Competition practice

This week at competition, our teacher Sabrina was a little late, so we practiced the ballet piece Angels and Demons for an hour to really perfect it since the timing has been a little off. Then we went upstairs and practiced Schindler's List once and then worked for about an hour and a half, and added new steps to it which is hip hop which is definiely not my forte, I'm not a hip-hop dancer and I was having trouble with the steps. And then practice was cut short for a holidat party!!!

Greek club- holiday party

Greek club this week was basically a look back over verb conjugation and then a holiday party.

SOI meeting

The SOI meeting this week was very short, the last one before the holidays, basically it was just a reminder from Jade to finish the posters that she wanted to get done. After the meeting Emily Field and I went to the computer lab to find a template and some info on environmental reasons to go organic. We finished in that time and sent it to Jade.

Wednesday night contemporary

So finally more contemporary classes, they're my favorite, so I was really missing them. Again it was a really small class, people must have thought since it's near the holidays that there would be no class. So since there was so few of us, we spent most of the class on the new dance that will be in the spring show. I love it, it's going to be so pretty, the music is to Starlight, by Muse. And the concept is that we're all stars, colliding with each other in the sky.

Tuesday night regular ballet

On Tuesday night ballet, since the Nutcracker is over, we just had a regular ballet class which we haven't had in at least a month. It was only about 5 or 6 of us, and we had our pointe shoes on the entire time, but my pointe shoes are so dead and my feet are so used to them that my feet didn't hurt at all. But I still need to work on my pirouettes, because I tend to not move my head. And then after class we started to practice our jazz dance Fame again, and we all sort of had to relearn it since we haven't practiced it in a long time.

SOI

We had a pretty short meeting this week at SOI, we mainly discussed the posters that we're promoting. I am working with Emily Field on a template for environmental reasons to go organic and it needs to be sent to Jade by Thursday.

Nutcracker week

This whole week was Nutcracker rehearsel at the Cape Cod Community College starting Monday afternoon. On Monday we practiced the party scene where I'm one of two Masqueraders, and so I was there for a few hours. Then on Wednesday we had to practice the Snow scene and all of Act 2 where I'm a flower. Wednesday was a very long day, we had to practice since 4:00 pm, and for the first time we practiced Snow on a sleigh where I'm supposed to come out standing and then get off the sleigh on pointe. So I was having a lot of trouble with that on Wednesday, and then we practiced Flower later which still needed a lot of work. Then Thursday and Friday were dress rehearsels and I was still having trouble with the sleigh those days since the girls pushing me out weren't going out on time or fast enough so I was really worried about that. But on the night of the first show everything went really well, I was in my element, and everyone was glowing.

Greek club- translating

On Thursday after school Greek club we started working on translating from Athenaze, and it feels weird because there are other kids who already know some basic words and I don't know anything, so I'm kind of behind. Mr. Arcenas was working with us on pronounciation, we each had to say a sentence and then try to translate it.

Thursday ballet- more Nutcracker rehearsel

On Thursday night instead of regular class with Miss Francesca, we had barre with Francesca for 20 minutes and then went straight into Nutcracker rehearsel. We practiced Flower first since that absolutely needs more work for about an hour. Then we practiced Snow for an hour. I don't think I've ever had my feet hurt that much, all of us were in so much pain. But we knew that we all had to keep our pointe shoes on since next week it'll be even worse with Sabrina.

Wednesday night contemporary- new choreography

Before class Miss Jen and I worked on my solo for competition since there's not that much time to work on it otherwise. We have about 40 seconds into the song, and Jen is making the choreography really difficult. On Wednesday we did our usual warm ups like plies, tendus, degages, leg swings, arm swings. We also worked on axles across the floor, which is one of my favorites. And Jen started to teach some new choreography which is much slower than the choreography she was teaching last time.

Nutcracker rehearsel- Tuesday

On Tuesday night ballet we practiced Nutcracker for two and a half hours, which was incredibly tiring and painful since we were all forced to keep our pointe shoes on, but the dances are looking a lot better. Sabrina wasn't feeling well and only came halfway through rehearsel. We finally finished the Waltz of the Flowers and it still needs the most work.

Dance- all nutcracker rehearsel again and costumes!!!

On Tuesday night ballet we stretched out for about 10 minutes and then went straight to working on Snow. Sabrina taught me an extra 4 counts of 8 which is a little solo that I have as Snow Queen. So I basically never stop moving during Snow, but I like it. It's going to be really pretty. And then we started to work on the Waltz of the Flowers which we are extremely behind on and not done with yet. And we had to all relearn the dance since one of the girls has been out for a few weeks and hasn't learned any of Flower, so we got really behind. So I think next week we're replacing the technique class on Thursday into more Nutcracker rehearsel. And then after we spent more time trying on all our costumes since the parents who are seamstresses need to make reparations in two weeks. The Flower costume fit really well, and the Masquerader costume fit really well too and so did the Snow Queen costume.

SOI- thanksgiving potluck

On Monday the SOI members decided to do a potluck for Thanksgiving after the half day. It was an international theme so I decided to make a vegetable curry made out of organic coconut milk, cucumber, chickpeas and etc. And I also decided to make an organic dessert: rice pudding with raisins and almonds. We all decided to bring our own silverware and plates to make it easier on us, more personable, and more environmentally friendly. I was surprised that everyone remembered to bring in a dish, there was also rice, tabouleh, salad, pasta, blueberry muffins, also organic and delicious. We all had a good time, and it turned out really well. But next time we do need more planning since we planned to have the potluck on the same day of the chilli serving.

