Christmas

Happy Christmas all!!! <3

Reverence

So at the end of class at Ballet Theatre UK, obviously we do a reverence together, but after class, I like to do a curtsey to the teacher by myself and say thank you. On Sunday, as everyone else was taking their shoes off, I went up to Tania, did a small reverence, and thanked her for the class. And she curtsied too!! Awww! that really made my day, because a reverence is a sign of respect- most teachers just nod and smile at me, but for her to curtsey back to me shows that she is respectful and thankful of my effort in class... :) <3

BTUK Associates

Last week at Associates we learnt the Swan Lake coda, it was so gorgeous!! but my toenails were really long because I didn't think we would be doing pointework, so my feet were agony!!! I had to keep reminding myself to look pretty because the audience don't care- or realise- if you're in pain!!! class was so fun, Tania got us to do triple pirouettes! and the other day, I was working on pirouettes- I got quadruples, and once.... five!! five pirouettes! Aaah :D

School

So I have to memorise a 3000 word essay for English at school? Don't they realise I already have several poems, a few monologues, Grade 6, intermediate & Advanced ballet syllabi, as well as several solos, dances and enchainements whirling round my head???? :P

Nutcracker

i saw Ballet Theatre UK's Nutcracker last night- it was phenomenal!!!! the choreography was amazing, it is such a unique style, and all the dancers were beautifully strong on pointe! The Sugar Plum Fairy pas de deux was absolutely stunning- I don't know how the poor Sugar Plum managed to keep dancing though, the pas de deux looked exhausting!!!! All of the costumes were absolutely beautiful- so many sparkly tutus! :D <3

Weekend

My next class with ballet theatre UK associates is this weekend- exciting!! I loved the last one; we learnt the Sugar Plum Fairy variation from Nutcracker, which was awesome but so hard!! ;P

Dress Rehearsals!!

Tonight is dress rehearsal for 'The Show that Rocked' at the Concordia Theatre. I'm really excited- all of my costumes look amazing! On Tuesday, we had a run-through on stage without costume- we did the pointework dance on demi-pointe, and the stage was mega-slippery, so doing it on pointe proimises to be.... interesting!!! ;) So, i just realised that i forgot to write about the actual show!!!! We had 3 wonderful performances- i felt particularly proud of the Grade 2's & 3's, whose dances i helped to teach :) the last night was quite emotional, but at the same time, it seemed magical to wonder- next time i perform, where will i be, what role will i be playing, who will i be dancing with? :)

Fouettes and show rehearsals

In pointe class yesterday, we focused on fouette releves. I think I prefer the fouettes en tournant; that way, its only really possible to go 'splat!' backwards, or fall off pointe. In fouette releves, you could fall forwards over the box, backwards, or to either side. hmm. And also, my toenails were far too long, so i literally felt as if they were about to snap off. Grrr. More positively, our show is in a week's time- exciting! My costumes are nearly finished, and are lovely (except for a purple velour creation that makes my ribs, shoulders and hips look disproportionately wide.....) lol :)

Graeme Hawley masterclass

So today I went to an awesome acting materclass with Graeme Hawley, from Coronation St! I focused on a monologue from Romeo & Juliet, and Graeme really helped me to consider Juliet's emotions, and how to maintain the character throughout the piece. We also learnt about the Alexander Technique, which is a fab yoga-like routine with a partner- its awesome for posture!!! :)

back to school!

Tomorrow is the first day back at school- the summer holidays have gone soo fast!! it has been amazing though :) time to start thinking about 6th form auditions now!!! :D

Bloch Photo competition- please vote!!!

Hi all, There is a photo competition on the Bloch page, it would be so fabulous if everyone reading this could vote for me!! Here is the link; https://www.facebook.com/bloch.dance?v=app_599788450050788&app_data=gaReferrerOverride%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.facebook.com%252Fl.php%253Fu%253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fa.pgtb.me%25252F2dPJ9j%2526h%253DcAQEFNbHh%2526s%253D1 Im sat in the splits in a black tutu.... pleasee vote for me!! thank you xoxoxo

Opes; Day 5

The last day of summer school was amazing- after class, we rehearsed for our performance showcase, whch was at 3pm. It was fabulous- the Seniors performed some phenomenal Contemporary dances, and an awesome Don Quixote pas de deux! All of my dances went well too :) At the end, we were presenteed with certificates. It was nice to see my parents again, but it was sooo sad to be leaving! I will miss all of my amazing friends so much, but will definitely be back next year!!! P.S- Yes, I am writing these blog posts at home, the internet connection wasn't very good in the middle of the countryside!!!! ;)

Opes: Day 4

Today was amazing!! Peter Parker taught classical class again, then instead of body conditioning we worked on the Snowflakes dance. We managed to finish it, yey!!! Its such a long dance though, the longest in the whole ballet!! After repertoire, me and Megan (she goes to Elmhurst and is absolutely amazing, but so kind too!) asked Shannon how we can improve our technique. Shannon gave me some amazing advice on improving my arabesques, arm lines and turnout! Im so grateful to all of the teachers for being so lovely here, not only do i feel so welcome, Ive learnt loads too! Anyway... In contemporary, we finished the dance: Olivia is very fond of "trick steps" like cartwheels and walkovers- I hope my feeble offering of fouettes was enough!!!! ;-) The final class was Errol Pickford's Giselle repertoire- we learnt the Coda to our pas de deux; it has lots of balances and pas de valse (valses?!) so its gorgeously delicate and floaty!! In the evening we were treated to a pas de deux demonstration from the Seniors, who danced a phenomenal pas de deux, solos & coda. One of the boys, Damani, who is in Elmhurst graduate year, is off to Helsinki today for a Company audition!! On Monday at at 9pm he got a call to be in London the following morning for an English National Ballet recall!! Wow! I cant believe its my last night here already though, Im packing ready to go home! :-(

