Nice Knowing You.... 2011

 Wow, I can't believe 2011 is over. So many things have changed, I am pretty different now then at the beginning of 2011. Last year I did monthly year highlights, and now I like to go back and read that post. I love that post so much that I'm gonna do it again this year (with a little more detail).

January: Moving into our new dance studio building. My dance studio has rented a suite for a long time, and another dance studio moved in next door. Long story short, them being next door made us look bad, so we moved into a new building down the street. It didn't come quite that easy, the other studio bought our studio from us so that they could have more space. They needed the space before our building was ready. So we spent all December and most of January renting a little tiny dance studio in a storage closet in the back of a sports complex. Yep, that was not much fun, but yep, it was so worth it. Starting with the fact that we have our own back lot where we can hang out when it's warm...

February: Becoming a Teenager. I enjoy it thoroughly! Everything from more freedom of where I can go with my friends (I wasn't allowed to ride my bike to Baskin Robbins when I was 12!), to belting out Demi Lovato songs when I'm home alone (I'm a terrible singer) or with my little brother (he's a terrible singer to, so he understands). I also love just getting to be, crazy, outgoing, which is sooo much fun!

March: My first Blogiversery! I am so thankful for all the people who read my blog, and got me through 1 going on 2 years!

April: I finally got my parents to agree to let me audition for the Company. Nothing more to say, other than I WAS SOOO EXCITED!

May: Dressing in our nicest dresses and going to Subway with a bunch of dance friends, well, then we we went to see my ballet teacher dance in Cinderella. It was so wondeful, and when my teacher came out in his ugly stepsister costume I was laughing so hard that I was crying. It was really funny!

June: Winning the Young Dancer Award at my dance recital. It was one of the most proud moments of my life. It means the world to me that my teachers all saw potential in me, I look at my plaque almost everyday, and it makes me smile everytime I look at it.

July: Dance intensive at our studio. It was incredible, the classes weren't the best ever, but oh my goodness did we all have an amazing time. There is no better time to get to know eachother then dancing 6 hours a day everyday together for two weeks. We have so many memories and inside jokes left over from dance intensive. Everybody became so much closer through it.

August: My First Company Performance. I got to dance out in public for the first time, we danced at a mall Fair. The stage was so tiny, and so slippery, and dancing on it was so hard and scary. However, I look back on it, and I had an awesome time. As for the stage, it's something to laugh about (until we have to dance on it next year!!!)

September: Going to Washington DC with my family. It was an amazing experiance. I saw and learned so much. Quick funny story about the trip. I had a friend who was going to DC the same week with her school, and we joked about how funny it would be if we saw eachother in the middle of the Smithsonian. Well, Tuesday afternoon of our trip, we were going to the food court in the Museum of American History, and I hear someone say "Boo!" behind me. I turned around, and lo and behold, it was my friend!!!! It was soo funny, and just in case you don't know, the Museum of American History is part of the Smithsonian Museums.

October: Going to the dance conference, once again, amazing bonding time with all the girls at my studio. It's funny, cause there were girls who are in the company that I never talk to, but when we are the only ones from our studio in a class, you of course talk to them and it helps you get to know them better. It was really great.

November: Moved up to Tap 4. This was the first time that I have ever moved up partway through the year. I was sooo happy, and I still am! I love tap 4, and it's much for challenging and fun! Also, I got to move up to Pointe 5 because of Tap, and Pointe 5 is really fun to!

December: Here's some news that I haven't shared with you guys about yet that I'm totally stoked about. So you know how we do our little storyline for our recitals. Well, the lead cast comes from the girls in the company. I didn't think I would get in because it's my first year in company, and not everybody gets a role. But.... I DID MAKE THE LEADCAST! I'm going to be a Princess in the ballroom scene from another country. I'm doing a pointe duet with another girl!!!!! I'm sooo happy!!!

It's December 26....

I know for a lot of people this is a very sad day. It would be sad for me to, but I left for Indiana today to have Christmas with my Grandma, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. Just thought this is something that lift you up a bit. I know it makes me smile. :o)

Merry Christmas to All!!!

