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!!!