end of the second week; three more to go!

Yes, I've been here (PBT) for two weeks, and I truly love it. The only thing I don't love is Pittsburgh. Maybe it's because I am used to going into NYC that I'm just a more city-girl... but Pitts is not for me. It's just not like a city like I thought it would be. Then again we're not really allowed to go to many places anyway so I don't know what the rest of the city is like.

My first impression of PBT was amazement; the entire school is beautiful. It has five studios (and one of them is the size of two put together - perfect for studio-performances). The studios have all new Harlequin floors and paint on the walls etc.

My other first impression was that they have accepted almost ALL tall girls -- which worries me because I'm five foot three which is pretty short for ballet to begin with... =[ But the girls at this program are generally really good. Everyone has come from different schools/studios. I am one of the few Vaganova-trained students here. I would say that the style here at the school is sort of like ABT. That being a Russian base but more open/flowy like Balanchine.

My level is doing two things for the end of the program studio-performance; Sleeping Beauty Prelude and the farming part of La Fille Mal Gardee. We've learned all of the Fairies except that four of them are different than the original choreography so it's confusing to be doing something else that I'm not used to seeing or doing. Lilac and Generousity are the same and Canary is similar but not really. Mal Gardee is really fun because we all get to do partnering. Most of us also get to do a little Pas de Six with three boys and three girls which is really fun. There is also a female soloist (she is amazing and I'm obsessed with this girl's arms -- hope that doesn't sound creepy) and a male solo.

It truly is an intensive. We're on pointe for every class except most Technique classes (and jazz/modern of course). One thing I don't like is that it isn't very Vaganova, and we have different teachers everyday. But I think that because of my Vaganova background I have an advantage (but Balanchine variations are hard).

So other than those two things, I really really love it here. I highly recommend this program. The teachers are great and I'm sure they would be even better in smaller classes during the year =]