Competition practice- near to collapse

This week at competition, our teachers really worked us and we were all near to collapse and exhaustion which is what the real world of dance is like. We learned some new choreogrpahy to music from the movie Fame, and Sabrina said that is was probably going to be someone's solo. I really liked the choreography and it'll make a great solo. So Sabrina had us do that dance of what we'd learned over and over again. And then a few of us and I went upstairs to work on our forte turns which isn't one of our strengths. We worked on Fame again, Angels and Demons and Bollywood meets Hollywood about 10 times each. And we had a few 2 minute breaks. So we were all losing our energy.

Greek club

This week at Greek club Lydia had us decline some 2nd declension mascluine nouns on the board and also conjugate some 1st conjugation verbs. I had everything done perfectly with my declining and conjugating, and I haven't been doing that well in Greek club lately so I was happy. I definitely think that I'm doing better at memorizing the alphabet and declension endings now.

Thursday- SOI meeting

So at the SOI meeting this week, Jade put us in groups to work on posters to put around the school. Katie Owen and I were put into a group to work on a poster concerning myths concerning going organic. We also discussed our mini food festival on Monday after the half day. We are all bringing in our our plates and and silverware, and we're all bringing in dishes or drinks. I think that this pot luck will be a great chance for us to eat healthily and connect.

Wednesday night contemporary

On Wednesday night Miss Jen really worked us, we worked on our abs a lot, and we haven't done that in a few weeks, so my stomach muscles were hurting. Also Jen taught us some new choreography to some Muse music, and had us paired off with a partner that we usually don't dance with. I really like the new choreography, it's very intense and patriotic.

Tuesday night- very tiring rehearsel

On Tuesday night at dance I felt like I was about to die from exhaustion and I know that I wasn't alone. Sabrina was back and feeling better so we learned the rest of Snow which is really pretty and then we practiced Snow for what felt like 10 times with no breaks. And then we learned a few more counts of 8 for the Waltz of the Flowers. So if we finish learning the choreography next week then we can just work on technique. I was the only again who kept her pointe shoes on all night, but I don't understand why you would take your pointe shoes off in you have a performance in three weeks, your feet have to get used to the pain. And then after ballet of course we rehearsed the Fame dance about 8 times, and plus we learned new choreography which is really fast paced. So Tuesday nights are all about perserverence.

Competition rehearsel, finishing off group dances

On Friday I had competiton dance rehearsel as usual, and everybody was there for the first time in a few weeks. Our teacher Sabrina was there, even though she wasn't feeling that well. We finished the Angels and Demons ballet piece and Schindler's List. And we're very close to finishing off the Bollywood meets Hollywood big piece. We learned a new transition part to it, and even though it was simple we had a hard time figuring it out, maybe because it was a little awkward. Unfortunately Lorissa and I didn't have enough time to work on our duet because we spent so much time on Angels and Demons and Schindler's List.

Greek club

So this week at Greek club, we learned the 2nd declension masculine and neuter. Lydia had each of us decline a 2nd declension noun. Also we learned how to conjugate verbs. I haven't taken Latin in two years so I'm having a little bit more difficulty working out the declensions and verb conjugations. We also learned Diphthongs which are two letters that make one syllable, like in caught, and we also learned digraphs which are essentially the same thing.

SOI

Jade was back this week and mentioned that on Monday only one person brought in food for the food sale so Mondays aren't a good day anymore for food sales, and we can't do a food sale this Friday because we didn't get to plan ahead of time. We also talked about a pre-Thanksgiving potluck that's going to take place Monday, the 23rd which is a half day. So after the half day the SOI members are going to come together, and we're responsible for making international dishes. I volonteered to make an Indian entree and maybe an Indian dessert as well. It's a sort of pre-food festival that we want to do later in the year.

Thursday ballet- no Miss Francesca, more Nutcracker practice

There was no contemporary class on Wednesday because of Veteran's Day. I went to ballet class this Thursday night, the 12th, but the teacher Francesca was sick along with about 3/4 of the class. It was about 5 of us including me, so we suggested to Sarah that we work on Nutcracker solos since it's only about 3 weeks away, so we need to be working!! It was actually a productive class, we warmed up for 20 minutes and then rehearsed Flower, I was the only Flower actually. Then some other girls worked on their solos. And this girl Stacy and I worked on Masquerader which is a duet in the party scene and we finished it.

Tuesday night ballet= more Nutcracker practice

So on Tuesday, our teacher Sabrina wasn't there again, but Miss Sarah was there and helped us work on Snow. I definitely think that Snow is looking a lot better and has a lot of improvement, we even finished Snow. I need to work on the ending, the Snow Queen, me, comes in and does some jumps called torres and I need to work on my control. And Miss Jen, my sister who also works at the studio came in during class to work on the Waltz of the Flowers with us since Jen knows Flower better than Sarah. And we actually got halfway through Flower, which is a big accomplishment in an hour. We decided to extend class by a half hour so we could work on Flower and it worked out well for us.

