Mid-week progress

a 'just for fun' picture taken on our roofdeck. I bought the costume at a good will for like $2 and was feeling in a spanish mood. So...OLE!! picture by booba of course ;)

Well, here we are. One week in counting before our opening Dracula show. Sadly, our first weekend of shows was cancelled due to a financial misunderstanding with the theater. To be honest though the company could use this extra week to clean and fine tune certain parts. So, it really is a blessing is disguise.

Other than that rehearsals have been fairly smooth. I have noticed, however, that the boys tend to take a bit longer to pick up the choreography. We always seem to spend much longer on their parts. I dont' know if this is a general problem with boys or if it just happens to be the boys we have right now. Just curious.

I'm really pumped to do the shows. There is just something about this ballet that pulls me into the character and i feel really comfortable with my role. Being a bride of dracula allows me to explore a darker realm of acting. We are given the freedom to put alot of ourselves into our characters. It's nice to be a naughty blood sucking vampire for once and replace the tiara with fangs for a bit.

My sit up/arm routines have been making my dancing alot steadier. (if that makes sense) I've been doing a lot of situp and arm stretches with my thera band to prep for the stamina that is required for the dances in this ballet. I feel that it is evening out muscles that i don't nessecarily work as often with just taking class. To sum it up, i feel good and strong.

It's a slow week and i'm feeling a little sick. (sinus pressure and sore throat) I'm hoping i can kick it! Hope you are all well and starting to feel the halloween spirit a little bit!! It's a fun time of year ;)

Those last days of summer...bring on Dracula!

This past week was a long one with a beautiful weekend ending.

We started Dracula rehearsals in full force this week covering the 1st and 2nd act. I think that's pretty good progress. It's a three act ballet, so having just one act to set isn't so stressful with two weeks till opening. We have fast learners in the company so it makes the learing process less tedious.
I love getting to be the bride of Dracula. There is three of us who get to flap round on stage and bite the crap out of Jonathan, one of the main characters in the ballet. I'm the arabic bride so i have to show my stomach in a two piece costume. I have started my sit up routine to get my abs show worthy. I also get to wear my hair down and kinda crazy. It's a nice change from a tight constricted bun. Don't get me wrong, i enjoy buns, but there is something about being able to dance with your hair down that just feels freeing.
Besides rehearsals this past week i also am back teaching at both studios now. I also picked up a three hour shift for a teacher who wouldn't be able to cover her tuesday classes. Teaching four nights of the five this week really wore me out though. Don't get me wrong, i love teaching, but after dancing all day i just felt very worn down physically. I will, however, enjoy getting the extra money! That part never hurts.
This weekend was a busy one as well, but in a really fun, relaxing way. I went to a wine festival with my booba sat. We shared a bottle of delicious White Cranberry wine and i made us a picnic of cheese,crackers, and grapes. On Sun. booba had a craft show outside at a Jersey farm selling his photography/illustrations. It was a LONG day outside, but he was at least able to sell some pieces. I also got spotted as a dancer. One ladys booth was selling cute tutus for little girls and the woman said that i looked familar. Apparently her little 8yr old daughter does our nutcracker with us as a little mouse. Small world huh? I also ordered a tutu from her. All black i'm so excited! She hand makes them so i know it will be good quality. I will post pictures as soon as i get it.
Well i just finished hanging out at my parents house and i will be off to drive back home to start another long week. Updates soon!
Hope all are well!
~Sara~

updates updates!

Spacing/walk through with the students at our second venue in the Hamptons:




Here i am! I survived the trip to the Hamptons!


We drove up in two passenger vans packed full of anxious/sleepy dancers around 6am Wednesday morning and made the 4hr drive up to the Hamptons in NY. The ride went pretty quickly given how long it actually was and how it's very hard for dancers to sit still for that long! When we arrived we had made good time giving us about an hour to explore the little city where our venue was. Of course the first thing we all want is coffee and food. We found a really cute french style cafe and had some really yummy iced coffee. I was set and had myself a little energy boost.

The theater was old, but beautiful. We made our ways to the dressing (TINY)rooms and started to get our warmups on for a run through. (spacing) The actual stage was smaller than we had all imagined in our heads so a lot of rearanging of lines and traveling had to be reviewed. Showtime came and it ran fairly smoothly for the first show of the season. I had a few mess ups simply because my foot had been bothering me for sometime. Other than that, a.o.k show followed by a dozen roses being thrown on the stage by a local dance studio that had come out to see us. It was so sweet and we all got one.

Here came the interesting part.

We all hopped in the dressing room shower quickly as the scenery got loaded into the vans. (we had another venue to go the next day) Of course being dancers, we were starving after the show and were told that we would stop somewhere quick to eat. NO where was open this late. (11:00pm) In a desperate search for food my director got an offer from friends living up there to made us a quick dinner of pasta and whatever else they had in their house short notice. This was nice of them and all, but i was exhausted after being up early and then doing a show. So my 'dinner' was spent crashing on these strangers sofa with another tired dancer. Opps. Sometimes your body takes over and calls the shots! Now comes the fun. After leaving the house around 1am....oy....we drive away to our lovely sleeping quaters at, dun dun dun.........a girl scout camp in the middle of the woods. Save money much? It was literally cots with a gymnastic mat on them lined up like a prison. My life is filled with suprises. Especially ones i can look back and laugh upon. Anyway, we all slept, kinda of.

In the morning we headed out to our next location and had breakfast at a cafe with watery coffee (yuck). This venue was lovely and much newer than the other place. They had tons of dressing rooms and the staff there was very kind and welcoming of us. This show we had students filling in some parts of the fairies and the snake dance. We had a rehearsal with them so they could know where to go at what time. They were all very well behaved and i'm glad they got a chance to perform with us. I always look back to when i was a student. I would have been thrilled to have gotten to perform along side of a ballet company.

This show went a bit better than the first and we had a really responsive audience which helps with your performance. Once again we hung out till all the scenery and costumes were packed in the van and left the venue around 10:30 for the 4hr trec back to new jersey. After two stops, one for gas and one for food/bathroom, we got back to the studio around 2:30. We were all worn out and ready for bed. Not me of course! I still had an hour ride back to my parents house. I kept the radio up loud and my window down. It's always so strange driving so late. The road are so empty and nothing is open. The moon was really bright and full too casting a really erie light on the road and woods. I made it home safe and slept ............a LOT.

Now we have just one more show left this Sat. We actually just started Dracula rehearsals today already for our Oct. 3rd opening. It's a little strange rehearsing Midsummer and learning Dracula. Two TOTALLY different vibes happening with those ballets haha. So, im off to slumber in a bit. My left leg has been bothering me. I believe it's a hamstring pull or something, but it starts under my bum and goes all the way down my leg. It's really uncomfortable, aching pain. Blah. The show must go on though! :) Hope you are all well and sorry for the lack of updates. I feel like i haven't stopped moving for the past couple days. (ok, week) I'll do my best to be more consistant.

~Sara~

We are all in two white vans heading to the hammtons in ny for our opening show tonight! Long ride ahead. Updates to come.
~*sara*~