Ballet Geeks

This summer while at our

home away from home

during a Ballet Summer Intensive,

my son and I found ourselves

watching many ballets

and ballet related shows.

We borrowed videos

from the studio that

my son was visiting

and watched

traditional ballets

by world famous ballet companies

almost every night.

On television,

we watched reality shows

 about ballet dancers.

My son watched and showed me

YouTube videos

of individual danseurs

dancing in traditional ballet parts-

which he paused,

rewound, and replayed

in order to take notes,
much like football players'
analysis and study of game clips.

As we sat
watching and discussing
Coppelia
on a Friday night,
realization dawned
that we had become
"ballet geeks!"

Pliés in a Restaurant

Last week

our family and some friends

from ballet were eating

at one of our favorite

local restaurants.

Considering the fact that
we were eating
Chinese Dim Sum,
which had a variety
of unusual food
for the American pallet,
everyone's behavior was
appropriate for the occasion.

The conversation was delightful
and filled with laughter.

The end of the meal conversation,
of course, turned toward
the subject of Nutcracker-

from rehearsals,

to how to do multiple parts,

to making up
a new Nutcracker story
that combines parts
like the Snow King and
the Mouse King
with a half-and-half costume.

Then we discussed
how best to exercise
while at work;
suggestions included-
exercises at a desk,
lifting bank tellers,
and ended with
one of the male dancers
standing up and
demonstrating pliés
as he would hand paper work
to a coworker at a bank.

The funniest part was
that there was no embarrassment
on anyone's face at our table-
just lots of laughter. 

Spontaneity, laughter, and friendship
among like minded people is such a joy....

Family Vacation from Ballet

For the first time in five years,

our family took

an extended family vacation

during a season of ballet.

While the kids

had ten (10) days

of no ballet,

a costume project

did make it into the car.

On the first day of vacation,

five hours of the twelve hour drive-

in between navigation duties- 

were spent taking off beads

from a couple of costumes

in order to reuse some

 of them in the beading rework

for the costumes.

My husband patiently helped remove

the remaining beads

while sitting

at Nutcracker rehearsal

the day after returning from vacation.

My son had thought

that he would have time

to do some stretching exercises

during vacation.

Alas,

this was a twelve hour a day,

go all day at full steam

vacation.

Of the six days

at Disney World, Florida-

two days were spent at EPCOT;

a midnight swim

and getting up very early

the next morning;

two days at Magic Kingdom;

a day in torrential rains

and at Downtown Disney;

a half of day of packing

and leaving.

Then a quick trip to put our feet

in the Atlantic Ocean

before continuing on toward

Savannah, Georgia.

A day in Savannah

included a Girl Scout Pilgrimage

to Juliette Gordon Low's Birthplace

and the Birthplace of Girl Scouts

in order to celebrate

100 years of Girl Scouts USA

and ten years of my daughter

being a Girl Scout,

as well as, my ten years

as a Girl Scout Leader.

A day in Atlanta

included the High Museum of Art

and a quick drive around

the Capitol building.

(On the way to Disney World,

there was a quick stop around

the Capitol building

in Tallahassee, Florida.)

The only ballet that was done

during this trip was a quick,

and a little reluctant,

pose in the Canadian area

at EPCOT

for our ballet family friends

who live in our hometown

but are originally from Canada.

(They gave us great advise from

their Disney World experiences.)

It has been a month since

we started out on our vacation;

reality is just now starting

to impose on my

vacation euphoria-

there is soooo much

to get done before

Nutcracker performances.

Family Memories

made outside of ballet,

imagine that....

Nutcracker has begun...

...and it's only September.

As soon as summer Ballet Intensives

were over in August,

there were classes to review 

Nutcracker choreography

for the students.

For me,

since last Nutcracker,

visions of having a

Nutcracker Handbook

for cast members,

especially new ones,

have danced in my head.

After a month

of gathering the information,

typing and formating,

retyping and reformating,

having it edited by others,

I consider it done....

Well, except for

getting the directors

to write a welcome letter

and then

printing it out.

