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.