Ankle Sprains

So, a little while ago (early November), I sprained my ankle. It wasn't too bad, so I continued dancing on it, but I still needed to treat it. It got me thinking; what should we really do when us dancers have a sprained ankle? So I looked it up. And I found this (it opens in a new window) simple treatment that shows the best way to heal a sprained ankle. Now I didn't follow this to a T. I kept dancing on it, and I didn't get any professional help. My ankle is fine now, but if yours hurts for longer than three days, go get help from a physical therapist. It's their job!
-Addy
P.S. Don't like using ice packs with blocks of hard ice in them? Make this shapeable icepack. One part rubbing alcohol, three parts water. It gets super cold, but never freezes!

Merry Christmas!

A little late, but I figured that I'd let everyone know that you're the best! I know that I'm not exactly organized with posts, but I'm going to start trying to organize everything better. And remember, help someone out, anyone, in the name of the holiday spirit!
And let's give a round of applause that it's the end (or almost the end) of Nutcracker season!

-Addy

No Dance...

How's it going?  I am extremely bored right now because I DIDN'T HAVE DANCE TODAY.  You heard me.  Now I am utterly bored.  So I have decided to make a list of things to do when one doesn't have dance.

1. Make a bag out of an old tee-shirt from a former performance.
2. Stretch.
3. Make a cute headband to wear when you go to dance.
4. Work out.
5. Waste time on the computer.
6. Take your dog on a walk. (Or, if you don't have a walk-able pet, go for a walk by yourself.)
7. Go through your dance bag. (This one is EXTREMELY worthwhile.  I just did it!)
8. Shop for an awesome new leotard on Discount Dance.

I am sure there are plenty of other great ideas, but these are just a few of my many things that I come up with.  Goodbye, and happy dancing (or not)!

-Addy

Oh, me

The procrastination bug strikes again! I really need to keep up with this better... Unfortunately, I'm also trying to write a story, bike, write more songs, and get ready for school, which is starting NEXT WEDNESDAY. Ugh. I'm staring as a high school freshman, meaning I have to change my About Me description! Anyways, my mom told her coworker that I would choreograph a flashmob for her friends wedding, but all I've really done so far is improvise. I'll get around to videotaping it... eventually. Summer Intensive was the past two weeks, it was intense. Actually that about describes my entire summer dancing. My heels will never recover, they're too far gone now... Those blisters are nasty. At least they have this week to heal, plus I'm vacationing to Michigan for a few days! Anyways, that's about it, so I'll try to update within the next week. Hopefully. :)
-Addy

Polina Seminova signs with ABT

I can't believe this! Polina is one of my favorite current dancers, and now she's going to be a principle dancer with ABT! I just read about this in the Arts section of the New York Times, after finding out about it from Ballet Freak (she posts videos on YouTube- her username is mydancetv). Sorry about all the excitement... Anyways, if you want to read the article, here it is.

Found in The Ballerina Gallery

Well, enjoy the nice weather!
-Addy

Summer!

Why am I so fickle :/. Well anyways, sorry for being gone for so long. With finals, Coppélia, and a week-long dance trip to Montréal, (I am really getting a use out of that accented e) I've just been super busy.  Montréal was amazing, of course, and very French.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any SI scholarships.  Oh well, there's always next year! Coppélia also went well, though we were a bit loud en pointe... whoops!  And now for the main point (haha pun) of this post: IT'S SUMMER!!! Now it's time for bikinis, pools, morning ballet, morning runs, and summer intensives!  I'm also making a summer bucket list, which I'll hopefully post at a sooner rather than later date.  While I'm sad to be leaving all my awesome teachers from middle school, high school is a new adventure! Well, au revoir!
-Addy

13 Things about ME

Since I am 13, I decided to make a blog with 13 things about me.  You may or may not care, but the only reason that I'm doing this is because I am extremely bored.  Oh well.  Here we go:

1. My name is Adrienne
2. I love ballet
3. I have the cutest dog ever
4. I never have gone out of the US (but soon, very soon…)
5. I take honors math classes
6. I hate steamed vegetables
7. I love strawberries
8. I am addicted to Pintrest
9. My mom signed me up for dance lessons when I was 3 ½
10. I hate being too hot
11. I like tropical-flavored gum
12. My favorite color is purple
13. My hair is really long with no bangs (I hate bangs)

     
Well, there you have it.  Now I will go do something else to get rid of my boredom.

