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!)

Intention

Isn't it a bit sad how we start off each year full of intention for improving our lives, and a couple of months later it has all gone out of the window?

Last New Year's Day I went to a gathering with some of my neighbours, where we made Vision Boards, (examples here) . Now I like a craft project as much as anyone, but I didn't really expect much from it.

It has been in a place in my house where I have had to walk past it several times a day, for a whole year, and you know what? Some of the things I had on that board have either been acted upon, or have at least had some progress; in surprising ways. Things that I thought were pretty random have somehow tied in to what I have achieved this year.

I don't think there is anything particularly mystic about this, but I do think that letting my subconscious out a bit by sticking magazine pictures on a piece of poster board did somehow focus some of my goals.

This year, no vision board, at least today; as we are driving north east for some snow time, but perhaps I will do it next week.

It wouldn't be a blog entry with out a photo, so here is one I took last night!

That ring around the moon recalled the Tom Robinson song Listen to the Radio. I wonder what happened to that tape?

Performance, Photos and Farewell

I think the performance went reasonably well, as is often the case, I think the run through for some of it was better than the 'real' taped performance, but I am resigned to it being what it is, no more , no less.

The Pas was first, and you know I could swear my attitude leg was higher than that, and I have no idea if I was winging my foot or not.I know the penche was off....Because it was one of the few things that I never quite nailed. As you can see

here in rehearsal. David kept shoving me forward, but try as he might I couldn't get it!

At least we finished together in a reasonably attractive way, but I have to give most of that credit to David.

He has been in the

Richmond Ballet apprentice program for a year and has just been accepted into the company, so I guess that makes him a real dancer.

He was a sweetie and didn't seem too disturbed at dancing with a

bunch of delusional old ladies!

All of the partners we work with really do try their best to be helpful.

My other main partner who danced in the show, but not with me, was a 16 yr old named

Christian, who just got a full scholarship to the richmond Ballet summer program. He was such a hard worker, and with gorgeous lines, and already tall and strong. The consensus was that he is going to be very, very good!

The next part we danced was the Bayadere Variation, and that thing was so frantic and fast, I don't think anyone managed to get a picture of it, not one I have seen so far anyway! I did do it en pointe, which meant it was not so clean as I would have liked, and I flubbed some of the turning releve passe section, but most of it was ok!

Once that was out of the way there remained only the Giselle Repertory piece, which was fairly tame compared to the other two!

I am glad to see photographic evidence that I nailed my releve arabesques!

After the show and a quick shower we all went out to dinner, and had a nice relaxing evening.

Despite feeling sad it was all over, I think we all had a good time!

Chug, Chug, Chug

I got in a little early this morning and took some photos of the studios this is studio 1


This is studio 2

and this is 3


After our technique class this morning we had a special turning and jumping class with Randall, which was very interesting, I think I picked up some cool things I can use, especially in turns.

Then it was pointe class, which I skipped, sadly, in the interests of keeping my ankle as healthy as possible for the performance tomorrow. Fellow camper Heather and I went to watch the mens variation class instead, which was fun.

After lunch we had partnering, where we did some cool exercises first and then got put into groups for the performance tomorrow, and ran the pas a couple of times to make sure all the pairs can work together. I get to do it with Dave, who is a tall, strong young man, who is a very competent partner. All this took two hours, and after which we still had to go and set and run the Giselle Rep piece, to get it ready for tomorrow. It seems to be going well.

Tomorrow we have a warm up class, followed by a run through of our Bayadere variation, another run of the Giselle and then after lunch we set off for the theatre .

So Much Fun!

So we just got in from a very long day, most of it in pointe shoes.

After Technique this morning we spent 2 hours working on the Bayadere Repertory piece ( yes en pointe) and then after lunch another hour and a half working on the Giselle Variation, with all those chugs, also en pointe.
Then, after a short break we went in to partnering class for another 2 hours, finishing at 6pm!

But, I am on such an adrenalin high you would not believe!

Usually in partnering there is a piece of music that Randall wants to use, and he kind of choreographs as we go, but this time we are doing a set piece, the Sugar Plum Pas de Deux!

It is frightening to look at , but we pretty much had it nailed by the time we were done! And we get more time to work on it tomorrow, so I am sure it is going to be pretty polished by the time we get it on stage.

It feels like such an achievement to be able to do it, now do you think I will get to do it in the AAB Nutcracker?

No, probably not, but just knowing that I could is HUGE for me!

Here is a picture of Paul at lunch yesterday.

And this is my good Buddy Michelle doing her Fallen Warrior with Icepacks art installation

And a shot of the new camp T shirts they have this year, for all you past campers who are reading along!