Christmas Show :D

 

  

  Only a week till the Christmas show!!! We did some blocking on-stage. I'm really so poor in this formation stuff :( I only have one dance and about 5 or 6 different places in this number but I'm still worried. In LCB, when there was a lot of dances, I was very embarrassed at my not being able to remember my place T_T 

  Our costume is red. Just red. Finally I'll get the red leotard I wanted :) Iv'e been running out of things to wear to class these days O_O

  Teacher Sweet planned out our Christmas Carol (Aaaahhh!!!! Christmas in the air!). We did the planning outside in the canteen (where I took these photos). I think there's going to be a contest on the carols :)

  Ballet 3 won't be on pointe though, but the older girls are going to dance some variations :)

  Showtime is December 11, same with the LCB recital T_T I can't watch...
 

Spinning Wheel from The Sleeping Beauty

Busy :|

Teacher Agnes

  Mom and I left the house at 8:30 A.M. I was panicking because I thought I would be late. And I almost was. I got inside Locsin's just 10 minutes before time. Much to my relief, Teacher Agnes was outside. I smiled and she smiled back which I though was very un-Teacher Agnes like. I wondered if she was in a good mood. I wondered if she really doesn't like me and if today's class would be good or not.

  The class was rather tiring but I blame that on my busy week. I'm really busy, with the dance club and schoolwork. With ballet to top it off. I had to reduce my one on one classes from twice, to once a week.

  Teacher Agnes made me feel better about my legs when she said my knees were straight and I should just work harder :)

  I now know why my tummy's so big. It's not fat, it's because of my very arched back :| I have to practice standing up straighter, ribs in...

  I don't know what to think of having a teacher telling me off all the time. Does it mean she sees potential so she's trying to hone me or the opposite...

Music Box Ballerinas

  I met this old couple in a bazaar this week. They attracted my attention because of the music box that they were selling.  They came home from the states after living there for a looong time. The man is an anthropologist and the lady is a History and Political Science Professor. They were so cool. I spent a lot of time with them and I asked them some history stuff for my homework :P 

  

Showtime!

  We asked our school principal if we could have a show for the Dance Club. She gave us a trial. She will let us have an intermission number in the music recital and if we pull off a good performance, she'll let us have a show of our own!!!

  Were dancing to Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie". We increased the number of classes from Fridays, to EVERYDAY (except weekends, of course). So far we have eight dancer, a good number, with five others still pending...

  I'm so happy. Was so stressed out about this while we were planning the practices but it's all good now that I know we have enough time and meet-ups. I just have to pray that we teach them well and they get the steps. SIGH...

  Photo credits to my classmate Yassy :)

Ballet Bat :P

Trying to get the bat out

  IT WAS SO EPIC!!! Our whole class today was on the barre. At the last exercise we were doing changements and suddenly, there was a bat flying around  the studio like crazy!

  Teacher Agnes was laughing so hard and she even joked about Edward Cullen :P


  The Ballet 4 were huddled together in a corner and one of my classmates ran out the studio ducking!

Arch Enhancers

  Both my mother and my grandmother were blessed with beautiful feet. I got my dad's. Though strong, my arches are low. Apart from that, I acquired Tendonitis on my left foot a few years ago and have been dancing with it ever since.
  There are some thing I do to try to improve my arches;

1.  Stairs I push the front of my foot by putting pressure on it using the steps in the stairs. Slowly, I straighten my foot for a harder push.

2. Hands When there are no stairs I just use my hands :D

3.  The Capsule My mom had this pill-shaped piece of wood made. She sells them at her Yoga studio, The POD. They'r supposed to massage your feet.

4.  Pointe shoes I wear them around the house anytime... :D 

Thin Legs, Thick Legs (lets not say fat)

  Can't seem to accept the fact that I'll never be as skinny as dancers like Alina Somova, Amber Miller, or Adji Cissoko (whose legs look like they go on forever!) :(  The circumference of their legs are probably half of mine and their way older...