Competition practice- hardly anyone there!

So competiton practice Friday night wasn't the best, since Sabrina wasn't there because she is still sick, and then her daughter didn't come, this girl Arianna, and Olivia didn't come either. And another girl went home sick. But while Miss Jen taught a preballet class upstairs, she put me in charge downstairs with the remaining girls who were there to work on Schindler's list. So I was in charge of music and telling the girls what dances we were doing. So we practiced Schindler's List at least 4 times and then worked on Angels and Demons. Then we went upstairs to work on the Bollywood group dances for awhile, Jen corrected us on what we were doing wrong in the hip hop part. This time Lorissa and I were actually able to work on our duet, last time I had a horrible charlie horse, and this week we're almost done with the dance.

Greek club

Thursday, after school I went to Greek club, not a lot of people came, and I had to leave early so it wasn't the most productive meeting. Lydia gave us some vocab words that we had to write down and pronounce then she gave us the definition. I really need to work on my alphabet, I know we're expected to totally memorize it, but it still helps.

SOI meeting- more healthy food sales

So we had an important SOI meeting Thursday at lunch since there hadn't been a meeting in a couple of weeks. Jade was sick so Jake Taylor took over for her. Jake was putting up meeting goals that Jade had sent him on the board and one of the goals was a bakesale for that week. However Dr. Gilligan, my advisor had just told me about how there have been way too many unhealthy bakesales lately and bakesales aren't really allowed anymore. I told Jake and the rest of the SOI members so we're going to do "food sales" that includes nuts, fruit, dried fruit, granola bars, trail mix and tea, all organic of course. I wanted to incorporate much healthier options anyways. Also we discussed making posters for SOI around the school, making ourselves known in the school newspaper, maybe putting a SOI tip for the month or something. And we also discussed the idea of a Food Festival again, and maybe doing a pre food festival.

Wednesday night contemporary

On Wednesday night I had contemporary for an hour and a half, we did our normal plie, tendu exercises and did some intense ab work. My stomach muscles are feeling a lot stronger, I definitely need to do ab work every day! Also Lorissa and I worked on our duet, the partner part, it's looking better. Jen changed a couple parts of the choreography that were looking a little awkward and they do look bette. Also Jen started to teach some new choreography that she's going to use in weeks to come.

Tuesday night ballet, nutcracker rehearsel

On Tuesday night our teacher Sabrina wasn't there for dance because I think that she was sick, but Miss Sarah taught us instead and rehearsed us. We practiced Snow for most of the night and then Waltz of the Flowers for about 15 minutes. Snow was very tiring and long, it's looking kind of sloppy, so that's definitely something that needs to be worked on, especially since we only have about 4 weeks. And then we worked on the Waltz of the Flowers, and we only have about the first 2 counts of 8 down, so that's something we also need to work on as a class. Fame is also looking a lot better, we're all doing the dance with more fluidity and less shortness of breath.

Wednesday- contemporary

Wednesday contemporary was definitely a packed class. Jen had us do our ab work, which I really was not in the mood for, and even though I'm in shape, my stomach muscles are not very strong and I absolutely hate ab work. But I am getting better at it, in the summer I could hardly last my energy would go and I would give up. But now my energy stays and I don't give up, because in the summer I would practice my abs every day. We worked on the choreography for my duet too. However our teacher Jen changed some of the choreography because she wasn't liking something anymore. Choreographers tend to do this all the time and it gets annoying. But the choreography looks better and flows more, so it's an advantage. But Jen added this turn where I kick my leg up and hold it and turn with it. i'm flexible but she has me doing it with my weak leg, my left leg, so that's something I need to improve on.

Tuesday- Mostly Nutcracker practice, Snow and Flower

On Tuesday I had an hour and a half of dance class, ballet. We had a really short barre of about 20 minutes on pointe and then went straight to practicing Nutcracker. We went throught the Snowflake dance, where I am Snow Queen, and then we started to learn the opening dance. We always learn the opening dance before the main dance for Snow. As a class we are really getting better on our own personal strengths, especially in this dance. My tors are so much better, they are a turn in the air, I used to be really bad at them, and I've noticed since I have to do a lot of them in this dance that they are really improving.
Then we worked for only 10 minutes on another dance in the Nutcracker called the Waltz of the Flowers, it's painfully slow. I'm the only one in the class who has done this dance many times and the others need to realize how incredibly slow it actually is, so that's a skill we all need to work on, musicality.
After ballet we worked on our jazz piece Fame, Sabrina only added abut 2 counts of eight of choreography to the piece since 3 girls were missing. I need to work on my hip placement and movement for that piece, but my breathing is getting better, since that allows your energy to stay intact.

Friday night competition

Friday night I had competition rehearsel for three hours. We worked on Schindler's list first, but this little girl Alyssa was sick and not there and Sabrina couldn't add on any new choreography since the piece is kind of centered around Alyssa. But we practiced it a few times. Then we worked on the Bollywood pieces upstairs in the bigger studio for about an hour and a half, we added on new choreography, and it's starting to look really good. And Lorissa and I worked on our duet, we're both starting to look good on the second turns into a double pirouette, since we could hardly do it before. But there are other things in the dance that we still need to work on.

