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
Tuesday 30 April 2013
Tuesday 23 April 2013
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
Thursday 18 April 2013
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 ;)
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 ;)
Monday 15 April 2013
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!! :)
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!! :)
Friday 12 April 2013
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.
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.
Thursday 11 April 2013
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*!! ;)
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*!! ;)
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