I knew combinations, I couldn't get my feet to follow what my brain was saying. By the end of class I had gotten countless corrections, each directed towards the class but I knew they were meant for me. It was horrible. By the end of class I was biting back tears at how awful I was. 

Today was completely different. I got to class 15 minutes late (thanks traffic jams!) but was on the ball from the moment I got in. I nailed most of barre, held pretty good balances (especially in front attitude, yay!), and focused on arms, head position, and feet so I really got into each combo. Center was pretty good, I didn't mess up anything too badly either. I also learned Russian Pas de Chats (finally!!) today, and even though the other girls learned them on Wednesday and Saturday (the company classes are then), I was the one complimented on them. We also did pointe today, at barre and in center. I got a little frustrated when we did chaines and pique turns from the left side. For some reason, I can do it pretty well left to right, but right to left is a mess. 

Anyways, don't let one or two bad classes get you down. I think one of the best ways to have a good class is to visualize! Run through combinations in your head before class. During class, pay attention and mark it like you mean it!

Another Nutcracker Rehearsal on Friday, I'll update again then.