Thursday ballet and lyrical

On Thursday night I was about 10 minutes late for ballet, but I don't think Miss Francesca really cared. Francesca gave me a couple of compliments during barre so I think she's starting to like me and that means that I'm improving on technique. I wore my pointe shoes the whole class this time and my feet felt good actually, they weren't in immense pain. And it really is good to wear poine shoes all class to get used to the feeling. And then after ballet, we had lyrical choreography, but two girls weren't there so Francesca didn't add any new choreography. So we just worked on the things in the dance that weren't looking good.

SOI meeting

This week at SOI, we discussed how we did at our last bake sale and our long term goals. We made about $30 at our first bakesale, and by far the tea surprisingly sold the best. So we want to sell more organic tea. So we think that we'll keep going with the bakesales. Jade also had an idea to do a food festival later on the year, maybe after midterms or during. But it sounds like a really good idea, people would pay $5 or so and bring food and have a good time. We also discussed whether we want to give some of our profits to local organic farmers, which I think is a good idea.

Greek club-short meeting for me

This week at Greek club was short for me because I had to leave early, but I was happy that I was able to make it. I don't think that I'll be able to make every week so a goal will be to catch up since the week before I wasn't able to make it either. But this week Lydia held up ancient Greek flashcards and we wrote the words down volonteered on how to pronounce them and she gave up the translation. I'm guessing that soon we'll have a game on memorizing them.

Wednesday night contemporary- more partner work

I had an hour and half of contemporary class as usual Wednesday, we had our usual warm ups. I think my balance is getting a lot better and improving. Also my jumps, we're been working on attitude jumps, and attitude jetee jumps, which is more difficult, where the front leg is straight and the back leg is bent. Lorissa and I were able to work more on our partner work in our competition piece, it's looking a lot better.

Tuesday night ballet and jazz- very tiring

This Tuesday as usual was an hour and a half of ballet, then jazz and ballet competition rehearsel. We had a really short barre so that we could practice Nutcracker for the rest of class. Nutcracker rehearsel was definitely intense, we only practiced Snow and we learned more, it's the same choreography every year but most of the girls in this class haven't done Snow yet. Also in previous Nutcrackers the Snow Queen doesn't really dance a whole lot, but Sabrina put me as Snow Queen into almost all of Snow! So I basically don't stop dancing. Also everyone learned their parts so that was very exciting. Then after ballet we had jazz choreography, we're all getting better as a class to fast choreography, Sabrina complimented us all on that, so that's definitely a new skill.

Friday- competition no Sabrina

On Friday I had competition rehearsel as usual for three hours right after school. But Sabrina wasn't there since she was teaching a class in Boston that day, and so Sarah and Jen the other teachers worked with us. But of course we didn't learn any new material. Sarah worked with the older girls downstairs for 40 minutes on Schindler's List. Then we went upstairs to work on the Bollywood pieces for at least an hour. We also worked on the ballet piece for a good half hour since that needed a lot of work. And then Lorissa and I worked on our duet, Jen decided that she wants both of us do these turs called fouette a la seconde, into a double pirouette, which neither of us can do yet or are good at, but we're going to practice a whole lot!!!

Thursday ballet and lyrical

On Thursday, I had ballet class as usual for an hour and a half. This class is really about technique, since on Tuesdays now we just really practice Nutcracker. So the new teacher Francesca has really been working us hard, making us stay on pointe the entire time. So it's a really good class to work on my technique and pointe work. But it's a hard class . But I do get frustrated. My new goal is to do a double pirouette on pointe. Then after ballet we had lyrical choreography, I'm really getting excited for this dance, and love it. It's to Michael Buble and is really hard of course, but I'll work on it.

Wednesday- work on partnering

Last Wednesday, in contemporary class for an hour and a half, we did our normal excersises plies, tondus and such. And we started to work on the dance that Lorissa and I have for competition. We started to work on the partner work, that Brittany and I had started in the summer. So for the first time Lorissa was learning it, and it's not easy, so it's a good thing that we started. It's difficult partnerwork, she has to support me. But she was learning fast and getting it fast.

Tuesday night ballet

Last Tuesday night, our teacher Sabrina wasn't there for personal reasons but another teacher Sarah taught us and gave us a full class. We had a short barre and went straight to practicing Snow for the Nutcracker. I wore my point shoes the entire time, which only one other person did. It was definitely tiring since Snow is a difficult scene. Then after ballet, we practiced Fame for a half hour, we didn't learn anything new obviously, but practiced again and again.

Habitat for Humanity

Our advisory decided to do a bakesale to make some profit for Habitat for Humanity. My advisory is kind of quiet so I kind of decided to take charge of the bakesale. I asked everyone who would bake and who would sell, I decided to bake lemon squares. So on Thursday we had the bakesale, mostly the freshmen sold to other advisories around the school, we decided to do it on an advisory day so we wouldn't have to compete with other clubs on break day. I think we did pretty well, mostly we sold the cookies, brownies, and my lemon squares for a dollar or .75 cents. The sellers came back with a profit for about $20 or so, it definitely helps for Habitat.

