JOURNAL

This page is a page to inform you on what happened during my ballet/dance classes and/or other things about my dancing. This page is going to be updated all the time, so please visit back.

Sunday, December 16th, 01
Last week in ballet, we did a new step. I couldn't do it at all last week. Today I kind of got it, I was so happy.

Saturday, December 15th, 01
I had such a good time in ballet today. All the pointe work seems easier, now. The poitne shoes felt part of my feet. I was also asked to demonstrate some exercises.

Friday, December 14th, 01
Today in rehearsal, we did cartwheels. They were different than the ones that I did before. Our hands were suppose to leave the floor before the carwheel is fully completed. The feeling is so new!

Sunday, December 2nd, 01
We didn't do pointe today but Iwas kind of glad because my toes were hurting. Since we didn't do pointe, we spent a lot of time learning a new petit allegro combination. I had a lot of fun doing them.

Saturday, December 1st, 01
I had a really good time in ballet today, we did a lot of grand allegro. We also did some new things that Ihaven't done before.

Thursday, November 29th, 01
For some reason, Idon't feel as happy recently. Even dance hasn't been so enjoyable, so I am not going to say much about it today.

Tuesday, November 27th, 01
We found out some of the exercises that we are suppose to do for the end of term exam today. I realized that there's a lot of things I still have to work on but there's only one and a half month before the exam!

Sunday, November 25th, 01
My ballet classes are getting harder and harder and we are spending way more time on pointe now.

Saturday, November 24th, 01
Today in ballet, we did Italian fouettes en pointe. I've only donce them en dehour (sp?) before but we had to do them en de dans today. The result was, I keep confusing the arms and doing attitude instead of tabusion (sp?)

Friday, November 23rd, 01
I had such a good time in ballet today. I can finally do good double (pirouette) whenever I want to and Ieven did a couple triples on my left side even though I am right handed.

Thursday, November 22nd, 01
We didn't do much in modern today. We worked more on our contractions which I can't exactly grasp the idea nor get the fealing of how to do it. Well, I guess I'm just not the kind that likes doing floor work.

Tuesday, November 20th, 01
Today in dance, we spent so much time stretching, that afterward Icouldn't feel my legs. The odd thing is, it's not the leg on the barre that hurts, it's the one standing!

Saturday, November 17th, 01
Today in ballet, we did more pointe work than we usually do. We did more releves and those little jumps on pointe (I can't remember what there re called). I had a lot of fun although my toes were sore afterwards.

Friday, November 16th, 01
Today in dance, we did an Italian pas de chat. Since I haven't done them for a long time, I couldn't do them as well. (the last time I did them, I was still learning).

Thurdsay, November 15th, 01
Finally, I am back on writing my journals. Today in modern, we had a group of unexpected visitors. They are one of the bands that are going to competitions tommorrow. They came to have on more opportuny to perform in front of others. We had a lot of fun making up different dances to the music.

Friday, August 24th, 01
Today's the last day of summer school. School and the fall season are starting very soon. Hopefully, I've improved this summer!

Thursday, August 23rd, 01
We finished our modern dance today (we started one this Monday). We each get a little solo of about 8-16 counts and I loved my solo part.

Wednesday, August 22nd, 01
My arms feel like they are falling off today. First, there's Swan Lake which has a lot of upper body and since the arms are suppose to imitate wings, they are usually a bit behind our body and has to look really soft. And there's also modern that we do a lot of rolls and arm stretghs things.

Tuesday, August 21st, 01
I am really sore today. Maybe it's just me but every time I have a class with this teacher for ballet technique I'll be sore everywhere the day after and it takes me forever to recover.

Monday, August 20th, 01
I am on my second week of summer school at my studio already. Last week went by so fast. I guess the reason why is probably because it's in the afternoons instead of early in the morning so it's not as tiring. (I am not a morning girl).

Friday, August 17th, 01
Today's Parent viewing day. Some parents came and one was even vedio taping us, it makes me feel so pressured.

Thursday, August 16th, 01
We learned a few variations from Swan Lake and my favorite is the Baby Swans. Too bad I won't get to do it because the level below us are doing it.

Wednesday, August 15th, 01
We are learning an awesome piece in contemporary en pointe. It's really not that hard but there's a lot of cordinations involved.

