Beautiful Bloch Serenades

HOORAY HOORAY HOORAY!

My beautimous pointe shoes have arrived!

After watching a few how-to video tutorials on sewing ribbons and elastics onto pointe shoes, I started my sewing of the ribbons at about 9:45 PM and finally finished all my sewing at about 10:20 PM (Megan, I know this does NOT count my sewing of my elastics during your wedding gown appointment...) Here are some photos:

Required supplies for pointe shoe sewing: 

light thread, sparkly happy scissors, a lighter (to singe the ribbon ends), elastics, and ribbons!

Ta-da!!!!! 
All done!

(these are Bloch Serenades with Bloch invisible elastic and Bloch Elastorib ribbons)

I stood up in susu, did a soutenu, and did some tendus and ronde de jambes in them. Obviously they're not the most comfortable of shoes, but in pointe shoe world, my limited perspective leads me to believe these aren't bad! My toes don't feel scrunched, and I felt pretty well-balanced on the platform! 

...now to get a portable barre for home-practice :) 

Semaine 16

I have sadly realized that I can't come up with a quote for each week because I'm not thinking about my blog during my class-- I need to work on that.

Monday night was the usual 6:15 PM Walsh class, and as usual, it was fantastic! We did a LOT of work in that 1 hour and 15 minutes! We practiced combinations with plié-pas de cheval (that horse kicking type of move that begins with a coupe) closing to Fifth en croix - front side back side then without a plié, and also while on relevé all en croix, and battément, dégagé, and frappé combos as usual. Other fun exercises were our pirouette exercises, complete with tendus and correct arms but only 1/4 turns at a time. Corner work was a balance-tombé-pas de bourré-chassé-souté arabesque exercise that we did about 6 times. Kelly wasn't at class today so I couldn't record the corner exercise, not that it's a new one, but I think it's starting to look better. Pirouettes are starting to get better, too. I can do a full pirouette while spotting and not topple over! Yaaaay...

Walsh, at least, came up to me and pushed in my butt/pushed my pelvis front and ribs in... I'm not used to doing that. Butt in? I'm used to my butt hanging out everywhere, so keeping it squished-in requires a conscious effort. =P

My ribbons, elastic, and pointe pillows came in the mail two days ago and I'm excited :) I'm not going to be wreckless with these pointe shoes when they come in (relax!). I'll slowly learn how to break in a shoe and get used to the feel of the pointe shoe itself by practicing tendus, rolling through a demi pointe, watching my turnout in them (since it's bound to be worse) and standing in susu (closed Fifth en pointe) while staring into a mirror practicing to keep my big old butt tucked in! The ONLY thing I'll probably do EN POINTE is stand susu and stand with one leg in attitude/coupé/passé getting used to balancing (while holding onto a ledge). I'm NOT going to try and pirouette my way to unconsciousness on the floor. Demi pointe shoes are $30/pair anyway, so I may as well get used to a real shank. Besides, I'm almost just as excited to practice sewing ribbons and elastic onto my beauty-full gorgeous shoes.

weeeee!!!!!

Tuesday night I went to Kintz-Mejia Ballet School's Adult Beginner ballet class with Vihao. The studio is actually in the same shopping plaza as my (old) LA Boxing gym. It was led by Linda Kintz (pic below). She runs a tight ship, like a ballet bootcamp! It was no-nonsense, no jibber jabber, smiling, laughing, or joking. It wasn't hard per se, just pure isolated exercises with corrections in technique throughout. It was really nice to actually be in such a strict atmosphere. It's not the confusing exercise you get lost in (like at BalletNova), instead, you just focus on your arms, chest, butt, going through your demi pointe and plié when landing jumps, and turnout.

I felt comfortable with class after the first 15 or so minutes not feeling exceedingly behind in technique, and the hour flew by. This sure as hell didn't feel like a Beginning ballet class! I sweated gallons and gallons which was great! My towel was soaked and it felt like I'd jumped into a pool, by the end of class.