Long competition- Dance

Last night, the 9th, I went straight from school to competition practice, for three hours. We practiced the Schindler's list group dance for about an hour, learning a new part that the whole group has to do together. Then for another hour the older girls and I praticed the Bollywood group dance which is definitely one of my favorites and then Lorissa and I practiced our duet for a half hour, she's learning the dance fast and I think it's going to look really good. And then we practiced our Fame dance and ballet dance. However the temperature in the studio was like 75 degrees so of course we were all dying of exhaustion and sweating. But the competition team is looking really good this year.

3rd Greek club meeting

On Thursday it was the 3rd Greek club meeting for me, since unfortunately I had missed two Greek club meetings because of carpool trouble. So on Thursday after school, we had Greek club for an hour and a half, I was totally confused because I haven't really learned the alphabet yet, and the others learned to do the first declension, so I felt totally lost and disoriented. Mr. Arcenas wasn't there, however Lydia was really helpful for five minutes after class to teach me the first declension. So since I was behind I got Greek words out of a dictionary to give to the others to do the first declension, while Lydia worked with a new member on the alphabet.

Wednesday- contemporary, 4th class

On Wednesday contemporary, I wasn't really feeling myself, but I did go to class, and we did our usual excercises on the floor and across the floor. My goal for this year in that class is to do what is like an attitude jump which is where you jump across the floor with one leg straight out in front of you and the other leg is bent in back of you. We also worked on the choreography Jen is working on for Lorissa and I again. Brittany and I are just perfecting what we learned over the summer, and the others were trying to get the hang of it.

Ballet class, 2nd Nutcracker rehearsel, long night

Tuesday night was abnormally long and tiring. Ballet class was an hour and a half, we had barre for a short time worked in center for 15 minutes and went straight to Nutcracker rehearsel, for the rest of class. We wore our pointe shoes for barre and center, but Sabrina let us take our pointe shoes off for the rest of class. and we practiced the snow scene a lot, so I was really happy to take my pointe shoes off. I'm Snow Queen, which means that I have little solos inbetween the dance, Snow Queen is kind of like the leader in the snow land. And Sabrina complimented me for when I danced, so I was really happy. But I've been watching this dance for ten years so it wasn't really difficult for me to understand.
And then after ballet, the competition team practiced the Fame dance, and we wore our ballet shoes. However Sabrina added new choreography and it just so happens to be the fastest dance ever, so we were basically out of breath and about to faint. However in the real dance world like Sabrina was reminding us, choreographers and teachers don't give you a lot of breaks, you just have to learn how to cope with dancing for long periods of time, breathing, inhaling and exhaling while you dance. And choreographers don't really give you a lot of time to learn a dance.
And then after jazz, the competition team for a half hour practiced our ballet piece. And by that point we were all exhausted, and couldn't really give our best efforts.

2nd SOI meeting

So we had the second SOI meeting this Thursday, however there weren't that many students probably because of the school elections. But Mr. Steedman was there there to talk about the upcoming bakesale with us. Jade had us read an article together about why going organic is important and the health issues with it. Then we started to talk about the bakesale we had to reschedule the bakesale because of Group 4. So we're doing the bakesale on Wednesday during break. I offered to bring in organic tea since my mom works at an herb shop in Sandwich. So it's just a beginning but it's a good start!

Thursday and Friday dance, lots of new goals

On Thursday, we all had a real workout. The new teacher Francesca is strict and really focuses on technique. On Tuesdays we're going to work on Nutcracker with Sabrina, so on Thursdays it's a technique class. We had to wear our pointe shoes the entire time and most days I don't mind however I still have one week old pointe shoes and I hurt my toe, but all dancers have to go through that. But I'm finding still that my feet get stronger because of this. And then after ballet, we had lyrical choreography and Francesca added on to the dance. She's adding turns that I've never done before so I'm definitely having some difficulty. And it's now a goal to do a double pirouette on my left side and then into two forte turns in seconde.
On Friday, we had competition practice at the Barnstable studio. We started off by warming up and then went downstairs to work on the Schindler's list group dance, which is starting to look really good. Sabrina added on a part with me and this little girl Alyssa who kind of rolls onto my back. However Alyssa wasn't really understanding, and she rolled onto my head, giving me a headache for a few hours. But then she began to understand as we practiced a few times. Then we practiced the Bollywood dance which I love, it's very different and cool. And we learned new choreography for that. Then Sabrina had Lorissa and I practice our duet for the first time in front of her, and she really likes it.

Wednesday- 3rd contemporary class

This week we worked on the same exercises that we did last week. There's still a lot of girls who have never taken the class before or even danced before, so Jen is starting off pretty easy. But she still does routines for the more advanced girls. And also we worked more on the duet that Lorissa and I are doing so she can learn more, since I worked on it over the summer. It was a really nice class.

Tuesday night ballet- first Nutcracker rehearsel

Tuesday night I had an hour and a half ballet class, except that we started Nutcracker rehearsel, our big Christmas ballet show that we put on every year. So we had barre on pointe shoes for an hour then we started Nutcracker. We started with the Snow scene, which is really beautiful, there's a special formation to Snow that I've done for about 5 years now. And Sabrina our teacher put us in the V shape formation and I was last and put into the middle so that means that I am Snow Queen, it's a big role in the Nutcracker, so I'm psyched! Also it's my last year at my dance studio since I'm graduating this year. And then after ballet, I had jazz choreography for a half hour, Sabrina added on to our Fame dance, which I really need to practice, since it is extremely fast and complicated. And right now I'm not getting the hang of it. So that's a goal of mine right now, to get that dance down. And then after jazz the competition girls and I worked on our ballet piece for competition. We all forgot what we learned last week so we didn't get too far!

