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.