Fall Schedule...I Already Want A Nap

So, fall semester starts back up on Monday. While I'm excited, because hello, dance, I didn't get the break I normally do between semesters. Okay, well, I don't always anyways, because I take class over summer if possible. But this summer, I was teaching more than I ever had, started another job, and had draaaaama to stress me out and leave me feeling the opposite of rested.

But fall! My favorite season, my favorite shows normally (because SOME Christmas music is tolerable), and WINTER IS COMING. I started typing that before realizing what it was. hahaha.

So, here is my schedule. It's actually not bad, because I've taken semesters where I had 8 dance classes, but honestly, with my car situation, my job situation, my aging body, and other reasons I won't name, I am not able to pull that off anymore. I'm not working AT the college and therefore, can't have my job completely schedule around classes. Luckily, my studio allows me to schedule my own taught classes, for the most part, and the other job is weekends. I can always add more once my car is fixed (IT PASSED SMOG! A christmas miracle! lol) and I can take my ass to school.

Okay, I'll shut up. Here it is:

MONDAY
College:

• Dance Performance - 9:35-11:00
• Ballet II - 11:10-12:35
• (I might squeeze another class here if I can find one I want)

Studio (teaching):

• Jazz - 5:00-6:00
• Ballet 1b - 6:00-7:00
• Ballet 3 - 7:00-8:00

TUESDAY
College:
(I have to be there at 8am because the boyfriend has class that early. Waaaaa!)

• Intro To Theatre - 9:35-11:00 (Boyfriend is taking it and it's a theatre class I actually haven't taken!)
• Dance Performance - 3:55-8:45 (Nope, not kidding)

WEDNESDAY

College:

• Dance Performance - 9:35-11:00
• Ballet II - 11:10-12:35
• Modern II - 3:55-5:20 (Can only take once a week since I teach on Mondays)

THURSDAY

College:

• Intro To Theatre - 9:35-11:00
• Dance Performance - 3:55-8:45

FRIDAY

College:

• Dance Performance - 9:35-1:00

Studio (teaching):

• Ballet 5 - 4:00-5:00
• Lyrical - 5:00-6:00

SATURDAY

Job #2 - 3:00-8:00

SUNDAY

Job #2 - 1:00-6:00

Send help.

Fall Classes

     Over summer, I have *only* (pfft) been teaching dance and I'm so excited that classes at the JC start back up Monday. I'm in serious need of technique. I feel that I haven't lost too much, as I usually dance with my students, for the most part, but it's still not as tough as taking class. I'm signed up for Dance Performance, Ballet II, and Modern II.

My birthday is the first day of fall (the season, not the semester), so yay for that too!

I love cold weather. I'm over summer.

Over. It.

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It's...Tracy!!

     Besides being a lover of dance, I am also a lover of musical theatre. I've been in a few musicals (Beauty and the Beast, Brigadoon, and Hairspray). The director of Hairspray messaged me one day last fall and asked if I would be in her company's 10 year anniversary show. She was doing a number from Hairspray and wanted to know if I could be in it. I said yes, because I loved being in the show, and again, I love musical theatre.


     I was told that we were doing Mama, I'm A Big Girl Now and Without Love (later was cut because Seaweed couldn't make it). I was thinking about what part I would be doing because in the show, I wasn't in that number. It was just the lead girls and their mamas. Plus some young girls in the scaffolding dressed in jammies. I'm 29 so I was starting to think "There's no way I'm playing a kid, right? I apparently look 18ish but I can't see playing a kid. Could I be Tracy?!" but pushed that aside because NO WAY.

 
     I turned up for the first rehearsal for this number and the only people there were the women playing Penny and Amber, and their stage moms. Inside, I'm dancing because again, NO WAY.


    I was Tracy. I was cast as Tracy. Because I was asked specifically to be in this and was a lead, I was treated almost like VIP. I only was expected to be at a few rehearsals and one was the dress rehearsal. Then we had two weekends of performances. Eight shows. It was awesome!

Some photos:

My costume. I looooved it! Made just for me!

The 'do.

It's TRACY!!

Tracy and her bff Penny

Tracy and Velma Von Tussle...

...who are basically sworn enemies.

Me (back there) singing "I know that you want what's best(...but mother please, GIVE IT A REST!)"

hahaha Here I am, singing "Once upon a time, I was a shy, young thing. Could barely walk and talk, so much as dance and sing. (But let me hit that stage, I wanna take my bow, 'cause, Mama, I'm a big girl now!)

"Mama, I'm a big girl now!" *end pose*

   



                   I will never forget this experience. I want to be in 5038275 more shows!

   

Life Lately

     Okay, I'm terrible. I didn't mean to let this much time go between posting. But it happened and here we are. Oops.


