December w[h]ine couch

[Pirou]

My favourite and most expensive leotard disappeared at the laundromat!

[appleblossom]

Grrrrrrrrrrrr... Pirou I feel your pain.

 

I am moving interstate next year, after getting married in less than 2 weeks time (see champagne couch) but the town is my old home town and I'm torn between the expectation I will return to my old ballet studio (expectation from family and friends), It's a competition and eistedfodd based slightly dolly dinkle studio, However in a smallish country town there is a serious lack of quality ballet training anywhere.

 

Infact there was 1 school that was exceptional but the teacher was very old school nasty (smack you with her cane type nasty) and besides she retired and closed the school down.

 

There is one other potentially OK school but it teaches Checcetti method, which i have had NO experience with at all, and having only just gotten used to RAD after swapping from BAL 4 years ago, i am hesitant to change .

 

However, On a very positive note it's a beautiful life, i have a functioning body and am able to dance. So I will smile and make the best of it. Ballet really is awesome.

[Claude_Catastrophique]

Is there no December Wine Couch? Because I am whiny at the moment. Tonight we had rehearsal and ALWAYS when we rehearse I have to listen to the same things from some co-dancers because they are jealouse that I stand in the middle of the first line. I can stand exactly there where my teacher told me to stand and for sure someone of the second line has to walk over to me after the dance and tell me that I have to stand here and there "because you are standing right in front of me that the audition can't see me" and so on and so on. Grrrrr, we are moving around anyway and the way we stand is changing constantly and the people who don't sit in the middle will have a differnt angle anyway.

Then we check it with my teacher and I really make sure that I stand where I have to stand but NO, five minutes later the same people tell me that "you stood at a totally differnt place the teacher told you". Yeah, I know, usually I stand where I can cover others up (especially because I am the tallest...ahme smallest).

And if this "you stand at the wrong place"-thing is not interesting anymore then they come up with other things like "you hold your arms like this but you have to hold them like that" or "you are too fast/you are to slow there". Is it really my problem if they have no idea of the music and what beat and rythm is? My teachers comment "I did not notice anything". You see.

And if this also over then they invent new things like "you always cut off my way there" etc.

 

At the moment I am on 100 and could hit a wall with my fist. After rehearsal I left very angry and just hope that tomorrow they will shut up. Usually we have fun together in class and we are like friends but when it comes to performances competition comes out and unfortunately I seem to be a good victim for that (jealousy because I have solo parts, jealousy because I am always put in the front, jealousy because my teacher tells them to look at me to check out how they should do it). Sooner or later I'll give up performing so that I don't have all this crap anymore.

 

Recreational ballet can sometimes be...well, not so recreational.

[lampwick]

Ami,

I feel your pain. I only make it to class at best 4 times per week. I HATE my job. I have an interview on Monday for my "dream" job, but don't want to jinx it. Fingers crossed. It's a very competitive position (I applied in August).

 

Yes, I'll try some arch supports or something for "cute" shoes. I started taking my multivitamins again recently and that has helped a lot with the cramping.

 

On a (good?) note, I just finished a Nutcracker and did my first Marzipan ever. I biffed the turns I was nervous about (I did crappy singles like a klutz), but the AD was very happy with my performance. Charmed my way through that one... and had fun:) Didn't fall, didn't drop my props. It was a nice weekend, and I made some friends here.

[Redbookish]

ClaudeCatastrophiqiue, your wish is my command -- here are the December posts in the December thread by the magic of Moderation magic.

 

Appleblossom -- I wouldn't worry about moving from RAD to Cecchetti. I did both in Australia but mostly open classes -- and really, a degagé is a glissé glissé is a degagé. And the Cecchetti syllabus is very pretty & dancey, as well as giving you a really solid training -- just like the RAD syllabus. At a certain point, we should (ideally ) be able to cope with whatever our teachers set us!

[Claude_Catastrophique]

Ahh, thank you! Now I can return to being happy!

[blaise]

Some definite whining is in order. I tore a ligament and a tendon in my left knee last week and I'm looking at about a month on crutches and much, much longer before I can dance. I'm absolutely heartbroken.

[MJ]

Waiter, a BIG glass of Cabernet. Tonight was the last performance of the Stamford (Connecticut) Balanchine Nutcracker, ever. So many friends I will never see again, and one less opportunity for children to dance in a professional World-Class ballet. I will miss seeing promising new dancers from the SAB come through and later see them at Lincoln Center a few years later.

 

Oh Well, at least I can see other Nutcrackers next year.

[brise' vole']

I sat through the Nutcracker production that I performed in for 10 years! Was sad to be in the audience. A glass of Merlot please?

[spingirl]

Finally recovered from November's gout attack, only to be rear-ended on Dec. 2nd and get a nice case of whiplash (again!) So now I can go on demi-pointe again, but I can't turn my head or bend over. So it's off to the chiropractor 3 times a week, and hoping hoping hoping that I can go back to class in January. And if the accounts manager gives me any grief about transferring the payments for my unused classes for November to the January classes, I'm fully prepared to wave the papers from two emergency room visits in a month's time in her face and GROWL!!!

 

Now the big question is...will I fit into ANY of my leotards? Stand by for updates...

 

Lisa

[brise' vole']

^spingirl, Sounds like you've had a rought couple of months! I hope that you are recovering from you car accident. So sorry to hear about that. Have you contacted the accounts manager at your ballet classes? I suppose closed for the holidays right now. I would find it hard to believe that they would not let you transfer paid classes to January considering the circumstances. Good luck!

 

I just have "whine" a bit. I am just in a funk and REALLY missing ballet. I will continue to take classes in January when my schedule allows, and I will be teaching a ballet class for special needs students, but I am really missing being a part of a company and all that goes with that. The classes, rehearsals, performances... It's just time for a new chapter in my life, but I still miss it.

[Redbookish]

I've set up a January thread & will close this one.