Summer Intensives

Hi, everyone. Right now I can't wait for Christmas, but right after that is time to audition for summer intensives. My parents are pretty much okay with allowing me to audition, however they seem like they really won't allow me to attend any because they don't want me to be gone for 2-6 weeks this summer, because summer intensives are so expensive, and because where I would be going for them is out of state. I know that summer intensives will really improve my technique in a short period of time, will build up my ballet resume, will allow me to be seen by artistic directors and other future employers will allow me to see what ballet is like outside of my small ballet school, will allow me to become a more well-rounded dancer, will introduce me to more dance styles and styles of teaching, and will give me some really great life experiences. Right now, I have almost every summer intensive audition at a prestigious ballet school written down (which is almost everything from Kirov Academy of Ballet of Washington D.C. to Cincinnati Ballet to Boston Ballet). Now, I have to start planning out more and deciding which ones to audition for because I can't possibly audition for every one that I have written down. I guess we'll have to see.

Nutcracker Casting.....

Hi, everyone. What I'm about to tell you guys is definitley not going to be easy. Sadly, i don't think I got cast in the Nutcracker Ballet this year. It completley broke my heart. I think this week we were supposed to be e-mailed and my parents were never contacted about Nutcracker. Now, I can't even listen to the music from waltsz of the snowflakes without tears streaming down my face. I had, had my heart completley set on getting the role as a soldier or a doll, but with me being a year or two too young to be in my small ballet school's pre-professional ballet company, and me being a year or two too old to be a party guest or a peppermint I guess my chances of getting into to this amazing ballet were extremley limited. There are only five or six dancers in my school's company and sadly they take almost every role except the young party guests, young Clara, nutcrcaker soldiers, mice, and peppermints. The only two roles I could possibly get I think are a soldier or a mouse, but I don't want to run around on the balls of my feet across a stage wearing a mouse mask. I would have given absoloutley anything to be a Nutcracker soldier, but sadly there are only four soldiers every year and I guess I wasn't one of the lucky four and I would have for sure known by now if I was Clara, but then again I have only been with my current ballet school for a year and Clara would be given to a dancer who has been training at my school since a very young age, I think. At least now I don't have to obsess over every ballet class about not being able to mess up because then my tecaher won't give me a role in the Nutcracker because clearly she won't put me in there anyway.



I have dealt with quite a few dissapointments with ballet before so this isn't big for me. But, don't get me worng. I am without a doubt one of the best in my class, and I do wll in every class and every class I improve mounds and my teacher (who I truly do really, really like and I know she likes me!) watches me strengthen every day as a dancer. I have to remember that I am a talented, very young ballet student, who has already been dancing en pointe for 5 months. Every dancer at my junior high school always say how they wish they were as flexible as me, how they want to do pointe like me, how they want to be as good of a dancer as me, how I have the perfect body for ballet. This is when I truly relaize how lucky I am and how there is always someone looking up to me and I don't think that really any ballet role could replace that.

Back into dance/Nutcracker?!

This past week was my first week of ballet since my ballet shcool's summer session. It was great to get back and I have already seen a very big improvemnet from I first stepped foot into Ballet IV on the first day of the summer session until my first class this past week. I am getting much stronger at barre, my confidence is raising every class, my pointe work is getting better, my entralaces during grande allegro, and my turns and my arms are improving, just to name a very few things. Right now we are at the time where ballet schools all across the country are announcing casting for the infamous ballet that creates one of the most magical holiday traditions, the Nutcracker Ballet.