The best part of it? After class, Linda introduced herself to me, asked my name and said, "You could get really good!" Wow, so reassuring and SUCH a confidence booster! :) She said she knew I'd done some dance before but wondered what it was and where I was currently taking ballet. It was good to know I didn't look like a complete goof!

I think that after this positive experience, I'm definitely open to returning for class on open days where BalletNova doesn't offer class for me.  Plus, I sweat a lot more at Kintz-Mejia. But, at $25 per drop-in... {{sigh}} my bank account will say *ouch*

Left: Linda Kintz, and Right: Mark Mejia and Linda Kintz

Owners of Kintz-Mejia Ballet School

Semaine 15

This week's schedule is probably only going to be the Monday class, since Jeff and I have to go back to Ohio on Thursday to collect our repaired car from the 8/27 accident. If he and I make it back into town before it's too late, I'm going to try to make it to class. Jeff's coworker Vihao, who has been taking ballet at a studio closeby, wants to join me in class to see how my studio is, so hopefully we make it back into town so he and I can go together! In his words, we will try to do a "student exchange" program, where I'll take a class at his studio (Kintz-Meijia Ballet Academy), too. It's always good to try out different studios I guess, to see if one fits your needs better, and it also would help to see where my technique is at in comparison. His classes are Beginners on Tuesdays and Intermediate on Wednesdays. Right now my schedule won't fit in with his, since I work on those days, but I think every now and then I should have a day free to drop in!

Anyhow, this Monday's class was great. It was led by Shu-Chen, the Gin Dance Company founder and artistic director. She was fantastic! She has beautiful beautiful feet, was funny, and had challenging exercises that were all doable but took some getting used to. Constance Walsh was out of town for some ballet conference thingy I think. But it was definitely a pleasure to take class from Shu-Chen and I hope she comes back some time soon!

Pictured: Shu-Chen

Today I did a goofy thing... and it stems back from when I did the LAST really silly dorky nerdy goofy thing. I bought pointe shoes. I know. I said it. I did it. I went to the dance store nearby and got fitted for pointe shoes, telling the manager/fitter that my "instructor gave me the go ahead for the Spring" <-- not true. I guess I COULD say that Saki is my "other instructor," and she would've told me to just get fitted so I can see what brand works for me so that when the time COMES, I would know... so I went based off of that. Plus, what's another 5 months after when I told the lady I'd start pointe? =P So anyway, I tried on Bloch, Chacott, Grishko, and Russian Pointe. The best fitting pair were a pair of Bloch Serenades, 3.5C. This wasn't terribly off of the Grishko 2007's that I got off of eBay back in my early blog entry, since I ordered a size 3 back then I think, based off a size 6 street shoe.. However, the lady went by my ballet slipper size (6.5) so a 3.5 was the best fit. I guess ballet dancers have real narrow feet sometimes, because I'm considered a C width and I have pretty narrow/regular feet in my opinion.

Click here to see the Serenades on Discountdance.com, here's a pic though:

OMG aren't they pretty? These (both photos) are the exact ones I got, a 3.5 C =) Preeeeettty pointe shoes. I got 'em on eBay for $35 with Free Shipping, woot! 

Rolling up to pointe in the Blochs (and all the pointe shoes I tried) was actually really easy and was a LOT MORE COMFORTABLE than I expected! It was easy to go to susu (closed fifth position en pointe or demi pointe) without holding onto the barre. I didn't passe in them in the store but it was so fun to wear them and roll up to pointe and not feel like I was torturing my feet! Fun Fun Fun! Can't wait to get 'em so I can take some pictures and practice some controlled moves in them...muahahaha... I know this is somewhat disrespecting the art of ballet, but I'm way too impatient to wait until next Fall. At $35, I don't mind getting re-fitted in a year and getting different shoes. 

...So now I'll need to get some elastic, ribbons, and lambswool toe pads. =P

Bloch makes an Elastorib ribbon (Right) that has elastic positioned where the ribbon would wrap around the achilles' tendon, which reduces the occurrence of tendonitis, a common problem with ribbons tied too-tightly around the ankle. On the left are pictured lambswool toe pillows.