Opes: Day 3

The girls in my dorm slept on the floor last night in protest to their hard mattresses- i decided to keep to my bed!! This morning's class was taken by Peter Parker. The music for our warm up was the same music that was used for the Magical Objects dance in Beauty and the Beast: a lilting, sad adagio. In the centre, we did a lovely assemble combination, and some very pretty balances with pirouettes. (Triples! Yey!) The next class was Conditioning, taught by Olivia Pickford. We worked a lot on our flexibility, then on some Jazz combinations of battements and turns. (turning in parallel?! Err, why?! Lol!) That class seemed to last forever!!! After lunch, Olivia finished the Contemporary dance, in.which some of us did fouettes- an incredible 8 year old Japanese boy did about 24, just effortlessly! Final class of the day was repertoire: Shannon taught us a bit more of the Snowflakes dance (Nutcracker in August? Really?! :-P) which is getting rather complex- so many pattern changes! We had a barbeque for dinner, but as soon as the food was served, really heavy rain started- Typical!!! We explored the forest, and Rhyn (the Japanese fouette-boy) chased us with a stick the size of a small tree!!! Hehe ;-) Everyone else is playing hide-and-seek right now... I dont know how they have enough energy!!! :-P

Royal Ballet Gala

Last night, we were treated to a video of a Royal Ballet gala- everyone was delighted when the presenter on the video announced "Sadly, Irek Muhmadov of the Bolshoi was injured yesterday, so Errol Pickford will take his place in the Don Quixote pas de deux." oh yes, go Errol!!! Needless to say, Errol's pas de deux, solo and coda were incredible, making me wonder: so did he find out the previous day that he would have to dance that role?!! Wow! His triple cabrioles and fouettes were amazing! In fact, everyone's fouettes were pretty phenomenal: the gala was to raise money for a Russian earthquake help fund, so both the Bolshoi and Royal Ballet dancers presented extracts from ballets. In fact, Errol's pas de deux was the first time a Royal Ballet principal had partnered a Bolshoi dancer at the Royal Opera House! Also, there was a pas de deux from Swan Lake, which was just so absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous, the yearning and sorrow of Odette was really emotional!!! There were also pieces from Manon, Cinderella and Paquita- it has definitely given us something to aspire to!! <3

Opes: Day 2

After being woken up at 7.30 by a rather loud and excitable Hannah (why?! How is it possible to be so awake in the morning?!!) we had breakfast then classical class. Errol Pickford (ex Royal Ballet principal) taught us- we did quite a lot of barre exercises, and later, some rather mind-boggling petit allegros! Errol has a reputation for giving really challenging classes though, so I was surprised that it all seemed quite easy!! Next, Shannon Parker gave a body conditioning class, which seemed far more tiring than yesterday's!! After lunch, Olivia Pickford taught us some more of the Contemporary routine, giving it a jazzy, swing feel, which got very confusing! Im glad that we did jazz at Ballet Theatre UK though, so at least i wasnt totally hopeless!!! After a quick break, Shannon Parker worked on the Nutcracker repertoire with us, which was gorgeous :-) lots of grands jetes and temps leves! (Shannon kept saying 'sautes' instead of temps leves though, how baffling!!) Our classes finished at 5pm, I think we're all exhausted!!! ;-)

Opes; Day 1

Had an amazing first day at summer school! After an early start and a journey of nearly 2 hours, we finally arrived at the beautiful Ranby House. We were shown to our dorms- I am sharing with Alana, who goes to BTUK Associates, Hannah & Emily. We had Classical class, taught by Shannon Parker, which was quite basic but fun. Then, we had conditioning- i was exhausted! We did an exercise where a partner held our feet, and, lying on our front, we arched our backs, so that we were in a cobra pose (think yoga) with our arms in 5th. Shannon was delighted by how flexible my back is, and a couple of the other girls stared at me a bit enviously ;-) After lunch, Olivia Pickford taught contemporary class, where we learnt a bit of a rather interesting routine based upon a gospel choir!!! Last class of the day was repertoire: we learnt the Pas de Deux from Act 1 of Giselle. It was gorgeously springy, with a complicated sequence of temps leves! It was short and sweet, so pretty! :) After dinner, we explored the amazing grounds, Im in the dorm now with the girls :)