I have only been dancing ballet for four years and the first 3 years of my ballet training were at a local dance studio, not a pre-professionall ballet school therefore I never had the opportunities to participate in Nutcracker or any other ballet. Last year I transferred to my current ballet school during November which is when our school performs Nutcracker, so it was far too late for me to perform in the ballet, but this year I really hope to get a part. I am very thin and have long legs which was oen of the first things my ballet tecaher noticed about me and I have been en pointe for nearly four months already, I ahve great balance, I am dedicated to all of my classes and have exceptional attendance, I NEVER talk during class, I always pay attention and am willing to work very hard during Nutcarcker as I always do during dance. My teacher (who is also the artistic director of the school) has seen me improve loads in only a matter of a few months and she has seen me go from weak tto very strong for pointe shoes in only 3.5 months which takes many dancers years. I know if she chose me to be in Nutcracker she would not be dissapointed. Tonight my mom will e-mail my teacher asking her if there are auditions and how you knwo if you will be in Nutcarcker. I already know the answer to the first question, but I want my mom to hint to her so that my tecaher can ethier tell us I will not be in it or I am lucky enough to be in it. I really want to know. I'll let you know if I get cast. Please wish me luck!!

Before ballet and pointe

Hi, everyone. I am about to go to my ballet and pointe class but first I figured I should blog. I've been working really hard in class and although I'm seeing improvement and I'm doing really well sometimes class can seem impossible. Our class ranges from 11-20 years olds and being 13yrs old I am obviously definitley one of the youngest. There's 9-12 of us each class and we are the second most advanced level in my ballet school. In two weeks is the last week of our summer session and I will be on vacation that last week so today and next week Friday I have a makeup class for the two days I will be missing, but other than that I will have perfect attendance. This is very important because we start rehearsing for Nutcracker in about two and a half months and we are selected based on height, age, ability level, and dedication so I really need to continue showing my ballet tecaher my committment and dedication to class. I have never been in the Nutcracker or anyother ballet for that matter so, this is definitley something that I really want to do, but for right now I just need to keep working hard in every class.

My Summer So Far

Ok, so I know that I haven't written in a post in like 19 days, but I have been really busy with ballet/pointe and I have also been hanging out and going to the pool with friends quite often. I also have had two garduation parties to go to in this past weekend. I had ballet and pointe today from 12-2 pm. Pointe hurts, but I still looove it and I love the challenge that ballet and pointe brings me. Every class I am learning something new (especially in my pointe class) and I am vastly improving.

What holds next summer will be very hard to say. This winter I am going to do lots of auditions for ballet summer intensives for next summer, but they are very hard to be accpeted into and are extremley expensive. This summer and this fall I am going to train and work harder than I ever had in ballet. I am starting the school year (unlike last year) at my current ballet school and I am en pointe. I also have the possibility of performing in my school's nutcracker and our spring ballet so I definitley have a lot to be happy about and alot that's inspiring me to keep working harder.

My Pointe Shoes

At the beggining of this week on Monday I was fitted for my very first pair of pointe shoes. I was so excited. I've wanted to get my pointe shoes since my first ballet class and getting them was awesome. I went to the dance store with my mom and my amazing ballet teacher was there with the really nice pointe shoe fitter. After trying on two pairs of the same pointe shoe that were slightly too wide I tried on the third pair of pointe shoes my teacher and pointe shoe fitter had picked. They were the exact same pair except slightly less wide and they agreed that the third pair I tried on was a perfect fit for me so, I am now wearing Chacott Veranese II's. They are a really pretty peach color with a very soft pink tint. My mom and I only had two days to sew on my pointe shoes before my first pointe class which was on Wednesday. It was an hour long class. There are six of us students beggining pointe for the very first time this summer. The first half of the class we learned more about putting on our shoes and how to tie our ribbons. The second half of the class was spent solely on simple pointe excercises at the barre. We did three different excercises. The first was going up all the way onto releve and then doing plie whils still on releve so, that we could really focus on pushing into our arches and then going up onto releve to see if we could maintain it. Then we would reverse all that. The secong barre combinations we did battmant tendu a la seconde and then we would bent the leg in tendu so, we could again focus on pushing into our arches. We would then do that on the other leg as well. The third and last exercise we did was pas de bourres at the barre which I loved. The entire class seemed to fly by and luckily, other than sightly red toes I didn't feel any pain or get hurt toes or anything yet which is good because I've read and heard about many dancers in lots of pain after their first pointe class.