   Merry CHRISTmas! What a beautiful day it is. I kept thinking it was really sunny because it has been such a sweet morning but I just looked out the window and it's grey and rainy. I still feel sunny and cheerful though! Anyway, here's what I got:

Soul Surfer on DVD

A Curling Iron
Heat Protector Spray
A CD case (for my recital DVDs)
AG Pretty and Plaid Outfit
AG Ballet Outfit
AG Addy's Flower Picking Dress
AG Red Polar Bear Sweater Set (it was an exclusive)

A Book about Ballet (it looks really nice to!)

A Black Leotard

Things to put in my dance bag to make it not so smelly
A Ballerina Picture Frame

Ballerina Band-aids (ROFL! I don't know where "Santa" found them!)

Flower Hair Clips

Frog Socks
A TON of Candy

Smiley face toe-tape

Slipper Socks

Red Scarf

Gray knee socks with pink snow flakes

A Candle (from my tap teacher)

and my favorite thing....

I got a BEAUTIFUL Eggplant Purple Leotard! It's so pretty! I won't be able to wear it very often, because our dress code is black, but I *might* be able to wear it for my long pointe class, and I'll be able to wear it for special things like Dance intensives and Conferences. I love it soooo much!

I normally ask for something big, like a new bike, a sewing machine, or an MP3 Player, but this year there was nothing big that I wanted, so I just asked for a ton of little things.

Also, tomorrow we are leaving for Indiana, and we have our big family get together, and I am getting another present there. I am hoping for a 72 color eyeshadow and blush pallette, but I also put a Kohls gift card on the list :)

I have to leave for church now! Merry Christmas!

The Real Meaning of Christmas

It's Christmas Eve!

Today is Christmas Eve, and I am BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS EXCITED! I feel like a 4 year old! I'm just soooo EXCITED!!!!!!!!! I love Christmas. I think it is a beautiful time of year. It's so sweet and happy. It makes me cheerful and just EEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!! Wow, I need to calm down...

Anyway, I have a busy day today! I have to:

• Pack for our Trip to Indiana (we leave 12\26)
• Make Our Christmas Pies!
• Go to Christmas Eve Service!
• Do our family gift exchange!

Basically, what our gift exchange is, is it's just my family. What we do is we all get eachother a gift, it can be bought from a store, handmade, or something that we already have but don't want anymore. Here's the catch though: It has to cost $2 or less. It's really fun, because we usually shop at the dollar store, and we have to really think about the person. For example: This year, I got my older brother a pack of dinosaur erasers because they were funny, and (as a joke) he's been having a tough time with Pre-Cal this year. So anyway, I am really excited cause I got a great present for my little brother, that he is gonna love!!! I can't tell you though because he stands beside me while I am on the computer a lot...

Hope you guys have a great Christmas Eve!

A Dancing we will go.....

 Wow! It sure has been a long time since I have posted! I have just been so busy, that there is just no time to post, because I have so much talk about, I'll do a couple update posts over the next couple days. But right now I want to tell you about a fun trip we took this year:

So in October, I went to this dance conference in Tennessee with my studio. It took place in a city about 2 1\2 hours away from where our studio is. About 14 of the girls in the company in my studio got to go. We left on a Friday afternoon, and most of rode in a 12 passenger van with one of the girls' mom. But a couple of the girls didn't want to miss there Hip Hop class, and came with the studio director later. We got to the hotel, and we divided up into our hotel rooms, and my two closest Company friends and I shared a room. We ordered pizza that night, hung out, watched the Shake it Up: Make Your Mark thing on TV, and sat there and came up with corrections for all the dancers.

The next day, we went to the conference, and we each took four master classes that day. I took tap and jazz in the morning. Then we ate lunch, watched a brief student choreography contest (I can't say the choreography was that great), and then we took our afternoon classes. I took modern, then I took ballet. None of my classes were to hard, except tap! And even the top level girls at my studio had a hard time with it! Then we all drove back to the hotel, and ordered dinner. I had this turkey sandwich with avocados and brie on it. It was cold, but really good. That night, we had a late night pool party! Rather than having hours on the pool, you used your hotel key to get inside, so we went swimming at like, 11:00 pm!

We had to get up pretty early on Sunday morning, because we needed to block our piece for the show that afternoon. After that was done, we sat at the tables outside of the auditorium and just talked. We had a nice time, but it was really boring, because our classes didn't start for 2 hours! Finally, it was time for classes, and I took a ballet class and a pointe class. During ballet, I was the only person from my studio, which was a little nerve racking to me. However, my regular ballet teacher came and watched me, and he was able to give me a lot of helpful corrections the next week during my regular classes.  Pointe was pretty good, and wasn't that hard. After pointe, we walked back to the lunch room and ate lunch again. Then we all rushed to the bathroom to put on our costumes and makeup for the showcase performance. We did our company modern piece. I didn't think we did very well, but that was okay. After the show, we saw my old ballet teacher, and I was really happy to see her.

