A Dramatic Casting

Casting went up for the Spring show today! Before I tell you the dramatic story that lies ahead let me give you a little background information. At BWA the casting for the spring show is the only she where everyone is in it. The only way you can be taken out is due to lack of attendance or injury. We have been preparing all of our dances in Rep. from the begging of the year and casting would show who did what for the show. The ballet we are preforming is Don Quixote.  There are five possible parts I could have been. All of the parts are on pointe and have god costumes. The parts were Segadillas, Dyrads, Flowergirls, Le vevandiare or in Maypole. The parts I wanted were Segadillas and Dryads. Segadillas is a spicy spanish influenced  dance with fans and long skirts and Dryads is like a more fairy type dance with tutus. Now on to my extremely emotional story.

When I heard that casting had gone up I went over into the crowd of people around the list and looked for my name. I was really happy until I looked and looked and could not find my name.I didn't say anything partly because I was embarrassed and partly because I didn't want to be one of those pouty girls who cried if they didn't get the part. When my good friend Hazel got there I asked her what she was and she asked me and I told her I wasn't in it. She said that couldn't be right and I should talk to them. I was so scared because really who awkward would it be if they told me no you are not in it in front of everyone. After awhile I told more people and everyone agreed with Hazel so I went to find Ms. Heather who put up the casting. I went over and sheepishly asked her if I was not in the year end show. Her face was puzzled and then she said "I knew I would forget someone" as she banged her hand against her head surprisingly hard. Then she wrote my name in with pen on the list and it turned out I got both the parts I wanted.Then for the rest of the day the teachers were using me as an example of  how the forget people sometimes so to talk to them if you were left off, which was kinda embarrassing but, no one seemed to take it that way. In the end I got all the part I wanted and we started rehearsal in our separate groups that day. I guess I could turn this into a corny speech about speaking up if something doesn't seem right but I won't. I am just glad it worked out in the end. Needless t say the entire day was an emotional roller coaster but, Emmie and I got waffles with strawberries and ice cream after ballet which always makes everything better. I mean I only eat salad not junk food! ;)

Heres a picture of the segadilla part only they are doing it in character instead of pointe.

Photo by Poison Ivy's Wall

What's in my Dance Bag

A trend on youtube is to post what is in your bag videos so I thought why not have one here. I have a ton of stuff in my dance bag with me because you never know what may happen. Also if you read my post about my schedule you know I have a lot of classes and they all require different clothing or props. For this post I am putting a list followed by what it is for.

To start my dance bag that I use is vera bradley large duffle in pretty in pink.

Photo by Bonanza

Flat shoes: these are for class obviously.
2 pairs of pointe shoes: for rep., variations, pointe class, and any other time I need to be on pointe.
Skirts(Black and Burgundy): For pointe class, rep., and variations or any time I am on pointe.
Extra tights: Because why not.
Extra leotard: *see extra tights*
Character shoes: for character class.
Character skirt: for character.
Hair Brush, Bobby pins, hairnets and hair spray: for doing my hair in the car.
Theraband: Conditioning class.
Point stuff( ribbons, rosin, stitch kit and toe pads): You never know when you will need to resew.
Black tights: to put on for modern and conditioning.
Fan: this is a prop for rep.
Icy Hot: I get hurt a lot!
clear nail polish: incase I get a rip in my tights.


As you can see there are many things in my dance bag. When I was going through my bag there was also a lot of trash and other weird things. I feel like the list above is pretty standard for a dancer to have but at some times I have had a lot more and since my bag is very big I can get a lot of stuff in it but it starts to get extremely heavy and having to lug it all over town and down to Salt Lake makes me clean it out ever once and a while. Closer to shows I also have show make in my bag. I actually just got around to taking my Nutcracker Makeup out but I will have to put it all back in pretty soon with the Year End Show looming and coming up quick. I hope you enjoyed this inside look into a dancers bag. Feel free to comment whats in your dance bag below.

