Seasons change but some things stay the same

I have 1,5 weeks of Summer vacation left before flute stuff continues, but today's the day that I'm going back to the barré! Yay :)

Last season (school year 2013-2014) was quite tough, lots of work and travelling. It all made me very tired often, but I managed to take Most of my ballet lessons. There was one on Monday & Friday evening, Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. Weekends were a bit difficult with all the flute gigs I got, especially during Spring. Well, I Love playing so it wasn't that bad in the end, but still it's annoying when one has to give up one of the two passions. Even for a while... ;)

***

Winter was lovely, snow and Christmas and all. We had an "all white" number at the Christmas recital with the Monday-Friday class. Something I feared beforehand but something that turned out nice! :) Even bigger worry was the fact that none of the tutus at our school's costume wardrobe fit me... That's what you get for being tall and chubby. Luckily for me, they were going to order 3 new ones Anyway, so one of the new tutus was a bit bigger - my problem solved.

For the Holiday recital I had to get a white leotard. Seemed like a problem again, but eventually the answer was Porselli's webstore and WearMoi's Tamara -leo. It's a comfy model for someone a bit bustier, like me.  You'll find a picture here -> https://dancewear.co.uk/products/details&prodid=3057

***

Spring recital was the 30th Anniversary of our school. It didn't have a clear theme at first, but then it became "The Wonderland of Dance". So, there were all sorts of numbers... Ours was about the seasons of a year. We had 4 small groups, 3 trios and one duo, which was our Autumn duet (with E). It was my first time on stage en pointe since I quite dancing as a teenager, but I felt much stronger than ever. Well, before the actual show at least. It didn't go as smoothly as the rehearsals (for me), but it's really no use mourning about it anymore. But in my defence, I had some issues with my shoes in general rehearsal & performance... :P

***

Summer started with an intensive dance week, first ever in my hometown! I took pilates in the morning, samba & chacha in the late afternoon and ballet in the evening. It was Mon-Fri, lovely weather and happy people - not to mention the great teachers also. After that week our "summer regulars" continued = ballet on Mon & Wed evenings. But I got a problem with my right leg & there were some flute gigs (again), so I couldn't take all them classes.

Aaaaaanyway... July's been Super Hot in Finland. I mean really. I've found a Summer person inside meself, although my appartment is almost too hot to stay in during daytime. This week is supposed to be still with some 25 up to even 30 (celsius) degrees, but I'm still going to enjoy it. Autumn is soon here with the darkening days and rain etc.

***

So, in 3 hours I'll be at the studio, with my dance gear on and (large) waterbottle by my side. It's going to be hot, sweaty and, most of all, fun.

***

p.s. I got a new (used) phone from my brother and joined instagram & twitter. You'll find me in both by the name iepukka.

instagram.com/iepukka

FNB & Hartwall Arena

Last Saturday was just Grrrreat! :) I'm not talking about us losing the hockey game against Sweden nor the fact that our song in Eurovision contest got only 13 points... Instead, I'm saying it was just superduper awesome that 9000 people got to see our national ballet company perform - for free. There were seats for even more people, but in my opinion, that was a good result already!

A poster at the railway station.

Me and a ballet geek friend, her 2 daughters + one of their friends and her mom + my friend's sister and her husband all met outside the Hartwall Arena in Pasila (Helsinki). There was enough time to check out the powder room, stand in a que for a while and then, get in & choose seats. Most people had these advance tickets that told which area one could sit in, but no precise seat number. We found a nice place, right opposite the stage.

A panorama photo, taken from my seat (45 minutes before the show began).

Although we had to wait quite a "while" for the evening to start, it didn't feel that long. It was fun to look at all the people, try to spot familiar faces, catch up with the friend etc.

The host of the event was Marco Bjurström, former dancer himself, a choreographer and teacher. He's also been a host of a very popular music game show in tv, these days works also as a news reporter on channel Four (Nelonen). Sometimes I find his energetic style a bit overwhelming, but this evening it was ok. He introduced the works and some dancers interestingly, though I'd have preferred to hear All the soloist names... But you have to keep up with the time, that I understand :)

Mr Bjurström with a dark background.

Marco.B. with Mr Greve and 2 hockey players from the team Jokerit.

