Tuesday and Wednesday are Kind of a Blur

I am actually getting complaints about not having updated this, which is a sign someone is reading it!
Tuesday was a busy day, starting out with technique with Randall, then a pirouette workshop with Kathy and pointe with Tristy all before lunch!
( I can only take photos of other people, and when I am not participating)

Then, we went into studio one with Tristy and she continued teaching us her rep piece. It is something she choreographed herself and is very long! We only just finished it yesterday (Wednesday) and it is going to need a lot of polishing up in the 45 minutes we have left on Thursday and Friday!!!

After that, I admit I skipped out on the character class, and instead went to see our tame massage therapist instead, which was soooooo nice. She told me to stop wearing the ankle support as a matter of course, only when I feel I need it, and had a good old poke and prod around at my right leg especially. I do think that similar regular sessions would probably help a lot. My ankle has felt better since, although still a bit unreliable, and she told me I wasn't stretching enough, which I am sure is true.

We gathered back at the studios at 5.30pm for movie night. Steven has brought his big screen projection system and we voted on a selection of movies, which ended up with us watching Ballerina (about 4 Kirov Ballerina's in various stages of their careers) while sipping wine and eating pizza!

Monday is shopping day.

After the group photo this morning, we had a great technique class, then got to find out what our variation will be this year, it is act 3 of Sleeping Beauty, Aurora's wedding.
This one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5ARwxVGpO4
Some people did it with technique shoes but several of us tried it en pointe, and I think it will be ok, by Friday ! It is super cool to do.

Then after lunch we took Modern/Jazz from Willie Hinton, and he made us work really hard, but he is so inspiring. He gave us a whole introduction to his approach to dance, and especially about communication with the audience, definitely something I needed to hear. One analogy he used that I liked was that we have to take the audience on a roller-coaster, with highs and lows and sustained holds and really fast bits; and that is what is exciting!

After a quick break we went into Rep. class with Tristi Robinson who is teaching us a corps piece she choreographed. It looks like fun, and we got quite a lot done today; and I realised how all that time working with Rudy has helped me in working with choreography and picking up steps for a new piece! There was no shouting, though!

We finally rolled out of class at 4.45pm and had a quick turn around to get to the local dancewear store that stays open especially for camp and gives us a 20% discount. Needless to say I found some things to buy, but was fairly restrained and picked up only a pair of lacy knit shorts and a pair of technique shoes on sale!
Worn out by all the shopping we retired to Nacho Mama's for the $3.50 margueritas and some tasty rice and beans before heading back to the hotel to prepare for another day of dance tomorrow.

It's SunKing Dance Camp's 10th anniversary year,

and I have the t shirt to prove it!


Would you believe it has taken my half an hour to make that work , because att/sbc/yahoo have changed their access information and having turned my phone off for the flight, then back on again, suddenly I couldn't send outgoing mail so I couldn't get the picture out of my phone and onto flickr.

Anyway the first day of camp is over, and yes, it was FUN!
Its been a fairly light day really with a technique (placement) class from Randall, a pointe class from Kathy, and then a stretch class from Danile, which I totally needed after all the tortuous hours on the plane to get here.

I am in 3b level again, which is what I expected, and it feels comfortable for me, so far. I didn't expect to survive the whole hour of pointe class in pointe shoes what with my ankle being the way it is, but I did, even if I went straight to the freezer for the ice pack afterwards. And that last turn combination, (soutenue, soutenue (sp?), pique pique x3 then pick up turn, pique, chaine ) was FAST, and we did it three times on each side! I little bit of a stretch for me! Heidi took the pointe class with us (Kathy teaching) and it was fun to see her really dancing rather than demonstrating.
After the requisite Sunday night grocery store trip, we went up to the hospitality room to find the hotel had provided a bit of a welcome spread for us, which was a really nice surprise.
Lastly some pictures of my dinner companions; Michelle who kindly took us to the grocery store by car, so we didn't have to wait around for the hotel shuttle, and Steven who is only with us for a few days, but took pointe class with us today...
and Heather, who is in Level 4 this year WOOT WOOT! Congratulations! She has brought her tutu with her to finish before the photo session on Friday, I can't wait to see it!

And a picture of the view from the 14th floor looking out over the river, its so pretty, my camera doesn't do it justice... But that's all for tonight, up bright and early for the camp photo in the morning and then we have Kathy for technique and get to find out what our variation will be !



( and in case you were wondering, yes, I bought the skirt too!)