Nutcracker season COMPLETE!

Backstage; Arabian and Chinese

Classical Divert.

Wow, what a hectic season! We finished our holiday performances last weekend. Our program included "Classical Divertissements" which included music and choreography from Sleeping Beauty, Fairy Doll Pas de Trois, Don Quixote, and Grand Pas Classique. There was also a modern choreography piece, and a character piece entitled "Hopak". Unfortunately, ue to injury I was taken out of Classical Divertissements.

The second half of the show was our school's traditional Nutcracker Act II. Luckily I was able to still participate because I got a cortisone injection in my left ankle. I did the part of Arabian, and WOW my hips are still sore! The performances were so much fun, and I am so happy to have been able to perform for young children. I hope that we have inspired these kids to get involved in the arts.

Anyways, I am now at the West Palm Airport, awaiting my flight back home. I have not seen my family for 124 days now, and I cannot wait for the moment when I see my mom waiting for me at the airport home.

Please enjoy some of these pictures I took backstage through the wings and the dressing room
Classical Divert.Modern Piece

cortisone shot woohoo!

Yes, the time finally came for me to get my first cortisone shot. I have had achilles/ankle pain for several years now ... My doctors and I have always thought that I had achilles tendinitis, however now we think it may be something different because the pain is not directly at my achilles - it is more towards the side.

So last Friday I got an MRI and then a cortisone shot right after. The shot itself did not hurt as much as I thought it would. It felt like a painful acupuncture needle when they twist the needle around in your skin to find the pressure point. All the doc did was put a numbing spray on the surface of my skin, and then he shot me up. At first my foot was just numb, but a few hours later I could not walk - literally. So I wore a boot for two days to help me walk. It has been a little over 50 hours since I got the shot, and I can officially walk! Word of advice to anyone getting this shot: make sure to RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). Actually I'm not too sure about compression, but definitely ice and take IB Profin.

Quick facts about the cortisone shot: It is a steroid injection. Cortisone is a naturally-occurring steroid from the adrenal gland. The shot is synthetically produced, however, but it is very similar to the one our body makes. All the shot does is act as an anti-inflammatory. It does not fix the problem.

nutcracka!

Casting has been up for several weeks now. I have been casted in Arabian so far. Luckily I am fairly flexible, so it is easier than other roles; just a three minute adagio. My only difficulty is the "Arabian" portebra. I studied Oriental character very little last year, so I need to work on my arms and posture.

Casting is always crazy because of people getting injured and such, so I am studying two different parts that are opposites of one another (which is good so that I work both sides of my arabesque and other positions).

My hip tendinitis has gotten so much better because of my amazing chiropractor. Unfortunately I can't say the same for my achilles. It hurts to point, releve, and plie - which means I can't do anything basically. I have been cutting out all releves at the barre (on both sides so that I don't compensate), and limiting allegro. The hardest thing for me is not jumping. I really do not know what to do about the tendinitis. My chiro has just been massaging out the adhesions and taping my leg. It isn't working... Should I get some acupuncture? I think that acupuncture may help, but it will not get rid of the tendinitis. I cant afford to keep going to physical therapy or massage therapists.

My cause for the achilles tendinitis is my anatomically flat feet that cause protrusion and misalignment (leads to many other problems too). I am desperate; what if I got reconstructive surgery?

Sincerely,
Yours Truly that Doesn't Know What to Do

back to school!!

I have officially had my first day of school. My schedule was messed up, so tomorrow it will hopefully be ready. I am taking Drawing and Painting, Government, Physics, and English. I like my teachers so far, they seem very fun and interesting. I also had my first ballet classes today. We have a bunch of new students and this first week we all take class together! I was so incredibly nervous because all the teachers were watching us today, and I have not taken class in three weeks!! I was shaking so much that I'm surprised the teacher didn't say anything.

I am 'unpacked', but my roommate and I are waiting for our bunk bed to be made. So the room is a bit of a mess.

I am sad to say that like usual I've gotten sick from the plane ride in. I don't know why but the pressure affects my sinuses so much.

a little less than two weeks to go!