That afternoon, before we went back home, we went to downtown Chatanooga (the city we were in for the conference). First we walked across this really cool walking bridge, it was probably 1\4 mile long. Then we go to walk across a glass bridge, which was kind of scary, because you could see right through it! Then we walked down this neat set of stairs that has a fountain going down it! Finally, we stopped for ice cream (I had chocolate with M&Ms) and we got back into the car, and sang Christmas Carols and Disney songs all the way home!

A Piece of my Novel

“Yes, I just wish I could dance.” I said.

“Well try!” Nia suggested.

“Are you sure?”

“Go ahead!”

                I tried my hardest to do my favorite adagio, it wasn’t going very well, and when I got to the attitude promenade, I just gave up. Dancing felt good, but at the same time it didn’t.

                “See!” I shrugged “I can’t dance without bending my knee.”

                “But,” Nia began “You were envisioning it in your head, and it just did not transfer to your feet. But were you dancing from your heart? Were you envisioning it from your head down to you heart?” I thought about this for a moment. Yes! That is what made it feel good.

                “Yes, I suppose.”

                “And what about when you were little. You’ve told me about watching the older girls come about of the ballet studio in the afternoons. Surely you tried some of the steps that they did! Were you really truly dancing with your feet?”

                “No, I guess not.”

                “So you see. What were you doing?”

                “I was dancing from my head to my heart.”

                “Now you understand. That is where dancing begins.”

To a Special Friend...

Today is the Birthday of a VERY special friend

One whom I can't say I know

but she is a girl that will be a close friend forever

Now here I will show

She is special, she is pretty

She does wonderful Photography

She is sweet, She is amazing

She could write a great Biography

She loves Dolls

American Girl, Life of Faith, and Ginger Brook Hollow

I'm sure there are more

More than I can swallow

She sings like an Angel

her voice makes me happy

Her kindness, and patience,

They never get Snappy

She is always patient

like I just said

During lame poems

like the one being read

She is turning Fourteen

Today, I believe

I wanted to get something special

Something to retrieve

I couldn't think of anything

that would ever do

To help her understand

How ever special are you

This girl is really wonderful

I love her yes I do

Her name is Quinlyn Caroline

She is amazing and ever so true.

All About ME from A to Z!

  It's all About ME from A to Z



A. Age: 13! I LOVE being 13!

B. Bed size: Twin, it used to be my dad's when he was a kid, but I don't like it much, cause if I stretch out fully, My legs go past the foot board...

C. Chore that you hate: I don't get paid for chores, and I hate folding the towels...

D. Dogs: Maddie-Boo... That name makes my heart sing! Maddie-Boo (Maddie) is my adorable black labrador-retriever-collie-pit, which is not an actual breed. She's actually a mutt :P She is the sweetest thing in the world.

E. Essential start to your day: Stretching, I always practice my splits and straddles when I get up, that way I start the day loose. And yes, I do have flat splits first thing in the morning. I need to move a little bit before I can do my over splits...

F. Favorite Color: Blue. Especially turquoise, I'm also really into Eggplant Purple right now.

G. Gold or Silver? Silver. I'm not sure why, it just suits me more than gold.

H. Height: 5'7.5"... That's not even ranked on the growth chart for a 13 year old girl. I'm the awkwardly tall person in every picture.


I. Instruments you play: My Feet! I tap dance!


J. Job title: Assistant dance teacher! I've been doing this for 3 years, and I LOVE it. This year I'm doing Pre-school and Tap 1. I REALLY like them both.

K. Kids: I LOVE little kids! I Love babysitting them, teaching them to dance, reading bible stories to them at church, etc. I take every oppertunity I can to play with little children!

L. Live: UNITED STATES!


M. Mother's name: Mom of course!

N. Nicknames: Bagel (by my friends whom I call Eggs and Pants), Jazz (by my brothers), and Jenerally Jumpy Jasmine (which is not gramatically correct, by my friend whom I call Really Random Rebecca.)