     The semester ended at the community college where I take dance classes. We had our big end-of-semester show at the end of May. We do three shows (usually four but the Children's Free Theatre show didn't happen because the kids were already out of school. Cue sadface.); Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday matinee. Honestly, I feel that this was possibly the worst I'd done in a show in a long time. I was in eight numbers, which is normal, but I had a double knee injury and it just really affected my performance. I was in a lyrical number, a waltz, a ballet/pointe, four modern numbers, and a jazz number. My pointe number went okay a couple of the nights, but I failed miserably the final night by wobbling on the pas-de-bourree RIGHT IN FRONT. I was mortified. And because my shoes were definitely not the right fit, I had to do some of the pointe work on demi, which I hated. I have never felt secure doing piques on the left but they really sucked and I ended up doing them on demi. Grrr.


     My favorite numbers were Not The Only One, a modern number to the song by Sam Smith, and the waltz, which was So She Dances by Josh Groban. That was my favorite favorite. I loved the lifts I got to do. It was one of the most challenging things I've had to do, especially being plus-sized. But I did it and I'm glad I got the opportunity.

   Picture time! I found these on Facebook.

Our Jazz number, Time Of My Life. I'm in the second row, center.

Same as above. Plie chaines into an axel turn. WHYYY am I leaning forward?!

A modern number, Wake Me Up. Why, hello, left leg. Whatcha doin'?

Me and the boyfriend (also a dancer). I'm in my Not The Only One costume.

My beautiful flowers I got!

      ...
     The studio I teach ballet and lyrical at also did a show. It was June 9th, a week and a half after the other show. It went mostly well, but there were a few hiccups! My Intermediate Ballet students (two of them) didn't even meet until the show. One is sixteen years old, Kylie, and was in other shows that conflicted with our dress rehearsal times. She only made 1/3 of them. She was taking my class on Friday. The other is twenty-one years old (Jenny) and I taught her on Sundays, in a private lesson. She learned the same dance but reversed from the other girl. So you can see how this would make for an interesting number! Also, the older one made our costumes (love her), but didn't get there until after the show started, so she missed the quick lighting run we did as well.

     Speaking of lighting runs, because Jenny (^) is also in my lyrical number (with a 13 year old Lyrical student) and was late, I had to do the number with the 13 year old (Bella) for the lighting run. I wasn't prepared for this and didn't have time to warm up much, and in one part of my dance, there is a split. I'm a lefty for flexibility, but my students are ALL rightys, so I switched the split from left to right. This, coupled with not being warmed up, meant that when I went into the split, I heard a tear. I finished the run of the number, but was crying (around my students and dance moms!!) and limping for much of the show. It was brutal I tell you, brutal! I'm still healing from that. I actually tore my semitendinosus. OUCH. Anything requiring a battement or split or anything like that to the front, but especially the side, on my right hurts like hell. But, hey, now I'm a great bad example for when my little students don't want to stretch in class! lol. "Well, I'm sorry, but you have to, otherwise you can end up hurting like Miss Erika! Trust me, stretching is better than having an ouchie." LEARN FROM THIS.

And now, some photos from THAT show:

I'm in the back. My studio owner is in the middle, a fellow teacher on the photo's right, and students on the photo's left.

My Balleville Rendezvous costume. Shirt from Target, tutu made my my student, Jenny. And the flowers I got for being a teacher! Yay!!

Some screenshots I took from my video of the lyrical number I choreographed (Say Something). On the outside pictures, Jenny is on the left and Bella is on the right. In the middle photo, it's reversed.

I love my job. :)

Dance Bag Challenge

I know I'm a little late with this, but it's been crazy busy over here, with taking about 21 hours of dance a week and then teaching 6+ hours a week (my privates run over sometimes and I don't mind at all!).

I was so excited to do this challenge! It was first posted by Wellies and Pears and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to do it! Mine is always completely stuffed and bordering on ridiculous. Not that I'm complaining - I like to be prepared! Be prepared though...it's definitely photo heavy.

...

I got my bag last semester after my other bag was just not cutting it. I had the other for about ten years though, so it was a trooper, but just not nearly big enough. This one is plenty big and has a pointe shoe pocket, water bottle pocket, little mesh pocket, plus a little front zipped part with a little mesh part inside it. A downside is that the tightening thing for the water bottle pocket broke right away and the bag is ripping above the pointe shoe pocket. I really need to not pack it so much.

This is the bag I use for my shoes. It's mesh and I've had it for years but because I tend to carry too much, one of the straps is ripping so I'm glad to have finally found a use for it this semester. I really just never got around to getting a mesh pouch for shoes, so I started using this a few weeks ago. It actually works out nicely. In the front zipper, I carry a little sewing kit and tape that I'll admit I never really use, but it's good to have just in case.