      -Addy

Balanchine vs. Cecchetti

Wow, two days in a row.  I'm on a roll.  So I'm back again, since I was thinking about a class that I had a few days ago.  Our regular teacher was sick, so we had an amazing sub.  The only weird thing was that our studio teaches Cecchetti, while he was raised in Balanchine.  So guess who had a Balanchine class?
I actually really liked it.  This was only the second class that I've taken with Balanchine teacher, and I was again amazed at the difference.  Different arms, different jumps, even a different way of doing tendus!  I'm always getting corrected for not putting my heel down as soon as possible when coming back from a tendu.  But in this class, we were supposed to "drop" our heel when we got to fifth.  It was a miracle!  But I guess that I'll have to stick with Cecchetti for a while.  Well, that's all for today.  Happy dancing!
-Addy

Bunheads: A Ballet Book!

I really like this book.  Of course, this is coming from the girl who reads every book she can get her hands on, and practically lives in the school library during the day, but we dancers would all relate to this book.  It's by Sophie Flack (Ever heard of her? Me neither.) who was apparently once a professional ballet dancer.  It tells about the hard life of Hannah Ward, a corps dancer with the Manhattan Ballet.  She then meets a guy and, well, I'll let you read the rest.  We all want to do something with ballet when we're older, and this outlines one of the options.  Will you still want to be ballet dancers after reading this?  I do.

-Addy

Coppélia- First Rehearsal

Back again!  Yesterday I started Coppélia practice for Waltz of the Hours.  It's a fun piece, but we're only a little over halfway done.  It will be on pointe, but we learned it on flat yesterday.  I'm glad too, because we didn't have class before it!  We also looked at our costumes for the Spring Concert which is just a few weeks away.  One is a sheer green dress, and the other is a purple leotard with a colorful wrap skirt, both with pink tights.  Well now I must go work on a paper for health.  So excited.  Bye!
-Addy

Happy Birthday Anna!

Anna Pavlova, that is.  This is a bit late, as her birthday was on January 31, but I will still commemorate it.  So here is her mini bio, written by moi.
Born in 1881, Pavlova was an amazing artist who really brought ballet to America.  She was accepted into the Imperial Ballet Academy in Russia at the age of 10.  Her favorite teacher was mentor Enrico Cecchetti, who helped her until her death in 1931.  Most know her by her famous, solo, the "Dying Swan".  She toured all over the world, including stages in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Prague, and Berlin. If you want to know more about her, go here.










-Addy

Calenders- January

 Hey guys! I got two awesome ballet-themed calenders, so I'm going to take a picture of each month :) Here's January...

"Exuberance is Beauty" -William Blake

The Paris Opera Ballet

They're both BEAUTIFUL pictures, and I can only pray to be as good as them!  Well, I'm signing off.  Happy dancing!

-Addy

Nutcracker Bag

Back again! Because I was extremely bored today, I went on StumbleUpon   And lo and behold, I found a page of 20 things to do with old t-shirts.  So after at least an hour and a half, I made a bag out of my oldest Nutcracker shirt (from 2005).

Before...

After!

If you want you want to know how to do this, I went here.  But if you don't like this version, there are tons others.  Just Google it!  Have fun, and happy crafting!
-Addy

2012!

Happy (late) new year! I've been pretty busy, and just had auditions for Coppélia today! And now my computer is saying I spelled that wrong. Great. Auditions went well, but I have no idea when the cast list will come out. Pray I get a good part! But I'm so glad that it's a three day weekend; can't wait to have time to use my flexistretcher!  And, of course, read random books on my kindle that I'll get for free.  Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day!
-Addy