Tuesday, August 14th, 01
We learned part of the corp de ballet of the ballet that we are going to do at Christmas time thise year-Swan Lake. There's not much pointe work in it yet but I still find it a bit challenging.

Monday, August 13th, 01
I started yet another ballet summer school today. This one's not as intensive though but it's at my studio so I get to meet all my friends. I missed them just for that couple of weeks.

Saturday, August 11th, 01
Today's the big day. It's the last day of the summer school (I am starting another one on Monday, though). We're ending the summer school with a pot luck party and a performance. The pot luck party was fun even though none of us ate much (well what do you expect we are dancers who have a performance at the same night). The performance went really well. We had portable barres in the dressing room so we can have a really good warm up before the show.

Friday, August 10th, 01
Remember how I said I got those shorts on Tuesday? Well, I wore them today. They keep me really warm and I am allow to wear them in center. Oh yeah, they also make my hip and leg line look better. I am so glad that I got them.

Thursday, August 9th, 01
Today's the dress rehearsal in the studio. It went quite okay. Nothing big went wrong. We went through our dances and saw some of the other dances. One of the pas de deux performed by the advanced girls were so good, it's unbelievable.

Wednesday, August 8th, 01
I tested out my leg warmers today, they are so comfy. They make my legs look thiner and longer too. I love them.

Tuesday, August 7th, 01
We actually got an hour lunch break today! I was so surprised since the show's on Saturday. I also got a pair of new leg warmers and warm up shorts.

Saturday, August 4th, 01
TODAY'S MY 14TH BIRTHDAY!!! Instead of telling you about dance, I am gonna tell you something about my birthday. The best thing about my birthday was that birthday cake. It's not exactly a cake but an ice cream pizza. It's shaped like a pizza. At the bottom, there's brownies, overtop of that, there's vanilla ice cream and at the top, some decoration. It's really good and of course really sweet. Oops! More calories!

Friday, August 3rd, 01
I had a semi-private lesson today. Since it's not exactly to work for an exam, a dance or a festival just a private. We did a normal technique class but since she (the teacher) was watching us so closely, I had to work harder than I knew I could. Also, I had to do 4 hours of pointe today. For some of you out there, you might think it's easy but for me my toes stayed red even 5 hours after the classes.

Thursday, August 2nd, 01
To be honest with you, I had the first teacher I had that I did not really like and can't stand the class. Not that he's not a good teacher, it's just that I don't like his way of teaching much.

Tuesday, July 31st, 01
We had a long day today. There's an extra rehearsal added. We were suppose to have our rehearsal at 1:15 and be done at around 1:30 because our dance has already been cleaned. Instead, we had to wait until 2:30 before he (our teacher) get to us. All of were wearing out pointe shoes and sitting and (some of us) sleeping.

Monday, July 30th, 01
We've finished the dance that we started last week. I love it. The first part's slow and gentle. The sencond part's more challenging and the third part is really exciting and at a faster pace.

Saturday, July 28th, 01
Today's the birthday of one of my friend that I met from dance. She turned 15 today and hopefully she had a great birthday.

Friday, July 27th, 01
I had a really hard time keeping up with the advanced girls today. We have one class combined with the advanced every Friday. There were like 55 girls so you can barely see him (the teacher). We were suppose to know the variation that he was teaching us right after he's done it once. I mean only once. He doesn't do it full out and of course he didn't do it en pointe. I find that really hard because my memory aren't that great and I can see only like 1/10th of his body when he was doing it.

Thursday, July 26th, 01
We had a new teacher today. He's from Cuba and he expects a lot from us. His pointe class is one of the harder ones I've had this summer. He wants us to do fouettes and balones en pointe but they are advanced steps!

Wednesday, July 25th, 01
Remember how I said about the dance that we started yesterday? We learned the 3rd part to it today. We are leaving out the 2nd part for later. It's getting better and I think I like the 3rd part just a tad more than the 1st part.

Tuesday, July 24th, 01
We are working on a dance for our end-of-summer performance. There's 3 part to it, we started the first part today and I quite like it.

Monday, July 23rd, 01
I am all tired out from dance. This is the 3rd week of my intensive ballet summer school. We started yet another dance today. Good thing it's not exactly the hardest dance in the world.