O. Overnight hospital stays: Nope.


P. Pet peeves: When a lightbulb is burning out and it flickers like a strobe light!

Q. Quote from a movie, TV, or Book: "Promise me you'll always remember: you're braver than you believe, you're stronger than you seem, and Smarter than you look." -A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

R. Right or Left handed: Right handed, Pirrouette on my right, fouette on my left!


S. Siblings: One older brother, one younger brother, oh, and Maddie the closest thing that I'll ever get to a sister.

T. Time you wake up: On school days, 7:30, On Saturdays, anytime before 10:00 so I have time to get ready for Company, and on Sundays, 7:00 so that I can go to Church.



U. Underwear?: Quote: "Very much on. XD" ~Caro



V. Vegetable you hate: Though I love the color, I hate Eggplant.


W. What makes you run late? : Spending to much time styling my hair.

X. X-rays you've had: Three years ago I got an X-ray to check for Scoliosis (which I DON'T have), and then lots on my teeth at the dentist cause everybody's had that!

Y. Yummy food that you make: I LOVE to cook! Homemade chocolate chip cookies tops everything!


Z. Zoo Animal: Bengal Tigers

Thanks Caro, for this awesome tag!

Washington DC- Day 2

Yesterday was AWESOME!!!!!! Here's what we did:

First we rode the Metro, it was sooooooo cool! I liked it when it wasn't to busy, as a dancer, I may have to live in a big city, and public transportation is a good option for that.

Then we got to the National Archives, it really wasn't that exciting, but I did enjoy seeing the The Declaration of Independance, The Bill of Rights, and The Constitution. When we got there, my little brother said "Are we gonna go see the Constitution of Independance?" (LOL)

For the most part, the documents were pretty faded, but it was really cool, because on The Constitution, you could see where it said "We the People" REALLY well. It was so amazing that I got to see the documents that run our Country!

They also had a really cool exhibit called "What's Cooking, Uncle Sam?" It was about the way the goverment helps to decide what we eat. They showed food pyramids from a long time ago. Can you believe that there was actually a time when fruits and veggies were on the bottom of the pyramid? According  to a 1926 shopping list, for my family, we would by 70 lbs. of fruits and vegetable EVERY WEEK?

Then my mom, older brother, and I went to the National Gallery! It WAS AWESOME! We thought it was so good that we didn't want to leave early to look at the Museum of Natural History. So yeah, unfortunately, I didn't get to go, BUT... we did see

THIS SCULPTURE! It was the real thing to! Which was really awesome, because in the original sculpture they tied the real little girl who posed for this sculpture's hair ribbon in the sculptures hair!

There were lots of other dancer sculptures to! I'll try to post the pictures when I get back.

We also went on a night tour to all the memorials! I liked the World War II memorial, because it's soooo pretty at night! It was kind of a trade off though, because since it was so dark, you couldn't really see the Vietnam Memorial. The Abraham Lincoln Memorial was AWESOME! The statue was really cool!

Good Morning from Washington DC!

  Good Morning everyone!

I am currently in Washington DC on a one week trip with my family! We are staying in the basement of some random family's house, but they made it into like a condo for people to rent out. It's really nice, and I really like it.

Anyway, I can't say much so far, cause Saturday and Sunday were basically on the road. But anyway, I'll try and post again soon, today we are going to see the national archives, the national gallery, and the National Museum of Natural History. At the national archives, we get to see the Decleration of Independance, and the National Museum of Natural History is where the night in the museum movies were filmed, so it will be pretty cool!

Time of My Life...

We had our second company performance today! This time, we went to...

It was soooo much fun! I did the same dances that I did at the mall, so I didn't have any new choreography to perform, but it was still fun doing tap and character. So here's what we did:

We were told to be at the stage by 1:30, when we got there, they were having a kids ice cream eating contest! It turned out, that the Director of our studio's daughter was participating! She is 7 or 8, and sooo cute! Since there were 50+ people from our dance studio (between kids and parents), she had her own cheering section. They did winner by applaud and by judge. Another kid won for eating the most ice cream, but she won for applaud and got to take home a trophy. When you are 7, the trophy is all that matters. :o)

Then, we got to do the actual dancing! I slipped a little bit during the character dance, but hey! We couldn't fit on the stage, so we ended up dancing on pavement! Tap was pretty good! There is this part, where, it the original choreography, there are four girls in the back and two girls in the front doing a more complicated section, but only two people performed it for the fair today (I was one of them), so I got to be up in the front. My five 8-counts of fame! Btw, this is not the real stage, I'm just giving you something to look at!

