I hope you didn't think that now, because it's summer, I am not dancing anymore. No, I'm doing something extra special now. It's something I heard about back in level two and have wanted to do since. But this is the first year I am.
DTI has this special summer ballet intensive. It's for four weeks, five days a week - and eight hours a day. This is the second week so far, it started July 11th. It's going to finish on the 5th. Of August, of course. It saddens me. After this week, I only have one more week left.
We usually do Barre a Terre (floor barre), a normal technique class, yoga, and choreography. There are different classes every day, and we get 15 minute breaks in between them most of the time, so we can get ready.
It is so much fun, being able to dance so much. I hope to strengthen my legs and build stamina out of this. I also hope to get more flexible while I'm here. What I want most right now is to get pointe shoes, and this will help me get to it.
So today, we started out with yoga, in which I did surprisingly well, compared to the other days. And then after that, we had a technique class, but I thought some of my friends were being unfair because meanwhile in my group, I was the only one who got the combination right, I heard someone telling another person in my group that she was the only one who got it. And I know for sure that I was the only one. But never mind that, and I hope that they never ever see this blog. XD
After that, we worked on a dance that we started yesterday. We've gotten pretty far, but we didn't do as fast as we'd done in the other dances we've learned. When we had had enough, and the en pointe girls' toes hurt enough, we went out for lunch. Our next class was choreography. It was a dance we started yesterday.
We did our dance to the song, "Secrets." I used to be super obsessed with the song, and still love it, so you have no idea how happy I was when everyone else voted to do that song. We're almost done with it, and we choreographed it ourselves, with our teacher only guiding us.
Intensive is really fun, even more than I thought it would be. I'm glad I finally joined this year.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Introduction
Hello! My name is Natasha. I do ballet. Obviously.
Ballet is my passion, my life, it's what I live for. I started when I was seven. I stopped first when I was nine. I waited a year, because of a big move from Massachusetts to California, then restarted at ten. I've done three years by now at my new studio, and honestly I like it much better.
Anyway, this blog will be about my ballet life, the ups, the downs, what happens in every class, if I need any corrections or not. I suppose I should start from the beginning, about when I first did ballet, but I won't be explaining in great detail, because I don't remember it very well.
When I was in preschool, we did a little ballet there, too. I went to Bright Horizons, and for a certain part of the day, or week, we would learn it. It was barely ballet, actually. After all, I was like five. But as I remembered the dance better and better, I realized that it was just some really, really lame ballet. But ballet all the same.
Well after that, I never really danced until I was seven. I went to a studio in MA, called Dance It Up. The first year I was there, I was only in level one, obviously. Technically you are supposed to do a level for two years before moving on. So I started day one of the next year in level one. By the end of the class, my teacher decided I was good enough for level two.
At the end of both years I danced there, we had an annual dance recital. I was in both of them. Then, that summer, we decided to move to California. Well, my parents decided...and I had no choice.
I did no extra activities the first school year I was in California, which happened to be fourth grade. I instead, made friends, and figured out everything about the school.
As we explored our new home, we noticed, that a place, only about two minutes away from home, had a dance studio. We thought, why not? and went and checked it out. It seemed like a nice school, a nice place to keep learning.
I enrolled for my fifth grade year, which was in 2008, I think. I was placed in level two, where most of my friends were seven or eight year olds. Meanwhile I was eleven. Or ten. I think ten. Honestly, I didn't enjoy very much. I never received any compliments from my teacher, whereas my peers did. I "forgot" classes fairly often.
Yet, I still did very well. At some point, I think at the beginning of spring, my parents talked to my teacher to see how I was doing. She said I was doing well, and that I might be able to take level three classes also. From tat point on, I enjoyed, knowing that I was good.
Every Saturday, after my level two class, I would also go in for level three. I enjoyed. Two of my friends, whose names I shall not voice, went in with me, as they were very good, too.
Oh, did I tell you? This studio is called Dance Theatre International. Or, as we call it, DTI.
We had an annual showcase, as they call it, in June. We did Alice in Wonderland, along with just some level demonstration. I was part of level two, only for that. After the showcase, we were all sad to say goodbye.
That summer, I did ballet once a week, in the adult beginners class, since I was too old to do any of the normal classes. It was easy, at first, but then it got hard, too hard for me. I didn;t like classes then much. But I still did it.
The next year I progressed on to level three. Even then, I purposely didn't go to classes, and I would just it around, wasting time at home. I didn't manage to take level four classes that year, though, and I wish I did.
We had our showcase then, also. We didn't do any productions, we just had a more advanced level demonstration. I didn't do summer ballet that year.
2010, and 2011 was my time spent in level four. At first, I had no clue what I was doing in class, because it was much more complicated, since we would coordinate arms, legs, and head together. But I soon caught on, and slowly made my way higher up the class.
In August, only just after my classes started, there were Nutcracker auditions. My school does Nutcracker every year, but that was my first. Once we found out our parts, e rehearsed until December. The show was a lot of fun. Some of the most fun I've had in my life.
