What we do to ourselves

I thought it would be interesting to show some of you guys who aren't as knowledgable about the dance world what we do to ourselves to achieve the abnormal. So, here we go!

We put a lot of strain on our hips to achieve the perfect 180 degree turnout

We will shove our feet under anything heavy or bolted to the wall to improve our pointe,
in this case it's a heater

We will bend ourselves over anything to make it look like we have no spine

We will use anything to put our leg on to achieve over-splits

We use any flat wall or the floor to achieve the perfect center splits

And yes, guys do all this too. Ballet is thought to be a 'chick thing',
but you ask any guy that does ballet and
he'll tell you it's far from easy and far from just a 'chick thing'

We twist ourselves into acting like a pretzel 

And all of this is to look graceful and pretty, wear pretty shoes and twirl on stage for a show that will last around 2 hours. Once you've gotten the sickness of ballet you can't get rid of it, there's no other rush as great as that moment when you just did something on stage you've been working all your life to do.
Dancers are addicted to the stage like people can be addicted to alcohol...dance is a drug, and it's one of the best drugs to be addicted to  

Me! :)

Took some random pics of me doing dance stuff, haven't done that in a while. Enjoy!

Tondue back, crosse

splits standing up

random contemporary pose

Happy I can finally do this!

I like this one

I kept falling over doing this one, so I cheated and used the wall ;)

Unedited

With effects

Unedited

With effects

It was fun having a mini dance photo shoot! :)

Dancing!!

Right now I'm hard at work getting ready for performing Coppelia in Temecula in May. I'm very excited about it and it's nice to be dancing with the intention of performing something :) I'm also very excited to be dancing with the stage crew at the Temecula Old Town Theater, I've missed all of them soooo much and can't wait to see them again!! So rehearsals are starting to get hot and heavy again but haven't quite gotten there yet. I rehearsed Czardas last night, which is a character dance, for about half an hour and I was sweating like there was no tomorrow. This dance is between Franz, the main guy, and a street girl, me, that he is flirting with ;) Swandila, Franz's fiance, gets all bent out of shape when she sees him flirting with me and runs off stage in a huff. So Franz and I, along with some back up girls, do this lively character/street dance during Act 1. In just my half an hour rehearsal yesterday I was dripping out of control and one of the girls wanted to keep doing it, so after the 3rd run through in a row I said "I'm done, where's the bucket!" because I did literally feel like throwing up :P Tomorrow I have rehearsal for an hour and a half with Stephen, a guy that I'm partnering with for a short piece called Play. It's a short and sweet, fun partner dance that's not too hard so it should be easy. The highlight of my month will be when my friend from Ohio comes out to dance the role of Franz in Coppelia and to take a much needed vacation to see me ;) I met Andrew 2 years ago in Austin, TX when I did Ballet Austin's 3 weeks summer intensive. I was surprised when I was in New York for a day during my intensive at The Rock last year when he came to Lincoln Center to see me. I love that boy and can't wait to send almost 2 weeks with him!!! Hurry up Andrew, I can't wait much longer!!! ;)

Andrew and I when he surprised me at Lincoln Center

He was so sweet! He walked me back to the bus we took to NYC
 and waved goodbye until he couldn't see the bus anymore.
I had so many people ask me who my boyfriend was ;)

Graduate!!!

I finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm an official Mueller College graduate!! My last night of class, which was Thursday the 22nd, all my other classmates were going out to do stuff that involved guzzling drinks that make one rather tipsy and I'm not old enough yet. So, a friend of mine brought a bottle of sparkling cider and her, another friend, my teacher and I split the bottle 4 ways and drank it right there in the school's parking lot. It was fun!! We shared some sentimental moments but nobody cried...I almost did, but I held it in ;) Oh and starting in May I'll be TAing for a stretching class at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (PCOM) with my Thai teacher from Mueller. And today Mommy decided to clean out the attic of useless boxes of books and paper and get rid of them. Mostly it was my homeschool stuff...11 boxes worth!! I think the ceiling in the hallway went up a foot after all those were out. So we went through 13 years of school work today and here are some pics :)

All those boxes before the explosion

By far I did the most amount of stuff in 9th grade.
That box I have is  box #2 of 9th grade

Good grief! The rafters are sighing in relief after all this was taken out ;)

Endings

Well the season ended last weekend and it made me kinda sad. I'll miss the people I've been dancing with since September but I know I'll see most of them again next season. Now it's time to focus on Coppelia up in Temecula which will go up in May if anyone is interested :) I can't believe that in 12 days I'm done with college. I've been attending Mueller College since January of 2011 and been doing it full time for that long. The college is run by quarters so full time students have either 5 or 6 classes per quarter. I did take the summer quarter off to go to Philadelphia but other then that I've been in school. I'm not sure I'm gonna know what to do with myself over the summer. I'll still be taking ballet classes down at SDB over the summer but it's kinda cool that I'll actually have a summer for a change :)
Today I spent the whole day working pitching straw with Mommy around the property. I'm very impressed and glad that we are both still in one piece and don't have any extra piercings. But I know that I'll be a little stiff tomorrow from doing that for 5 hrs. Life on a ranch!
Here are some fun pics from my season with SDB!

Taking my pointe shoes off after a show

In Billings

Yep, this is what our dressing room often looks like

Doing Russian in Nutcracker with Zoe and Genya

And this is also what our dressing room looks like normally

My husband in Party scene in Nutcracker and his pregnant wife ;)

Rehearsal for Romeo & Juliet

Being weird

My mask from Romeo & Juliet

Arielle, one of the company members
and a statue with me in Romeo & Juliet

I had a lot of fun guys...thanks!

Many faces :) :(

As a dancer it's amazing how many different attitudes or faces we have to put on. Going from happy to sad to angry to flirty. My latest role was a statue in Romeo & Juliet, standing in the background with an expressionless face showing neither the joy of Romeo meeting Juliet or the sorrow of them killing themselves. Now, I have another face to put on...that of a slutty gypsy. We are learning an exert from Don Juan, which will be performed next season, to perform at the auction in 2 weeks and we all play gypsies. Don Juan has just been kicked out of his home for misbehaving and all the gypsy girls are ecstatic. It is a challenge sometimes to make that dramatic character change in a week but it is fun to see what you're capable of portraying and capable of pulling off. What's nice about either dancing or acting is it's all pretend, a job, it's what we do. So if I make it look real or any part for that matter I've succeeded. Whether I'm a sad willy from Giselle or a gypsy from Don Juan, I'll make the part look as real as I can...that's my job! :)    

Hello!! :)

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't written in ages but I've been busy and have had a lot on my mind. I hope everyone had a great Valentines Day and is enjoying life. I just finished dancing in Romeo & Juliet in San Diego Ballet's Evening of Romance. It was very fun, despite the umpire style ballroom dresses us back-ground people wore. This was the first performance I've ever worn a mask and it was pretty cool. I take that back, it was pretty hot! If any of you theater people have worn masks you'll know, like I found out, that you get rather warm. It's rather annoying when sweat is dripping into your eyes and you can't wipe it off :P Well the directors were kind enough to give us a week to recoop after those 2 shows and tomorrow is our last day off. Now we'll be working on a Gala/Auction on March 3 at the La Jolla Country Club to raise funds for the company. Hope it works!! Onto other news, I only have 4 weeks till I graduate from college!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm very very very very excited, if you couldn't tell! :) I know some people think a year is a drop in the bucket as far as college goes but I'm ready for graduation. We also got a new batch of chicks and they're so cute! They aren't quite little fluff balls anymore but still...

The day they came home :)

Right after they were introduced to their new home

Keeping warm under the brooder