the day of the moms

Today was just lovely. All in celebration, of course, of moms everywhere. I love mine very much and she deserved to be pampered a bit today. It was just a relaxed day of face masks,coffee, and red lobster. Now i'm enjoying a glass of red wine and hanging with booba in my room. I love little moments of happiness. They make the big poopy ones seem insignificant.

Our wine tasting show on Friday went very well. After one last rehearsal in the studio i felt like my partner and i had it pulled together. I give him credit. He learned everything in a week and took time on his own to watch the video. The other girl i'm performing with even saw him watching the video one more time 10min. before we were about to leave as he was doing his hair. I love dedicated people.

We got to the wine tasting about an hour and a half into it. Our arrival was announced over the microphone and we mingled a bit around the crowd saying hi to our supporters. It was a decent turnout too. We had about a half hour before we were to go on and i felt my heart in my throat the whole time. Nerves get the best of me sometimes! It was ironic because everyone else was so relaxed and drinking wine. I played it off that i had my confidence together.

My director told us to go get ready. We were directed to a changing room (aka the bathroom) were we quickly got into our leotard and tights. Shoes on, one last check of make up, some rosin on the bottom of our poite shoes, and we were off. Everything happened really quickly. The crowd gathered around us close as we danced on the two panel marley. My partner whispered in my ear to relax as we went for our first piroutte. I think that really helped me. I didn't realize how tense i was until he brought mention of it. From then on i was at ease that he felt confident so i let go too. We got great reactions from the crowd and warm smiles. After the show we changed back into our dresses and got to talk more with the people there. I got to be social with some interesting (and yes, some drunk) people. I was very pleased. That's the only word i can think of! I just wish i had some pictures from it.

Well, i'm going to go relax now. I have some time off and only a few more events ahead. HAPPY MOM DAY! I'll leave you with some pictures from the weekend. I love warm spring days. Everything is just so alive.

what else?

I haven't gotten to update in a while mostly because thing have been a bit hectic around here the past week. It's amazing how things can just travel on a straight line for so long then without notice go off the richter scale. Without getting into it, lets just say there have been a few bumps (ok, more like hills) in the road. But, i'm managing and waiting for that good karmic relief.

As i have mentioned, our wine tasting fundraiser takes place this Friday along with our mini performance/presentation. My original partner for that decided to drop the bomb this past Friday and tell us that he would not be able to take off work for the show. What?!?! Isn't this something you should've thought of BEFORE you commited to the piece to begin with? ANYWAY, we had emergency rehearsals all this week to teach another boy the dance. I give him a lot of credit. It is not an easy piece, but it's slowly coming together. We have two more days to perfect it so we will see how it goes. Our show isn't until the very end of the evening so maybe a glass of wine will help ease some pre-performance nerves.

On a positive note, i was invited by our board director to attend a meet and greet of a well known ballet company here in the city. It will be a good way to meet some important people and make some connections. I like that he has my best interest in mind.

Recital time is just around the corner for the studios i teach at. Things are progressing there. I hope to finish a piece tonight and the others by next week. My girls have been more respectful recently after i mentioned to them the importance of working with me in the creative process. I hope they continue to show me that respect and i know it will be rewardind for both of us.

I breath a sigh of relief looking on things to come. Once the wine tasting and recitals are over (about mid-june) i will have LOTS of time off. I thought i would have time off now, but i commited myself (as usual) to a million things. I look forward to warm days floating in the pool drinking margaritas and trips with booba to Cape May. Now only if it would stop raining!!! (we are on day 9 of rain everyday...what is this, Seattle?)

I hope you are all well!!!! <3
~Sara~

"Everybody Dance!" (waiting for Guffman)

First off to start : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Dance_Day
I didn't even know about this. Interesting. I celebrated by....taking class? haha. That counts right?

Not a whole lot to report as far as dance goes. We are getting ready for our Wine Tasting fund raiser in May. We've just been doing class and the rehearsals for that. It's really not a long piece and it's all partnering. I'm sure it will turn out fine. I'm just excited for the after show part where i get to put on my new dress, have a glass of wine, and mingle with our guests. (aka hopefull future supporters of our company!)

I had a photoshoot on Sunday with my neighbore who is a fashion photographer and owns/runs his own talent agency for that. It was really fun and i got my makeup done professionaly. I usually wear my makeup natural and this woman made me look so glam! I felt like americas next top model. ha Hopefully i will get a copy soon of those to post. (they were taken for the woman doing the makeovers portfolio)

I'm starting to finish up more of my recital dances that i have been choreographing. I feel like most of them are really progressing. I hope the parents will be pleased come recital time! Most of all i hope that the students are enjoying them.

For my one studio i was asked to perform a short piece. I'm still deciding i want to or not. If i do i was thinking something simple like this bluebird variation :



or this one from Don Quixote:



hmmm which to do...




ps my roomate just informed me she has a fever and feels sick SWINE FLU! haha. jk. (but i def just washed my hand and got out my anti-bacteria wipes)

fustration.

I just got home from teaching and i'm still feeling stressed. It's been a really challenging couple of months with the recital coming closer and closer. The girls are really challenging me at times. I know they don't really enjoy ballet, but it makes it really hard to conduct the classroom and choreograph a dance. I just feel like all i get is rolling eyes and whispering complaints. I'm choreographing a more contemporary ballet piece for them in the hopes that they will enjoy it more than the classical approach. Even that doesnt' seem to satsify them. I think i need to learn to take better control over my classroom. I wish i knew more about how to approach that. I feel i've hit a wall. I don't know where to go from here.

Love the Earth

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day, celebrated April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year. This date is Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.

Off to class and rehearsal today for our Wine Tasting fundraiser in May. Two couples will be learning a pas de duex from Midsummer Nights Dreams choreographed by our director. Since a lot of company memebers went home already it will be my partner another girl and guy. It should be fun to work closely with each other instead of a big group.

Don't know if i mentioned it or not, but i will be dancing at a wedding for a friend of my directors. She wanted a pointe dancer to dance during the actual ceremony. I met with her last week to check out the space and discuss what she was looking for. So looks like i will be dancing in pointe shoes on carpet for 5min. It's going to be a challenge for me to pull off a 5min solo (that's a LONG time) and to pull off not slipping on the carpet in my shoes. But, the extra money will be nice and being able to perform always makes me happy.

Not dancing as much these days has really made me aware of how much my body needs movement. After a few days of not taking class my body hurts and feels restless. It's amazing how just one class can make everything feel better. At the same time it is good to rest my muscles before the new season.

I'm going to see Third Eye Blind tonight with my best friend from high school that i haven't seen in about three years. I'm very excited. :)
Have a great day!

ps this past weekend Booba and i went to Longwood Gardens for the first time. It was just stunning. So many beautiful flowers and fountains. We def. will be returning.
This was my ode to swan lake at one of the ponds in Longwood Gardens :) :

egg hunters

I hope everyone had a very nice easter weekend. Mine was great! Very relaxing...I got to fly a kite, dye some eggs, bought a few awesome dresses at goodwill, and to end it all win $96 at slots!! :) Here are some pictures of booba and i finding eggs easter morning (it was too cold out for the bunny, so he hid them inside this year) :

our eggs:





ok, i'm off to class! I've had a little over a week and a half off so i'm a little nervous about getting back into it. Apparently we have a boy auditioning today. Great. Of course someone is auditioning after i haven't danced in so long. I'm going to be all over the place ha. Have a great day!
~Sara~

brightness

on a sidenote...
the Koreans in my company have way cooler cameras that do this :