From now on, though I won't be dancing on Wednesdays. Instead I will be dancing for 2 hours on Tuesday and for 2 hours on Thursday. This will start next week and go until I believe the last week in July. Tuesdays and Thursdays I will have an hour and 15 minutes of ballet which will be followed by a 45 minute pointe class. Other than the six of us starting pointe the other girls have already been en pointe for at least a year so, class will be pretty challenging, but I think for most of the summer we will be at the barre when en pointe. I don't think there will be many of us though. Altogether I imagine there will be no more than twelve of us.  I can't wait for class on Tuesday, though! I will keep you guys updated. Got to go know and order a mesh pointe shoe bag on discountdance.com to prevent mold build up in my pointe shoes.

Awesome Ballet news!!!!

So, last Thursday I had my usual ballet technique class and it was pretty good. My teacher followed my fellow dancers and I ouside and said hello to our mothers. My mom asked my ballet teacher about what classes I should take this summer. My ballet tecaher told my mom that we would have to wait for her to e-mail my mom because she hasn't heard from 'the shoe fitter' yet. My mom and I both got excited when she said this because we had a feeling it was going to be...
"But, if Jacqueline wants to do the POINTE class she'll have to do the ballet IV class which is followed by the  pointe class." I was SO shocked and surprised when she said this I coulldn't even believe it! She is seriously going to let me start pointework this summer!!! I can't wait!!!! Now, I feel like all my hard work has really apid off. I know that this is just the very beggining of all the hardwork I will have to spend in the ballet studio, but I'm extremley dediacted and incredibly hard working and my teacher has definitley noticed this. I still can barely get over the fact that she's letting me start pointe. I should get my first pointe shoe fitting within the next few weeks so, we'll see how it all goes and everything. I'm so happy! I can't wait. When I found out my teacher was letting me start pointe that when my mom and I went into the car I burst into tears of joy!  I know about pointe work and how it causes your toes to bleed, it hurts, it gives you bunions and blisters, etc. but for right now I'm going to just enjoy the amazing moment.

The Google Art Contest

Hey, everyone so as most of you know at the end of the school year it's cram time with homework, projects, and making sure you still get good grades to follow what your teachers say and end the school year on a "high note". Well, just now I went on the internet because I have to complete some homework online and because Google is my laptop's homepage I came across the Google Art Contest and I decidely to quickly check out the finalists' entries. Well, first of all let me say EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM IS ABSOLOUTLEY AMAZNG and you should definitley check them out, but while I was going through the entries I noticed one that definitley caught my attention immediatley!

"If I could travel to any "pointe" in time I'd visit the late 1800's to the early 1900's to see famous ballets of that time. I would see all the beautiful dancers en pointe and be a spectator of their magnificent jumps, turns, leaps, and graceful skills. "

Kathryn P, Grand Forks, ND, Grade 9

Isn't that drawing gorgeous?!... and it's about ballet! Because of the fact that I'm a ballet dancer I'm probably being biased, but I think it's my favorite. Don't get me wrong, however. I think every single drawing deserves to win WITHOUT A DOUBT, but this one certainly caught my attention. I'm under a lot of pressure with school work and friends, and what ballet level I'll be doing this summer/fall and if I'm strong enough to start pointework and all that other stress we dancers go through, however sometimes it's important to remember that everyone goes through their own stresses and how no ballet dancer had it easy and that this is normal for everyone both dancers and non-dancers, and it's also very important to rember how exceptionally blessed I am and to just keep trying to be positive with ballet as these challenges wll carry with me for the rest of my ballet dancing life regardless if I only make ballet to a strong pre-professional level with a top ballet school or I end up signing  a contract with a top ballet company. I have made a very big outline for myself marking my training as my route to becoming a professional ballet dancer. This outline of my proffessiional training life is much easier said/heard than done, however I know that I can't focus on that for right noe instead I need to enjoy the beautiful ballet entry for Google and be glad I was given the wonderful opportunity to dance in the fist place.