Midland Theatre Ballet: Day 3

I can't believe summer school is over already!! The last day was wonderful though: once again, James Wilkie taught class, which was inspiring but tiring!!! We worked on the Rose Adagio, adding in the other groups' work, as well as the Princess Florine variation and Carabosse dance. James then taught us the Fairies' Entrance, from the Prologue of the ballet, which was simple but pretty. To my delight, we were given costumes to wear for the showcase performance- I had a stunning teal satin tutu for the Fairies, my black leotard for the Carabosse dance, and for the Rose Adagio, I was re-united with the original costume that I wore for MTB's Sleeping Beauty two years ago!! Thankfully, it still fitted: a gold romantic tutu, with a white and gold corset top. After our costume fitting, we had one more run-through, then a half-hour break before the showcase. Remembering what Chris Moore told us last week, i sat in the splits, and didn't move, except to re-do my bun and get into costume. As a result, i had heaps of energy for the Showcase!! It all went really well, and I loved doing it! Kevin O'Hare and Gemma Sykes of The Royal Ballet danced a charming pas de deux, then, at the end of the showcase, presented us all with certificates :) I then had to dash like crazy to the train station- my train left at 4.22 and we were still in the studio, a 10 minute walk from the station, at 4.15!! A close call but we just about made it ;) Thank you to everyone at MTB for 3 lovely days! xxxx

MTB Day 2

Sorry its a bit late :P Tuesday was Day 2 of the MTB summer school. It was amazing- after class, taught by James Wilkie from The Royal Ballet, we worked some more on the Lilac Fairy variation and Rose Adagio. After lunch, we recapped the Princess Florine variation, followed by some more of Olivia Pickford's jazzy Carabosse dance. I was utterly exhausted by the end of the day!!!

Midland Theatre Ballet; Day 1

To be dancing at MTB again was wonderful! The day started with classical class, taught by Ruth Brill, from Birmingham Royal Ballet. Then, we worked on the Lilac Fairy variation from Sleeping Beauty, which was pretty but very tiring! It was The Royal Ballet's version, so it was quite tricky: there was a sequence of fouette releves at the end that challenged everyone!! ;) Continuing with the Sleeping Beauty repertoire, we learnt a corps de ballet version of the Rose Adagio, then in the afternoon, Ruth taught us the Princess Florine solo. Although my new pointe shoes seemed comfortable last week, my feet seemed to ache a lot more today- until I realised i'd put my shoes on the wrong feet! no wonder they felt odd! The final class of the day was Jazz: Olivia Pickford taught the 'Carabosse & Gargoyles' scene, with a modernised twist (think more Matthew Bourne choreography than Petipa!!!) It was really fun and dynamic, hopefully i'll still remember it by tomorrow ;)

What I learnt....

So here are just a few of the things I learnt this week, and decided to share some tips! 1. In all ports de bras movements, imagine you are holding a sparkler. Each movement must flow gracefully into the next, with no isolated positions. 2. Plie is your friend! Use the demi plie constantly; in fondus, releves, pirouette prep, petit allegro, grand allegro.... Also, as bizarre as it feels, doing battements fondus with a flexed foot really helps to get a better stretch, and go deeper into the demi plie on the supporting leg as you begin to extend the working leg. 3. In all rises or releves at the end of barre exercise, find a strong centre before releasing the barre hand, spot, and don't hold a totally static position; the exercise has not finished, so keep performing! Visualise a straight line from your head, through your core, and straight down into the floor through your supporting leg. 4. In adagio in the centre, don't bring the working leg to passe too quickly on developpes; it throws you off balance. 5. Re-align yourself with every pivot on any promenade; so that your arms don't become too distorted in arabesque! 6. If you are marking an exercise, do the arms properly, and the feet will follow! 7. In pirouettes, don't sit in the plie; use a rebound action to go down then straight UP into the turn. 8. Practice pirouette prep every day, spend as much time stood in passe or en demi pointe as possible, it will help strengthen your legs and core! 9. Step forwards, not sideways, into pique turns; it makes life easier, because you can travel more. 10. In rehearsal, sit or stand still as soon as you are finished dancing, it will preserve your energy supplies!! :)