Adji Cissoko, Corps de Ballet
National Ballet of Canada

  I feel very sluggish and unhealthy these days and I can't jump... this lethargy is also keeping my from stretching and improving in terms of flexibility..  

  I don't know, when I stand in fifth, croisé, and look at the mirror I am horrified by my legs. Though I'm tall, I find my legs short looking.

Melissa Hough

  I don't want to compare myself to others just to make myself feel good. My moms strategy is; "If your legs are big what do you call other people's?" I don't like saying this to myself because its the same as; "I don't have to work so hard because I'm not the worst student in class"

  But maybe this is whats burning me out...

  I'll start looking at dancers like Melissa Hough and Alina Cojocaru who have thicker legs. Their just as graceful. 

  Typed this with my pointe shoes on :P Just for the record.

 Alina Cojocaru Interview <3

Silent Kindess

  Inah is in the Ballet 4 class at Locsin's. She's tall and long with really nice feet. There's one thing that sets her apart from the other dancers; she is deaf and mute. In class, her friends relay Teacher Agnes' instructions through sign language and physical correction (moving the leg/arms to the right place/position). According to my classmates she can only hear the vibration and the base of instruments. But that doesn't stop her form dancing and doing her best. And much more...
  This evening in my class, Ballet 3, we were doing jumps from the corner of the room. As I positioned myself, moving my arms from Bra Bas to first, I felt a slight tugging at my Derrier (back) leg. I glance at my back and realized that Inah was trying to turn out my leg. She was helping me, and in the only way she knew how.
 A lot of people have called out to me, "Amber, turn out, Point your toes, breathe," But Inah cant speak, yet she went up to me and helped me like anyone could. I appreciated her kindness and concern..
  If your reading this, Inah, I hope you know that I'm very grateful... Thank you... loads!

More Vaganova

  Whew just finished writing down the barre work for my class with Kuya Henry. We did a Vaganova class today. Super tiring. But I like it. I'm more of an Epaulemnt person rather than a leg strength person... Though sometimes Kuya Henry says I'm to "flowery".
  You know what they say that you shouldn't have two different teachers? It's true... Its pretty confusing. One moment I'm being praised for something I did right by Kuya Henry, next I'm being scolded at for doing the same thing by Teacher Agnes (or sometimes, the other way around)!
  Am really thinking hard about spending summer in Manila. My friend from ballet told me about Steps. I'm looking at their website right now ^_^. I wonder if it's hard to switch from Vaganova to RAD....
  Last year I watched, like, every episode of Dance 212, and there was this ballerina, Amber Miller (same name as me, OH YEAH!!!), training with the Ellison Ballet. She's really graceful and looks so calm while dancing. I admire her so! I think Ellison is also Vaganova, so... :D 
  Watched this video of the Ellison Ballet students and they are AH-MAY-ZING:

Amber Miller is the blonde girl in the beginning :) Just so you know...

Shallow Happiness...

  One of my classmates has been bringing a ballpen to class. I thought at first she was just being funny but today Teacher Agnes asked for it. I thought she was going to confiscate it but instead she gave it to another classmate. Turns out your supposed to hold it with only your thumb to correct the hands.

  Teacher Agnes pointed out the Ballet 3 class one by one. "You have to keep practicing, you have to concentrate, etc., etc." To me (and a few others)  she said "Mababaw lang ang kaligayahan mo, your contented without having to work so hard!"

  Ouch..

  Yesterday at Dance Club. I only had 2 students. I taught them a routine to Katy Perry's ET. It was mostly arm movements. I made them look like one person with many arms :D Should have taken a video!

  One of my own DC students taught me to baby freeze!!! I'm so happy!!!!! :D

Ballet In, Jazz Out

Agripipna Vaganova

  One on one classes are so tiring. But my energy is up this week :D Kuya Henry said that starting next week we will have classes more like the ones in BM. Vaganova technique.
  My pull up and arms are still nowhere... My arms have been a problem since last summer. I don't know if I've always had lifeless arms or if it developed over time :|
  I haven' blogged about Dance Club for quite some time now. This is because there hasn't been any meet ups for over two weeks now.
  We won't be teaching Jazz any more, though. We think it's the reason that people don't attend :| It was Pat's idea. When I told the students they wore relieved expressions...