My Much Adored Shampoo/Conditioner

So, as promised in my blog I will also be posting about hair stuff besides dance in this blog, so here goes.
Well, first of all let me just say that I am picky about my hair and what's in my hair products. I love natural ingredients in my beauty products, but I also love top of the line brand name products which is why Tresemme's naturals luxiorious moisturizing shampoo and cream conditioner. The shampoo and conditoner smells awesome, kind of like a hair salon, but not in a fume hair spray way. I think it's the aloe vera.  The shampoo offers a lower amount of sulflates than the average shampoo and the cream conditioner is completley silicone-free keeping my hair extra healthy and strong!! It's works great for my natural curls. I shower every night and I always use the Tresemme shampoo/conditioner. I wash out the conditoner just enough so, there's no suds or huge residue left in my hair, but there's still the lovey aloe vera extract and other invaluable conditioning oils left in my hair. Then I comb my well-treated/washed hair in a low bun and when I go to sleep I comb out my super sliky smooth well-conditioned hair and when I wake up my curls are 95% frizz-free!!! This makes it great for straightening or for people who want to leave their curls au naturel, but don't want to deal with the firzz. Highly recommend!!!

Black Swan vs. Dance Moms

Ok, so yeah I guess a TON comes to mind when reading this title, but i'm here to share all the (majority of it negative) things I think on the t.v. show, Dance Moms and the award winning movie Black Swan. So, first off is Dance Moms.

I think this can be semi-entertaining to watch which is pretty obvious considering the fact that it has gotten millions of views.  For the very few of you who don't know Dance Moms is a t.v. show about a small group of dancers who rehearse and train at the Abby Lee Dance Studio where they train under the direction of the cruel and dramatic dance teacher, abby Lee Miller, but every dance day is its own story with the mothers trying to push their daughetrs up to the top of a pyramid. It includes "awesome" drama and best of all dance!! So, what's not to love about this Lifetime show? Well, let's hit the rewind button first. The drama in Dance Moms always seem so fake, and the moms' insane shallow-ness makes the drama appear that way. All we hear is the dance moms complaining to the audience and Abby Lee Miller about how their dance daughters aren't in the spotlight enough. Ummm. hello?! Your daughters AND you are constantly on t.v. for your hit reality show, you are interviews, TONS of girls know your faces and a ton of things are constantly going viral about you guys (take this blog for instance, your daughters are healthy, pretty, wonderful dancers, AND your daughters win dance competitions and shcolarships all the time... and then there's people in India trying to find bugs to eat for dinner so they can stay alive..... Yeah Christy remind me one more time why you're upset this time?, and yeah so the drama's for entertainment but how much of it do you REALLY think is legit?? Also, it's sooooooo annoying when people talk about their favorite dancers!!! Everyone always says how much they hate Maddie and like so and so better, but the truth is Maddie's very good at dance for her age and her artistry is incredible for such a young dancer. For those of you Brooke Fans out there let'sbe honest with ourselves Brooke really can't act to save her like. She an amazing dancer, but Her artistry just really isn't there. Pasting a fake smile on your face isn't good acting, sorry. So, next time someone asks you who your favorite DANCER is say a dancer who is a more realistic choice. When someone asks you who your favorite CHARACTER is say whoever you like...just saying.


And now it's time for Black Swan. I have many different views on this oscar winning movie. First of all I have to say (and this goes for Dance Moms too) I'm not sure if I like dance being out in the media because I like how it raises dance awarness but at the same time dance becoming more widely known increases bad stereotypes (as if there weren't enough already) and having mothers of dancers fighting doesn't really raise much awarness except more about teh crazy people on this world. I always say how I much I wish dance (particularily ballet of course!) would be televised more often, but when I say this I don't mean having fake t.v. shows and movies I mean showing a ballet (or any dance) performance in its own original, beautiful raw form. Showing the ballet La Esmeralda is VERY VERY VERY different then showing a psychotic, hallucinating professional ballet dancer who is driving herself to Cukoo Land, although for the record I personally have never seen the movie, but I have seen the trailer and enough interviews about it to know plenty. There was nothing, however that aggravated me more then at the Oscars when they announced Natalie Portman by calling her a "ballerina", yeah she had a body double in that movie people that wasn't really her dancing!!!!!!!!!,and even if there was for some extermley odd reason that Portman could do even a quarter of the intricate balet steps os Swan Lake she still isn't a ballerina because for the MANY MANY MANY of you who don't know this a ballerina is a professional ballet dancer who is the principal dancer for her ballet company. Even if you dance professionally it doesn't mean you are  a ballerina and tehre is no such thing as a male ballerina!!!,and also she's an actress so, why are you calling her a ballerina? Sarah Lane, a soloist for the infamous American Ballet Theatre, was Portman's body double and believe me shehas had PLENTY of ballet training and experience. Seriously, go see the interview with Sarah Lane and the newsreporter Sarah Lane made her words very clearly and I totally respect her for that. The whole time I watched the interview, I kept thinking, "Yeah, you go girl!!" I do like how Portman said she liked dance and respected ballet but very few people have seen that interview.