After we performed, me and two other friends talked our parents into letting us ride the Ferris Wheel! We only did that one ride, because it was like, $5 per ride. We had a lot of fun on the Ferris Wheel, and we could see the Tennessee skyline, which was VERY cool! Once again, not the same Ferris Wheel, just something to look at.

Afterwards, my friends had to leave, but my mom and I wanted to look at the crafts. First we got a snack\drink, I had lemonade and my mom had a snow cone.

Then my mom and I went to the craft show and looked around. They didn't have that much stuff, but it was still fun. You guessed it, that was not the real craft show, just something to look at.

These are NOT my pictures, and I GIVE FULL CREDIT TO THE OWNERS OF THEM.

 

Two Weeks of Classes ALREADY?

Can you believe it? We are already two weeks in! So here's the status:

Ballet 4x: We're doing end of the year Ballet 4 stuff right now, which is kinda boring. I'm ready to dive into 4x!!!

Ballet 4: We are doing end of the year 3x, and I've done 3x twice already, so once again, I'm ready for some ballet 4 material. However, I get to do barre en pointe this year!! That's always fun! We are also doing my favorite Pirouette combination, not to mention I get to demonstrate like EVERYTHING!

Jazz 5: I LOVE THIS CLASS! There are only five of us in there, and we are all pretty good friends. Jazz 5 is the second to last level in Jazz, we learn all the rest of the hard moves at the beginning of the year, but then we work on technique the rest of the year. We already started fouettes, now we just need to do faxels and switch leaps!

Modern 3: I did this class last year, and it's been pretty easy so far, but hopefully we'll learn some new stuff, and it will get harder.

Tap 3: Once again, little bit easy, but hopefully it will get harder.

Creative Movement: Wow, pretty much every kid is 3. That makes it hard, CAUSE THEY ALL CRY! Thankfully, I've worked with Creative Movement, so it should get better.

Tap 1: There has only been one class, but it was a lot of fun! I love the C-R-A-Z-Y teacher, and the H-Y-P-E-R kids, and then I get a little bit overly E-N-T-H-U-S-I-A-S-T-I-C... It's pretty fun.

 

Not Sure of a Title...

I can't think of a title at the moment. I don't want to update on dance right now. Do you ever notice that a lot of times, You don't realize how much you love someone until they're gone?  First, my old tap teacher, I was never "close" to her, and then the day came when she told us that she wasn't gonna teach anymore, I didn't realize that I loved her so much until I went home crying.

Now one of the best youth leaders (at church) is leaving the staff. Youth Group is probably (for me) the hardest part of middle school, because I don't have a lot of friends there due to the fact that I always have dance during the "bonding" activities. Even though my dad is a deacon, and my mom used to be on staff as the elementary coordinator at church, most the leaders and kids don't even know my name. This one leader, was one of the few people who knew my name. I never talked to her that much, or really knew her that well, but I think that just the fact that she knew my name made a difference to me.

What's Inside My Dance Bag?

Hey everyone!

So lot's of people are doing videos about what's inside their backpack for the start of school. So I decided to do a video about what's inside my dance bag! Enjoy!

 

Eeeeeeek! So sorry!

Oh my goodness! I just saw that I haven't posted in like, 3 weeks! Sorry for leaving you guys hanging like that!

Anyway, so, what's up with me, is I'm VERY busy with dance and stuff. Our Company choreography is much much harder than what we normally do, and it's taught at much different paces then everything else. Company camp is over, and we are on our one week break between Company and regular classes.

REGULAR CLASSES START ON TUESDAY!!!!!! (Which is also my mom's birthday :o)

So here's the countdown:

 5 days until Creative Movement Assisting, Ballet 4 and Pointe 2!

 6 days until Jazz 5!

1 week until Creative Movement Assisting, and Modern 3!

1 week and 2 days until Normal Company Rehearsal!

1 week and 4 days until Ballet 4x, Pointe 3, Tap 1 Assisting and Tap 3!

For those who are wondering, I am at the studio from 3:30-8:00 on Mondays. :)

As for other news, my mom and I have been training for a 5k charity run this summer. And we are running it on Labor Day! I'll be sure to tell you about that when it happens!

First Company Performance!

