Ballet, Airplanes, and a Ballerina Who Can Fly

 

 Hahaha I tried to get a picture of me doing a ballet pose beside one they called "The Queen of the Sky". It was os fail. Too blurry and I forgot to take off my glasses :P 

  The Pilot who guided us talked about the planes the way I talk about my pointe shoes! He called them "she," "Good girl" and those stuff!!!!

  

   I remember reading something that said your favourite movie will tell you something about what you'll be when you grow up. I guess my fave movie is still ballet shoes and you know what, the three sisters became a ballerina, an actress, and... A PILOT!!! <3 LOL hehe...

  Maybe it's true...

Yasmin Paige as Petrova in
"Ballet Shoes"

 

Music for Friday

 This Friday the music source, Pat, can't attend dance club. I downloaded loads of songs last Tuesday so I'm safe... Whew! My only problem will be if my computer decides to act up and break down unexpectedly :S Lets hope for the best and that I can take picture :D One of my friends took a video of the whole club  last meeting, hope I can post it :D
 
  Pat and I are think of this Jazz routine for our Halloween performance. We have a lot of ideas for lifting but we haven't checked on Eric about it who, obviously, will be the one taking all the weight. lol :D Pat's also getting excited about the costumes. Were thinking of hats and jackets <3 Typical Jazz...

  Only one person has given me their reply slip from the comittment letter since Friday... Hope I'll still have enough students... though, I should remind myself, we are aiming for Quality Dancers not just quantity... :D

 
  

So You Think You Can Dance

  Plus this Friday will be Jazz, the least like of the two dances we teach... I wish they'd like it, I mean, why not?

Weekend Reading List

  My grandmother came home from her vacation in Bangkok yesterday. She got us so many presents clothes, shoes, fruits, and books. Yes, books. She got me "Apollo's Angels" by Jennifer Homans and an issue of Dancespirit Magazine.  Can't wait till the weekend, when I can devour them page per page... You know, I'm supposed to be doing a report on Parenchyma Tissue for biology right now. Just saying...:P
  My mom is reading "Apollo's Angels" while I'm still busy. I hope it will broaden her understanding of the art form :P...

  Looking forward to the weekend...

What to Improve:

Zhong-Jing Fang
American Ballet Theatre

  Teacher Agnes talked to my mom. She said that I'm hard headed and that I should stop 'emoting' during class. "During class," she said, "you work to get the steps right before you project" or something like that. This was according to Mom. Now I understand... It's so ingrained in me to add feeling :P So much to unlearn...

  At the start of my classes in Locsin's Teacher Agnes told me I had to unlearn everything from before. Every time you move a school you have to unlearn what you learned from the previous one. There's this saying, I'm not sure if I remember it right it goes something like: "It is easier to fill an empty cup" It means that it's easier to teach someone who doesn't know anything, rather than someone who already knows a lot...

 
  I also have to work on memorizing steps... One of our classmates, who another classmate coined 'The Memory Card' was absent yesterday. And oh no, we were all just looking at each other hoping we could copy :S Memoriiiiizeee!!!
 

  After class yesterday, Teacher Sweet, the babies ballet teacher came up to me and gave me a few tips on the basics. I'm so grateful to her :D She told me to make my releves higher, to 'love the floor', and pull up more. She also helped me with my never ending problem of my por de bras back which I get more now :D

 

  LOL, my mom cut my hair the other day and its really short now. It only goes down like untill half my neck. It's kind of tricky to tie a bun... hehehe... there's a very tiny bun in the back of my head and my new bangs keep standing up :P

NAMCYA 2011

Me, Teacher Ces, her daughter Noe, Teacher Agnes, and other Ballet teachers
in Royeca Ballet School during this years NAMCYA

  Amazing, you won''t believe what just happened, it was so last minute, spur of the moment. When I arrived at Royeca Ballet School to watch the NAMCYA 2011 regionals this morning, I had no intention of joining a class, I had no idea that there was even a class. Any way, when I got there I saw Teacher Agnes, my former Ballet teacher, Teacher Ces, and her daughter. Teacher Ces encouraged me to join the class. Since I had no things, I asked Dad to drive me home, ASAP. In less than 15 minutes we drove home, I changed, and drove back...


   I didn't get to bring the camera but Teacher Ces took some pictures. The class was taught by Ballet Philippines Ballet master Nonoy Froilan.
NAMCYA is short for National Music Competition for Young Artists. There were only five contestants for all of Mindanao, I think. Wow, five... I don't know, it seems too few...

   I guess I should bring leotards and tights wherever I go huh? hehehe Go Locsin's! I hope our contestant will make it to the nationals! :D

Nonoy Froilan and edna Vida in 'The Firebird'
 Ballet Philippines (date unknown)
Photo via: http://eclecticjournal.wordpress.com/

 

I Want This...

  Oh, how the universe conspires... For the enth time my parents asked me about going to Ballet Manila next year, and for the first time I've made my final decision. I WANT to go. Its not final though if they're sending me... 

 

 I get this feeling a lot these days that I don't want to go to class any more but when I think about it some more I realize I don't want to do anything else. 

 

  Imagine the timing when I found this really helpful post in Ballet NEWS: How to get into ballet the same night I said I wanna go to BM.

  Maybe its meant. Yes it is. Something I want so badly that isn't at all easy to get cannot not be meant...

 

  The last thing I'm gonna say is that I want to quit. Because a real Ballerina never quits!