So, yes this is what I think on the media involved with dance and I know it's kinda a lot, but that's how I am: extremely opinionated.

Ballet class!

So, today I had my regular technique class and I'm actually really proud of myself. I'm working so incredibly hard with keeping my shoulders back, obtaining a higher arabesque with the supporting leg in releve, keeping my legs straight, and remembering to lengthen my arms even after completing a wonderful balance. My wonderful teacher told me today during class, "Jacqueline, your balance was sooo good, but rember to bring your armsdown slowly and bring them through second position before completely bringing them down into prepartory position." That's what I constanlty work at achieving and I'm improvinga ton. My ballet school is very small, and yet it has trained many professional ballet dancers and has gotten them scholarships to summer intensive programs and year-round progarms to some of the top professional ballet schools in the U.S. It's pretty funny to think about, but what would you really expect from a pre-professional ballet school thats trained proffessional artists? Walls, that were a differnt color, no pictures of the pre-professional company dancers from your school, brighter lights, different flooring?? Hardly.

Sunday...ehhh

So, yeah today I woke up at 8am (pretty late for me!) and I flat ironed my hair, pony tailed it, did my makeup, ate breakfast, and what am I doing now?? Blogging, duh! Today I'm going to finish some homework that I didn't finish on Friday (during school) and then, I'm probably going shopping at the mall which will be awesome considering the fact that I haven't been to the mall in about four weeks! Then, I will also probably stretch which I do everyday to stay flexible throughout the week. There's nothing worse than waking up and having to do five different stretches before you can slide fully into your splits. I'm currently also in the process of planning out my summer and fall for dance and also planning out my ballet auditions for this year (which will be a first.) Well, that's it for now. Also, don't be afraid to comment or write questions on my blog! I'd love to answer them!

My All Time Favorite Dancer: Maria Kochetkova

I love Maria Kochetkova. I think she is so beautiful and I love how her personality has such honest and kindness to it. She is an absoloutley exceptional dancer who is unbelievably talented. In her graduate year of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy she secretly prepared herself for and won the Prix de Lausanne at the age of 18 in 2002 which started her professional ballet career with English National Ballet and The Royal Ballet. Then she auditioned for the San Francisco Ballet and was offered a principal contract with the San Francisco Ballet from artistic director Helgi Tomasson, which she accepted. At only 5 feet tall, I tower Maria Kochetkova by 2 inches!!! Her arches and her calves are incredible! Just look at these pictures of her dancing. Amazing.  

           

New Blogger!!

Hi, my name is Jacqueline and I am 13 years old (for those of you who have read my profile already know this.) I absoloutey adore ballet, it makes up SO much of who I am. Everyone who knows me know that I have a huge passion for dance. My dream is to be a professional ballet dancer when I get older. I know that this is a dream that I share with thousands of other young dancers like me and that there's NOTHING easy about the future I aspire to, but I am extremeley dedicated to ballet. Every ballet class I forget everything and I focus on strengthening my technique. Dance is where I feel the most true version of me, and that's why I love classical dance so incredibly much. As I'm sure most of you have already noticed I am new to blogging, but I can't wait to share with you my thoughts and feelings about dance, and all other things I love, like shopping, fashion, and hair and makeup products.