Blisters hurt!

And I have a new one from the Russian Pointe Almazes that came in approximately 15 weeks after I ordered them and was told that they were going to come in about 6 weeks from then. Hmmph. I do really like the shoes though.

We're doing a ballet intensive workshop at the studio this week. There are only like 7 of us there. We have technique, pointe, partnering, stretching/strengthening, ballet history, and variations classes. We actually traced our ballet teacher and her ballet teacher's training back (only like 2-5 generations back for some of them) to Enrico Cecchetti, Ninette De Valois, Anna Pavlova, Alexandra Danilova, and Agrippina Vaganova. It was more than cool.

We're also trying to get through one barre each from grades 5, 6, and 7 from the RAD, Vaganova, and Cechchetti syllabuses (so, like, one plie enchainment, one tendu enchainment, one degage enchainment, etc. from each grade in each syllabus). Having had "American mix" (mostly Cecchetti based with some RAD and a tiny bit of Vaganova thrown in) training most of my life, RAD is my favorite and Vaganova is my least favorite. I particularly dislike the Vaganova developpe exercise where you developpe devant and while your leg is still at 90< degrees, you cambre devant, developpe ecarte and cambre towards the leg, and then developpe penche derrière. The penche I like, though.

Yesterday, we learned the baby swan pas de quatre from Swan Lake in variations class which is a LOT harder than it looks (especially the super intricate head movement).

We put Swan Lake en pointe today and learned the Act 1 Lilac Fairy variation from Sleeping beauty, but I can't find a video with the same choreography we used. After the battement to tendu devant croise, we coupe and pique to first arabesque and failli to arabesque tendu epaulet.

So far, the only teacher has been our ballet teacher/studio owner, but we think that the ballet master and artistic director of the company that was supposed to teach but couldn't because all 6 of their dancers quit and they don't have new ones yet and a friend of our SO's that teaches at a ballet school might be teaching tomorrow or later this week.

We also had (unofficial, uncertified) Balanchine day today. We watched some videos, did some exercises using concepts, and learned a tiny bit of choreography that we legally aren't supposed to know or teach. I despise pirouettes in this style. How are you supposed to get around more than once when you're preparing in a lunge and can't push off your back leg at all?

Another interesting thing we did was Russian Character dance. It has lots of straight legged cabrioles to the side, not unlike "bells" or "gene Kelly" jumps. This style is pretty fun to do, hopping around cheerfully and everything, but it isn't like my new favorite thing or anything.

I'm going out of town to go to some different workshops and intensives the week after next for about a month and I have absolutely no idea if I will have any sort of internet access in my living situation for that time, but I am sincerely doubting that I will. You can stay updated during that time on my Twitter feed.

Stay on your toes,

Selly