It's has now been a complete 23 days here in Pittsburgh! And I have only 11 days left!!
I cannot wait to be home with family and friends. Then I am home for 22 days before I leave for school. So I must make the best of those three weeks!

Things here have not been going as well as the first week here because my achilles tendonitis has been acting up and my back has stiffened (I strained it back in April). Unfortunately there is no masseuse here so there isn't much I can do other than not dance (which is not an option).

Last night we watched The Silence of the Lambs. It was amazing; Anthony Hopkins has always been one of my favorite actors, and this was truly his best role I believe. Now I want to read the books for this movie!

Oh yeah! Books I've read so far this summer. Well only one! Lord of the Flies. And I'm currently reading The Sun Also Rises. Both books are easily-read. The Hemingway book reminds me of the Great Gatsby in a way; so I hope that it doesn't disappoint me as much as Gatsby did.

ABT Sleeping Beauty 2010 !!

I just realized that I never shared my experience at the Met this year!
So I went to see ABT's Sleeping Beauty on Saturday June 19th the matinee and evening performances.

I currently don't have my programs with me at the moment, but this is what I remember:

Matinee: Aurora Alina Cojaharu, Prince Desire Jose Manuel Carreno.
She was absolutely beautiful. She is a very tiny dancer compared to the rest of the ABT company. Her balance was impeccable which was evident in the Rose Adagio. Everything that she did was very soft and almost child-like (in a good way I mean).
Stella Abrera was the Lilac Fairy. I was disappointed with her performance, although I must say her portebra/arms are absolutely stunning.
I believe Sarah Lane was the Princess Florine, and I liked her performance alot.
Carreno was well he was Carreno... His wig fell off during his variation, and one of the ladies in a gold gown picked it up.
Oh, and not to forget; Martine Van Hamel was the witch!!!!!

Evening Show:
Natalia Osipova (MY FAVORITE!!!!) and David Hallberg (love him so much). Natasha was amazing as usual. You can tell Aurora is not her best role compared to her Kitri or Giselle (which I saw last year!), yet her Aurora was AMAZING. I enjoyed her performance alot more than Alina's because it was more exciting and you never knew what was going to happen next. Her jumps and stage presence are what separate her from dancers of this age. Yes, she is flexible like 21st century ballet, but the way she uses it isn't gaudy or Gumby-ish. Hallberg was also fantastic. I saw him and Natasha in Giselle last year. He looks better as Prince Desire. He was amazing as well.
Lilac Fairy was Michelle Wiles. I loved her performance because she looked like she really was the head fairy and took charge of the stage (in a good way). Bluebird was Daniil Simkin. And he was literally perfect -- I was stunned.

In between shows I got to go backstage and see the crew setting up for the evening show and the dancers warming up in their costumes. It was an amazing experience to see the Met from within. I found out that for every major production ABT actually has a special floor (marley). For instance the Sleeping Beauty floor was black marley with splotches of green/blue paint in parts (from a distance it looked like white-swept floor). The stage manager also explained to us how they used the scenery in Act 2 which moved across the stage to show a different place and scenery. It was extremely complicated, and I honestly don't remember how at all. He also showed us a remote control that controlled the moving swan that carries the Lilac Fairy and Prince Desire. He said that it actually has more control and operation than a car because it can move in all directions. They always have two men backstage that know the exact movements/direction the swan must go.

I enjoyed parts of the set except from my cheap "Family Circle" seat you couldn't see the top section of the set. The curtains were actually covering it from my point of view! That was a major disappointment to me. But the moving scenery and colors were very beautiful and well done. The costumes also looked new and pristine. The one thing I didn't like was the Act 3 Pas de Deux costumes. They were a light shade of green with many sparkles. I found it not very Princess-like at all. When I think of Sleeping Beauty Wedding, I think of whites, golds, and pink. Other than that everything was gorgeous.

Amazing day at the Met! But my favorite Met day was last year's Giselle with Osipova/Hallberg. That will forever be my most fond memory of watching a ballet.

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 =]