After a short speech by himself, Mister Bjurström invited FNB's artistic director to the stage, Kenneth Greve that is. They chatted for some minutes, thanking a lot of people, telling how the idea of this event came up and finally also introduced the 2 other tall men on stage. They were players from the team Jokerit, whose home arena this was/is. (They didn't have much else to do than just stand there and smile, the be swept away by some ballerinas.)

As it was forbidden to take photos of the works performed, I only have some shots of the final bows. But maybe they give some idea of how fabulous all of it was! :)

"It all" began with some scenes from the 3rd act of Swan Lake. This is the ending  pose. Eun-Ji Ha with Andrew Bowman, Nicholas Ziegler as Rothbart (on the right).

A very dusty pic... The end of Jorma Elo's Double Evil. Don't know who were dancing... But they were Great!

These cuties were butterflies from The Sleeping Beauty :)

Opera singers Helena Juntunen and Jyrki Anttila sang a duet from La Traviata. I missed the name of the accompanist, but he & the accordion were very nice indeed in this number!

Next up was the cool (and sweaty/hot) sauna scene from The Snow Queen. Mr Bjurström introducing it in this one.

After sauna it was time for Snow Queen herself & underlings team up - right in the middle of the floor!  Too bad the camera man was so close to them, we missed the most cool part... 

A big fight scene between snow queen folks and the goblins, ended with peaceful bows... ;) Mai Komori on the righ as the Queen, Wilfried Jacobs in the middle as the "main goblin" (sorry, don't remember the correct role name!!). Terhi Räsänen was the lynx maiden, on the left.

Can you guess what was coming up here... :)

Yes, The Sleeping Beauty - roses... :) So lovely! Also there was a hunting scene. This is from the end, they're about to bow. The tutus are gorgeous. 

All the folks! 

Maki Nakagawa (I think...) on the left as Carabosse, Michal Krcmar as the prince and Petia Ilieva on the right as... The lilac fairy? (I'm embarrassed, I'm really not sure :D)

Okay, there was this forbidden photo... But as a punishment my camera's battery died Right after taking this. 

I tried to take some pics with my phone, but they were super messy and well, not good. But here's one of them anyway.

The dancers of Walking Mad, one of my favourites (as all the others... :D).  Tuukka Piitulainen had a solo in this, he's a name to remember.

The last works we saw were a song by H. Juntunen (from the Monty Python -musical 'Spamalot'), a hilarious number! Then a comic bit called The Sofa. I've seen it twice before and still it made me laugh. On stage were Linda Haakana, Samuli Poutanen and Antti Keinänen, a trio that amused us last May, too.

Final number was an extract from Minus 7 (by Ohad Naharin). It really is something else. Also some members of the audience got to take part in it, yay! :)

Then it was time to leave, go home. I managed to fell in the stairs = one bruised knee. It still hurts, but we had a lot of fun, so I don't mind :) Tomorrow I'm going to Helsinki again, to have 1 (or 2) ballet classes. It's my final chance to experience Madame Greve's wonderful teaching, as the classes next year will be on Wednesday's and I'm working till evening. So, tomorrow it is. And now, some sleep!

Get on stage - tomorrow!

It's Monday evening and I'm sitting in the kitchen, with ALL my make-up on the table. Have to figure out what eyeshadow will be on my eyelids tomorrow. Also my hair is almost un-naturally tidy-looking, combed all very neatly and close to my skull, put together with masses of pins and bottles of hairspray. My hair is too short to make any kind of bun at the moment, but if you look from the front, you Could be mistaken. I Could have a neat bun, somewhere back there. Had to try it (all the combing and pinning) today, just to see if it's even possible and how it'll hold (we had an hour long rehearsal).