Woohoo! First performance, done and successful! We dance at a back-to-school fair at a Mall this afternoon, and it was great! All the dances were things from last year's Repetoire, so both my dances were from recital. In the picture above, we are doing the Character dance in the 'lovely' pink skirts...

It was REALLY hard to dance at the mall, the stage was super tiny, so we danced on the floor for some of the dances but it was still tight. I could hardly get through a little space (or window in dance terms!), and then on the next step the girl next to me accidently kicked me :P I know she didn't mean to, and it didn't hurt.

Then during tap, we had to do it ON the stage cause it's not nice to ruin the floor that wasn't made for dancing :). One of the girls next to me whispered to me that I should be careful because the floor was a bit slippery. I thought that was an understatement! I felt like I was gonna fall over the entire time! Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and I can't wait for the State Fair in September!

What's Up with Me?

Sorry I haven't been updating! I intended on posting about everyday of Company Camp, but learning so much choreography in such a little amount of time was stressing me out. It's much better now, so I'll update:

So we'll start with ballet. We are doing a dance called "The Seasons". It is absolutely gorgeous and elegant. Basically what happens is there are four short dances that make up kind of a "Mini Ballet". First there is a snow scene, and everybody wears white tutus and there isn't really a story line. Then there is a group of four shorter girls who pretend to be little kids in the spring. There dance is really cute! They do lots of cartwheels and little jumps.

Then the 4 girls grow up into teenagers in the summer, and then they do a dance as teens.

Then finally the four teens turn into 4 adults in the fall, and they do a dance. I'm one of the adults. It's funny cause my teacher keeps calling me "an older girl", but in truth, I'm one of the youngest girls in my company! We range from 12-18, and I'm 13. The only reason I play an adult is cause I'm one of the tallest girls.


Onto Modern. We are doing a really cool dance that is done as a duet. It's very slow and melty, but REALLY cool. It's hard, and I don't quite have it, but I'm close :o).


Lastly, we have Jazz, we are doing a dance to a song from West Side Story:

My teacher divided us up into 3 groups. Basically we did a group of higher level short girls, higher level tall girls, and the lower level girls. I'm in higher level tall girls, which I was really excited about, because some of my friends who are the same level as me are in the lower level group, so I feel quite proud of myself!  My group's part starts at 1:21, we got the hard part of the music cause there aren't a lot of counts.

And also, WE HAVE OUR FIRST PERFORMANCE ON SATURDAY! We are dancing at a back-to-school fair at the mall! We don't know any of our dances well enough to perform yet, so we are just doing stuff from last year's company (which I wasn't in), and from last year's recital (which I was in!). I'm doing the tap dance and the character dance! Also, we are gonna learn a Cappoira piece (Brazilian Martial Arts, which is Martial Arts and Dance Combined!) next week! I LOVED Cappoira at dance intensive, and I'm excited to do it again!

My New Obsession

  Yup, like every other person at my dance studio. I am obsessed with dance moms... For those of you who don't watch dance moms, it's about a bunch of adorable little girls who dance at the Abby Lee Dance Company. Which seems like dance prison. I love watching this show. It's REALLY horrifying how competetive the moms are. For example, there is this one part in episode 4 where one girl gives another girl a hug and says "I love you Chloe" and then Chloe responds with "I love you to Maddie". Then you see there moms who won't even look at eachother. YIKES.

My favorite is Chloe.

She is very cute, but she's definitely NOT stuck up. There are some other girls who act like they are best person in the world, but Chloe is always nice to the other girls and not snotty.

In episode 3, they did a REALLY pretty acro dance! I love the costumes! Brooke was really good, I don't know how it's possible to do some of those move she did. I mean, I thought I was flexible, but then you look at Brooke and it's a whole other story!

Do any of you watch dance moms? Who's your favorite kid?

I Still Have a Long Way To Go...

In response to my previous post:

 

Tap Tap Tap

OK, so here is a video of me tap dancing (obviously). Hope you enjoy!

 

Summer is TO MUCH FUN!

Wow! I apologize for not posting lately! Summer has been to much fun! Dance Intensive ended well! I'm looking forward to what next summer brings, whether I'm still doing the studio intensive, or going away! Not to brag or anything, but I rocked out the Jazz dance, I was put in the (staggered) front and center which was impressive since I'm normally in the back due to my tall height (I'm nearly 5' 8").  I also pulled off several mighty fine triple pirrouettes!