Ballet Theatre UK Day 5; Part 2

So after lunch, we had time for one more rehearsal before the performance! By this point, I really felt unwell- it was very hot in the studio, and I hadn't had much water. Anyway, the show must go on!! I was slightly annoyed at myself in the adagio; on my left leg, I drew the leg up to passe far too quickly- I knew as soon as i'd done it that i shouldn't have, as it really threw me off balance- so had to drop it back down. Then, because I wasn't thinking straight (being so stressed about the Spanish dance!) when we ran off to the side, I went back into the other studio to prepare for the Spanish, and muttered a few select words as I realised no-one had followed me!!! I was utterly disorientated; what the heck was even going on?! until I realised I needed to get across the studio, for the Hailstorm dance. So, here was everyone stood neatly in position, and me running apologetically (probably not even gracefully!) across the studio to reach my place. If Chris was looking at me as if he wanted to kill me just then, I really wouldn't have blamed him, i am so sorry!!! Anyway. I think the Hailstorm went quite well (thank you for actually staying on my foot this time, shoe!!!) and next came the Spanish trio. By this time, I was hugely stressy, thinking "Shoes, I am trusting you here with my reputation! Don't you DARE betray me please!!!" Anyway, I grabbed my fan, and got ready to dance. Thoughts such as "This is Spanish; Spanish dancers are vivacious and charismatic! Do not let your audience have any idea that you feel ready to collapse and die! Perform!!!" zipped through my head, but as the dance began, I just felt determined to enjoy it. All of the releves, thankfully, went well, except for one irritating soutenu turn right at the end, which remained en demi pointe. Annoying. Extremely grateful that I had managed to get through it without falling flat on my face, I yanked off my pointe shoes ready for Chris' gorgeous Classical choreography. It reminded me a bit of 'the Snow Queen', with lots of beautiful, precise positions and high extensions. I loved dancing that piece, and it certainly gave me lots of ideas for my own choreography! The floor patterns were relatively simple, meaning the piece wasn't too confusing! However, the studio was almost unbearably hot; I was beginning to feel extremely close to fainting- I felt sick, and my head was like fuzz. Looking at my mum, it concerned me that her expression was grave, verging on terrified- had I danced that badly?!!! (Later, she told me that I really had looked seconds away from passing out!!) I pushed all of this to the back of my mind though, as we prepared for the Contemporary dance. It was an extremely emotional piece for me, I loved pouring all my energy into it- to me, it was a way of communicating with my Angels, thanking them for the gift of dance, but also for guiding me through times when my life felt pointless. (In particular, I was touched by how, in the dance, the Spirit appears twice; I have had 2 beloved, beautiful moments in the past 5 years when my Angels have visited me, giving me hope) I felt quite drained after the Contemporary piece- as one would after something so breathtaking. I was quite glad that I didn't explain the storyline of the piece to my mum; I think if she had sat there sobbing, it might have been slightly distracting!!! ;) Tania's fun Jazz piece came last, and I genuinely struggled to find the strength to stay standing, I felt so sick and dizzy- a mix of heat and exhaustion I think!! However, it went very well, and at the end, Chris presented us all with certificates, which was lovely :) Thank you so much to Chris and Tania for an incredible week, I have learnt so, so much, and can't wait to start Associates in September!! P.S- Yesterday alone, my blog had nearly 210 views, bringing my overall views to well above 2000; thank you so much! If you can, please like/share my Facebook page too, and spead the dancing love!!! <3 xxxx

Ballet Theatre UK Day 5; Part 1

The final day is here already!! In Classical class this morning, Tania was her usual vivacious self, but she got particularly excited over an arabesque en fondu. We were at the barre, and our adagio involved an arabesque on a croise alignment, en fondu. I particularly like arabesques on my left leg, because my back is quite flexible so I can easily get the right leg to penche. Anyhow, just as we did the arabesque, Tania turned to look at me, and shrieked, rapidly getting louder and more ecstatic, "Yes!! Back up! Extend the leg! TurnoutTurnoutTurnout! Stretchtheknee... YES SOPHIE! Yes! That is so beautiful! Perfect!!!" Meanwhile, i was stood very awkwardly, with my right leg at 180 degrees behind me, my left leg bent in a deep plie, attempting to keep my back straight, head poised, and arms graceful, whilst breathing, and not collapsing. I love it when teachers get hyperactive like that- yesterday, in a grand allegro enchainement, I was first to dance it, and Chris very happily yelled over the music "Chasse pas de bourree, glissade.... LEAP! Up up up! extend! Go!! Yes, that's good!!" There is probably nothing more satisfying than a teacher hollering praise and encouragement at the top of their voice!! (And yet, Chris and Tania were both amazing with giving corrections in class, not once did they yell; it was all incredibly discreet. Chris had truly perfected the art of diplomatic constructive criticism- he would look intently at a particular dancer, then address the entire class with the correction, so that it wasn't aimed at anyone in particular, which I think was fabulous. Also, I loved how Tania gave corrections whilst enthusiastically praising a dancer, for example; "Yes, that's good! Pull up on the supporting leg, lift the eyeline! Perfect! Yes!" so that the entire thing felt like praise, with such subtle hints!) Anyhow. After classical class came a gruelling series of rehearsals for the afternoon's showcase performance. We were to perform a few class exercises in the centre, followed immediately by Tania's 'hailstorm' dance, which was en pointe. This meant that our adagio had to be danced in pointe shoes; yuck. Even worse, I had to stand on the front row, next to an absolutely incredible dancer, who is in Graduate Year at Tring; all of her dancing was so gorgeous, but it didn't half make me look bad!!!! ;) Also, in Tania's Hailstorm, I had a minor "Houston, we have a pointe-problem!" moment when my shoe slipped entirely off my foot! Oh well! I felt quite nervous about the Spanish variation, as i hadn't got used to my new pointes, having never danced in them before, so I still struggled a bit. In general though, the rehearsal went well, and we ran the entire show again before lunch. By this time, I was exhausted, and it only jut occurred to me that I could've invited my lovely sister (aka Bestest-Friend-Ever) to come and watch! At 1.45 I sent her a text asking her to be here for 2.30... thank you for putting up with my desperately last-minute ness!!! ;) xxx

Thank you Mark Suffolk!