So, I should put all my things together for tomorrow. By this time (I've been home a bit more than 2 hours now) I've managed to eat, update my facebook a little and bring all the mascaras etc. here. So, I still have some stuff to do... :D Luckily I've got all of tomorrow off from work. So I can pack in the afternoon. Have to be at The House about at 4pm, on stage at 4.45pm. But I'll probably go even earlier, just to see others rehearsing on stage, it's nice to sit in the audience for a change :)

These days I'm using -> http://fi.rimmellondon.com/tuotteet/silm%C3%A4t/extra-super-lash-waterproof-mascara

This is the palet, but my color choice is Twilight Zone -> http://fi.rimmellondon.com/tuotteet/silm%C3%A4t/glameyes-trio-eyeshadow-luomiv%C3%A4rikokoelma

My favorite for a long time :) ->  http://www.lumene.com/fi/tuotteet/meikit/silmat/sensitive-touch-silmameikkikyna-0

My color is number 15 - Vintage Red. ->  http://www.lumene.com/fi/tuotteet/natural-code/huulet/natural-code-smile-booster-huulipuna

Really, I have to admit that I'm probably one of the laziest women to wear lipstick. I do like it, but a) my lips are for some reason super sensitive and get sore so easily... and b) I can't (don't like to) wear any when playing flute. That's why I buy quite cheap ones.

I'll have powder and blush and other skin-coloring stuff too, but don't have the energy to dig those photos up.

So. What do I have to remember, besides make-up?

• the black leotard
• 2 pairs of ballet pink tights (make sure they don't have unnecessary holes)
• bottle of light pink nailpolish (IF the tights get holes, both pair I mean)
• the yellow "gown" for P's number (Peter Pan, the 2nd star to the right)
• the golden star -headpiece, also for P's
• the flowery dress for L's number (Schindler's List)
• black small cardigan, also for L's
• maybe a small scarf (-//-, but not mandatory)
• one pair of soft ballet slippers, pink ones (or maybe 2 pairs? well... what could happen to the first ones...)
• legwarmers, shorts and some warm-ish shirt (maybe also woollen socks, I'm too lazy to put shoes on and take them off, to put slippers on and take them off)
• pins and hairspray, comb
• make-up bag
• something to drink
• something to eat
• something to knit (if there's spare time)
• (Do I Really Need All Of This???)
• (Yes.)
• cards etc. to give to the teachers
• camera (optional), phone (mandatory!), wallet (yes!)
• ...and finally - lots of joy and happy spirit! I love being on stage! :)

Photo by Tristram Kenton -> http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2012/may/31/dance-arts-motherhood-having-children-rights

More Alice!

Just bumbed into some video clips by Royal Opera House that were new to me. They are about two of my current favorite "things", Wheeldon's ballet Alice's Adventures and the crazycool dancer Zenaida Yanowsky. I still find Queen of Hearts as one of the roles I'd dance, if I was to choose. I'm not the most princessy type, nor maybe the delicate spirit floating in the woods. But then again, these aren't any Definite Opinions... ;)

Back to business. Here are the videos! First the one I noticed when flipping through ROH's page in youtube.

I love seeing how such artists as dancers & singers & actors work on their role. Too bad there isn't more material like this available, or too much of it, to be exact. But you know what is "the best" part here? I've got the same legwarmers as she does! :)

This second bit tells more about creating the whole work. I have heard (and watched) in another clip Mr Wheeldon telling about his part, but this one has also some interviewing of the composer. And as a musician I'm very interested in that point of view, too. 

Have to go now, to put some Red in my hair... ;)

Christmas Spectacle

Okay, now my official classes for this Autumn-Winter season are over. We had the recital this evening and everything went well, in my opinion :) The only "negative" thing was that our number was only 1,5 minutes long (or short). The stage at Verkatehdas is so wide that we really had to take loooong steps to get in right places (running ballerinas). But it was Such Fun! I really miss the days when we had more numbers, 2-3 with the ballet class, then a jazz number, also a contemporary one... *sigh*

Btw, our music was "Ballet dancer" by Adlan Cruz, a lovely piano piece. You'll find it in Spotify, if you're interested :)

I wanted to get some new things for the performance, even though I Could have managed with the old ones... Anyway, this web store called Zalando happened to have dance gear from Bloch in their selection, also they didn't have any mailing fees. Aaaand the delivery was supposed to be 4-6 working days (and it was!). So, this is what I got:

Endura -tights by Bloch

Sissonne -leotard by Bloch

...the backside...