Flat Feet T_T

  Class on weekdays is 5:30-6:30 p.m. At 4:30, while watching "Ballet Shoes", I was nagging at my mom to leave the house already... The leaving materialized, however, at around 4:50... When we got out of the house we realized that Dad had brought the car. We decided to walk to the main street and wait for Dad to bring the car back.

  Annoyed at my mom, and nervous about being late, I walked haughtily and speedily to the corner. It was just perfect timing that when I got there, an empty Taxi passed. I hailed it, much to Mom's surprise. As I had walked ahead of her, she had to run to me and the cab with her surprised face (she had also stopped to chat with a neighbor).

  I got in the cab and started fixing my bun. I asked her if my hair was alright and she said the bun was heart shaped. Mom took pictures of me in the taxi -_-

  We arrived in Locsin's at exactly 5:00. I was not  late. I apologized to Mom for panicking... Should have just calmed down... I left my water at home :(


  Class was good. Since I was early I was able to watch Ballet 4 practice their variations. One of the girls did the blue bird solo from Sleeping Beauty.. I recognized the music. :D

  On the barre we did some new exercises. I was reprimanded three times. After the second plie exercise, Teacher Agnes told me to work on my arches more. "This exercise is for you, you really need to work on your arches" She said.

  Flat feet T_T

Gaynor Minden

Gaynor Minden's new pointe shoe

  Hit dancer.com on my search bar. This is probably my favorite ballet website ever! Not only is Gaynor Minden said to be the best brand of pointe shoes but their site makes me fall in love with ballet all over again! <3

  This is where I learned about most of the famous ballerinas and classical ballets. I also learned about ballet's history from this site (I even made a power point about the history of ballet using GM as reference :))

  The brand of my current pointes is Grishko. Grishko 2007s. Compared to the Capezios these are really hard.Or maybe to my flat feet they are :( One of my ballet classmates (with really arch-y feet) shocked me one day when she said "Your shoes are Grishko 2007? Wow so soft!"  She uses Bloch, which I heard from one of my ballet teachers to be rock hard... I wish I had her feet!!!!

  Grrr.. Its raining so hard. Must bundle up... hehehe... Will get to use those sweaters that are so cute and just get stacked in the botttom of the clothes pile because I live in the tropics :P

  Class 2nyte :D

My current pointes; Grishko 2007
credits to my friend Ana Mempin for the photo :)) 

Dreams, The Bolshoi, and Destiny...

Joy Annabelle Womak
Image via BalletNEWS

  Had a dream that I was in Russia <3 Then read that Joy Womak made it in the Bolshoi... What could this all mean??? This morning after ballet class, my teachers asked me if I was planning on going to Manila for Ballet during the summer... I keep telling myself; "It will all fall into place... But will it? Read a book that asked, "If destiny is written down for us, why do our choices affect our fate?"
  I have to make my decision now... >_<

Ballet Flats

Went to Locsin's really early today. I wanted to warm up really well before pointe class. Class is usually 9:00 a.m. for those on pointe. 9:30 is when ballet 3, 4, and 5 have class together on soft shoes.
  I later learned, from my other classmates, that there was no pointe class this morning because Teacher Agnes wasn't there :( So much for being early... Most of my classmates were relieved, though, "Whew! Thank goodness... I have a blister"
  The class was taught by Kuya Henry. After barre and center, we ran through the choreo twice... Good class..

When I got home, I fixed my ballet shoes... The cloth inside doesn't stick anymore... Just glued it back in place :))

  Thought: Should have had it washed during the vacation O_O

  I have a dark blister on my big toe >_<   Not the worst though... I've had others with water inside, with the skin coming off... with blood...

 Sorry :P I don't mean to be disgusting...