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!"

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).

Ballet Summer Intensives- Changes in the Dancers

Ballet Summer Intensives
are
l-o-n-g hours of daily dance
and
body conditioning
(usually about six (6) hours per day,
six (6) days per week).

One of the first things one notices at the end of the first week are
"duck feet"
(semi-permanent turned out feet).

It is one of those things that ballerinas that go into
modeling or pageants
have to "untrain" the habit.

By about the second week,
there is no having to remind about
water bottles,
as they are almost a part of the
dancer's clothing.

Surprisingly,
food intake also seems to slow
during the day,
but is often ravenous
about eight o'clock at night.

The next thing noticed is
"cat naps"
in the middle of conversations
on the way home.

Of course, muscles become more defined.

And, by the end of summer,
there is definitely a
zombie-like appearance
to the dancers.

However,
it is all worth it when seeing the
enthusiasm
and
improved technique
when the dancers return
to their home dance studio.

Dance Festivals- Behind the Scenes

My last post was on what goes on "officially" at Dance Festivals.

This post is about what goes on behind the scenes among the participants and parents.

There is talk, talk, and more talk.

Dance Festivals are great for networking,
for making friends,
seeing friends not seen in a while,
spending time with your own studio dance friends,
and, let's face it,
gossiping.

And, as hard as I try not to gossip, it's just so tempting at Dance Festivals.

Let's just say that gossiping helps to explain and learn about people and why they do things.

Through Dance Festivals and Summer Intensives, one learns just how small a world the dance community really is.

And, because of this, dance gossipers try very hard not to be vicious and try very hard to be kind.

I just love my dance parent network!

Dance Festivals

What goes on at Dance Festivals?

First, it is NOT a Dance Competition.

Dance Festivals are put on by a group of dance studios in an area or region that come together once a year.

There are about four different events that happen at Dance Festivals:

1) Auditions for Ballet Summer Intensives
(More on this subject at a later date.)

2) During the festival, professional dance companies come as entertainment and to enlarge our horizons on the definition of "dance."
(There may be more on this subject at a later date.)

3) Professional dancers and dance teachers from around the country are invited to teach dance classes.

This year my children got to take some of their classes from Leslie Browne.

Note: The intention of this blog is not to name "names," nor is it to "name drop."

However, one of the reasons I fell in love with the art of ballet as a child was Mikhail Baryshnikov.

And, I loved the movie, Turning Point, with Baryshnikov and the young, up-and-coming ballerina, Leslie Browne.

So, back to the Dance Festival:

In order to defer my cost of attending as an observer, I volunteered to help.

My job was to take roll and make sure that the instructors had everything they needed.
(And, I got to help in Leslie Browne's class- twice.)

Volunteers were also so supposed to ask the instructors if observers were allowed to take pictures during class.
(Which Leslie Browne was so very nice about.)

Students took one and a half hour long classes in a variety of dance genres (ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, Hip Hop, etc.) -
on Saturday, they took three classes
and
on Sunday they took two classes.

4) Dance Showcase
of the participating dance studios'
Festival participants
(In other words, in order for a dance studio to have a dance number in the Showcase, the dancers in the number had to attend at least one class in the Festival.)

Oh, and least I forget, there definitely will be photos added to this post, as soon as my son helps me (which will be in the next few days!)

Seasons of Ballet Details- Summer

"Summer
Summer Intensives"

Summer activities for our family use to include finishing up baseball season, swim team, and visiting grandparents.

Then it was a day/week/two weeks of Ballet Summer Intensive, Scout summer camps, swim team, and visiting grandparents.

Two years ago, my son received a scholarship for a two week Summer Intensive; we spent two weeks driving just over two hours one way between the grandparents' house and the Summer Intensive.

As a result of the Summer Intensive's Performance date change, my annual summer meeting for my state women's club board was missed.

However, we did drive another hour and a half out of our way to say that we got an hour before sunset beach trip and a very nice Japanese dinner.

Last year, my son had three scholarships and one partial scholarship for Summer Intensives.

This meant nine weeks of six hours of ballet, dance, and stretching/fitness classes.

We started in our hometown for two weeks; followed by four weeks driving twenty minutes one way from his grandparents' home; dropping him off with strangers (now friends) for a week two hours away; and then hometown again for two more weeks.

Improvement was definitely noticed after both summers, but most noticeable after this last one.

My son now has friends all over the world, in this country, as well as, professional dance contacts for his future as a ballet professional.

A favorite part of my summer was meeting a former Soviet ballet dancer who studied under Pushkin at the Kirov Ballet.

He told stories of traveling between the former East and West Germany before they put up the Berlin Wall. (The history buff in me loved the stories.)

Best of all, he was able to point out small things to change in one's body that makes ballet easier; my son was able to comprehend about two weeks later (his learning curve for permanent changes) and I also use the techniques in both ballet and life.

So, nine weeks of traveling for Ballet Intensives and back and forth to my daughter's Girl Scout camp, did not leave any vacation time for the family.

[Pictures will be included at a later date]