As for the rest of the summer? IT'S OVER! We started back at school on Monday :'(. My mom had us just do Math, History, and Literature this week to ease back in. I'm going to continue to have an easy schedule up until the end of Company Camp.

So, like I just said, COMPANY CAMP IS NEXT WEEK! As a reminder for those of you who don't know what that is. My dance studio has a program for the more dedicated students where you get to perform in fairs and festivals around Tennessee. You have to audition to get in. There are 18 of us in the group that is Ballet 4 and up, and a zillion of the Ballet 3x and unders. The older group also is the group of dancers who get to represent our Studio at TAD (which is a conference that dancers in Tennessee get to attend!).

All that to say, we have our four day camp this coming week! At the camp, we learn our choreography that we will be performing! I'll try to update you on that camp on Monday.

P.S. Welcome back Cbox!

July 15, 2011- Dance Intensive Day 5

  OK! Here was the schedule:

10:00-11:00, Pilates
11:00-11:30, Lunch
11:30-12:30, Acting
12:30-2:00, Ballet
2:00-3:00, Variations


So Pilates was as bad as last time. We did a lot of plank things, and lets just say, my arms were shaking all over!

Then in lunch, we had really funny conversations about putting boy dolls in girl clothes. It was pretty funny!

Acting was SO MUCH FUN! We spent a lot of the time doing a little skit where the lines were just kinda boring. It was like this:

A. Hi
B. Hello
A. What time is it?
B. I don't know
A. Don't you have a watch?
B. Not on me
A. Well
B. Well what?
A. What did you do last night?
B. Nothing
A. Nothing?
B. I said Nothing
A. Sorry I asked
B. It's OK

Then we got different scenarios and had to use that script and using pantomime, the other people had to guess what our scenario was. I got getting stuck in an elevator with a claustrophobic stranger (I was the stranger!), and Bubbly Store clerk talking to a customer.

Then we had ballet, not much to say about that (other than the fact that I did a TRIPLE pirrouette!)

Lastly, we had variations! It's soooo hard! Our variation has so many bourres, it's not funny (especially cause it's en POINTE!)

July 14, 2011- Dance Intensive Day 4

Sorry I haven't done these posts!!!! I've been really busy\tired lately!

10:00-11:30, Jazz (with a guest teacher)
11:30-12:00, Lunch!
12:00-1:15, Indian
1:30-3:00, Modern

Jazz was sooo fun with the guest teacher! He likes jumps, so we did lots of jumps! He said he'd teach us switch leaps, but forgot :(. That made me sad, I want to learn switch leaps! 

Then we had lunch....

....Indian was a little better, but I'm still not a big fan, after the teacher left, we all realized that we were all just randomly wiggling our finger cause we couldn't get the fingers right!

And Modern, well, we talked about using the right muscles. And then we were talking about using our legs. The teacher asked me to demonstrate cause I did it so well!

July 13, 2011- Dance Intensive Day 3

So yesterday's schedule was...

10:00-11:30, Modern
11:30-12:00, Lunch
12:00-1:00, Pilates
1:00-2:30, Ballet
2:30-3:00, Pointe

Modern was fairly hard. The director of the studio taught, and she is INCREDIBLY smart. She's good at catching the tiniest details (mostly she corrects on alignment). We had a long lecture on the pelvis being aligned... However, I was quite proud when she told me that my left split had improved a lot since when she first taught me! When I was in 5th grade, I could do my right split really well, and my left split not so well, but she said that I looked even! YAY!

Then we ate lunch, YUMMY! We talked about our pets for the most part.

During Pilates, we had to use this thing called a magic circle (image below...)

(not my picture)

...We had to put it inbetween our knees and try to push our knees together, and it makes your hamstrings and quadraceps shake all over, and it hurts like crazy...!

Then in ballet, after doing the awful magic circle thingy, we asked our teacher if we could skip plies... he said no, I didn't expect him to say yes. We had no energy when we started, but were filled with it by the end of pointe! During Pointe, we have an odd set up:

So basically, we all stand at the barres. Since we are all different levels, during certain combinations, the higher leveled people (like me!), get to go in the center (the area of awesomeness), and do the combos without the barre! We call it the ballet corral, cause it looks like the barres are fences and we are stuck inside!

So that's all for now, I will do a post about today's classes later!