My goodness, I am just hanging my head out of shame for myself. Hahah... 

New Term this Week: 

pas de cheval: 

"step of the horse," where the dancer does a coupe then a small developpe and tendu back into the starting position. 

Semaine 14 - "Don't Crush your Tutu"

I think I'll try to come up with a funny lesson/quote that was said in class, for each week. This week's was "Don't crush your tutu!" said by Walsh, in describing how we use our arms and not dropping our arms too low, and not swooping up and overdramatically with our tambe.

"Don't crush your tutu!" There are way too many adorable pug tutu pictures on the internet... 

I have a hard time choosing which one =) 

Mei-Mei is definitely going to be a ballerina for Halloween this year!

Monday Night @ 6:15 PM - Walsh

Monday night's class was with the wonderful Walsh! Again it was a pleasant experience, I sweated my tutu off haha... nothing exciting to show in a video, so Kelly and I didn't record a clip. Hopefully Thursday's class will have something exciting... if anything maybe I'll have her take a pic of me in the splits? This week for corner exercises all we did was a tambe-pas de burre combo and then a soute arabesque one. Not that thrilling, it's nothing we haven't done already.

Video clip of assemble, from last week's centrework exercise

I called Art Stone Dance Supply (the one I got my leotard from back in June) if they carried demi pointe shoes. Unfortunately they don't (sighh...) I may just get a pair off of discountdance.com then. What I think I may do is go to the store, ask again (pretending that I hadn't already), and when they say no, I'll ask if I can get fitted into Sansha's (link click here) anyway so that I know what size I am since they don't carry them and that I'll come back for my pointes in the future. =D Maybe they won't hate me too much. That's my goal for Thursday, my next day off. They're only $25.20 and are the better of the two that can be purchased on discountdance.com, since this one has a wider, more square box/pointe.

Comparison: 

Left: European ($29.95), Right: American ($25.20). Note the one on the right has a more square box, and the one on the left is a smaller box that is tapered at the toe. I like the one on the right way more. 

Thursday Night @ 7:30 PM - Clark

Class was fine, nothing new or exciting to be learned, except for when Clark uses me as the example before a floor routine, I completely screw it up and look like I'm out of my league in that class hah. We did pirouette exercises again and when I get used to the way she does a certain exercise, I assume it's the same routine the next time. Even if I listen to her, I'm not paying attention to her change up the exercise. So of course, when she said "plie, quarter turn," knowing it was a pirouette exercise, I still did the "preparacion" which was plie - passe - plie, quarter turn. NOPE! Wasn't paying attention. Additionally, with my old woman mind and muscle memory, when she told me to reverse and go the other way, I still did the preparacion. Dangit! {hand slaps forehead}

I really didn't feel like videotaping any of the corner exercises they weren't exciting. All it was, was a chasse grand jete - step - grand jete, and the other was a soute arabesque exercise we've done in the past. 

That's all for this week. Hopefully the week of September 23rd is more exciting! Depending on if Jeff and I have to fly to Ohio to get the car, I may or may not be able to attend class on Thursday. :( sad. 

Semaine 13

{sorry for posting so late, with Jeff's 30th bday this weekend, I got distracted}

~Monday Night~

I'm writing this on Monday night after my class with Constance Walsh - O.M.G. I. LOVE. HER. Kelly was right, she is the best teacher EVER! I know I said this after class with Clark, and while I do love Clark, I am so grateful and happy to have TWO instructors as my regulars whom I adore! Since I enrolled on Mondays at 6:15 PM, I'll have Walsh every week (weeeeeeeee!!!) and then on Thursdays as a walk-in, as long as I am free for class on Thursday nights, I'll have Clark! I'm so excited! BalletNova's motto is "Where you dance matters," and I'm seriously a believer! I think that Walsh's instruction and guidance will really help me. She smiles, she laughs and jokes around, but also comes up with challenging combinations and pays attention to every student helping them individually. When we were doing a reverse passé, she came up and fixed my heel so that my turnout was better (I had no idea I was doing it THAT wrong!), and fixed my hands in port de bras a la seconde (second position arms). No videos for this class, we didn't do challenging corner work. The more challenging parts were a developpe exercise that was just too complicated for my early-alzheimer's brain to handle haha... but it wasn't beyond comprehension... I was just too slow-minded that I would flub it every other attempt haha...

