No more Nut!!!!!!!!!

Hey y'all!!! So Nutcracker season is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It definitely is a bittersweet thing, all dancers gripe about the dancing and the music but we would all be really unhappy and lost if we didn't do it every single year. 6 shows in all and 3 locations from Montana to So Cal. Now we get 2 weeks off for the holidays and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself...besides turn my alarm off ;) I helped Alden with 3 jobs this last week with the Percheron boys and it was a lot of fun. It's been a while since I've done that and it felt good to be around those gentle giants again. Since I've been helping her as of late, I needed to dust off my cowboy hat and wear it keep rain out and heat in, since it rained on all 3 of the jobs I did. One of the jobs was right after a student show of the Nutcracker so I put my boots and hat on in the parking lot of the theater, thinking I'd be saving myself some time later. I had more time then I thought so I made a quick jaunt over to Starbucks before getting on the freeway. I was cold so I didn't bother to take my hat off when I went in to get my drink. The barista was looking down when I walked in and he said his normal speech "Hi welcome to Starbucks what can I get you today?" I think that's what he said. In the middle of the word Starbucks he looked up and saw me and paused for a good 2 seconds between star and bucks, I think the hat took him a little off guard ;) So I ordered my drink, he made it and then I left. I got called Ma'am more times in that Starbucks by different people then I ever have in my life...I should wear the hat and look country more often ;) Here are a few pictures from the jobs with the boys!!

Stuart, Cisco and Loomis :)

Diamond and Cruiser :)

Watching a helicopter drop off Santa

Me and Diamond 

Ricky decided to climb all the way up to my back...love this cat!!!

Nutcracker tour...Billings, MT

Well I've certainly had a full Thanksgiving weekend that's for sure!! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and a wonderful time with your family...I spent Thanksgiving day with Mommy and the weekend with my dancing family so it was good all around ;) There's no through flight from San Diego to Billings, MT so we had to make a pit stop in Denver to kill time before making our connecting flight. Our plane got in to Denver later then we thought and our gate for the next flight was at the other end of the terminal (if anyone's been to the Denver airport you know what I mean, that airport is HUGE!!). So about 20 dancers were sprinting through the airport trying to get to our next flight before they started to board...and we made it!! We arrived in Billings and went to the hotel then to the theater for 2 run throughs with the local kids and orchestra. Everyone was a smidge bit crabby after 2 flights and dancing till 10pm so we went and got food at the Montana Brewing Company...their Southern Mac & Cheese is to die for by the way ;) Saturday we had dress rehearsal in the morning and a show that night. The show went well but I did end up whacking my Arabian partner in the face with my bun...he wasn't to thrilled about that, sorry Tim!! Sunday we had a matinee show and then all the dancers go out to eat and drink to celebrate after the last show, it's tradition. There are 3 minors in the company this year so after dinner we headed back to the hotel and got a good nights sleep while the other got back at around 4am looking horrid and walking a little lopsided. Our flight home on Monday left at 2:30pm and we got into San Diego at around 8pm...I used the dudes I was sitting with as pillows both on the way out and on the way back ;) All in all we had fun and enjoyed each others company. Can't wait for next year to do it again!!! Here are some pics of the trip :)

Waiting in the airport to leave San Diego
Me, Matt, Tim, Stephanie and Zoe

Plane #1...nap #1
Joe and I

He has a very ripped upper body so he made a very comfortable pillow ;)

Looking out the window...not sure where this is  but it's not Billings

Dinner Friday night...at 10pm
Sam, Joe, Max, Sarah, John and Tim

Before show #1

It snowed Sunday...yippee!!!!!!!!!
Zoe and I

Playing in the snow :)
Zoe, Sarah, Me, Joe and Chris

Waiting for the theater to open
Sam, Sarah and Zoe

After the last show...group pic!! ;)
Martine, Stephanie, John, Tim and Zoe

Green Arabian couple...I had so much fun with this guy,
he made it so easy to get into the part :) Thanks Tim!!
Tim and I

