Time Management Tips for Dancers!

       Hey, guys! Me again! Hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving breaks. In the spirit of the holiday season, I would just like to say that I am incredibly thankful for my family, my friends, my teachers (at school and dance), the standards of my education, the opportunities that my studio gives me, my studio as a whole, and my health and ability to dance and train as hard as I do.

Mini-me on Thanksgiving 7 years ago!

       As any dancer -any athlete, for that matter- will tell you, it’s not easy to get up at an ungodly hour, sit at a desk and waste time, go straight from sitting to warming up and practicing, then coming home late with piles of homework and chores waiting for you in a messy room that you never have time to clean, needing to eat, shower, and –oh, yeah- sleep.

      Fortunately for me, I've found some pretty good tips, and I’m going to share them with you. They’re from Toni Branner's The Care and Feeding of a Dancer. I know, it makes us sound like we’re pets or something. I’m pretty sure we own a book with the same title about caring for your Labradoodle. But she’s got some great tips. You can but her book on amazon here.

Time Management for Dancers

1.  First thing when you get home from dance, no matter how late it is, make yourself a snack. Doing this as soon as possible will help replace the glycogen in your muscles, and you’ll feel better in the morning. And I’m sure we’ve all heard that you should never eat a large meal late at night because it won’t metabolize as well, blah blah blah. As long as you’re not stuffing yourself to the gills, you’ll be ok. I recommend a smoothie or some oatmeal.

2.  Assess your homework situation and prioritize. One tip that I have found particularly helpful is Branner’s A-B-C prioritizing system. As are the things that absolutely have to be done tonight, Bs would be awesome if they could get done, but they can be worked on tomorrow or at school, and Cs are the things that you wish you had time for, but they can wait for the weekend. I use different colored highlighters in my planner to organize these.

3.  Take a shower. For me, this usually gets done almost as soon as I finish eating, because if I’m showering at 11:30, it keeps my whole family up. But some people like to shower last. Either way, it’s pretty straight-forward.

My desk

Control center, where I can see everything that needs to get done.

        In order for these tips to work for me, I like to make sure that my work space is organized. Mostly because I’m a little bit OCD, but also because it just makes life easier. I also get a lot of my homework done at school. We have a study hall right after first period, and when we don’t have a required activity during that hour, I use it to knock out some reading or study with friends.
          In order to keep myself from wasting too much time on Facebook or Instagram, I limit myself to 10 minutes of it before I start my homework, but after I prioritize. I’ve also found that if I try to do my homework with music on, it takes me twice as long to do, because I’m easily distracted.

        I hope these tips help you guys, and I hope you’re having a great holiday season! If you want to see what I’m up to, check out my Instagram here and be sure to comment down below telling me how you’re celebrating!

         
~Savanna

The Nutcracker Tag!

Hey, guys! I'm super excited to announce that my first video, The Nutcracker Tag, is now up! I'm officially on YouTube, and I'm soooo excited! Hope you enjoy!
~Savanna

Healthy, Homemade Granola Bars

Hey, guys! I guess it's been a while since I made a really long post like this, and it'll probably be a while after this before I will again, but the good new is that most of my posts from here on out will be videos, and even better, I've got one uploading right now!
Any way, it is now November, and officially Nutcracker season! I absolutely love this time of year, I have so many great memories of the little period between fall and winter, when the weather is absolutely perfect and everyone is in a good mood.
Of course, the moods get a little crankier during Nutcracker rehearsals when everyone's tired, hungry, sore, and stressed out. Well, I can't help you with everything. But I can try to help out with the hunger!
One of the best snacks to eat during rehearsals(or even just a long day at the studio), are granola bars. If you can find the right ones, they can be healthy, delicious, and protein and energy packed. However, they are usually chock full of nuts. For most people, that's not a problem, but I happen to be allergic to nuts, and I'm sure several of you are as well. My solution? If I want to get any good nutrition from a granola bar, I have to make it myself.

 Start by gathering your ingredients. I used gluten-free whole-grain Rice Crispies, Quaker Quick Oats, Craisins, creamy peanut butter(I'm only allergic to tree-nuts), honey, and dark-chocolate chips. YOu can always add, remove or substitute ingredients. I've found that what you put in these doesn't really matter, as long as you have a good glue and base(I'll explain later).

These are my dry ingredients, or "base". They are the substance that the glue holds together. I took about 1& 1/2 cups of rice crispies, 1 cup of oats, and a generous handful of craisins, and added them to a large bowl, like this.

Make sure that you mix them together so that the craisins, or what ever other ingredients you decide to use, are spread evenly through the mixture.

These ingredients were my glue, and they all got thrown into a sauce pan on low heat, mixed together until they were sticky enough, then dumped on my base. I used about 1&1/2 generously large spoonfuls of peanut butter, 4 table spoons of honey, 1/2 a cup of chocolate chips, and 1 scoop of why protein. (This ended up being a bit thick, so I added about a 1/4 cup of milk as well.)

 This is what you'll end up with after you dump the glue onto the base. Make sure you mix this thoroughly, or the end result will not stick together!

Having had some issues with portion control in the past, (these are really good!) I put them into a paper-lined muffin tin. I ended up with 10 portions, but you can always double the recipe if you want/need more, or just not fill the cups as full as I did. When you have everything the way you want it, put in the fridge to solidfy for a few hours, and then they're ready to go! Hope you enjoy!

~Savanna

Fouette Progress

Hey guys, long time no see. Sorry that it's been so long, our computer crashed and wouldn't open this website, then I got really sick and honestly just didn't feel like posting. Sorry, life happens. But now I'm back, and I've got video importing right now, and it should be uploaded by tomorrow, so I thought that for now I would show you guys some more turn clips!