The best thing about Monday night class - A LIVE PIANIST! I seriously felt like I was in a class straight out of Center Stage:

Fast Forward to 2:55 and that was how our class felt with the live music! Sooo fun :) 

~Thursday Night~ 

So, Kelly didn't join me on Thursday night's class with Clark, which I thought was OK. Well, turns out I was wrong. Yknow when you have one of those days where physically you're present, but mentally you're spaced out completely? Almost every time Clark gave a combination to us, I would just NOT GET IT. It wasn't that the combos were HARD, my mind just wasn't there! It was so frustrating!! Since I'm not classically trained aside from what I've learned since this past June, I need the instructor to be specific about what the combination IS. The problem with Thursday was that she would step-through the first 1/4 of the combination and then change something up within it but wouldn't demonstrate it. Instead, she just used the terminology and that just messed me up because I don't KNOW ALL of the terminology. This was my first really truly frustrating classes at BalletNova. Sigh. 

After class I met up with Saki, my friend I met through Jeff, who helped mentor and guide me along this whole ballet journey (She's the one who teaches at Washington School of Ballet... She also hooked Jeff and me up with free tickets to The Nutcracker last Christmas!). We met up at the Capital City Brewery down in Shirlington and caught up. After talking about her new engagement, we eventually talked about my ballet classes. I told her about what I'm learning, how my bad class was that night, and then about what my plans were for the next year. She gawked at the price of classes at BalletNova ($329 for 18-ish classes, plus supplementing with $16/class for a second class each week). So, she suggested that after this Fall Session is complete, that I consider taking classes at other studios she has taught or has friends who take class. One of them is the Metropolitan Fine Arts Center and the other is The Ballet Studio (Saki used to work here and knows the owner really well). Both have recitals that include adult ballet classes! (exciting!) MFAC is $330 for a 30 class card ($11/class; no registration only class card attendance) and The Ballet Studio is $18/class for an 8-class card (more expensive than BalletNova). The only upside of The Ballet Studio is that Saki's friend teaches the Advanced Adult Ballet + Pointe class, which as an enrolled student is $325. This is for Fall, which is only Sept 10-Dec 15 vs. Sept 3-Feb 3 at BalletNova (Advanced Beg Ballet + Pointe would be $439, for comparison purposes). So it seems like once on pointe, BalletNova is cheaper. BUT, Saki said that her friend who teaches the Advanced Adult + Pointe class has only 4 students right now, and could give me a lot of focused attention to help me get on pointe faster. Lots to think about. For right now, I'm sticking with BalletNova. May as well, since my work schedule is all figured out with my Monday enrollment, and it's just too complicated to factor in starting at a new studio. Knowing me, I'd probably wind up at the wrong studio on the wrong day and miss out overall haha. 

Saki did mention demi-pointe shoes. I've never heard of them, but she said they are good for training those who have weak arches, to get on pointe. Since I don't have weak arches, she said I may not need them, but based on my quick google research, they help prep for pointe and get the dancer used to the feel of pointe shoes. Also, she suggested seeing Maggie from Washington School of Ballet when looking into pointe shoes, since she used to work in ballet retail. :) OMG now I am like... intensely wanting a pair just to mess around with hahaha... Found them online at Discount Dance and they are $25 a pair... omg I can feel my excitement grow =P Definitely stopping by the dance supply store nearby to get sized tomorrow, weeeee!!!!! OF COURSE, I wouldn't dare bringing these into class, lest I be judged or scoffed at! I'll dance in private in these. Yay.

Demi-Pointe Shoes

OK so throwback to early entries... 

New Terminology This Week: 

Echappe 

Assemble