So after a hectic day today at summer school, i dashed over to Earl Shilton, to the Suffolk Pointe Company workshop, to see wether anything could be done about my shoes. I brought them from Capezio in London a few weeks ago, and have really been struggling in them; i felt as if they weren't supporting my feet properly, and were a bit too wide. When i put them on, the lovely Mark Suffolk carefully scrutinised my feet, before giving me a few new pairs of shoes to try on. After an hour of trying shoes, (poor Mark was exhausted, bless him!) Mark explained how horrified he was that I had even been sold the Suffolk pointes in London; at a 3XX, they were a full size too long and too wide! He seemed disappointed that his precious shoes had been mis-sold, and after i told him that i desperately needed good shoes for summer school, he fitted me with a perfect pair. My poor Nan was getting a bit stressed as she hadn't intended on buying new shoes (we had just placed an order for 2 pairs of my reliable Capezio Glisses), but Mark had everything planned out!! They were Suffolk Graduate, so slightly different to my preferred Spotlight style, but, as the Graduate style had been discontinued, he said I could have them for free! He even, very kindly, threw in a free, beautiful, long sleeved Capezio leotard, and a Suffolk bag! That really delighted me, that he could be so loyal to his customers; staying an hour overtime to fit my shoes, and then giving me the lot, for free!!! Hopefully in a few weeks I will be back, to buy a pair of the gorgeous Suffolk Spotlights, but for now, I've got ribbons to sew and shoes to darn!!! ;)

Ballet Theatre UK Day 4

Classical class this morning was taught by Tania Matos again, which was lovely :-) Both Tania and Chris seem very fond of balances en demi pointe at the end of an exercise... In 5th, 4th, cou de pied, passe, arabesque... After Classical, we worked on the Solos again- I found the Spanish Variation quite tricky, because my pointe shoes (which i have worn for about 3 hours!!) are dead already, the shank is useless and i cant get over on my right foot at all :( Really hope Chris & Tania didnt just assume i have bad pointework: i darent do the releves on one foot or double en dedans turns (which i have always struggled with!) on full pointe incase the shoe gave way, which it did yesterday!! Anyway. After solos, we worked for a while on Tania's gorgeous hail-inspired dance, then on Chris' Contemporary piece. I found the Contemporary really moving and emotional: not only was the music beautiful (It was a French piece, the first line was 'J'compris de l'amour', which means 'i understood love', thats all i managed to translate!!!) The dance was based upon a spiritual encounter: a girl being. emotionally lost, seeing a Spirit, who vanishes. The girl gradually starts to go crazy, when she sees her Spirit again. Unable to reach the Spirit, she is pushed over the edge, to suicide. Such a dramatic piece, and yet, although i could so totally connect with the character in the dance, i felt sorry for how she misunderstood her Spirit: (I believe I have Guardian Angels) they are always here with us, to love and protect us from harm. Sorry for all that deep babble ;) Anyway. Last class of the day was Jazz, I was delighted to finally pick up the steps! Tania was such a great teacher :) I had to dash off for a pointe shoe fitting; blog post about that one coming right up!!!

Ballet Theatre UK Day 3

So last night, I was looking on Youtube for a spot of inspiration whilst I sewed up a new pair of pointe shoes, and discovered that Ballet Theatre UK have a Youtube channel!! :D It is Amazing!!!! Anyway.... Tania taught us in classical class again, which was lovely, then we worked on the solos :) In the afternoon, Chris taught us a truly gorgeous contemporary dance, based upon spirits. the choreography was so simple, yet it worked so beautifully!! It gave me some wonderful inspiration for my GCSE Dance solos! The last class of the day was jazz, with Tania. I was getting very confused again (too exhausted to think!!) but Tania explained everything so wonderfully! I still found it quite hard, so when she arranged the formations... I was on the front row!! oh okay then! ;)

Ballet Theatre UK Day 2

Woke up feeling pleasantly exhausted- but not aching as I thought I would've been! :) Today was all ballet; class with Tania Matos from the National Ballet of Portugal was really fun! We went right back to (advanced 1 level!) basics, and really focused on using the plié, in turns, fondus, jumps... Next, we had a solos class in which we learnt the Scottish and Spanish Doll dances from Coppelia. I loved the vivacious charisma of the Spanish piece, but the Scottish was just too "fiddly" and fast! After lunch, Tania choreographed an exciting piece based upon a hailstorm, with quick, light bourrees and fast turns! Lastly, Chris went over his choreography, and we learnt the end section of the dance (Im on the front row, yeyyah!!!) :D

Ballet Theatre UK summer school Day 1

Just realised I forgot to write a post yesterday, sorryyy!!! So here it is... Wow, the first day of summer school was incredible! We were told to arrive by 9am, but the Artistic Director, Chris Moore, seemed quite surprised to see us, and said "Oh! Were you told to be here for 9?! Class doesn't start until 10!" But, he improvised a particularly wonderful yoga class for us- great way to get stretchy on a Monday morning!!! :) Then, came the first ballet class... it was amazing!! Chris is one of the best teachers I've ever had, and I've learnt so much! He has improved my arabesques, and he gave us at least 3 grand allegro enchainements- fun!!! :D After lunch, Chris choreographed a piece for us that reminds me a bit of The Snow Queen; it's feisty and exciting, with lots of very dynamic steps!! The last class was Jazz, taught by Tania Matos, of the National Ballet of Portugal. She was a beautiful dancer, but her Jazz dance was so hard!! (I'm sorry for this, Bob Fosse, but you seem very slightly... peculiar. Rounded shoulders, bent knees, and tiny, quick steps? I am a ballet dancer, this defies everything I have ever been taught!!) I hope Tania realised i'd never done Jazz, I must have looked awful!!! ;)

