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Today I had dress rehearsal. I feel pretty proud of myself for putting on all of my own makeup. To contrast the paling stage lights, I need foundation, blush, eye shadow, eye liner, mascara and lipstick. In previous years I have been so afraid I would mess up I have had Mom put on my makeup.
I brought along my camera, and Dad took these pictures of me. Note my shoes.
Goodnight!
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Everything has been pretty dull around here for the past few days. Aside from watching our friends dog, (post about that soon), the first mow of the season, last ballet classes of the season, and making meals for a few families we know that just had a baby, nothing has been happening. Just wait a few days, then I will have drama camp and dance recitals to post about. So, I was looking at pictures I have from a long time ago, and I found these from Dad’s Birthday on May second.
I made this fancy three layer coca-cola cake and frosting myself.
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These are pictures of me in my costume for the spring dance recital this year. I do have another costume but those pictures were professionally taken and I won’t get them until the end of May.
You would think that after three years of ballet I would have learned to straighten my arm a little!
These are our tap dance costumes:
Landon’s ballet costume.
This was a dark hallway.
This is the same picture, except I tinkered with it on my computer.
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We tried on costumes for the ballet recitals today. They are SO lovely. Ms. Amy, our teacher, says they are the best costumes the ballet studio has, and I am quite ready to believe her. She says they pretty much are the most expensive costumes they have without going into the costumes with platter tutus. The dresses are blue and cream with gold embroidery. The skirt is long, and made to float, and that is what it does with every move you make.
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I took my grade 2 ballet exam on friday the 28th. I got a pass plus, a good score. These examiners were tough, and the could see minute details. One noticed that my toe curled up slightly. I wish they would have known that that is just the shape of my toe. I have even had my toes X-rayed to make sure that there was nothing wrong with my toes. They also asked some teacher questions to the grade one-two-ers. (A combination exam.) I improved from last year’s exam, so I am pretty happy with my score.
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In my pre-pointe ballet class today, we started our learning a dance for the ballet recital in May. The music we are going to dance to is really beautiful. We haven’t gotten far into our dance yet, so I am waiting to see whether the dance is nice.
This week, I am taking a lot of extra grade two classes because on Friday I have an exam. A couple of older ballerinas, one of whom used to be a professional dancer, will watch me go through the exercises and write down corrections they have for me. These examiners are supposed to be really tough, so wish me luck on Friday.
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I just finished watching my new movie that I got for Christmas, the ballet Sleeping Beauty in my nice, new, warm, and blue bathrobe. Oh, it was a beauty! (ha) The dancing looked very difficult and lovely. It made my blood pump. The fairies in it had lovely solo parts, and it was amusing at the part when Aurora pricked her finger. She went around the courtyard, showing everyone her pricked finger. She must have been so protected that she had never pricked her finger before! There was lots of jumping, and it made Alexander, Joseph, and John Paul want to jump around also. They jumped and spun and did anything else they thought was ballet-like. I love ballet!
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This picture is slow because I didn’t take it.
My hair is all up because I had ballet before the bee.
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Today Mom took me to see the Nutcracker. We almost couldn’t go because the van’s headlights got left on, which drained the battery. We had to take Dad’s truck. It was fun watching my friends and classmates perform.
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Monday=science class.
A science major homeschooling mother is giving a physical science class for the homeschoolers every Monday beginning next week. The program is for 8-9th graders and comes with a credit as it is a high school course. There are experiments and lots of chemistry. Though my friends, who are also taking the class, hate it, I have been doing my first assignment and skimming the book and it is GREAT!
Monday=first pointe class.
Finally.
Monday=re-starting school.
We were supposed to have never stopped, but summer studies collapsed due to tennis lessons, the need for curriculum, and other things.
Monday=a new day.
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I pull my ballet shoes on, after slipping my orthodics into them and answering questions as to what they are. Wearing my shoes, leotard and tights, I walk into studio one, which over looks a road. I take a wistful glance at the box of pointe shoes in the corner awaiting September, then I take my place at the bar. Miss Amy, the teacher starts the music.