Fouettes are my second favorite type of turn. Piques are my absolute favorite, but fouettes run a close second. And they're improving! I'll try to get a slightly more recent video up soon, but this first one is from February, and the second video is from July.

Enjoy! Talk to you soon!
Savanna

I Love Turns!

Hey guys! Sorry about the gap between posts. I have some video for you this week!

So if you are going to continue to read this blog, you need to know that I LOVE turns. Like, really love them. Piques are the best, I could do them forever, and don't even get me started on fouettes. But pirouettes and I have kind of a love/hate relationship. Usually, they're pretty good. But not great. And I've started to plateau a bit, and haven't really been able to make them a lot better or stronger or faster. My friend recently bought a turn board, and we've been experimenting with it for the last couple weeks. Here is a clip from my first time on the turn board last week between dance classes.

Excuse the T-shirt, it was laundry day.
I'll be back next weekend with another few videos. Until then, keep dancing!
Savanna

My Back-to-Dance Must Haves!

Hey guys! I told you I'd be back. This week I'm going to share my must haves for the new season with you all, some of this stuff I got for Ballet West, but most of it I've accumulated through the last year or so, and used it up. All of these things I will definitely repurchase! So I guess lets get started!

 So first things first, I need to have a stretching and conditioning routine. If I don't have it laid out, it won't happen.

This wristlet is by Vera Bradley, and can be found here.

 The nest thing I need to have is a good sized wristlet. I carry around epi-pens and an inhaler at all times, so this transfers nicely from my backpack to my dance bag. It also holds my phone and a few dollars.

I am a shoe snob. I am always looking for the best fitting, most comfortable, most flattering shoe that I'm allowed to wear, and so far, these are the best I have found. My jazz shoes are Bloch Phantoms, a stretch-canvas shoe with a suede patch on the ball of the foot to make turning easier. I have them in black right now, but I'm ordering some nude ones for performance season as well. My ballet shoes are Grishko Model 6s. I think they're the performance style, but I'm not sure where you can find them online. I love those because they have elastic in the arch, which make my feet look much better than they are.

I also need my Pointe shoes and Pointe accessories! I like to start the year with at least 2 pairs of new shoes, because I go through them so quickly. Right now I'm wearing Suffolk Solo Prequels, in a 5 XXXN  with a soft shank.

To go along with my shoes, I need to have jet glue, rosin, and toe pads! I've found, actually, that most people don't like to wear toe pads. I guess it's a pride thing? I don't know. I personally am not too proud to admit that I feel pain, so I'm not giving up the Ouch Pouches anytime soon!

I love these band-aids! I don't actually wear them while I'm dancing, but they are great for wearing around the house or to school (because those are the only places I go) and healing your blisters! The only thing about these, is that I don't necessarily think they're worth the money.  I think I remember them being about $6 a piece, and they only have 6-8 bandages per box.... I wanted to try them out, but I don't think I'm desperate enough to repurchase them.

Last but not least, my foot lotion, Icy-Hot, and foot Rubz ball. I'll start with the ball. The thing is awesome! I do not have plantar fasciitis, but my arches do get really sore, so I spend a lot of time rolling them out. Especially after a long night at the studio. The lotion is great for the same thing, and it feels soooooo refreshing! It's full of peppermint oil, so it smells and feels great! I usually shower, stretch, roll out my everything, put lotion on my feet, pull on fuzzy socks (finish my homework), and go to bed. The Icy-Hot is awesome because it really works. It doesn't pull off any miracles, but it provides enough relief for me to get through that dreaded conditioning class or 3 hour pointe rehearsal. Kevin Semans, Ballet West's resident athletic trailer told us that while Icy-Hot, epsom salts, and Tiger Balm don't have any real benefits, they don't hurt you either, so if you think it works for you, go ahead!

I hope to have some video up soon, but for now I'm just posting on here. If I upload anything, I'll definitely let you guys know! Have a great week and don't forget to comment below and tell me what your back to dance must-haves are! If you have any video suggestions, I would love to hear those too!

Savanna

Expectations for the New Season and Summer Recap.

So, my first day of school was today. I'm a Junior. It was pretty crazy (I go to a really big school), but it still kinda feels like the calm before the storm. The hurricane of confusion and flood of homework are going to come blowing in full force next week. I'm not really looking forward to that.

My "getting ready for school tomorrow" face.

I am, however, looking forward to starting a new level of ballet classes in a couple of days, and the new performance season in a few weeks!

My studio has a recreational program as well as an intensive program. I was in both intensive 8 and 9 last year, this year I am just in 9, but with elective technique classes on other days of the week. Right now I have Sundays and Wednesdays off for homework (and supposedly a social life :p), but I know that with performances and additional rehearsal I'll probably end up being there 7 days a week at some point.

Also, in addition to my studio's ballet company, this year I'm doing the jazz/contemporary company as well, to expand my performance opportunities and modern training. I'm not really sure what I'll get out of it yet, but my friends are there and I like the piece that we started last week, so I think it'll be fun.

An early morning at my studio with some Starbucks!

I suppose all in all I had a great (short) summer. I worked at my studio, went to Ballet West, added Utah and Arizona to my list of states I've visited, saw the Grand Canyon, visited family, and worked at my studio some more. An enjoyable 2 and a half months.

The Grand Canyon. I would have been much
more excited if I wasn't scared of heights.

 My fall back-to-dance essentials in the next post, and my goals for the fall session later next week! (Expect a surprise in one of those two posts!)
In the mean time, check out What Should We Call Ballet on tumblr! I don't know who runs it, but it is beyond hilarious, a must see for all dancers, especially bunheads.
Talk to you guys later,
Savanna