Facebook

Hi folks! happy summer! I have started a Facebook page too- please like & share for even more insight into the crazy life of a young dancer!!! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tinydancer/493742164035647 Also, I have just been checking my page stats- nearly 1700 views! Wow, thank you all so much :D and a special thank you to all of my lovely friends on Ballet.co, you are all so wonderful at answering my rather random dance questions, i'd be hopeless without you! <3 xxx

LONDON!!! :D :D

On Sunday, i was incredibly lucky to be invited to take part in a ballet masterclass at the Royal Opera House, in London. i have always wanted to dance there, so i was super excited!!! After a long train journey, we arrived, in Floral Street at last. After a few photos next to the Opera House and RBS Bridge (with mum getting a bit tetchy that I was doing arabesques whilst she was stood awkwardly with a camera...) it was at last time to step through the Stage Door. I suppose it felt a bit like border control in an airport; our parents werent allowed in, and we were even given posh "Visitor" passes! Anyway... Amid a flurry of nervous excitement, we were escorted up to the De Valois studio. And Wow, what a studio!!! It was the biggest, most beautiful place imaginable!! Francesca Filpi taught the class, and i have to say, she was a rather fab teacher!! We began barre exercises, which were challenging but very enjoyable. For me, the highlight of barre was adage; i was expecting a soft, slow piece of music, so a lively rendition of "I couldve Danced All Night" was particularly lovely :-) We began centre work with a very pretty adage, then a pirouette enchainement. I was slightly disappointed that we did pirouettes from 5th, not 4th, as Ive been managing triples from 4th recently,but pirouettes from 5th are awkward, lol!!! We did a very complicated allegro; Francesca set a simplified version for those working at Intermediate level (which I am) however I decided to just go for it, and do the advanced version :-P After a gorgeous grand allegro then reverence, it was time for a quick break, before Lauren Cuthbertson's solos class. Lauren was a wonderful teacher; she taught us a solo from Act 3 of Sylvia. The dance was very long and quite confusing, but I loved learning it. Although we only had an hour, we finished the solo, which was satisfying but tiring!!! (my mum couldnt understand why, if it was a solos class, we didnt actually dance it as a solo!!) After a final photo with Lauren, we made a little detour on the way out, to visit the shoe department. (wow!!!) I felt quite sad to leave, but an hour in Capezio for new pointe shoes cheered me up!!! ;) I think the masterclass was an incredible experience, although it was very difficult!! If there is another one I would love to go!! :) Sorry for such a long post, haha!

Swan Lake repertoire workshop

On Sunday, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend a ballet workshop with Lewis Turner, of Birmingham Royal Ballet. The first hour of the session was a ballet class (there were only 5 girls and 2 boys in the class, so he worked us hard!!)- as usual, my feet simply refused to obey me in petit allegro, but pirouettes were fun; triples to the left And right!! Yeyyah!! Anyway. Then, we did repertoire, and learnt the Pas De Trois, from Swan Lake. I actually found it relatively easy, apart from a section of pique arabesques and jete entrelaces; it was done with a partner, so I got very baffled as to which way I was going!! Overall, I found it very fun- we did some basic pas de deux, which I loved! Can't wait to do more repertoire classes at my summer schools :)

The Cost of being a Dancer

So yesterday, I was doing a spot of rather random mental arithmetic, to try and work out approximately the ballet year 2013/2014 is going to cost. This is what I came up with; Regular classes, about £25 a week. 45 weeks = £1125 2 Associate schemes, £25 a session each, 12 sessions a year = £600 One-off trip to London = £150 2 ballet exams, about £150 each (including extra classes & pianist rehearsals) = £300 Leotards, pointe shoes, tights etc (approx. 6 pairs of pointe shoes; £40 each, 6 pairs of flat shoes; £12 each, 1 pair of soft pointes: £20, 12 pairs of tights; £5 each, 4 leotards; £20 each) total = £472 About 3 auditions, £20 each = £60 Summer schools etc, £500. Wow, that is a lot. Okayy, so it costs around £3300 a year. (Sorry daddy!! Mummy Really regrets taking me to see Swan Lake three years ago.) Yikes. That is rather a lot- i'm sure vocational school on an MDS or DADA scholarship would be so much cheaper....

Perseverance pays off!!!

Well, after 3 months, 5 applications, and 1 audition, I am proud to say that my summer holidays are at last sorted. I've had offers of places from.Midland Theatre Ballet, Opes International (a new residential course in Nottingham) and Ballet Theatre UK emailed me today to offer me a place on their Pre Professional Summer Course- and Associate Scheme!! Yayya! After Elmhurst, I thought I'd get no offers at all this year... Now i've got three!! :-D :-D So happy!!!

