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!!! ;-)