Not having the feet, and accepting it

Brianna here! So I must applaud Anne. She has totally been dominating the blogs and doing an awesome job keeping up with it! I'll admit, she does a much better job at managing her time than I do. I'm learning! So please accept my apologies for my absence! But I'm back! Promise! This first semester of college has definitely been such a learning and growing process for me. I could cram everything I want to in this post like I want to, but I solemnly swear to not overwhelm you with awesomeness.
Like Anne stated, we have an interview with Jennifer, and on top of her unexpectedly telling me so many uplifting and encouraging things about my dance, we also discussed how I don't have the feet for classical ballet. I told her I had realized this late in the summer and that I had grown okay with it. We also discussed how she thinks that I could choreograph classical ballet pieces and even teach it. But performing it stresses me out to no end. The two point pieces I have been in made me look like this guy:
Jennifer also thinks that because I don't have the ominous stress of pointe lingering in the back of my head as I'm at the barre during ballet, that my ballet has improved! YAYYY!
My POINTE (pun 100% intended) in all this rambling is that, sometimes you just have to be real with yourself. Take a look at yourself and take a look at your feet. It's not the end of the world if you don't have the feet for pointe. There is still so much that you can do with dance!! So never be discouraged! If your body gives you limitations, look at what you can do differently (like Anne with her flexibility stretches) to improve yourself, or look at other things you can do that will still help you blossom your dance career and extend your passion even more! That's it for now! Promise to be back uber soon!
Procrastination, sleep deprivation, and rest,
Brianna<3

DCDC in the NYC!

A group of dancers at darton college are planning a trip to NYC! Brianna and i are, of course, in this group of dancers! The trip is about $2000-$2500 for each of us to go. yes that is a HUGE chunk of change! I just created a Facebook Page and a Facebook Group to gain support. a Paypal account will also be made in the future. here's the link to like!!!

Interview with Jenn!

Hey Guys! Anne here:) I found some interesting stuff about my dancing and wanted to share it with you all!

Every semester, every person taking a dance class at my college has an interview with the dance director (the FABULOUS Jennifer La Curan!!). Jenn films our dance classes. Then, we have to watch the video and critique ourselves (oh the horror!). After we have critiqued ourselves, we have an interview with Jenn to get advice and to get tips to improve our dancing. My interview was Oct. 29th and I found a lot of stuff out!

Pelvis Problems:
Growing up in dance, I was always told to not stick my bottom out. Hearing this, I did the opposite by tucking my bottom in. Tucking the bottom in pushes the pelvis forward which creates an awkward line and prevents you from doing many steps properly. For example, whenever I did an arabesque or an attitude, I would thrust my pelvis out and it would feel very uncomfortable. I found out that I not only need to work on my back flexibility but also my hip flexibility. Along with my back exercises, I am also doing hip flexibility exercises. If you have any suggestions please comment!!:)

Pointing vs. Crunching My Toes:
Again, when I was a child, I was always told to point my feet. For some strange reason, I thought this meant crunching the toes (or pointing from the toes.) My mother always tried to correct me, but I never understood how to point them properly. But Jenn showed me that I need to point with the muscles in my foot, not in my toes. Pointing them correctly has made it somewhat easier to flair my feet (another thing I was just told about last summer.) However, I need to build those muscles in my foot up so I will be doing arch exercises as well:)


Well, it is almost time for Thanksgiving Break and I am super excited! I need to rest for awhile:)
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Hugs, Kisses, and Flexible Hips!
Anne:)