Saturday, July 21st, 01
I realized today why my arasbasque doesn't look that good from the front. It's because I always let me hip go instead of holding onto it. I need to work on it a lot because it's a very tricky mistake to fix.

Friday, July 20th, 01
I found out today that we might be having extra Saturday rehearsals and possibly Sundays too. Looks like I am going to have a more "intensive" summer school this summer.

Thursday, July 19th, 01
I thought we were going to take a bread from learning new variations but today's class prove me wrong. We started yet another one today. It's the first variation that includes fouettes. The variations are getting harder and harder. I like challenges!

Wednesday, July 18th, 01
Believe it or not, we started our 3rd varaition today. It's got small jumps en pointe and a lot of people found it hard. This variation is my favorite so far because it's more of a happier dance.

Tuesday, July 17th, 01
We finally started our contemporary dance for the end of summer performance. It is absolutely amazing and I love the cheorography.

Monday, July 16th, 01
We started to learn a new variation today in variation class. That's the sencond one that we've learned in this summer school. It's more "dancy" than the last one.

Saturday, July 14th, 01
The classes on Saturdays are my favorites. We get a regular technique class and a Technique class en pointe. It is more challenging than the other classes and I feel myself improve more.

Friday, July 13th, 01
Some more background information. The place that I have the summer school at is really far from my house. So I have to take the sky-train there. I don't mind that but walking upheal for 8 blocks just isn't my thing. I found that my calves are way more sore than my other muscles and I suspect that it has something to do with that.

Thursday, July 12th, 01
Okay, I am going to stop complaining for a while and tell you some of the good things about my classes (I still haven't got a pair of pointe shoes that fit me, yet). Our of all my classes, I found contemporary the most interesting. Ballet technique classes is really good but it's just a little bit too crowded. Pointe Variation became my least favorite because I am wearing a pair of pointe shoes too small for me. So that only leaves me with contemporary. As you might already know, I am better at that than I am in ballet but usually I like ballet better so I don't know what's gotten into me! Ha Ha!

Wednesday, July 11th, 01
I didn't think I would have such a hard time with finding the pair of pointe shoes I needed. As it turns out, two of the dance shops/stores that I know did not carry Bloch pointe shoes; one closed down just last week and one's really new that they haven't got their first order of pointe shoes yet. So out of the 5 stores that I know, none of them has the one that I needed. I cannot believe that!

Tuesday, July 10th, 01
I was too excited yesterday to tell you about some of my troubles now that ballet is back on. Over the last 3 or 4 weeks, my feet had grown and I can no longer fit into my pointe shoes. When I went to my local dance store today to get new pointe shoes, they just happen to not have my size in store! That's really not good because I have an hour and a half of pointe minumum a day and that's everyday of the week too including Saturdays. Oh well! I guess I'll have to try some other stores tomorrow, then.

Mondy, July 9th, 01
As you all know if you read my entry for yesterday, today's my first day of summer school in ballet of course. The summer school's just as good as I expected perhaps a little bit better. The teachers are awesome and the dancers are friendly. By the way, I did not go to summer school at my studio since that's not going to start until the end of August. The only thing that disappoint me a bit is that there's too many people in my class the the teacher can't always get to everybody and as large as the studio is, we can't all fit.

Sunday, July 8th, 01
I know I haven't written here for a long time but that's because I haven't been taking classes. Oh! I've missed it soooooooooo much. Anyway, you might ask me why I am writing in this if I still haven't taken any classes. Well, I get to start my summer school tomorrow and I am really really excited! That's all.

Tuesday, June 12th, 01
Since the year end show is over and summer school haven't started yet, I have 3 weeks off. It feels so weird, being home but not at the studio!

Sunday, June 10th, 01
Today is our year end show at my studio, Grande Finale. I actually did good on most of my dances except for the modern duo. I had tons and tons of fun and were really excited!

Saturday, June 9th, 01
I found out today that my teacher thought that most of the dances were pretty clean and I also found out that I passed my exam with a mark that's better than barely passing. I am so excited, I didn't think I would pass!

Friday, June 8th, 01
I had an audition for a summer school today. It's not one in my studio but the best ballet academy in the city. I was all nervous and there were 9 people there. They don't usually take many people from other studios in so sometimes there might not be anybody that got in. I was so surprised when the teacher told me that I made it into the Intermediate level which means if I do good in summer school I am allowed to come back and join the company training training program!

