I got my exam results back..

..and I passed with honours!

So that's 81%, and honours is the top range you can get! It goes Standard not yet attained (0-39%) Pass (40-49%) Credit (50-59%) Commended (60-69%) Highly commended (70-79%) and Honours (80-100%) 

I did not expect the results to come in so soon, and I also did not expect to go so well! My friend who also took the exam is only 13 and she got 100%!! She's incredible! But I am proud of myself for passing my exam and achieving something! And I'm also proud that I got 100% in theory, that's what I was aiming for, because I knew that my allegro would be lacking! I wish I knew what I lost marks for in barre, because the examiner didn't say, but anyway. That's one New Year's Resolution I can tick off for sure! 

This was just a quick update, I hope you're all going well! 

To be or not to be (an all-rounder dancer)

As probably evident from the content of this blog (and the title) I'm primarily a ballet dancer. I do contemporary as well and at school I take dance as a subject and I'm in the performance company. But at school every now and then I find myself having to attempt some other styles of dance. The other morning during rehearsal we were learning "All that Jazz" from Chicago with the original Bob Fosse choreography for a performance in a few weeks. Anyone who is familiar with his choreography knows it's bent knees, on the balls of the feet, hips parallel with lots of movement of the hips and it's very sensual. My part of the piece had main focus on the hip rolls and because I've never done this style of jazz before it was quite alien to my body. My teacher was going through them with us but then even though I was getting the hang of it she singled me out and was all "I'm putting you in another part of the dance I don't have time" and the girl that replaced me did them no better than I did. Ugh. Even though the part I'm in now is actually slightly better I was annoyed that I was singled out and made to feel inadequate. This is not the first time this has happened in this class either. I wonder if  the roles were reversed and we were learning a difficult Balanchine piece and all the jazz girls didn't know their plies from their pirouettes would the teacher treat them the same way? Most definitely not. Because ballet is rarely performed in schools and the like because of the specific difficulty of the art form.  And also I feel there is often a bit more hierarchy in that class then I really care for, and I seem to cop the brunt of it, no matter how hard I work.

But the reason I've brought this up is because it has made me wonder maybe I should stop using ballet as an excuse for being crap and broaden my horizons from just ballet and contemporary. To me, dance is dance and I actually really enjoy all aspects of it, and it's great to be able to do this, it's boring if you only focus on one style!  So maybe some jazz classes might be taken sometime in the future! I've also actually never taken a tap class in my life so that's also on my bucket list!

So dance at school has been hard on me these past few days, I'm not going to lie! I hope you're on the other hand are going well!

What to do when your schedule decreases

So I did my exam last week! I really hope I went well, now it's time to wait anxiously for the results!

However, this exam session has meant that a whole lot of people (including myself) move up a level, but I've got myself in a situation where normally I would take the next level up but because the girls in the level above me (Adv. 1) are now all in Adv.2 there is no Adv 1 class and Adv 2 would be too difficult. So now my schedule has dropped from 5 days a week to 3 (which still isn't that bad, I'm grateful I have that opportunity). I know that this is probably the best time for me to spend less time on ballet and more on studying but it is a little hard to get used to.

I think you should always try to take any class you can before accepting a not-so-hectic schedule. Ask your teacher if there are any classes from the level above (great challenge!!) or even the level below (focus on technique!!) you can take. Believe me, I thought of every class I could take, even the adults class which is mainly the mum's of my classmates and is allegedly very basic! But there was nothing I really felt comfortable taking.  In my mind, taking an adults class is a great way to work on my technique, but when I really think about it, I felt I would be intruding on the class, or somehow demanding my teacher's attention when she is trying to teach the basics to first time dancers. I really don't know. So then I tried to find classes from other studios to take. If you can afford to do this, and travel is not a big issue then it is a good idea, because it's a solution for anyone who doesn't have access to a studio with amazing schedules! But I of course with me, doing this would be expensive and too much hassle!

But I know so many people have trouble affording the dance schedules they desire. If your ballet schedule is not that busy, that means you have more time for a job and if you save up, then maybe the following year you can increase your classtime! Remember there's no time limit, don't go all "But I have to train insane NOW to make up for lost time" like I did! If you really love to dance, you'll find a way to incorporate it in your everyday life, whether it's class or cross training (pilates! it's my fave) and stretching at home! So that's how I'm looking at it, I'm saving money so after I finish school I would love to focus on dance and working in a part time job for awhile before I head off to uni!

I write a lot about these sort of topics in this blog, maybe I should focus more on quality of training and not quantity! But in my defence, it is very relevant in my dance life, this learning to accept what I can get. Last year I had freak out over freak out because I would read certain ballet forums who tell me that anything less than a pre-professional school is 'insufficient' training and I would follow these pre pro students on Instagram and I would feel the need to be like them. Ballet was the escape from some pretty icky things going on my life so I held it in such high regard and just HAD to do it all the time!

But now I know that there's nothing much I can do about it at the moment. I'm pretty sure next year the schedule will fall into place for me a little better!