 

July 12, 2011- Dance Intensive Day 2

Sorry that I couldn't get this post in last night! I had to go to my little brother's swim banquet! He got the runner-up high point scorer, which is amazing cause he only went to 1.5 out of 3 meets!

So I wake up today, and I am sore... Really sore... Even my hands are sore...

So yesterday's schedule was:
10:00-11:00, Pilates
11:00-12:00, Hip Hop
12:00-12:30, Lunch Break
12:30-2:00, Jazz
2:00-3:00, Indian Dance

So pilates was good, but we did a super hard abdominal exercise :P... Wasn't to fond of that... We have Pilates again today. I'm hoping that we will get to use the rollers. They feel sooooo good!

Hip Hop was interesting... I thought it was a bit fun! We worked on a combination the whole time, and I got a nasty bruise on my knee in the process, but it was still good.

Skipping lunch...

In Jazz, we spent a long time working on jumps and turns. We started TRIPLE PIROUETTES! They weren't nearly as bad as I thought they would be. I learned some helpful tips for both my jumps and my turns. That was definitely good! Then we worked more on our AWESOMELY EPIC combination! We learned a new jump that I was really excited about! I have seen people do it on youtube for a while, but I've always wanted to learn it!

Finally, Indian dance was sooo cool! I did pretty well with the feet, but I had a hard time with all the crazy hand gestures!!! It was so confusing, and I think the teacher learned my name first because I needed the most correction... 

July 11, 2011- Dance Intensive Day 1

  Dance intensive today was sooooooooo much fun!!! Here was today's schedule:

10:00-11:00, Feldenkrais
11:00-12:30, Jazz

12:30-1:00,  LUNCH!

1:00-2:30, Ballet
2:30-3:30, Pointe

So let's go through the day... Starting with Feldenkrais... Feldenkrais is basically like pilates, only slower, and you don't work very hard. The idea is to "Do less than you can". I'm not gonna try to explain the point of it, but mostly, it teaches body awareness. It felt really good and relaxing, but in my opinion, it was rather boring. We just layed on the floor and did really slow motions and suttle motions. Like I said though, it felt soooo good when we stood up!

And then, we had Jazz. We had a slightly different warm-up, which is always fun! Then we went across the floor. Finally, we worked on a combination for the "Last Day Demonstration." It was sooo fun! I'm gonna try to figure out the name of the song.

Then we had lunch break, and we, well, ate lunch...

Finally, we had ballet\pointe class. It's really hard to do a good balance for ballet class level wise, cause we have everyone from Ballet 3-Ballet 6 which is a HUUUUGE difference...  We still managed to have a good class though :). Then we got to have pointe class. I got to use my new pointe shoes :D

That's all I have for today, I'll try to post again tomorrow....

P.S. SNEAK PEEK at tomorrow's classes: Pilates, Hip Hop, Jazz, and Indian Dance!

Dance Intensive Class List

Ok, so we FINALLY got our dance intensive schedule! Here's what we are taking:

Ballet
Jazz
Modern
Hip Hop
Pointe
Variations

Comp\Improv

Acting
Vocal Use (I cannot sing what-so-ever!!!!!)
Pilates
Feldenkrais

Bharatanatyam Dance (Indian Dance)

LUNCH BREAK! LOL


We start tomorrow and I can't wait!!!!!

Happy 4th of July!

(not my picture)

Dance Fashion- Part 3, Tap\Hip Hop Attire

I apologize that part 3 is kinda lame...

So today we are gonna do Hip Hop and Tap Fashion. This is generally what I would wear for any contemporary class, but most people would use this for tap or hip hop.

A shirt. Any shirt. Any shirt AT ALL! You can wear the same shirt that you wore for school that day! I like crazy graphic t-shirts like this one!

Now for some knifty pants! Cargos and sweat pants are in right now. My favorite pants are poly\spandex but NOBODY sells them anymore!

As for Hip Hop shoes, most people wear converse these days. I LOVE converse. I especially like that you can get them in so many colors!

Finally, get a pair of cool shoe laces! Fun shoes laces are a good way to go, just so long as you save the ones that come with the shoe. That way you still have them for performances.

I hope you enjoyed my series on Dance Fashion! Hopefully I'll come up with some more great posts for the future!

P.S. Today is my little brother's 10th birthday! Woohoo! Happy Birthday Tyler! I hope you have a great 10th year and many more to come!

(these are not my pictures!)