Disorders

Yesterday we had a student from Brescia University come in to talk about eating disorders. Anorexia and Bulimia are very common in dancers. We always strive to look perfect on the dance floor especially in ballet. The stereotypical ballerina is very tiny looking practically like bones, but also very elegant. Its hard when dancers see that image on the big stages in New York and Boston and always want to strive to be just like them. I know at times I may go down a path I shouldn't be because of dance but I always try my best not to. The pressure to be "skinny" is insane especially during your teen years. One of the things the lady told us to do was to write "your beautiful" on your mirror so every time you wake up in the morning you feel a little better about yourself. It may sound stupid, but for some they have to do that to keep them eating and healthy. I know I would rather be dancing 5 hours a day and eating than starving myself and ending up in a hospital with a feeding tube. Remember, no body is perfect and we all have our imperfections we just have to learn how to rise above them!

Flashdance

For our modern dance we are doing Flashdance. For those of you who don't know Flashdance was a movie back in the 80s I believe about a dancer who does some not so appropriate things to survive in her career as a dancer. Our costumes are completely 80s aerobic exercised styled. Its pretty hilarious but cute at the same time. My leotard is a royal blue color and I have black tights with hot pink legwarmers. If thats not enough we also have headbands that we wear across our foreheads to complete the look and black belts to tie it all together. All in all, dance costumes really haven't been bad this year. (:

Sparkle and Shine

Okay so everyone that is a dancer knows how we love our rhinestones. We definitely beat the heck out of be-dazzler around recital time. On Monday we received our costumes. For our ballet number we are wearing white tutus that smell like rotten fish.. and a black bodice. For our Swan Lake number we are wearing simple black leotards with a hot pink skirt. One thing about simple costumes is that you have to make your movements really big so it looks better. We've already talked about adding more sparkle to our costumes, you really can never have enough!

Audition

This past weekend at the studio we had auditions. They were for an allstar team and to be able to dance in the staff's hip hop dance number in the showcase. Well lets just say.. I've never taken a real hip hop class before but I decided to do it anyways. Shockingly enough they were all really impressed! The owner knows how i'm severely committed to ballet but wants me to take hip hop next year no questions asked. Just goes to show you that when you try you might actually make it! Even though I didn't make the team because she wanted people that were in hip hop classes she told me I will make it next year for sure which is truly exciting!

Opportunities..

So after dance today my teacher asked if I was planning on participating in a summer program for ballet. She said that I should try out for Louisville ballet but unfortunately they do not have the funds for it anymore. Basically what I'm trying to say is that take all the opportunities in dance that you are given. Dance scholarships are even offered now for colleges! If you love dance never say no or give up try your hardest and you can succeed!

Dance your tights off!

Okay so every dancer knows that around recital time things get pretty hectic and stressful. Four months or so ahead though? Not so much. Well thats not the case at my studio. We have a practice during every dance class for the dance the whole studio performs together. We are doing it to a song from happy feet and every class gets there own little part. We dance so crazy that we even get rips in our tights from it. One thing to think about if your going to become a dancer.. get cheap tights we go through them like crazy! Didn't get enough from this post? Look for my next one coming shortly (:

Practice doesn't make it perfect

When your in a dance you are constantly compared to the other people in the dance as well. They judge you on everything, your height of your leg extensions, how fast you turn, how well you stay with the others, etc etc. On monday I had ballet. There are only two of us on  that perform the harder part of the dance. We showed the owner and long behold we don't look the same. She has higher leg extensions, but I have the fire behind them.  One downside is that you can not fix how the other people may dance. When I dance I give it my all, but others don't always do the same. Its irritating that people can in turn make the dance look bad. Which leads into Tuesday... On Tuesday my modern class is an interesting mix. Lets just say even our teacher said that some students have two left feet. If two dancers are being compared one dancer could be having all the wrong steps but if they put emotion behind it and have a purpose it will look better than a girl who could do 50 turns, thats called passion and thats what dancers need. I'll leave you with this quote to think about.. "A dancer doesn't just learn the steps, but learns the soul and story of the piece."