In a couple of days,

I definitely will  be doing

A HAPPY DANCE...

...and maybe even to the tune of

Snow

or

Chinese

or

Sugar Plum Cavalier....

Summer Time Begins

Summer is here again.

In our ballet world,

we went from school shows

near the end of May

to a week off- NOT....

No, our week off involved:

1) extra classes at our studio

2) rehearsal for a pas de deux

for another studio's school show

for my son

3) and packing -

for Girl Scout Summer Camp

for my daughter

and

Ballet Summer Intensives

for my son

(and my daughter).

Busy, Busy, Busy

Believe it or not,

it has been six weeks

since my last post.

The Ballet Company
Spring Show

has come and gone.

The local arts weekend event-

where my kids:

1) performed

for the fifth graders;

2) were dancers in the 

choreography competition;

3) did a mini performance

of the spring show-

has come and gone.

The countdown to the

Ballet School Performance Show

is at "one week" to go.

Rehearsals

changed,

and often overlapped,

from

Spring Performance

to

Arts Show

to

School Performance Show

in what seemed like

"the blink of an eye" 

(which is also how fast

my children have grown).

Spring Break?

Spring Break

Vacations

A break from the usual routine...

Not so much this year.

The first Saturday of Spring Break
was spent at rehearsals.

On the first Sunday,
our family managed a couple of hours
on a nature hike
(which was a requirement
for my daughter
in celebrating the
100th Anniversary of Girl Scouts).

The hike was immediately followed by
a trip to the home supply store
for supplies needed
to paint a backdrop
for a fundraiser
for the ballet studio
during the Spring Performance.

On Monday,
my children and I,
with the help of a couple
of young family members,
painted a backdrop,
complete with
a castle
in the mountains,
a pumpkin
(for Cinderella),
a friendly dragon,
and, of course,
a winding path to the castle.

On Tuesday,
there was a number
of things accomplished:

1) There was a ballet class
and rehearsals.

2) Errands to buy much needed
household cleaners
and
some aloe
(for our sunburn patches
from painting the backdrop
in our driveway for eight hours).

3) An hour before sunset,
prop wooden boxes were painted
by the whole family.

It should be noted that,
due to these prop boxes:

a) My husband has had
many sleepless nights
trying to envision how
to make them sturdy enough
to bear the weight of dancers
and big enough
for dancers to pop out.

b) Spent countless hours
and weeks making the boxes.

c) As well as,
taking two days off from work
last week to make them smaller
(and not allowing him to take off
during Spring Break).

On Wednesday,
as well, there were quite
a few things accomplished:

1) My email was checked by noon.
(Gasp, yes, I have been so tired
and falling asleep around midnight,
instead of several hours afterwards.)

2) School work meant
attending a homeschool
yearbook training meeting.
(Alas, homeschoolers
rarely ever get breaks.)

3) Errands for going out of town
for ballet classes, which included
a trip to the dancewear store for
more pointe shoes.

4) The whole family
was able to attend to church
because regular ballet classes
were canceled for Spring Break.

5) Our family had a supper picnic
with homeschool friends.

6) Pointe shoe ribbons
and elastics were sewn.

7) Girl Scout plans were made.

On Thursday,
my son packed the car
with the bags that three of us
had packed the night before.

While watching the kids take
an extra ballet class from
one of their favorite teachers
at our home studio,
my blog was being updated.

Then, we hit the road
for a two hour trip,
which included just over
a half hour of rush hour traffic,
to another favorite ballet studio
for a ballet class.

On Friday,
because we stayed with family,
we only had a twenty minute commute
to take classes at the out-of-town studio.

A drive home in pouring rain,
rush hour traffic,
and eleven miles
of stop-n-go traffic
due to a wreck,
made a two hour trip
take four hours.

The last two days of Spring Break
will be spent
at the ballet studio
in rehearsals and
finishing costumes and props
before Tech Week
begins on Monday.

Note: Pictures will be added at a later date.
This month has been so hectic
that there has been little time
to teach me a new trick.