Summer School Audition

Wow! I went to an audition on Sunday for Ballet Theatre UK's Pre Professional summer course. There were only 7 others in the audition but I thought that it went really well (although we were told where to stand at the barre, we weren't allocated places in the centre so I aimed for my usual favourite spot; centre front :-D my place at the barre was perfect too; right in the middle of the back barre!) I really think it was the best class i've ever danced. Barre was long and quite challenging, but the teacher, Chris Moore (Director of BTUK) explained all the exercises very thoroughly and made us feel at ease with lots of witty comments! In adagio, my favourite part of barre, we had to do a developpe devant; I knew this was a step I could do well, so with my foot well above shoulder height and a lovely slight cambre, I turned my head to give the judges a somewhat smug Cheshire Cat grin. It worked; the female judge smiled back and mouthed "Wow". Yeyya!!! That was when I knew I'd got a reasonable chance of getting in. In the centre, we started with a lovely ports de bras, followed by adage with pirouettes (caught sight of a nastily sickled foot in the mirror during a fouette to arabesque- whoopsie!) then a very pretty pirouette enchainement. Moving on to petit allegro (which I always dread- too fast!) we warmed up with a rapid sequence of small jumps. Then, to my delight, came a simplified version of my MTB ballet mistress Olivia Pickford's favourite enchainement; a sweet waltz of glissades and assembles battus. At last, we travelled from the corner, in a vivacious grand allegro, leaving me exhilarated, feeling for once as if I had truly out-danced all the competition :-D

Solo Choreography

Had an exam in Dance at school, on my Solo Choreography. It went really well, despite a minor injury... Basically, at the end, I fell forwards onto my hands and knees, banging on the floor. On Thursday, when I rehearsed it, I managed to bruise my wrist quite badly. I pursuaded mum to not take me to A&E- she wanted to, though!! I decided to ignore it and do the exam- I ended up in the nurses' office ten minutes later with an ice pack. Whoopsie....
Hopefully it'll be worth it though when we get our grades!

Graham Fletcher Ballet Associates

Went to an audition yesterday for the Graham Fletcher bsllet associates. I was lucky enough to get a  private audition, meaning I joined in a normal class, instead of attending an open audition later in the year. The standard of the class was absolutely phenomenal; it was without a doubt the hardest class i've ever done. It was utterly amazing, and I loved it- although the other girls seemed quite intimidating, as opposed to welcoming. I guess they justsaw me as a threat- although i'm no competition at all to them!!
Graham spoke to my mum afterwards, and said that I don't quite have the right physique to make it to Principal level of the Royal Ballet, but he seemed to think i had some potential, because he invited me back to the next class, which is on June 9th :) Hopefully then i'll be able to impress him enough to gain a place! :)

Beauty And The Beast

Super excited to dance with Midland Theatre Ballet, in 'Beauty And The Beast' this weekend! We have 4 performances, Thursday-Saturday, plus dress rehearsals tonight and tomorrow. (Someone'll be exhausted!)
Unfortunately, my school's mock GCSE exams week is also this week, so i'll be taking lots of revision with me to rehearsals! Luckily, i'm only in the corps de ballet, so I have a lot of acting but not much dancing, so hopefully my pointe shoes won't wear oout too quickly! I've seen some of the costumes; a pink romantic tutu with a sparkly bodice, a magenta knee-length dress, and, for the Wolves dance, an incrdible chiffon short dress, with bits of feather and twig coming off it!! I haven't seen my Villager costume yet, so hope it fits!!! :)

Update; Well, that was an interesting catastrophe! Most of the costumes fitted- except the sparkly arm-bands on my tutu looked more like bracelets, they were that big :P
The Ballroom Polonaise and Curtain caalls wer an utter disaster. In Act 3, I came offstage to get changed for the Polonaise- and realised that I was meant to still be on stage! Whoopsie!
And I had literally a pas de deux and Rose solo to get changed from the tutu into a full-on Wolf costume; change of hsir, makeup, costume, shoes... Argh!!
Hope tonight's final rehearsal goes a bit better! xxx

Another pair bite the dust...

Oh great. With Beauty And The Beast looming, I'd got a pair of pointe shoes broken in ready to wear. However, last week, they decided to snuff it. The shank of my left shoe snapped, to my utter disgust (and dismay.) They were nice shoes- once i'd got them broken in!! Capezio Glisse, with a regular, full shank, they had a lovely box, not too tapered, so very pleasant to pirouette in. I have got a new pair of Capezios, this time the Glisse Pro, with an extra-strength shank. Hopefully they'll last through Beauty And The Beast, then a couple of auditions; I now have 2 weeks to get the ribbons sewn then break them in. Luckily, I'll only be wearing them once a week until opening night; i have a 'rota', meaning I have 3 different pairs of shoes on the go at once, they last longer that way! xxx

Perfectionism and slippy floors

At class yesterday, I was stretching before we started, and one of my friends said "Sophie!! Don't you ever stop practising????" My reply, I think, was a perfect portrayal of most dancers; "I am not perfect yet. So, no." (By which time, I was looking at her upside down, in my attempts to bend backwards and make my head touch my bum. :P Which, needless to say, did not work. The Russian, Vaganova-style flexibility is still very much a work in progress....)

