Stretches for the feet!

I'm just quickly posting a video on here for reference, as I needed some new exercises to stretch my feet!

This girl is a ballet video blogger, and she's relatively new to youtube! I'm always out to discover new ballet video bloggers, watching these videos are my guilty pleasure!

Don Quixote!

Last Friday was my birthday, and on Saturday, my dad was kind enough to take me to see the Australian Ballet's Don Quixote at the Sydney Opera House!

The performance was incredible, my eyes were glued to the stage the entire time! I was not very familiar with Don Q before Saturday, I didn't really know what to expect. However from the start  I fell in love with the mixture comical aspects and the magical/classical dancing. If you ever get the chance to see a production of Don Q, I would surely recommend!  

I have to say, seeing a live production of a major company is really inspirational, because the next class I took was a really good class, maybe I was channeling my inner Kitri?

Snippets of the program

Dinner at the Opera Bar just before
the performance, spaghetti and champagne!

Sorry, this post is later than I wanted, I did mean to post it earlier! On another note, I've started doing cardio (30 min treadmill, 10 mins spin) and pilates (about 40 min) to get into shape for next week's exam. I'll see you then with a post on how I went! Hope you're all well!

Time to get Toning!

At the end of last year I stumbled upon this great Pilates and health blogger, who regularly posts Pilates workout videos and also posts workout calenders, telling us what videos to do on each day. This month I decided to follow the calender for April and it's been really good, I suggest you check it all out!

Blogilates

Doing just 10-20 mins a day after ballet and before stretching has been a great way to warm up as well as strengthen my core and inner thighs!

I'm also planning on including cardio in my routine, now that I have more time because I'm off from school for the next two weeks and that it's as good a time as ever to get my fitness levels into shape as my exam is in just over 2 weeks!

You only need to be better than yourself!

Dancers often tend to develop quite competitive nature over time. When your body and physical ability is being examined more then most people would feel comfortable with, it's hard not to let your ego get in the way of why we started dance in the first place. I know I have many times!

I have to say, one of the main forces for my said competitiveness are the 'naturals', in particular the naturals who don't appear to work as hard, or just don't have the passion I or my other classmates have. This sounds very conceited, but I'm sure many dancers can relate. Not many other things are as discouraging as someone doing seemingly nothing and yet getting more recognition. 

I mentioned briefly in one of my hastily written summer school posts the girl with so much drive but surprisingly little technique. My heart broke for her, because she worked so hard but didn't end up getting a solo for the end of week demonstration. But we were so in sync, because not many other people are in the same situation as me, and have such similar views on ballet as I do! The thing I admired most though is that she obviously had such a passion for it, and that's why we dance isn't it?

The thing is, no one is working from the same tools, meaning human bodies are not all the same blank canvases. Someone may just have better turn out, feet, flexibility or the ability to pick up combinations! That's why goal setting is so important, it reminds you of what you have achieved! It's also important not to set time limits for yourself based on others, set time GOALS but if you don't achieve that goal within say 2 weeks or whatever then that does not mean you are not good. I'm sure you've read countless things on accepting your body and abilities, but accepting yourself is such a fundamental thing to do in order to get the best out of dance! 

I hope you're all well and you all enjoy your Easter break! We seem to be suffering from an elongated summer over here, ugh I hate this hot weather ruining my favourite season! I just want to bust out the ridiculous amount of warm-ups already! Also, my ballet exam is literally almost a month! I went to a rehearsal on Sunday and I was fine beforehand but as soon as I walked in and had to practice introducing myself to the examiner I got so nervous and it all just dawned on me OH GOD!!

Not sure where I should go with this blog.

Sorry I haven't written a post in a shameful amount of time! Truth is though, I have rather mixed intentions of what my content should be about! I'm still keeping track of my corrections and what not, but I do so by scribbling notes in a journal I take around with me. Doing things purely with technology obviously wasn't working for me so I decided to rep it old style!

However I decided that simply not posting is not going to help me decide what content this blog should produce, I think I need to continue experimenting to see what fits.

So while that happens, I might just give a quick update! One of my goals for the year was to pass my Grade 6 exam, and I will be taking it in the last week of April! At this point in time, I am not nervous, instead I am rather excited! Before I do my exam, I'll turn 18, which is quite an alien concept, to actually be an adult. I still feel like I need to grip onto my childhood (especially being a late starter in ballet and wanting to be perceived as younger than I am to blend in) but now I look forward to beginning this new chapter of my life. I've stopped hushing my classmates when they try to discuss how old I am ("ancient" has also been used to describe me. They're 3 years younger then I am) and started to embrace it! I had no trouble excitedly claiming to my contemporary teacher "I'M 18 NEXT MONTH OMG WHAT?!?!"  and I'm sure my ballet teacher will soon be hearing about it as well!

I'm looking forward to the coming months, this year has been pretty good so far, I'll will try to post often, even if at the moment it is just updates like these!

Ballet vs. Life

This is a very scary year for me, being my last year of high school. Where I live, a lot pressure is put on students doing their HSC exams. When you realise that passing every subject can often still mean you don't receive a high enough mark for University strikes terror for most students. It's a pretty big year. And I start to wonder how much time and money I should be investing into ballet.

I've written a post touching on this briefly before, but every now and then I have a small freakout and think I should be doing over 20 hours a week. But not only is it difficult to obtain a mere 10 hours a week in my situation ( meaning my location and level of training coupled with age) but it's expensive, in terms of money as well as time.

Then I tell myself to chill and just go with what I can get. The girls in my class don't do more than I do. But I can't help but want to take as many classes as possible following the 'make up for lost time' philosophy. Part of me wants to take this new adult class that my teacher is offering to work on breaking some bad technique habits, but the other part is telling me I may just not belong or it'll be too basic or I don't know.

In contrast, part of me wants to attend the advanced pointe class so I can do more pointework, however the other thinks it'll be a breeding ground for bad habits.

Many people are suffering from having to choose between friends and ballet. However my issue is choosing between having money or ballet. I have to choose between ballet or part time work. Ballet or having a car. Ballet or saving up to move out. Ballet or having lots of nice clothes. It's hard to find the middle ground.

Back on track after a weird week!

I'm back to posting normal posts! I was unable to post normally during summer school as I had no computer, only my phone!

Unfortunately I fell off track this week following summer school, but in my defense it has been a weird week. I went back to school on Wednesday and then from Wednesday evening then throughout Thursday I was sure I was getting a cold; fever, sore throat etc. but today when I took the day off from school I feel fine! I don't understand my body, I really don't. So all this has thrown a spanner in the works, plus I don't go back to my ballet studio until next week.  I'm sure once the school week begins properly and I have ballet as normal, everything will fall into place.

I did most of my routine tonight after about a week's break and I have seemed to have not lost a lot of flexibility, like I expected. I'd hate to have all my hard work done for nothing! But hopefully I'll return to where I was before and continue to improve it. I'd consider OSEIJ successful because I have seen a good amount of improvement in my flexibility, but most importantly an improvement in my motivation to stretch. Even if I didn't actually stretch everyday, I tried to stretch, whenever it was possible, because I knew I would have to document on here whether I did so or not. I think this month I do need to document when I fall off track and the reasons why, even if they are petty. It'll encourage me to complete my routine each day more.

Goals for the month:
-focus on main corrections from ss:
weight forward in turns
no arched back
eyes up
use of plies in allegro
-maintain stretch and strength routine
-work on double pirouettes

And I'll add some more when class starts! :)