Wednesday, June 6th, 01
I got on the newspaper today for the festivals along with a couple other girls and boys in our studio. Today's also my dress rehearsal. I had to change really fast because I get dances that I have less than 5 minutes to change in between and I have to take off (or put on) my tights for modern dances. I messed up in every single one of my dances but my teacher didn't seem to be that mad at me, I guess every body made mistakes.
The other bad thing in my dress rehearsal today was that I almost broke the dressing room mirror with my pointe shoes because my feet were hurting so much from curros (sp?) en pointe an my toe nails were flipping up and it hurts very badly.


Tuesday, June 5th, 01
I decided to leave my concert early since I wasn't needed anyway to go to my modern class. I am so glad I did, too. One of the girl decides that she's not going to dance at the year end and we had to change all the spacing and timing around. Hopefully, I'll remember my new timings.

Monday, June 4th, 01
We are getting close to our year end and we are at the stage of perfecting and cleaning our year end dances. We didn't get any technique today and I am kind of upset about that but I guess the year end dances are more important right now.

Saturday, June 2nd, 01
We finally finished our hip-hop dance today and hopefully I'll remember it for the year-end. Today's such a busy day because it's also picture day. I have 7 dances in the year-end, which means I have 7 different costumes and at least 14 pictures to take. It's such a hassel but it was fun.

Wednesday, May 20th, 01
Today's my last stretch class before the fall since there are no stretch classes in the summer school. I'll still get to see my teacher for stretch class, though, because she's also my ballet teacher. Next Wednesday is the dress rehersal for the year end show and all classes are canceled!

Tuesday, May 29th, 01
Today's my last modern class before summerschool. There's a class next week but I have a band final concert next Tuesday and won't be able to make it to the class! I am going to miss my modern teacher!

Monday, May 28th, 01
Today's my first class after the exam. I found out that I passed the exam! YAHPEE!!! But I don't know what mark I got since our teacher wouldn't tell us!

Sunday, May 27th, 01
I had my intermediate exam today. It was suppose to start at 2:30 but it was delayed until 3:00. So,instead of being done at 4:00, we didn't finish until almost 5:30. I was almost freaking out because it is sooooo hard for me. I think I did good for me but since I wasn't exactly ready I am not so sure that I passed.

Saturday, May 26th, 01
This week was suppose to be parent-viewing week and so far, there hasn't been one parent to watch our class, yet. Oh well! My exam's tommorow and guess what? I AM NOT READY AT ALL!!!

Wednesday, May 23rd, 01
I got another private with my teacher today. I am still having some troubles with the exam and with it less than a week away, I need all the extra practise I can get.

Tuesday, May 22nd, 01
We finished our modern dance for our year end show today. It is soooooooo beautiful and I can't wait for my parents to see it.

Monday, May 21st, 01
Today is Victoria Day, my studio is suppose to be closed but because of the exam, we had a class anyways. That's why I am not nearly as tired since I only had to dance from 1 to 3:30.

Saturday, May 19th, 01
My exam is in 8 days! My ballet teacher said that she's going to video tape us on Monday and I got all nervous. I am still having trouble with pointe and grand jete entournant. No good!

Wednesday, May 16th, 01
Nothing that special happened today. I found out I need to work on controling my back muscles more in order to hold my leg wherever I want instead of all the way up or all the way down.

Tuesday, May 15th, 01
I had a concert tonight so I arrived at dance 45 minutes late. I did tell her that I would be "a bit" late because of the concert. Well, we had a subsititude for some reason. He was so nice to me and was actually giving me corrections that I can understand. (I had him 2 years ago, and he actually remembered my name even though he didn't know my name then. WEIRED!)

Monday, May 14th, 01
My hip is totally healed by now, so no need to worry. I couldn't do chane turns to my left at all today and the exam is in 13 days (I am counting down). I think the hope of me passing is getting smaller and smaller.

Saturday, May 12th, 01
My hip didn't hurt at all today. I was really happy about that but a new problem arise. I totally lost my balance en pointe and couldn't do anything. Oh! Oh!