Anyway. We started class with pointework yesterday and, as per usual, the floor was horribly slippy. After persistant moaning from certain people, the teacher produced a bag of roisin- a few minutes later, and certain patches of the floor looked like the victims of an abrupt snow flurry. :) No one slipped over in pointework class... Technique class was another matter altogether. By battements tendus and pirouettes, we were all beginning to regret our excessive use of roisin. My battements tendus went straight from a flat foot to a point; the roisin made any form of articulation totally impossible because our feet stuck to the floor, and I don't think anyone managed more than a double pirouette! Maybe slippy floors are good sometimes ;)

Alice in Wonderland- Ballet Theatre UK

Went to see Ballet Theatre UK's Alice in Wonderland last night; it was incredible!!
The costumes were absolutely stunning, and all of the dancers were amazing! I felt so sorry for the Cheshire Cat though; she slipped over right at the beginning of her solo! (I did something similar a few weeks ago in class- mine was far less dignified and graceful, haha!)
Alice danced an absolutely beautiful pas de deux with the Knave of Hearts, and her solos were incredibly precise, neatly executed, and a joy to watch.
I was also particularly happy to catch up with one of my friends, whom I have not seen since March last year- she is a very gifted dancer, who has just been offered a place with the RBS Senior Associates. (Me, jealous, much?!!) ;)
Ballet Theatre UK really is a wonderful company, and so I am very excited to be auditioning for their Summer School and Associate scheme soon!! :)

Summer school results- feeling pessimistic.

Everyone I know of who applied has got their results for Elmhurst summer school. All Yesses. I, however, am quite agonisingly empty-handed. Why do they have to do this to me?!! hahaha feeling somewhat pessimistic about it anyway but will keep you updated!! Xxx
Update;
Oh well That's a bummer. As expected. 'No.' -.- Have emailed them to ask why!! Still waiting on Yorkshire though! And, in typical *cough, disorganised, cough* me style, I was up at 6am this morning, to do my application form and photos for Ballet Theatre UK's summer school!!!! The deadline for which, as I didn't realise, is today. Hmmm.

Arts Awards evening, GCSE Dance

Had such an amazing night last night at my school's Arts Award evening!!!
I recieved a Certificate of Commitment for Dance, and a Bronze Award for Drama!! I'm super happy about the Drama award because I didn't realise I'd been nominated for Drama- also, I'm the only girl in my year to get a Bronze award- it's usually awarded to the year above mine!!! So happy :)
I was talking to my mum afterwards though, and she was saying, what if I don't get a place at ballet school for 6th Form? So i've decided that I want to do more acting and drama stuff, so I can audition for drama schools this year too. But drama instead of ballet- i'm not so sure.....
In Dance at school, we've finished our Rosas Danst Rosas pieces (for now- we redo the module next year, for our actual GCSE) and are  moving on to Solos! Yay, i'm so excited- everyone thought the Set Dance would be our next project, so I was really pleased that we're doing solo choreography instead!! I still struggle a bit with Dance, because i've been doing ballet for 12 years, but before I started GCSE Dance, i'd never done any modern or contemporary dance, so hearing the counts in the music is really hard- my poor teacher kept getting really frustrated trying to teach me the timing for Rosas Danst Rosas- it drove me crazy too, not being able to please her!!
However, she is going on maternity leave, starting from next week, so we'll have a supply teacher to help us with the solos. The supply teacher is called Miss Hall, and she seems really nice.
I can't wait to start choreographing, i've got loads of ideas!! I've chosen this song to dance to;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOdmvtb7-7Q
My dance is based on Mental Illness and Anorexia- im hoping to make it really beautiful and emotional!! My target grade is a B, but i'd love an A or A*!! ;)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!!
It's sunny for once :) And I have 4 Easter eggs (enough chocolate to last me about a year- being a dancer, I don't eat chocolate very often, so its a nice treat when I do have some!!) I gave up all unhealthy things for Lent this year, so kind of glad it's over, hehe!!
Easter holiday boredom is beginning to set in now though... no dance classes for over a week :( Oh well, plenty of time to work on stretching and strengthening exercises! Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday so far, and let's hope the sunny weather is going to stick around!! xxxxx

Summer Schools

It's that time of year again- time to apply for summer residential courses! Exciting! This year, i'm applying for Elmhurst, Yorkshire Ballet Summer School, and maybe Ballet Theatre UK. At last got reasonable photos for Elmhurst last week and posted the form (I swear a developpe a la seconde is a million times easier to hold when you don't have a photographer waiting for you to stop wobbling around!!), just Yorkshire to do now. Ballet Theatre UK have auditions for theirs in May I think, and I've still not decided wether to apply or not, hmm... Anyway, Elmhurst results will be out in a couple of weeks, as will Yorkshire. Until then, I'll just go slightly crazy, daydreaming about how wonderful it would be if I got in- whilst firmly reminding myself that hundreds of young dancers apply for so few places... oh well, I'll know soon enough!
Toodles!
Sophie xxxx

About me!

Hiya!
My name is Sophie, I am 15 years old, and dance is my life!! I have been doing classical ballet since I was 3 years old, but it wasn't until I was 12, when I saw Swan Lake, that I decided; dance is what I want to do. It is my dream to dance the role of the Swan Princess, Odette, and to inspire people through dance in the way that I first found inspiration three years ago. Later this year, I will be auditioning for 6th Form Ballet schools, and if I get a place, my journey to become a dancer will truly begin...
I hope that reading my blog gives you some insight into the wonderful craziness of a young dancer's quest to succeed, and that I can share with you some of the joy (and sometimes, heartbreak!) that I will encounter on the long road to hopefully becoming a professional ballet dancer!
Sophie xxxx