Also I ordered a pair of Zenith-slippers, the new model made of strechy canvas. And I can tell you, they are Very comfortable. And they do strech. The heel has some reinforcement, like the Pump model. Split soles, both inside and outside. And there's a piece of rubber band / elastic between the inner sole patches, with gives the arch kind of support (or at least it looks nice). Didn't wear them to the recital though, wanted to have something I was more familiar with. So I had my Pumps on :)

Our dress was a dress/tunic from GinaTricot, fabric was very light tricot in color of choclity brown. Short sleeves, not too low neckline. The hem was shorter in front than in the back, knees were visible (front). It was actually quite nice to wear and looked pretty on stage, flowing with the movement :) I tried to find a photo, but there's none. Have to wait for the photos from the dance school. And the dvd, yikes... ;)

Here's one shot of my head piece, which was a bit worn out :D But still I think they looked very nice. Notice the "Greek style"... :P

Warning! Some legs visible...

On Monday I arrived at our studio a bit early, so I got the fun idea of taking some photos of my legs. Via mirror of course, because there were no others yet. And I wouldn't have asked them anyway, don't have the guts... :D

In the dressing room there's a pipe of some sort in the ceiling. I stood up (en pointe) and held on to it, with one hand, the other trying to take a wobbly photo. My goal was to get a profile shot of both legs/feet, not to look at the turnout or anything, just to see the arch, the knee etc. The texts in the photos are in Finnish, but the translations are given in the captions :) And just to remind you and me myself, these are definitely for fun, no serious meanings here.

"Full weight" on my right leg... and the left looks stupid :D

For comparison, full weight on the left leg.

My favorite warm-ups! :)

I have to say that I do like my righ one better. But to defend the left, it has was broken 2,5 years ago. So keeping that in mind, I'm quite happy :) About the leg warmers, I saw the same kind in THIS video! :D But I got mine before I saw it. And as I'm also quite tall (and not too skinny....), these look shorter on me than on that ballerina. But they are still very nice!

Giselle - the perfect Halloween ballet!

This was not my idea, but a friend's - Giselle suits perfectly with Halloween. Would be fun to have a version with a bit more "grim" touch to it, all the make-up and costumes... :D Or maybe Michael Jackson did it already? With Thriller? It does have lots of cool dancing and living dead in it, also some romantic aspect.

Aaaaanyway. As I fell (inside a buss, yes) on Sunday and got 3 days of sick leave because of my hand injury, I had some spare time. And today, especially after the "nice" visit to dental hygienist (brrrh......), decided to watch Giselle on my laptop. I had 3 versions to choose from, Royal Ballet (in 2006 with Cojocaru), La Scala (Ferri, don't know the year) and Mats Ek (don't know who's the leading lady nor the year). Decided to go with RB, as it had also the amazing Marianela Nuñez in it (as Myrtha).

Took a comfortable position on my bed with big pillows, cat curled beside my legs, pressed play. The BBC production had a bit of hosting in it, don't remember the lady's name. But there was also a short interview from Alina.C. herself and her fiancé, Johan Kobborg, with short bits from their rehearsals.

Most of the music (by A. Adam) is familiar to me, but I don't remember if I've ever truly seen the work as a whole. There was a lot more choir pieces in the 1st act than I remembered, which was interesting to look at. But at the same time made me wonder about their existence. I mean, most of them had really nothing to do with the actual plot, they were just there. But of course, if they didn't exist, the 1st act would be quite short. And as the dancers were so good, it was a pleasure to see all of it, don't take me wrong :)

Johan Kobborg with Alina Cojocaru, by Bill Cooper (c)

Still, my favorite bits were the variations (including the Peasant pas de deux, despite what I wrote above). As much as I enjoyed both Cojocaru and Kobborg performing from their hearts, I wasn't too much a fan of this Albrecht's facial expressions. His pirouettes, jumps and everything else I did like, a lot. It had nothing to do with how he looks or anything such, no. I just didn't get the Feeling. Sometimes this happens. The couple were was still very nicely in balance with each other, as they are in real life... :) (You can read here about how they got engaged!)

Alina Cojocaru by Bill Cooper (c)

Between the acts there was some other video footage again, behind the scenes. Short bits of interviews again, and which I found quite funny, the names of main dancers/roles. Why weren't they in the beginning? Weird... Back to the 2nd act. Marianela Nuñez was super "chilly" in her cool essence of Myrtha, the queen of the wilis. I've enjoyed watching her (many times) in La fille mal gardée, sadly not live but via computer. (Hooray for teh interweb!!!) Also seen some parts of Swan Lake. The wilis were eloquent, also I liked very much their costume. As you can see in the pic above, the hem of the tutu isn't straight cut, which made it a bit more ghost-like. Not too clean. And the veils over their heads in the beginning, yes. Giselle had it also when appearing for the first time.