The rest of the year of level four, I became a very happy person. Until that year, I'd been getting terrible grades, and I would always come home from school unhappy. But that year, in seventh grade and level four, I would always come home grinning, and in a light, playful, and especially hyper mood.
Ballet class always makes me hyper, by the way. Because I enjoy it that much.
Oh, I forgot another important part of this year. When auditioning for Nutcracker, there was also an audition for the Repertory Company. It's basically the best dancers of each level, combined into a special performing company. I'm proud to say I was selected into it. We took special classes, for it, and learned choreography. I don;t know how many times we performed the piece we learned in those classes.
For our showcase that ear, we had only a production, no level demonstration. We did Carnival of the Animals. Level four were all mermaids. But we also had special Company pieces to perform, and other dance forms. I did lyrical and contemporary that year.
That's pretty much it, of my past. Watch out for new posts of mine!
Ballet is my passion, my life, it's what I live for. I started when I was seven. I stopped first when I was nine. I waited a year, because of a big move from Massachusetts to California, then restarted at ten. I've done three years by now at my new studio, and honestly I like it much better.
Anyway, this blog will be about my ballet life, the ups, the downs, what happens in every class, if I need any corrections or not. I suppose I should start from the beginning, about when I first did ballet, but I won't be explaining in great detail, because I don't remember it very well.
When I was in preschool, we did a little ballet there, too. I went to Bright Horizons, and for a certain part of the day, or week, we would learn it. It was barely ballet, actually. After all, I was like five. But as I remembered the dance better and better, I realized that it was just some really, really lame ballet. But ballet all the same.
Well after that, I never really danced until I was seven. I went to a studio in MA, called Dance It Up. The first year I was there, I was only in level one, obviously. Technically you are supposed to do a level for two years before moving on. So I started day one of the next year in level one. By the end of the class, my teacher decided I was good enough for level two.
At the end of both years I danced there, we had an annual dance recital. I was in both of them. Then, that summer, we decided to move to California. Well, my parents decided...and I had no choice.
I did no extra activities the first school year I was in California, which happened to be fourth grade. I instead, made friends, and figured out everything about the school.
As we explored our new home, we noticed, that a place, only about two minutes away from home, had a dance studio. We thought, why not? and went and checked it out. It seemed like a nice school, a nice place to keep learning.
I enrolled for my fifth grade year, which was in 2008, I think. I was placed in level two, where most of my friends were seven or eight year olds. Meanwhile I was eleven. Or ten. I think ten. Honestly, I didn't enjoy very much. I never received any compliments from my teacher, whereas my peers did. I "forgot" classes fairly often.
Yet, I still did very well. At some point, I think at the beginning of spring, my parents talked to my teacher to see how I was doing. She said I was doing well, and that I might be able to take level three classes also. From tat point on, I enjoyed, knowing that I was good.
Every Saturday, after my level two class, I would also go in for level three. I enjoyed. Two of my friends, whose names I shall not voice, went in with me, as they were very good, too.
Oh, did I tell you? This studio is called Dance Theatre International. Or, as we call it, DTI.
We had an annual showcase, as they call it, in June. We did Alice in Wonderland, along with just some level demonstration. I was part of level two, only for that. After the showcase, we were all sad to say goodbye.
That summer, I did ballet once a week, in the adult beginners class, since I was too old to do any of the normal classes. It was easy, at first, but then it got hard, too hard for me. I didn;t like classes then much. But I still did it.
The next year I progressed on to level three. Even then, I purposely didn't go to classes, and I would just it around, wasting time at home. I didn't manage to take level four classes that year, though, and I wish I did.
We had our showcase then, also. We didn't do any productions, we just had a more advanced level demonstration. I didn't do summer ballet that year.
2010, and 2011 was my time spent in level four. At first, I had no clue what I was doing in class, because it was much more complicated, since we would coordinate arms, legs, and head together. But I soon caught on, and slowly made my way higher up the class.
In August, only just after my classes started, there were Nutcracker auditions. My school does Nutcracker every year, but that was my first. Once we found out our parts, e rehearsed until December. The show was a lot of fun. Some of the most fun I've had in my life.
The rest of the year of level four, I became a very happy person. Until that year, I'd been getting terrible grades, and I would always come home from school unhappy. But that year, in seventh grade and level four, I would always come home grinning, and in a light, playful, and especially hyper mood.
Ballet class always makes me hyper, by the way. Because I enjoy it that much.
Oh, I forgot another important part of this year. When auditioning for Nutcracker, there was also an audition for the Repertory Company. It's basically the best dancers of each level, combined into a special performing company. I'm proud to say I was selected into it. We took special classes, for it, and learned choreography. I don;t know how many times we performed the piece we learned in those classes.
For our showcase that ear, we had only a production, no level demonstration. We did Carnival of the Animals. Level four were all mermaids. But we also had special Company pieces to perform, and other dance forms. I did lyrical and contemporary that year.
That's pretty much it, of my past. Watch out for new posts of mine!
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