Wednesday, May 9th, 01
I got my hip checked today. She said it would be fine but if it started to hurt I'll have to go back to her. Tonight, when I was dancing, my hip started out feeling okay but at the end of class, it started hurting (no fun). Also, I got a paper interview today for getting first in both of the festivals that I attended this year.

Tuesday, May 8th, 01
Oh! My God!!! I cannot put any weigh onto my left leg. My hip just would not support it. It hurts soooooo bad. I can't even walk. What am I going to do?

Monday, May 7th, 01
I am sooooo happy right now. I can finally do fouette turns en pointe now. Even on my left side with my legs turned out (one of the problem I had was turning out my passe leg). I am improving!

Saturday, May 5th, 01
I washed my hair this morning and it won't stay up in my classes. It fell right off when I did my fouette turns and all through class I was afraid that it's going to fall off again. Maybe I should learn to do a very good bun next time.

Friday, May 4th, 01
I don't usually have dance classes on Fridays but today, I had my first private lesson, ever. Well, it's not exactly a private since there's one other girl that came with me. I guess I'll call it a semi-private. I was all tired out after an hour of ballet and I couldn't believe it. Usually I don't get tired until after 3-4 hours and sometimes I can last even longer.

Wednesday, May 2nd, 01
Today in stretch class, I found out that I need to work way harder on my front extension. I didn't know that since I don't have that much problem lifting my legs to 90* to the front and most of the time I can have it at 135*. I found out even if it's okay when I am only doing a developpe to the front it is not good enough when I fouette to the back and fouette back (my side and back extension are the best part of my dancing, at least 175* everytime).
My class yesterday was cancelled, that's why there isn't an entry for yesterday.

Monday, Apr. 30th, 01
My dancing isn't all that good today. My legs weren't really working properly. They were sore after only 3 hours of dancing. That is not anywhere near acceptable. My legs were of course aching after my classes and I had a very hard time going to sleep with the pain.

Saturday, Apr. 28th, 01
I competed today. This is only my first year being in competitions, so I only have one dance number. As much as I love ballet, I did not compete in ballet since I am really not that good at ballet, yet. I actually did a modern duo with my best friend, Maderi Mynhardt. We were the first one up and both of us were pretty nervous. We went through the whole dance with very few mistakes (there's no way I'll ever do a dance without a single mistake). Guess what? Not only did we get first, we also got a trophy. That means we won in our category (10-13 years olds) and also beat all the other modern duo classes and achieve the highest mark in all of modern duos. This is fantastic! Both of us were screaming and hugging each other.

Wednesday, Apr. 25th, 01
I finally decided that I am going to do the intermediate exam in Vagonova method (intermediate/advanced in RAD) at the end of May. It took me a long time to decide because I had been pushed ahead 4 years in a row. Also, it is only my first year en pointe but I am trying to keep up with people that are older and also had been en pointe for 3 or 4 years.

Tuesday, Apr. 24th, 01
I don't have ballet on Tuesdays. I only have a 2-hour-long modern class. I had to be there half an hour early because I am competing for a trophy on Saturday (wish me luck). Today is the last time that I'll be able to go over it with my teacher. My jumps and turns are better than usual but I am losing my balance. Hopefully I won't make any mistakes on Saturday.

Monday, Apr. 23rd, 01
Mondays are my long days. It is the only day I get to dance for 5 hours NON-STOP and I mean it. It's actually four different classes with 2 different group of people. 2 of the classes are technique and the other two are pointe. We are already working on our dance for our year end show. One of my pointe dance are 2 and a half minutes long composed entirely out of curoos (sp?)(for those who don't know what it is because of my poor spelling, it's those runs, kinda, on toes across the floor). My toes were really killing me. For my second pointe class, I couldn't go on toes without experiencing pain (more than usual). I was almost in tears because I have got blisters and my toe nails were starting to flip up but my ballet teacher wouldn't let me off the hook.

Saturday, Apr. 21st, 01
Today in ballet, we extended our classes to two hours long instead of 1 hour and a half because my teacher cannot go through all the excersizes for our exam. (We have our exam classes on Saturdays) I am still struggling with my fouette turns on pointe. My right side is coming along but my left is not. According to my teacher, I am not turning my leg out so my passe is turned in. The problem is, even though I can turn out in every other step, I can't seem to do fouettes with my legs turn out.

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