Pointe Shoe Q&A Part 2

Hey guys, I'm back. Sorry about last weekend, my studio has been tacking on tons of extra rehearsals and performances, so I didn't have time to post. I am, however, in the process of scheduling posts for this summer so I don't have to worry about weekend busy-ness.

So back to the Pointe shoe-thing: I've been asking people at my studio what questions they would most like to have answered, since I didn't get very many responses here. :)  (Seriously guys, you can comment. I won't bite!) Anyways, I have some new questions, and some pretty good answers.*



*For those of you who (rightly) question my knowledge on this subject, I am not an expert. I have gotten loads of advice from teachers and my mom (who is a physical therapist), as well as professional shoe fitters and dance therapists.

Q) I'm over-weight. Can I still go on Pointe?
A) If you are strong enough and are getting the right training, there is nothing to stop you.

Q) What can i do to help strengthen my feet to get me ready for Pointe shoes?
A) Lots of things. You can make sure that you're at the right studio, so that they are teaching you how to strengthen your feet. You can buy a theraband, and try out some of them great exercises that Robbie Downy demonstrates here. And you can remember that strengthening you core is just as important as strengthening you feet. if you can't balance, it won't matter if your feet are strong enough or not. Pilates is an excellent way to do that without as much risk of injury, and it's relatively inexpensive.

Q) How do you sew Pointe shoes?
A) There are several different way s to do this, but Pointe Til You Drop has a very basic method that is fairly easy to master here.

Q) What are the parts of the Pointe shoe called? I always get confused.
A) I'm not sure where these are originally from, but I found these excellent pictures floating around on Pinterest and had to share them with you.

That's about all of the answers that I have so far, and that's about all of the questions as well. If you guys want to see anything new, different, unusual, etc, please let me know and I'll be sure to talk about it.



Talk to you all next week!
Savanna

Pointe Shoe FAQs and National Dance Week

Happy National Dane Week! It's actually National Dance Day, as well, I believe, although I didn't really plan for my post  to be on the same day. How are you all celebrating? My studio has a choreography competition, performance, and dance movie night, as well as  picture and essay contests going on for a while now. Where I come from, we just call it National Dance Month.
Dance has become sort of the infatuation of my generation. Whether it's break-dancing and "America's Best Dance Crew", "So You Think You Can Dance" (which has taken the commercial dance world by storm) or "Dancing with the Stars", people usually thinks it's pretty cool. Take Gangnam Style for instance. Sure it's an interesting song, but it would not have gotten nearly as much attention as it did, if not for the crazy dance moves featured in the official music video.
But one style of dance in particular that I feel has gotten more attention in the last century than almost any other time period in history, is ballet.

The picture speaks the truth, just ask Aria Alekzander. "It is really cool that we get to be part of something, manifested by man, that's like magic, like fairytale stuff." One of the things that adds to that ethereal aesthetic is the Pointe shoe.
 People are always asking me about my Pointe shoes.  I get younger girls at the studio who want to try them on, parents who want to know how expensive they are, and friends at school who are just amazed that it's possible for a human being to stand on their "tippy-toes." I though I would take some time to answer a few of your Pointe shoe questions. If you see anything that I forgot to mention, please leave me a comment, and I would be happy to address it.
So let's get started.

Q) How old do you have to be to go en Pointe?
A) This is not really something that has a definite answer. 11 seems to be a pretty common age, but it honestly depends on several things. How long you've been training, how strong you are, whether or no you have a medical condition that could prevent you from moving safely or correctly, even your height can be a factor. If you're unsure about your ability to safely and correctly execute steps en Pointe, talk to your dance instructor, or doctor. They will be able to give you much more personalized information.

Q) Does it hurt?
A) Sometimes. Blisters, corns, bunions, bruised toenails, and tendonitis can cause some pretty rough rehearsals. Luckily, most of these can be prevented by simply finding the right shoe and fit for your feet. This can be tricky, so ask your studio if they know of a reputable dancewear store that can help you.

Q) Is Pointe expensive?
A) Yes. My mom hates it. Every few weeks, we're back in the dance store to buy more shoes or tights, and it runs up quite the bill. Each pair of shoes is handmade, and you definitely pay for quality. I wear Suffolks, which tend to be on the more expensive side. They're also pretty soft, so they break-in and die faster. Most shoes are somewhere between $75-125.

Q) How long do Pointe shoes last? How do you know when they're dead?
A) This depends a lot on the strength of the shoe, the strength of your foot, and the number of hours you spend in your shoes. Most shoes will last for about 9-12 hours. Depending on how much you dance, this can be anywhere from 5 days to a month or more. When a shoe is dead, the shank will usually snap, making it harden to stay over the box, and then the box will go. Again, this depends a lot on what type of foot you have and how strong it is.Most of the time, though, you will be able to feel the floor through the platform of your shoe, which is extremely uncomfortable, and usually a sign that it's time to get new shoes.

I am completely out of time to write anything else today, but I will have more on Pointe shoes next weekend. If you have any questions that I haven't answered yet, please leave a comment and I will be happy to answer them next week!
Savana

Blog changes and upcoming posts

Hi there! It's me again.

By now you've probably noticed that my blog's title has changed. My friend and realized that our old title was also the title of a book, which could pose some problems later on, so we changed it. Our web address is the same, so all of our links should still work. If you're having any difficulties please let me know, and I will see what I can do. 