We do tondues and plies, all basic exercises, but requiring constant attention to all parts of the body at all times. Is my leg straight? Am I sickling? Et cetera et cetera, et cetera. I find a problem with my turn-out, and correct it. I, as well as Miss Amy, am my teacher.
The music for grande battments (grand bat-MAWS) plays. I kick my pointed foot as high as it can go without losing my posture to the front and to the side. I have to watch that I don’t kick my friend Rebecca. When I throw up my leg to the back, I hear a noise. BANG! I turn around, seeing that I hit the fan behind me. Having legs that can stretch high up has its disadvantages.
Beats are one of the last exercises, and my favorite bar. I jump, kick my leg in front of the other, then in back. These are also done in the center. With a little practice, these are easy, but they can drain your strength.
After bar, we stretch. I stretch, lowering myself down the length of the bar to the right. It feels good. Then I turn to stretch the other way. Hold it! Can’t do it! My friend Rebecca is sharing the bar with me, and she is stretching to the right. She is very tall, and can go farther than I down the bar. With myself going to the left, and her going to the right, we would bump into each other, and find ourselves both on the ground.
Then we do exercises in the middle of the room. Pirouettes are hard, and only occasionaly do I actually do an acceptable one. But almost everyone in my class has a hard time with these, and Miss Amy lets us work at it with no corrections, only pointers.
Next in class there are jumps, and these are fast and high. They seem to drag on forever. We start the second-to-last last exercise of the day. my calves ache from previous jumps, still I must jump on one leg. “Higher, Sarah, higher!” Miss Amy calls, but I am doing my best. “Jump, jump, jump.” She yells. My calves burn. “Don’t stop!” I’ll try not to. Then out of the corner of my eye, I see Alex watching me. Mom is standing above him, watching. My calves don’t burn so badly, and I have the energy to compete the exercise. I jump a little higher, then I finish the exercise in plie with the rest of the class.
Finally, I gratefully end the class with a bow. Though I am exhausted in every area of my body, I stand tall as I touch the floor of the studio with my hand, then raise it up into a beautiful finishing position of e carte (AY-cartAY.)
I am taking a grade 3 ballet class on Tuesdays in the summer. When I was at the first class yesterday, Ms. Amy, the teacher came up to me and explained that she was making some changes to the classes I was taking. She meant in the fall, but I misunderstood her to mean the summer classes. I became even more sure of this when she brought in a box of pointe shoes and began trying them on girls. (They take special care that pointe shoes fit perfectly to avoid injuries.) You see, usually girls don’t get to take pre-pointe until after they pass their grade two exam, and even then they have to be invited to be in a pre-pointe class. I have only passed my grade one exam. I became very bewildered when Ms. Amy told me to put on a pair of shoes. I did. They felt weird, yet wonderful. There were pointe shoes on my feet. I thought that maybe I was only going to take one class, and that she was loaning them to me for the one class since I was there. (I still thought that I was in the wrong class, and that I was supposed to be in a different class.) Then Ms. Amy looked at the shoes and saw that they were the right size. She gave me a pen and told me to write my name on the box containing the shoes. I asked “Am I staying in this class?” She responded “Yes, you are going to be in this class all summer!” That is when the full realization hit me. These were my shoes! I was going to wear pointe shoes! Later Mrs Seimans came and explained what the changes to my fall schedule were. I was going to be in a pre-pointe and strengthening class. Pointe! Oh! I wasn’t expecting pre-pointe for another year at best!
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Last week was probably the busiest week all year. Here is my schedule.
Mon-Thursday (June 4-7): Drama camp 9-11:00 am
Wed: Dance recital dress rehearsals. 2-4 and 7-10:00
Thurs: Drama camp production at 6:30 and Grandma coming up
Fri: Dance recital 5:00 and Grandparents coming up.
Sat: Dance recital 2:00 and Grandma leaving.
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Today was my first ballet picture day this week. I ordered a 4×6 picture of myself.
when I arrived at the ballet studio, the first thing I did was dress in my costume. Then, after our class underwent a major pinning of costumes, we went in to one of the studios that had been turned into a photography studio and had a class picture taken. Then anyone who had ordered a picture of themselves alone stepped forward and had their picture taken in a pose. I shall receive the pictures on the day of the dress rehearsal for the dance concert.
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