Second Greek club meeting

For the second meeting of Greek club, we started to learn the alphabet and how to pronounce all of the letters. Some of the letters look familiar since I took Latin and Science classes, some look familiar. Then others look simple but the pronounciation is totally different. So it started to be kind of difficult for me. So Lydia and Mr. Arcenas had all of us go up to the board and write down all of the letters and get used to writing them down. That pretty much took up all of our time.

Thursday and Friday dance

On Thursday night I had ballet for an hour and a half with a new teacher named Francesca and a half hour lyrical choreography class after. Ballet was really nice, I wore my new pointe shoes the entire time, which is really difficult and painful, but I stuck through it because I need to get used to wearing pointe shoes an entire class and break in new shoes. It was a really nicce technique class.
And then after ballet I stayed after for a half hour lyrical choreography with Francesca. Unfortunately I strained a muscle in my right leg randomly and I just watched everyone learn the choreography, and all I wanted to do was go home, my leg hurt so much!
And then on Friday starting at 4pm I had competition rehearsel for about 2 and a half hours, we worked on the schindler's list lyrical group dance that we started to learn last week. And also the Bollywood group dance.

Wednesday- Contemporary class

This Wednesday not as many girls came to class so it wasn't as crammed as last week, but it was still difficult to dance with so many girls in there. But it was a really nice class, half of the class is more advanced girls, and the other half are girls that haven't even danced before, very different from last year. We worked more on the dance that my friend Lorissa and I are performing for competition.

Tuesday night ballet

Tuesday night was ballet as usual for an hour and a half and then a half hour jazz choreography class. Ballet was great and tiring, we really worked on technique, I had just gotten new pointe shoes and sewed them an hour before class so they weren't broken in whatsoever and it's extrememly hard to work with new pointe shoes, so I didn't wear them the entire class.
Then after ballet with 5 other girls, I had jazz choreography and our teacher added on some very fast choreography, so we were all tired from that. Oh and also I forgot that after jazz the competition team was asked to stay after to work on a group ballet dance for about 20 minutes, we just went over what we'd learned over the summer and added on about 30 seconds of choreography.

Dance- First competition class

So on Friday, the 18th, I had competition rehearsel for dance 4-7 pm. I'm really excited since I haven't done competition for about 7 years, I wasn't really sure what to expect now. When I did do competition, we did a bunch of excercises, like jumps and turns, but we started choreography right away. We started to learn two group dances. And none of us learned anything about our solos yet, in competition everyone has a solo to their best dance style, so I'm guessing that mine will be a ballet or contemporary piece. We learned part of a group dance to music from Schindler's list, it's going to be really beautiful, and then we started to learn part of a Bollywood group dance, which is very cool, upbeat, it's going to be a lot of fun. I definitely think that competition is going to push me a lot this year, make me do certain things that I wouldn't try before.

First SOI meeting

On Thursday at lunch, I joined SOI, Sturgis Organic Initiative, which Jade Borgeson is in charge of, Mr. Steedman is the adult supervisor. I'm really excited to start this activity, we talked about or goals for the year, what we plan to do. We talked about doing a bakesale October 2, with organic baked snacks. We want to sell food at break to give some of the profits to local farmers. We also talked about speaking to restaurants or our school to be a sponsor. I told Jade that one of my sisters is in Israel right now working on an organic farm so that I could e-mail her about ideas, and she said that was great. So I think that we could a lot done this year.

First dance classes of year- getting back into shape

On Tuesday night, this week the 15, 16 and 17, was the first week of dance classes of the year. Tuesday night, I had an hour and a half of ballet, we worked on pointe at barre and then took off our pointe shoes for center and across the floor. I noticed that there were some new girls that moved up to our level, Intermidate Advanced. And then after ballet, I joined a new class,a half hour Jazz choreography class. I loved this choreography that Sabrina is teaching, it's very classical jazz from the new movie Fame. And then on Wednesday night, I had contemporary for an hour and a half with Miss Jen. There was 13 of us which is a lot for a relatively small studio. So we have to learn hwo to work with that small space we all have. The class was a lot like the one that I took over the summer. Britney and I, the only ones who took the similar contemporary class over the summer were a little ahead of everybody and we showed them the choreography that we learned.
And then on Thursday I had an hour and a half ballet class, not with Miss Sabrina, but with a new teacher named Francesca. She has a very different teaching style than Sabrina's and she's very strict, but I like her as a teacher. And then I joined a lyrical choreography class after that ballet class with Francesca. I really like this choreography too, Francesca is definately pushing us to do things that we haven't done before.

Greek Club- first meeting

For the first Greek club meeting last Thursday, we really didn't do much. Lydia Shannon, who is in charge of Greek club this year handed out the Greek alphabet and some declensions of verbs. But we decided to go over that next week. We all learned each other's names, Lydia told us what Greek club was all about, what they did in the past, we asked questions, Mr. Arcensas told us some basics about Greek. And next week we're working on learning the alphabet, and drawing it.