Uniforms

At Ballet West Academy we have a extremely strict dress code. Each level is assigned a color. That is the color of your leotard and skirt and everyone has the exact same skirt and leotard in that level. Everyone in the entire academy has the exact same tights and depending on which section of the school you are in, (Upper school, or Lower school) you have the same shoes. The only thing that can differ from person to person is pointe she's. That is because point shoes have t be chosen by foot shape and size for the best look, and the all are basically the same looking when everyone has them on. There are many rules. One of the rules is no colored nail polish. I accidentally break this rule a lot. We also can not wear flowers or bows in our hair. The reason for that is to look more professional. The other thing that is not allowed is large r hanging jewelry the only type we can wear is stud earrings.On Saturdays we get to wear what ever color and style leotard we want but everything else must stay the same. I usually wear this one. Back to the leotards when we got a new studio they also decided to do a lot of this differently like the levels names and what the wear. For the most part the uniforms stayed the same except they now has BW embroidered on the hip. My uniform is maroon/ burgundy.

Here is a picture

Photo by Me
*Sorry for all the wrinkles*

The rest of the uniforms go like this:
1- Light Yellow Tank, No Tights,  No Skirt
2- Light Pink Cap Sleeve, Tights, No Skirt
3- Light Blue Cap Sleeve,  Tights and Light Blue Skirt
4- Lavender Camisole, Tights and Lavender Skirt
5- Royal Blue Camisole, Tights and Royal Blue Wrap Skirt
6- Navy Blue Camisole, Tights and Navy Blue Wrap Skirt
7- Dark Purple Camisole, Tights and Dark Purple Wrap Skirt
8- Burgundy Tank, Tights and Burgundy Wrap Skirt
9- Black Tank, Tights and Black Wrap Skirt
Trainees- White Tank, Tights and White Wrap Skirt

The uniforms actually took an extremely long time to be made so for the first seven weeks we got to wear what ever leotard and skirt we wanted.

My Weekly Schedule

As you have probably noticed if you keep up-to-date on my blog (Shoutout to my three great followers!!)  I dance a lot! At ballet west there are no breaks, because everyone wants to be a professional and only a few will make it. We train hard from Monday to Saturday. Sunday is the only day we get off and if we didn't live in Utah we probably would dance then too. There are the occasional auditions on Sundays though so there is that. I thought that it might be interesting to tell you what exactly my schedule is. So, here is an inside look on a level 8 at BWA (Ballet West Academy) is like. If there is anyone reading this feel free to comment what your schedule is like I would love to hear it!

* During the week I wake up at 6 am. :(  I get ready and take the bus to school and after rush strait down to Ballet.*

Our New Studio
by
Salt Lake City Rundown 

Mondays: On mondays we get out of school early so I have a breather from 1:45 all the way until 2:30 when it is time to head down. I live in Park City and dance in Salt Lake so it is a 30 minuet drive down the canyon every day. Dance starts at 3:15 and it is pointe class. Our Teacher is  Cati Snar. This class ends at 4:45 and our next class is Variations with Heather Frixell. Variations is also on pointe. For those of you who do not know Variations is where we learn solo's from actual ballets. Curently we are learning one from Swan Lake, in honor of Ballet West performance.

Tuesdays: On Tuesdays I go straight down and class starts at 3:15 again only this time it is on flat and with Miss Jan. ( I don't know her last name). That class ends at 5:00 and then we have modern class. Modern ends a 6:00.


Wednesday: On Wednesdays I head straight down again and we have flat again but with Heather Frixell. Then we have Character with Lisa Hoyt. Character is combined with the level 9's which is always very fun.

Thursday: On Thursdays I go down for class at 3:15 and it is with Miss Cati again and it is pointe again. After we have conditioning with miss Jan and the level 9's along with the 7's. FYI- Conditioning is not for your hair it is strengthening and flexibility class. It is actually pretty hard.  Conditioning ends at 6:00

FRIDAY: On Fridays I have only one class from 3:15 to 5:00 with Miss Jan or Mr. Jeff. This is a flat class.

Saturdays: On Saturdays we have a very long day with many classes. We start at 10:00am with technique combined with the 7's fought by Miss Cati. It is a flat class then we have a 15 minuet lunch break at 11:45. At 12:00 we start Rep. which is short for repertory. In this class we learn our dances for our shows. They are all on pointe.  Finally at 2:00 we start contemporary class. This is a new class at the academy when they got the new building they wanted to have more extension classes and this was one of them. Although they are called extension classes all of our classes are mediatory and the academy has a strict attendance policy. If you don't go often enough you could get kicked out of the show or the school.

Hope you enjoyed! :)