I have to admit, I'd completely forgotten what happens to poor Hilario! I Did remember him existing in the work, but his part of the plot was somewhat surprise. It was one of the most effective scenes in the 2nd act. How cold were those wilis to him, such a destiny.

The ending was beautiful. The whole piece made me tear up a couple of times. Also it made me hope that our National Ballet would perform it in the near future... :) I know for a fact that I'd get chills with the opening music already! :D

Alina Cojocaru by Bill Cooper (c)

For a comparison I watched the La Scala version, too. Except that I skipped some of those choir bits...... (*shame on me*) Alessanda Ferri was so divine in this role. Really. As I became a new fan for Miss Cojocaru after the first Giselle, I found prima ballerina assoluta Ferri maybe even more fascinating. I've seen her as Juliet, which is kind of a legend performance in ballet field for me (as a ballet fanatic). And she was wearing the traditional blue peasant dress in the 1st act, which I missed a little in RB's version (just to be honest).

*Maybe to balance the situation, the "Italians" had very traditional tutus in the 2nd act. I liked the English version better ;)*

Massimo Murru starred as Albrecht. He had some seriously neat turns and jumps. Will have to try to see more of him. And as a fun detail, Roberto Bolle danced in the Peasant pas de deux in this production! :) He's one of my favorites.

I think I'm done with Giselle for a while now (maybe 2 weeks or so, haha). As Christmas comes, I'll start the Nutcracker marathon again (as we don't have in the Opera this year!!). But before it I think I'll choose some other work(s) to see and compare. Some classic(s), probably. I'll let you know then :)

Wear Pink Today!

For me, October is the pink month. It is the breast cancer awareness month. This year even more than before. I really miss my friend, who passed away in April.

I did Not like pink when growing up. As a kid I hated it! :D These days I maybe even Love it. Funny how these things turn out. Pink ain't my favorite color, I don't think I have one. But it's one of the favoriteS.

I have the pink ribbon all year round in my jacket, on my bag etc. But today is October 12th, a day of really wearing pink! :) Well, at least there's that event in Facebook... My ballet friend gave the idea to wear pink in class, so that's what I'm going to do. And here are the stuff I'll put on - some dark colors too, but we won't notice them ;)

The pink cat is for my friend, she loved them (in all colors) :)

The top was a suprise sales find, perfect for today :) The shorts were a buy-something-for-class-in-a-hurry-find some 2 years ago or so. They've been excellent.  

Silhouette slippers by Sansha. I like the shape and outer soles, but the sizing is weird. I had the same size Pro's and these are definitely smaller, even though the width is the same, too. Trying to wear these out soon ;)

Pointe shoes, some white fabric tape for toes (Leukotape, works for me!), Ouch-Pouch juniors and the pink bag :)

My trust-worthy water bottle and the tiny towel. 

These are my pink things this time. Btw, the legwarmers are Old. I got them as a birthday gift when I turned maybe 11 or 12, I think. There was also a crocheted bun pouch and some other small things that I've forgotten :) My godfather sent them. The black shrug was a sales find, too. It's a tad too small (I've got long arms), but it does it's job. What else... Hmm... The black top - I don't wear leotards too often (quite seldom, to be honest), so there's always a tank or camisole top under the outer shirt/top. And a sports bra, but those won't get their picture published! :D Oh, and the pink leggings used to be tights. Just cut the toes off. Nice long leggings there.

A bit too much materia here. But the main point is that I do care. And hope that others would, too. If I were "a rich man", I'd donate to the Roosa nauha -säätiö, which is a breast cancer foundation in Finland. There are so many things needed for the patients getting treatment, also after it. And the research work! It's so important.

Women. Feel your boobs. Go to the doctor if there's something wrong, also if you Suspect there might be something. Demand to be taken seriously. We are worth it.

