"It's what I've always wanted to do, to show the laughter, the fun, the joy of dance." ~Martha Graham

Saturday, July 30, 2011

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!

Monday, July 18, 2011

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!


Thursday, July 14, 2011

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!

 

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

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... 

Monday, July 11, 2011

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!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

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!!!!!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

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!)
 

Friday, July 1, 2011

Bye!


I'm leaving for Indiana today! I'm gonna be gone till late Tuesday night... so... I have 2 scheduled posts (one of them being the last part of the "Dance Fashion" series). However, I can't get on the computer while we are gone, so I can't publish\reply any comments until I get back! Flood me with {nice} comments for when I get back! Hehe! See ya soon!