John's post-nutcracker therapy...the Beer Sampler, 8 different Montana beers
Regan, John and Zoe

Snow!!! So pretty!! :)
Zoe

More snow!!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Diamond, Me and Cruiser :)

Billings bound :)

Hello all!! So today was Thanksgiving and I'm happy to say that I did eat a lot and it's a good thing that no one had to lift me today, I might have broken some dudes back...not good! So tomorrow begins 'the most wonderful time of the year' and Nutcracker season. San Diego Ballet tours their Nutcracker to a few places but this year we're just going to Billings, MT and from what google tells me it'll be snowing on Sunday :D Yippee!!!!! So tomorrow I get to spend the day in 2 airports and 2 planes, not to thrilled about that but I think/hope I'll live. Our flight leaves at 8:30am tomorrow and then we have rehearsal at the Alberta Blair Theater in Billings until 10pm. We have 2 shows in Billings, one Saturday night and one Sunday afternoon and then we come home on Monday. A pretty packed weekend but it'll all be worth it. Touring is always a lot of fun, especially if it's with a lot of friends that you enjoy being around. I get a long with everybody pretty well but I get a long great with the guys so I'll be hanging with them probably the majority of the time. I'll try and keep y'all posted about the tour but I'll be busy while I'm there so I'll do my best :)

My parts in Nutcracker include:
Mother
Gun rat ;)
Snowflake
Arabian
Flower

Ballerina's Mask

We spend so much time trying to be someone or something we're not that we sometimes forget who we really are. With practice we can be whoever we want to be...someone nice, someone mean, a killer, a jealous lover, a princess, a prince, a fairy, a gypsy, a witch, a sorcerer...the possibilities are endless!! We change our appearance to make it more believable, you can see it in our eyes and in our body language. The best compliment any actor/dancer can get is "I believed you on stage, you were really feeling that."If I can make someone say that, I've succeeded...that's truly dancing!!

Part of our everyday mask

Dramatic mask

Day 3...

So season started on Tuesday and my body is kindly reminding me why ballet is so unnatural for you...everything hurts!!! From soreness to bruises...I have both. The plan was to work on Alice for the first week before the show and Mambo & More the second week before the show, we're almost done with Alice so we can get onto the fun stuff next week :) We had a film crew at the studio today taped footage of our rehearsals. Apparently there's a new TV channel that's opening soon and it's about San Diego, so they wanted to film the local businesses (how you can pick local businesses out of San Diego is beyond me) in SD. On Sunday we have an official meet & greet with the patrons of the ballet at an art gallery in the NTC Promanade where we dance, so they can meet us and all that jazz. The picture below is of our meet & greet last Saturday at the bistro, a very casual fun time...it was nice :) Well I'm hitting the spa tonight so I can walk in the morning...see y'all soon!! :)

Some of the company :)

New Beginning

I'm sooo sorry that I haven't written here in forever, I've just forgotten about it...oops! So company season starts this Tuesday and I'm so stoked!! We have a lot of new girls this year and the same number of boys...so the boys are out numbered about 4 to 1. We have our photo shoot tomorrow for the San Diego Ballet website and then a physical to make sure we're all in dancing shape and not going to fall apart. Our first show is October 13 & 14, so we have 2 weeks to get back in shape and learn a new ballet...this should be fun, but it's our job and I wouldn't trade it for anything! The girl who's been in the  company the longest threw a meet & greet for the dancers so we could get to know each other before we started spending every waking moment in each others company, which was a good idea. Last year I was the only trainee, now there's like 6. And last year I was the only one under 21, now there's like 4 or 5 people under 21...so that's nice because we'll do more social events at places that can accommodate minors and not just legal drinkers. I really hope this season will be a good one, we have a lot lined up to perform so if anyone is interested just keep an eye on sandiegoballet.org for tickets and events :) Happy season!!http://www.sandiegoballet.org/