Dance

J+M+J

Three years have gone by since I started my blog, so I decided it was time for an update. I thought about different ways to change it up, and it turned out that my old blog name fell victim to my redecorating. Though I liked the old one, it was thought up in three minutes when I was eleven years old, and it wasn’t really very descriptive. I began to think of new possibilities. One night, I came home from a ballet pointe class to find the basement littered with paper airplanes (the boys had had a friend over, and there was an intense battle going on in our downstairs.) They were everywhere! That’s when I got the idea for this name. It takes elements from two separate sides of my life; the girly side at the ballet studio and in quiet moments, and the boyish side that I am surrounded with the rest of the day.

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J+M+J

This year, my ballet class was one of the selected classes to perform at a fundraiser called the Festival of Trees. We danced to a jazzy, saxophone version of ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’.

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J+M+J

Monday morning,  I was sitting at the kitchen table doing school. In my head, I was calculating a multiplication problem and gazing out the window. It was snowing lightly, and the wind was still. I looked down at my math book and worked a problem. When I looked up, I noticed the wind had risen and the snow was blowing so hard it blocked a water tower behind our house from view. I wondered if my ballet class would be canceled, since half the class lives out of town. Mom didn’t think that they would cancel ballet, but I wasn’t sure. The wind was blowing strong and the snowflakes were large.

Sure enough, later on we received a call from my teacher, saying classes were called off for the night. This has been the first time this year ballet has been canceled, and I hope it doesn’t happen again. I am hoping to take my Grade Three exam this march, and I need all the practice I can get.

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I was badly in need of new pointe shoes. My current pair was too small, so I was tugging at my shoes and my toes were curling at the end. Not only that, but my shoes still had a broken shank, (the shank of a pointe shoe is the wooden sole that makes it easy to get up onto full pointe, with the toe box, which is the hard wooden tip of the shoe, flat on the ground), so I was at a disadvantage with the rest of my class, who had full shanks. So, Mom, my ballet teacher, and I went down to the store called the dance line to get pointe shoes fitted. I tried on three different pairs of shoes and tried to pairs on twice before I found the shoe that fit me right. When trying on a shoe, My teacher and the woman who worked at the store observed me on pointe and picked out a shoe that helped to keep my left foot from curling into what is called a sickle. I was told that the shoes that worked for me are really stiff and painful until they are broken in, but when they are broken in many good dancers choose them above other shoes.

I don’t care if they are a pain until I break them in. I have been looking forward to this day for three weeks. Another bonus is that they are my favorite color and style of shoe. They are a light cream and the opening comes to a stylish V in the front of the shoe. Here are some pictures:

These are my feet in fifth, or cinquième position. It is the easiest position to hold in pointe.

This is fourth, or quatrième position. In my opinion, it is the most awkward and hard to hold position in ballet, on pointe or otherwise. I also think it is a beautiful position.

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J+M+J

I took my first ballet class for the season today. This year I am working on grade three, and I am planning on taking my exam in the springtime.

J+M+J

J+M+J

There are fewer sweltering hot days now. The forecast for this week is in the low seventies to mid sixties. Dark falls earlier each night. School has started, monarchs have migrated and ballet has begun. Summer is dying, autumn is coming.

A+M+D+G

J+M+J

I just couldn’t mess up the loveliness of the flowers with some ugly writing. The roses are from my grandparents on Mom’s side, and the daisies are from the physical therapist who I worked with to fix my feet troubles.

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J+M+J

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