Reflection- Abbey Kelley Foster Charter School trip

Overall this trip to the Abbey Kelley Foster School was a big accomplishment, I felt like my peers and I were doing something important for these new IB students. I worked well with my other peers, we all worked together talking about our experiences junior year and I realized how much I had actually accomplished during the year. We had a chance to interact with the Abbey Kelly students, answer their questions, what they wanted to know about the IB. I didn't know how beneficial this experience would be to me and my peers, when Mr. Steedman e-mailed us for the oppurtunity. I was able to see that not all other schools have the advantages that Sturgis does, not all students get to receive this kind of education, so it was great to know that these students are going to be able to experience it now. The activity did meet my learning outcomes working collaboratively with others and developing new skills, however I think that this activity also met the 7th outcome, considered ethical implications. I decided to go on this field trip to help these new IB students and help on with thier education, my other peers and I worked well of each other and talked well, we didn't talk over each other or disagree, we all complimented each other. My goals were just about right, my goals for this actvity were to help out Sturgis and the Abbey Kelly School. The activity only lasted one day so no real overbearing difficulties came that I felt like I couldn't do it anymore, but overall I feel accomplished and I actually wish and I don't think that I'm alone in that we could all do it again.

Last contemporary class

So the 26th was my last contemporary class and again it was only myself, and these girls Brittany and Sophia and of course our teacher Jen. It was a great class, we really got to work on our dance that we've been working on all summer, and Jen told us last week that the dance was for me and Lorissa, my friend for competition. We learned more of the dance, a little solo in the dance for me. Also I realized how challenging and difficult this dance is and how tiresome, but I've been working really how to do the dance well.

Last ballet class of summer

So the 25th was my last ballet class of the summer, and instead of Miss Sabrina my usual teacher, Jen taught us class and it was only four of us. Jen was easy on us, she gave us a pretty difficult barre but then let us take off our pointe shoes for the rest of class. We had a lot of fun since it was only four of us and we all got to goof around a little bit. I realized how much my technique has improved this summer, and I've still been able to excercise with dance and keep me active.

Trip to Abbey Kelly Foster Charter School

Last Thursday August 20th, I went with Mr. Steedman along with 6 other full IB students to the Abbey Kelly Foster Charter School in Worcester. Along with me was Justine Ashley, Marjorie Palmeri, Joe Gallo, Chandler Mitchell, Eric Blythe and Dylan Buotte. We left Sturgis at about 10:30 in the morning. The purpose of this trip was to go to this charter school since the students are beginning the IB program, and Mr. Steedman wanted to bring some IB students to explain the program. So when we arrived at the highschool, we started by having lunch in their cafeteria, and mingle with the Abbey Kelly students, they were juniors, and it was a little awkward at first but then they started to ask us questions especially a couple of them. I could tell that they were a little bit nervous, but our purpose was to make them feel better. Then after lunch we went into a lecture room which was amazing, their highschool is new and it looks so polished and is huge . We went into the lecture room and Mr. Steedman had the Sturgis students stand in front and answer the students' questions and the Abbey Kelly teachers' questions. I started off by saying all of my higher levels, and my extended essay topic. We were all really honest our answers, saying how nervous breakdowns do come and one has to be organized and keep a level head. We explained about TOK, CAS, the difficulties of the classes and how one s to keep up with the work. I felt really good explaining all of this to the students and teachers, and I think that it helped all of them a lot, so they wouldn't feel so scared going into the I.B. And they all thanked us so much afterwards.

Tiring contemporary class- Dance

So last Wednesday I had contemporary class as usual with Miss Jen, it was only me with another girl Brittany who I dance with all the time, and another girl Sophie. And Miss Jen told us that the choreography that we'd been learning that summer in that class is a duet and me and my friend Lorissa will be learning it all and performing it for competition this year, which I've decided to join. So that's very exciting, but at the same time it's a very challenging dance, there's a lot of partnerwork and complicated steps to do, we both have to help each other out in the dance. Brittany and I were partners, and it was very difficult so there will need to be a lot of practice in the future!

Small ballet class

Last Tuesday's ballet class was a very small class for some reason, it was only three girls including me. But sometimes it's nice to bhave a small class, you get more attention from the teacher and you have more room to dance. So overall it was a nice class, I'm really finding that I'm improving in many ways, my technique is definately growing stronger.

Last teaching session with little ballerinas

Last Monday was the last teaching session with the pre-ballet, and other two classes, with Miss Jen. This time the pre-ballet, the first class were very good, they listened for a change, and actually did the steps. The little boy Phillip, who was usually very hyper, listened and I was very excited to hear that he signed on for the fall. And the next class went very well with those three girls, the5 and 6 year olds were very good all summer. And in the next class, the eight year old girls did very well, I'll be seeing most of them in the fall I think. Overall the last classes went really well, and I'll really miss teaching those classes. I learned a lot this summer, teaching isn't as easy as I thought it would be.

Aug 6. Wednesday contemporary, diffucult class

So I've also been doing a contemporary class on Wednesday nights at the Barnstable studio, and Miss Jen has made it a very hard class. I've been doing things with my body that I didn't think I could do. And also we've been learning some choreography which is very cool and diffucult, I'm always sore after that class.

