Sunday, January 15, 2012

First classes and Ouch!

I was quite excited on Friday, my first ballet class in 27 (TWENTY SEVEN) days! So I left home early enough, walked in the snow and storm (haha) (well, it Was snowing and windy), got to the buildings of the culture center and... fell. I was walking with normal speed or even slower, but under the fluffy snow was icy hard snow. Hit my knees hard on the ground, left one more than right. There were two ladies present, who didn't ask me if I was okay, only expressed their feeling of surprise and fright. Luckily I got up quickly and could walk just fine. (And as a flute player: Luckily didn't injure my hands or face!!!)

Not a good start for the year, I say... :D

To the barré! Our Friday-teacher was on a good mood. We had nice routines, interesting ones even. Turning a lot, new hands and stuff. My legs were Super Heavy after the break and being sick, but what I'm proud of: not giving up even on the adagio! :) Pirouettes weren't visible by the barre that day, but I tried. Next week I'll try more.

My Friday spot :)

In the center we did tendus, jetes, grand battements, some pirouettes (did better than by barre)... Lot of routines. My goal was to remember the moves, on the second round to improve my balance. In the end we had some big jumps. Also a fun set across the floor (in diagonal):

Preparation - chasse & sissonne arabesque - chasse & sissonne arabesque - chasse & sissonne arabesque - some bourre suivi - chasse & sissonne attitude - run away... (gracefully, of course - haha....)

Another was like this (straight across the floor):

Chasse & sissonne (working leg flies in front, hands in third pos.) - chasse & sissonne (same) - chasse & sissonne (same) - prep. for soutenus -> 2 x slow soutenu - 3 x fast (double speed) soutenus - end in third arabesque.

The 90 minutes didn't feel as long as they sometimes do, in Friday evenings... ;) Anyway I was happy to leave, as my dad came to pick me up and there was SAUNA waiting for me. Loved it. Some good food with the parents, then home. On Saturday morning I was super sleepy, with the left knee hurting a bit. Didn't feel like going, but would have regretted it So Much. So I did go and it was great. Interesting routines, though I would have liked to do a bit more in the center (our barre took 60 out of the 90 min. we have). Also we had 12 people participating + our teacher, quite many for our class. It was weird in the center, as it felt even crowded. But managed to Not hit anyone!

On the left we've got the longer barre, in front the shorter one :)

Saturday's center adagio consisted of temps lie par terre, in different directions. I liked it, because it's stuff I know well :) ...easy, might one even say... Some tendus & pirouettes, not bad. Across the floor (not diagonal) some biggish jumps. For the pointe-15-minutes I had my boys in work, the Capezios. They felt So Nice... But the box is still too big and the vamp too high. And overall they are a bit too big. Next week I think I'll take my girls (Bloch Suprima) or their friends (Serenade). I _really_ would like to get the perfect pair. But this season I'll go with these that I have. If the Bloch's still behave badly, then the boys have more work.

These I wear with the boys, as there's too much space round my toes.

One more class to report! It was the latino jazz in my old school (same as my morning class). The Thursday class that I was planning, has been cancelled. But I maybe prefer this weekend one, as I'm not tired from teaching/working myself. This new teacher is actually an old dance friend, we had some same classes as teenagers. She's developped this jazz variant herself, it combines the typical latin moves (samba, salsa, cha cha etc.) with jazz. And from what I can say based on the first class, I like it. Challenging for me, yes. But still fun! Also I might be the oldest taking it, but I hope the younger ones won't think it's weird...

Today there would have been the first (normal) jazz class, but in the morning the knee didn't feel good, so I decided to skip it. And try next week again :)

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p.s. I would Love to have more classes in the morning (or before 12 am). It makes me wake up smoothly (despite sweating) and gives excellent feeling for the rest of the day.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Some Spring Schedule

Okay, the term was Supposed to start tomorrow for me. But it won't and I am somewhat bummed by the fact. And why is this? Don't know. I mean, our Wednesday-teacher only sent a text saying that the classes will be on break, indefinitely. I haven't been more disappointead in ages, but one just has to live with it.

And make new plans! There ain't no more ballet classes offered in our town besides the Friday & Saturday ones that I'm already taking. But there's jazz! I'm going to the adult education centre's office tomorrow to ask if I could join 1-2 courses this week. The first one is latino jazz on Thursday, the second "normal" jazz on Sunday. Also I want to take the 1-week-long intensive course on modern dance (week 9, our winter break).

If I'll take all of those, it means something like this ->

Thursday / 18.30-19.30 / Latino jazz (basic)
Friday / 18.00-19.30 / Ballet (intermediate-advanced)
Saturday / 10.00-11.30 / Ballet (interm.-adv.) + short pointe session in the end
Sunday / 17.00-18.30 / Jazz (interm.)
+
Week 9 / Monday - Friday / 18.00-19.30 / Modern dance


I'm not too jazzed (haha) about 4 days in a row, but there isn't much to do about it. There IS a teen-ballet-advanced class on Monday evenings, but it's a bit expencive. Plus I don't feel quite yet ready... :D I did take that class once in the Autumn, but they'd already been doing the barre routines for a while (weeks, I mean) and all my energy went on trying to pick stuff by watching as we did the stuff. If they still have it in this August, I might go. Just Might.

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p.s. Bought a pair of shoes today. Will tell more about them later. 

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p.p.s. They were on clearance sale.

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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Shhh.... Watch it while you still can!

Just found this in youtube and LOVE it. I've nothing else to say about it! :) One never knows how long these videos stay there, so take your 15 minutes and 25 seconds to watch it Now.


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p.s It's snowing outside!!!!!!


Some (ballet) photos by me!

Just before Christmas I went to see a ballet-geek-friend's Christmas Performance. Well, it was their school's but still. There was a fairytale as the red line, tale of wild swans. My friend was the Evil Queen! :) She had a solo and all! Took some photos with my small camera, had some problems with the flash and stuff, but I'll share some of the pictures anyway :)


We started our ballet day with some DELICIOUS cake at Cafe La Famille (Tampere)
I had time to wander around the center, saw this lovely blue Xmas tree by the Xmas market :)
 By the market I also met these! :) Mr Nutcracker and his friends!

Nice big tree also in the theatre's hallway :)

Sat down on the 2nd row and felt the exciting atmosphere... Lot of playwriter names up there.
Wouldn't want to sit there!
So the show began. First there was bollywood style, very energetic as you can see :)

The dancing people in the castle.
Soon there was also The Solo!!! Yay! :)
Later on the princesses turned into swans... Managed to snap this on the perfect moment! :)
Another solo, but not by my friend. This ballerina was very much enlightened, hehe... :) But it was beautiful.

Took lots of other photos, too, but don't want to show them :D I really enjoyed the story and many dance styles! Made me remember my old days (as a teen) in my dance school, sometimes had 3 or 4 different styles to perform and even 2 dances from some... Loved the rush and changing of clothes and accessories and shoes and all. I really like performing and hope to get to the stage again in May. Some of the people in my classes do not want to perform, I think it's a pity. But everyone has their own reasons, and as we all are adults, it's not obligatory to prance round the stages... ;)

Next post... Hmm... Maybe about my goals for this spring? I set one in August -> double turns. Well well. Shall write more about them later :)

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

New Year

Happy This Year everyone!

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Thanks for my middlebrother for swishing with the sparkly stick :)

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Notice the 2 different colors! :D


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