Star Dance, May 1992

It's been a while since I posted. There's actually no big reason for it, just been a bit tired with the gloomy weather in my part of Finland (the whole country, to be exact). But I've been going to classes, enjoying them and even learning new stuff. I had an idea of writing about music & motivation it gives, but shall save it for later. Today I'm presenting a tiny bit of my childhood :)

One ballet friend's mom takes the same classes with me nowadays, she gave me a vhs cassette from our (ancient) Spring recital in 1992. I think the date was 19th of May. It was held at the town theatre, like always. Our class was grade 2 at that time, youngest was probably about 8-9, oldest 11-12. This is the first one of the two numbers we had, called Star Dance (or Dance of the stars). Our teacher made it, her name is mentioned in the beginning (Arja). This might have been one of the first time we had tutus! :)

At first I didn't remember this at all, but as I watched, some parts came out of nowhere to my mind! :D How fun and curious... (p.s. The video is hidden, so people won't find it unless they've seen it here.)

***

Some slippers

Right. I've had now 5 ballet classes and met all my ballet teachers for this season. I was glowing (apparently dancers do not sweat) during all of them, enjoyed myself very much. Madame P.S. has the most challenging routines, but I like it. She also has pointe work in the end, so I've now tried the new gaynors for real. And found out that the suede platform squeaks on the dance mat we have. It feels even a bit tacky, when we did stuff in the middle. So I'm guessing it'll take some time to get used to them. The sole is lovely, getting over the box feels easy (and as madame said, it looks that way too). I still Might want to try the sole that's a bit harder. But that would be after a year or so. Or even later than that.

Couple of posts ago I showed some photos of my "tune-the-slippers" day. I thought I'd present the results, too. So, here they are :)

Under the toes.

Under the heel.

Tiny stiches :)

First make a double knot, then cut the drawstring. Finally some tape and voilà!

Seems neat on the outside :)

This is what I usually use, good strong cotton thread  (actually meant for buttons). Not Too strong, but just perfect :) And the color couldn't be better!

The thread in action. 

There'll be a post about the gaynors later on. And yay! Tomorrow there's a class again :) 

***

Last Monday and today again!

Just what might the headline mean? Well.... Classes of ballet, of course. As I wrote that I'm going to see if there's any action on Monday, I did go. And there was.

Short report. We (meaning me + one other student + teacher) started the class with 4 minutes of abs. Different styles, but the song lasted for whooooole fooooour minutes... :D It was exhausting but Fun. After that -> to the barré! All the movement materials were familiar, but the routines were new. And I'm a bit nervous at the moment, because I don't remember them properly yet. So I'm hoping the teacher will show them (once is enough, but still needed).

My legs weighed a ton each, which made me feel slightly desperate at some points. But I did my best with what I had that day. Have to say that it wasn't my best day in general, though. Keeping legs turned out in balances - oh dear. Today I've decided to do them (balancing at barre) on flat foot, not demi pointe. I want to focus on the working leg more. If there's any hope with it ;)

What next... There was a short bit of floor barre, grand battements (devant & a la seconde). Interesting, a bit challenging, also fun. Then basic tendus + some grand battements + pirouettes (standing up again). A short beautiful adagio. With my lame developpes. En diagonale - we had a nice waltz type routine, some pique pirouettes in the end. Small jumps in the middle (my entrechat-quattres were good, said the teacher). A bigger jump routine en diagonale, also gave me a Lot to think about.

***

I've been craving for challenge in class and here it seems to be. Just hoping that the teacher doesn't feel too frustrated with my level of skills. And Really hoping there'll be other students with us soon, although it's good to be under a magnifier sometimes. But not every time, maybe.

***

This is the only Friday class this teacher (Madame P.S.) will give. From next week on there'll be only Mondays. And I'm actually quite happy about it, as I'm already having one class on Fridays (with Madame D.R-S.). And one on Saturday mornings (Madame L.S.). So the dance schedule for this year has been finalized:

Monday  /  8.15 pm - 9.45 pm  /  Ballet (young advanced)  /  Madame P.S.

Friday  /  5.30 pm - 7.00 pm  /  Ballet (adults advanced)  /  Madame D.R-S.

Saturday  /  10.00 am - 11.30 am  /  Ballet (adults advanced)  /  Madame L.S.

Sunday   /  5.30 pm - 7.00 pm  /   Jazz (adults advanced)   /   Madame T.K.

About the levels: They are all marked as advanced, but I'd say that Monday ballet and Sunday jazz are really on that level. Friday and Saturday ballets are a bit easier. But they do require several years of training, too. 