Aug 6. Tuesday ballet class and competition rehearsel

So I have been doing a Tuesday night ballet class during the summer at the Barnstable studio. And this is so good for my body so that I'm ready for more dance during the school year. I've been doing whole classes of pointe work so my feet are extremely strong, and it's a good way to stay in shape during the summer, where getting lazy is easy to fall into. I've also decided to do competition during the schoolyear with my dance studio, so our teacher decided that we should start practicing the ballet competition piece now. It's a very pretty piece, and I'm very excited to do it.

Aug. 6 Monday, diffucult students

So I taught for the fourth week in a row with Miss Jen, I did the usual first class with her, the 3-4 year olds. So now that they are getting to know each other, they do not want to listen whatsoever, or do any of the ballet excercises. After an hour with them it was really tiring, because even with the two of us, it was hard to get the little ones to listen and calm down.
Then it was a ballet class with the 5 and 6 year olds, and they are much easier to teach. However one of the little girls is quite the chatterbox and does not stop talking the entire class, about her whole life. She is also very cute but will not listen. And then it was the 7-8 year olds, and this other girl Marissa who is 11 and this was her 2nd ballet class and she's doing pretty well.

Assistant teaching- difficult day

This Monday,July 19th, was much more of a diffuclt day of teaching with Jen, since there was many more students. The first class with the toddlers was more difficult since the toddlers were very hyper and not listening. But a little boy joined the class and he loved it which was very exciting. And in the next class, two little girls joined the class and I helped them with their stretches. And in the last class, there were two more girls who joined, and an 11 year old girl who's never done dance before joined, and Jen helped her, and I focused more on the other girls, since they've been doing ballet.

Assistant Teaching- ballet

I was asked over the summer to be an assistant teacher over the summer and teach little ballerinas over the summer with one of the teachers Miss Jen. Each Monday morning will have three one hour classes. The first class is with toddlers, 3-4 year olds, the next is with 5-6 year olds and the last is with 7-11 year olds. The most difficult and challenging as I have found out is definately the first one with the toddlers. They are defiantely the cutest, but also the most challenging, hyper and don't always listen. But that's the challenge. That Monday no girls showed up for the second class and then only two girls showed for the third class. But one of the girls has never had a ballet class in her entire life, so it was challenging for her to catch up to the other girl.

Ballet Class, Filming of class

On Thursday, we learned that part of our class would be filmed so that our teacher could put a video on the website, so people could see an actual ballet class. But we thought it would be on Tuesday and when we came to class we learned that there would be no filming, so Sabrina told us it would be next week. Then I received an e-mail from Sabrina that the filming would take place on Thursday. The filming wasn't exactly what I'd expected, we did simple combinations at barre, across the floor and in the center, but it was all on one side, we never did any combination on both sides.

June 2, 2009 Contemporary- finishing Moulin Rouge dance

Last Wednesday in contemporary class we finally finished the Moulin Rouge dance, which is so amazing, I love the dance so much. Unfortunately our teacher was not happy about the costumes that were delivered for the dance, but we will have to wear them. Also half the class was missing so it was really difficult to do the Moulin Rouge dance, so nobody really does anything at the same time in the dance. And so near the end, the part where everybody works together to lift me up in the air, one girl was missing to lift up my front leg, so the lift wasn't able to be done.

June 2 2009 Finishing Anniversary Dance, Ballet

Last week, last Tuesday, we as a class finished finally the Anniversary ballet piece, we were very excited to finally finish it, since the show is June 20th. So we were a little bit behind. Sabrina wasn't there the Tuesday before, so the week before we had tried our best to do the dance without her. But she still wants us to work on the technique a lot more since the dance is finished. I noticed that as a class we had been working together very well, to remember the dance and help others if they didn't understand a move.

Dance/ Ballet- Diamond Dance, working on timing

On Thursday, since our dance teacher Sabrina was sick and could not come, another teacher Sarah supervised our class and watched us do our ballet Diamond dance. However it was difficult to keep up with the timing since the music is very soft and doesn't really have high points to mark certain parts of the dance. So the first time that we did the dance, it was really horrible and we either too late or too early for the music, it was just really bad!! Then we started to listen to the music more and more and finally we were getting a hang of how to mark the music, I think that Sabrina will see much more of an improvement next week!

Dance/ Ballet- contemporary, Moulin Rouge dance

On Wednesday, I had contemporary class as usual, and I felt that it was a really good class, I was excited. Mad World, our first dance that we've been learning since the beginning of the year, went really well. And we also did this arm and jump exercise, and our teacher didn't tell us when to stop, so I just keep going, because I was feeling the adrenaline, and at the end this other girl Britney and I were the only ones left doing it, it felt good. Then we moved on to the Moulin Rouge dance, and we're so close to finishing it, however not everyone was there so we couldn't learn the rest. However we did practice the part near the end where I am put into the air by four girls, I really had to learn to balance my weight and be able to jump into the air and have the girls catch me, we really had to work together. I hope next time it goes better since some girls were a little late into lifting me up.

Dance/Ballet- awareness of needing to stretch

On Tuesday, this week, the 12th, I had ballet class from 6:30 to 8, and for some reason I felt way more tired than I usually do, and not stretched out whatsoever. And I really didn't want to stretch out and as a result, I wasn't stretched out enough for class. I think that maybe from now on, I should do at least a half hour of stretching before class, to be warmed up. Also I keep noticing that my feet are stronger and stronger each class.