Comittment

  So, Dance Club. Today. We had to talk to the students about comitment and following the rules. I'm rather happy because I think they do like the club after all :D We had to send out these comittment letters because a lot of people were'nt comming to class, or not taking it seriously... One person backed out this week and majority of our Dance Club population havn't attended more than two classes since it started! :(
  Today's class went pretty well, though. We did Hip Hop. Eric taught most of the choreo part. During progression (when we form lines and travel forward doing steps) We taght them to do 4 pump walks and 4 counts of whatever they wanna do. These two boys did this flip thingy where they get up from the floor in a wave. I know its well known in Hip Hop but I'm forgetting the name right now :| FUN!!!
  I LOVE YOU COMITTED PEOPLE!!!
  Passion, I <3 it.
  Plus, our teacher wants us to perfom for Halloween. Were thinking of having a number for the whole dance club and another one for the teachers... Pat is thinking of dancing Jazz to Beggin'  by Madcon :D Theres also going to be a dance contest... They're thinking of making us judges :D So cool.

Wednesday

  Yesterday I didn't feel like going to class. I felt tired and I attended my sister's Ballet 2 class the other day, anyway. I was almost, just almost, late for class. Then we started. OK, I don't regret coming to class. Yes, despite being reprimanded and tired, and sweaty, I loved this class. I don't know what made it so different. maybe the feeling of success I had when I was able to do good petite jetes. Teacher Agnes said today:

"Your mistakes on the barre are magnified on the center, on pointe, they are magnified even more" 

My retires feel very awkward nowadays... and I'm afraid I'm losing my balance in my turns :(
 

This Saturday Morning

  I woke up 7:30 a.m. thinking it was 9 and running to find my watch. Relieved to find that my prediction was two hours advanced I went back to my bed thinking about today's ballet class. I ate breakfast and got ready to leave.

  Class was good. I can't really say great. I have been Prohibited  from doing double Pirouettes as a result of having a crooked supporting leg. When my teacher told me this, I don't know if it meant I should improve my doubles or just do singles with strong knees...

  I've also been reprimanded for "pinching my back". Teacher Agnes says I must stretch on my Port de bras more.

3 students...

  This Friday, Pat and I only had 3 students. We coached them one on one and they actually got the gist. Only those three... For a while some joined but their rides came early. Some did not bring extra clothes.
:( Well at least I have an advaced group next Jazz ;)
  I don't think a lot of people like Jazz, I really don't understand why...

Saturday Class with Teacher Biag

  Last Saturday, our class was led by Teacher Biag from Ballet Philippines. He mentioned some sayings that he applied to dance, one that I remember is

“Fifth position is the soul of ballet."

He said only dancers see a fifth position, not with their eyes but with our minds...

  A lot of my class mates are teasing me about ballet nowadays. One of them even told be that there were Nike pointe shoes ( he mis-pronounced 'pointes' by the way, point-es, pointees.. :P
" Imagine, that's so cool, pointe shoes with the Nike check behind it?" he said...

My Old Pair of Pointes

  Wednesday was show and tell at school. I brought my Pointe shoes, of course. Both the old and new ones. I wore the new ones while I was explaining to my classmates why the old ones were so soft. When I stood on my toes, the whole circle in which we were sitting gave a "WOAH!"
  I let my friends write their autographs on the old pointes :D They look so nice and colorfull...

There goes my Pointe shoes...

  P.S. our pet rabbit died today :'(. You can read about him in my Mom's blog: Trying Hard to Be Still.

Xenophilius Schubert <3
R.I.P.

Tuesday...

  Ever since I started stretching at home, I can never sit still in front of the T.V. I always have to be doing something- which is usually either stretching, or eating :P I don’t know if this is because I have more energy now, or if I just don’t want to watch the same movie over and over again…

  Last Tuesday, I decide to practice making a bun on my sister’s hair. It was the first time I made a successful bun on someone else’s hair! I do my own hair, but I find the quality of my sister’s hard to handle. It isn’t coarse like mine, Its shiny and not as thick ;)

  Finally, I can help my sister when Mom’s not with us. Of course, she got bored and I had only my own head to bun. I also learned how to fix my hair without a hair tie, using only hairpins and a hair net…

  Later that afternoon, we went out to take a walk but decided to go straight to my sisters ballet class in Locsin’s because of the traffic. I wanted to practice my new skill of fixing her hair so I asked her for hairpins and a hair net. She didn’t bring a net so I had to make a sturdy bun with only hairpins. Luckily it held  together. I’m so proud :P

  When we got to Locsin’s I wanted so badly to join class I missed my Monday class, you see. I asked the teacher and I did, along with other little girls my sister’s age :P Teacher Henry had an instant assistant. Me :P Hahaha!

First Dance Club Meet-up For Sept.

  Great class! Eric had to leave after 30 minutes, but Pat and I managed it well. It was a rather calm class, with Pat leading.

  Although she really establishes her ground strongly, its calmer because I, I'm afraid, tend to shout. My mind felt more at peace, knowing that someone else was taking charge and we were able to break down the choreo so that they got every step.

  Were almost there, really, they got the steps but we have to work on the timing with the music. I remember when I just started Hip Hop.

   It took me probably the year after I started before I got the hang of it all. I remember being called slow because I couldn't get the steps. Or balletic because of my lines :(

  Visit Pat's Tumblr blog:
 http://awesomedreamah.tumblr.com/
 :D

Dance Club… Finally!!!

  After two weeks, there’s finally something for me to look forward to on Fridays. Dance Club. It’s going to be the first meet up of the month tomorrow. Pat asked me if she could lead the class. A chance for her to establish her authority. And a chance for me to let go and enjoy, technically, my first Hip Hop class since I left LCBPAC. You can’t show off when you’re teaching, you see. It wastes time. And they will just stare, absorbing the shock rather than the steps :P

  Can’t wait to see how tomorrow will be like. I will be an assistant. The thing about being an assistant is that you can show off. This is because you’re supposed to help and, for me, inspire the students :D

  Hope I can blog about tomorrow :D Wish me, or better yet wish Pat, luck!