Can you believe I actually use almost all of these? This is the contents of my mesh packpack. The pointe shoes on the top left are the ones I'm currently using and actually live in the pointe shoe pocket but I threw them here for this picture. Everything else lives in this mag inside my dance bag. I've got my beloved gel toe pads, and old pretty dead pair of pointe shoes (both Russian Muse), tan jazz shoes, black jazz shoes, 2 pairs of canvas ballet flats, and three different pairs/styles of footies for modern dance. My dance performance classes have plenty of modern dances, so these are a must for me. I don't really use the footies that have the holes for the toes, but they've come in handy when my boyfriend forgets his own. The leather ones are holey and I'm not sure why I still have them in there. I am loving the canvas pair. 

The contents of the little mesh pouch on the dance bag. I usually have my hair down for Dance Performance 2 and sometimes for 1, but need it up for ballet, so I need these. Also, occasionally I've been asked for one if others forget to bring something to stick their hair up, so I'm glad I have so many. The button is from when I saw the show with my boyfriend and it's a favorite of mine so I leave it in sight!

This crap was all in the front zipped pocket. A couple granola bars, a 90 calorie cookie thing, and a case with safety pins and buttons. I took this jewelry off the first day back to Dance Performance 1 this semester, and forgot to take it out. I've had the pointe shoe necklace for years, and got the other two from my boyfriend's mom this past Christmas. It's a music note bracelet, and a dancer necklace. I love them all.

This is the contents of the main part of my dance bag (plus the mesh backpack goes on top of it all before zipping up). Vitamins, pre-workout for Dance Performance 1 when I'm just dead (it's from 4pm-8:45pm twice a week). A water bottle, deodorant, moleskin I never use, two pairs of legwarmers, a sweat towel (green), a stretch band (purple), a wrap skirt for ballet, an extra set of clothes, and various types of tapes (for injuries), and a bandage for when my knee hates me. 

...

That's probably a bit much. Haha.

Now on to the questions!

1. What’s in your dance bag and why?
All of the above, because I swear I'll need all of it. I could probably stand to take a few things out though.

2. Where did you get your bag and how long have you been using it?
I got it from a local dance store last semester (Fall 2014) because the one I used for ten years was just too small.

3. Is there anything dance related that you keep in your bag at all times… you know, the essentials?
All o' that! ^

4. Is there anything that you keep in your bag for good luck?
Nope. I'm not superstitious. 

5. If your bag had a name what would it be?
Misty! Because it's tough, but pretty. :)

6. How badly does you bag smell right now?
Haaaaaaa...let's not go there. *throws in some dryer sheets*

7. If there is anything you could change about your bag or its contents, what would it be?
I want one of those spiky balls because they sound luxurious after hours of dance. And I have a heel spur and digging things into my arch feels amazing. Also I wouldn't mind if my bag had more color. Like, maybe PURPLE. Or if it were floral (pastel).

8. Anything else you want to mention?
I now would very much love a Vera Bradley bag. Haha. Beauuutiful!

...
Thanks to Wellies and Pears for this challenge! It was fun.

Other blogs I read who have done the challenge:
We Do Ballet
balletandorbust

Click on over and check them out, along with the original!

This Week in Dance...New Students!

So, this week has been interesting. My boyfriend, who I waltz with, has a pinched nerve in his neck, making his arm hurt really bad. I hate seeing him in pain. :sadface: He missed our Dance Performance 2 class on Tuesday and then was back, but limited, on Thursday. I really hope it's better soon. Poor thing. Also, we got a new lift added on, so hopefully we'll be back at it next week.
 

Pointe has been coming along okay. I've been taking ballet for eleven years and pointe for nearly five. But...I could be stronger at pointe. That's why I had decided to take Intermediate Ballet and only wear pointe shoes (at least for barre) this semester. I'm fine with anything with releves on both feet, or two-to-one, but I have a lot of trouble doing releve on just one foot. Like ballones. 

In Dance Performance 1 today, we started the pointe dance for the show. It's actually one I did before. It's a Spanish dance and has a lot of coupe bourrees (I think that's what they're called). I like this dance. It's cute. 

...

I had my Adult Ballet (17+ anyways) class today. I got two new students!! That brings my total up to a whopping three for that class. Ha. But they seemed to have fun and they'll be coming back.


I also worked with my Friday lyrical student and added on a new section to Say Something. It had a part that actually didn't work like I'd planned. One thing didn't fill up enough counts so I'm going to have to rework it. Bah. But other than that, that class went really well.


Even more good news...I got another little student back AND her sister. They will be taking class Mondays. All of my younger ones are on Mondays. One of the kids, "Linda" was in the Christmas show but hasn't been back since. She's a little firecracker. She's only seven but has sarcasm like a teenager. But...I like her. Haha. She keeps me on my toes. >.> Apparently, (the studio owner told me) that the grandma of the two girls specifically asked that I be their teacher. I can't be mad at that! haha. She didn't want anyone else to teach her granddaughters. Now if only I can get her to stay quiet during classes!