These were asked to bring along today. Yikes.

About my classes, again

So, to put it short, there was no class on Friday. Because I was the only student present. But I got to chat with the teacher, tell a little bit about myself and my dance history. She was really nice! I'm guessing younger than me, but it really doesn't matter :) She told me that there are some people who Should be coming, but couldn't make it this time. And the plan is to have probably only the Monday class - which would be great for me, because having 2 x 90 minutes in different places on Fridays would be a bit hard.

Today I'll go to the studio again, to see if there's people enough for us to have a lesson. It starts at 8.15 pm, ends at 9.30 pm. And if we'll have only one class with this teacher per week, it'll be until 9.45 pm... Quite late, but I usually stay up at least till 1 am. The only "problem" with it is walking home after class in winter. It's going to be dark, slippery and cold. But one has to just have enough clothes, right? And head straight to shower/bath when at home. Then hot tea and wool socks.

It feels very much like Autumn at the moment. It's been gray all over outside from the moment I woke up. And raining. Not much, but enough to make it chilly. I'm predicting lots of tea for today. Luckily I like it! :)

via weheartit.com

Decision time

So, it's done. Enrolled myself - there's going to be ballet on Friday and Saturday, jazz on Sunday. All of these start the Fall semester next week, so I still have to wait. So booooooooring.... :P

But today I'll finally go and try a new class, the second class for Friday (as I wrote last time). Trying new dance classes in this particular school is free, which is quite nice at the moment. It's ballet advanced, but for "younger people". I tried it last October, but didn't have the time to continue regularly. Also that time they'd had the barre routines for a while already, so the teacher didn't show much. It was bit of a challenge, but I got the most.

This time they've had only one class prior to today's, so the routines will probably be explained. The main thing that worries me are the participants. Last time there were 3 girls of maybe 18 and one over 20. I've heard that one of them applied to a university in Helsinki, but don't know if she made it. Maybe some other girls have moved to this class? Last time the teacher didn't have anything against me taking the class, but she might feel different of me going there on regular basis. I'm always over-thinking these things :D

Also... I feel HUGE compared to the girls. I'm tall (177,5 cm's) and not the skinniest. But on the other hand, I learned to accept the "difference" in all my other classes, so probably it'll be okay this time, too. In the Christmas recital last year they had the same purple leotard for everyone, wore them with white tutus. If there's a strict rule about the clothing, for example a class leo, it might be a problem. But we'll see. At 7.15 pm tonight. Yes ma'm.

I know they do pointe work, but don't know if it's regular. Their Monday class is 75 minutes, Friday 90. So it might, just Might, be on Fridays... Anyway, I'm taking the shoes with me today, just in case. Have to try some extra padding for the right foot, before leaving.

I'm quite nervous! :D

Anxiety and classes

Just a short note. I'm trying to figure out what dance classes I'm able to take this year. So far there's going to be ballet on Friday and jazz on Sunday. Also somewhat sure thing is ballet on Saturday.

What I'd Like to have also... Ballet on Monday (maybe another class on Friday, too, so there'd be 2 x 90 minutes), contemporary on Sunday and a streching class just before it. Feels kinda stupid that everything is gathering round weekends. Somehow. Of course I'll be a bit more tired during weekdays after work, but really, it would be nicer to have stuff on Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat. Or something like that.

But I just have to wait. And negotiate with certain people. And of course, as my own work starts again next week, I have to make those schedules - and I tell you, it's one big job. Not the most fun, might I add.

***

p.s. I took another tourist class in Helsinki last Tuesday!!! :) It was a lot of fun (and sweat). Hopefully will have some of those also this school year.

To do -list

Summer classes are over, not happy me. But there were some other ballet related things I had to do, to get ready for Autumn. Here are some clues.

One inner sole piece ripped off, also the smaller one was  to be replaced.

First there was some superglue, but it's not here :P Then some thread, needle, scissors and tape.

Another pair of softies, in desperate need of elastics. As they had only one piece with them and I like to have 2 pieces (crossed over the foot), I put some black that I had left from other shoes. Not pretty but okay for classes.

New babies needed elastic And ribbons. Loving the sole here already ;)

Not my own living room :)

Stuff. (Recycled ribbons!)

***

Tomorrow I might take one tourist class. Not sure yet. Will report on that later! :)