This has been a crazy weekend for me, so I don't really have a big post for today. My studio is gearing up for our spring performances and they've tacked on a ton of extra rehearsals, leaving me even less time to work on this blog.     :(

Fortunately though, one of my good friends recommended that I use the chaos of performance season to start a series of tips and tutorials on my blog. We've already come up with posts on stretching, dance hair and makeup tutorials, parent tips, stage presence advice, competition tips, and costume ideas.

Since I really don't have any pictures or substantial advice this week, I'll share a video with you. If you have never seen Brianna Haire dance, you need to check this out. This is a solo from a few years ago, so she's a bit older now, but even at this age the stage presence and performance quality is amazing. There won't be a test, but I highly recommend that you take notes.

Talk to you next week!

Savanna

George Mason Dance Company 2013 Spring Gala (unofficial review)

A few weeks ago, I went with my mom and one of my friends to the George Mason Spring Gala. The associate director of our studio works there, and invited us to go and watch a performance. Up til then, I had  heard a lot about the school and its dance program, but I had never seen them perform, so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but they blew me out of the water!

I was absolutely shocked. Again, I am a total bunhead, and this was all modern dance, but I loved almost every minute of it. Almost.

The first piece they performed was Consumed. It was supposed to be about today's working class and their struggle to understand a global economy, or something like that. Well, I'm 16. The friend I took was 13. The topic of this dance went totally over our heads, and to be honest, I think it went over most of the dancers' heads, too. Maybe it's just because I didn't really understand the concept, but while I saw struggle and working class, I never fully got the whole global-economy thing. 

The first minute and 30 seconds or so was a solo, with acapella, screamy music(maybe with a drumbeat or two). She did great, and I could the technicality of the movements and the emotion behind them, but her costume was very distracting. She was wearing a suit with a sport-coat type thing over it, and it kept flapping all over the place when she would roll or turn. The second part was a group of maybe 10 people, in the same costume. I have to admit that it looked great on the group, because when they turned you could see the white shirts and the coat would open up, but when they had their backs to the audience, it was just a black coat. The dancing in this whole piece was great, but at the very end they left the entire audience confused when the first girl came on again wearing only a bra and booty shorts(?).

There was a duet called Berceuse that came afterwards, and to be honest it didn't really give me much of a lasting impression. It was good, but I think it lacked passion or something a little bit stronger. I don't know, it just didn't really stand out.

 The picture above shows my favorite piece, Topos. It was amazing. It was just balletic enough to satisfy me, but it was still decidedly modern. It was happy and it looked exhausting, but none of the dancers showed it. all of the movement seemed perfectly fitting to the music, and it was almost like they were accidentally dancing. I don't know why that struck me, but it did, and I loved how it looked. This piece was choreographed by William Smith III, a George mason alumnus, and he was actually sitting in the audience about 5 seats down from where we were. I would have loved to talk to him during the intermission, but unfortunately, several other people had the same idea.

The first piece after the intermission was Lareigne, a weird 90s-techno music piece with strange costumes and impossible looking choreography. For the first 2 minutes it was really neat. But it went on for about 5 more minutes after that, and I got kind of bored. So did my mom. As a dancer/choreographer, your job is to entertain the audience, which in this case happened to be mostly non-dancers. If they're falling asleep, you're not doing you job correctly.

The very last piece was about the rebuilding of the New Orleans community after hurricane Katrina. New Second Line was choreographed and first performed in 2006, so it was a pretty old piece. The music was very loud and Cajun, but very appealing to the ear. There were picture on the backdrop of New Orleans and damage that the hurricane caused. I couldn't find footage of any of the other pieces, but I managed to find this one. The video is from 2006, I believe, and it is slightly different from the one I saw performed. There were no props in the one I watched, and I think the staging was slightly different, because there were definitely more people in it. But the movement style and choreography are the same, and you can still see the images on the backdrop.

Thanks for reading, please come back next week!

Savanna

Helpful (dance) Handouts

I'm still working on my George Mason review, so that'll be up next weekend, along with some more surprises (I hope).
A couple weeks ago, I told you that I would put up the links and pdf's of what I have in my dance folder. Well, I completely forgot, but here they are.

The first thing is a (very nice) blog topic organizer courtesy of Perideau Designs. It even has a wonderful explanation to go with it. You can find this free printable here.

The second is this fabulous picture from the February 2013 issue of Dance Spirit Magazine. 

Oh La La is right. I LOVE french twists, and this great picture gives you several variations.

The last two things are mostly health related, but helpful resources for ALL dancers. The Center for Dance Nutrition has some great resources. I believe I have the snack ideas pdf in my folder. I also have a few handouts from The Harkness Center for dance Injuries, which has great information on everything from shin splints to trigger toe.

I also have a laminated checklist of everything I keep in my dance bag and makeup case, along with hair and makeup options and instructions. I'm not very tech savvy, so I don't really know how to make that available to you yet, but when I figure it out, I'll let you know.   :)
Savanna

Spring Break (And Other News)

I’m guessing that by now, a few of you are on spring break. Me too, finally. I needed a break. A nice long relaxing trip to the beach with my family, eating whatever I want, not forcing my body to stand in 5^th position everyday… wait a minute…. dancers don’t get breaks.

I’ve been spending my spring break helping out at my studio and teaching the little kids. Not really relaxing, but very entertaining. Little kids say the strangest things. Yesterday they had a very controversial conversation about Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy, and introduced me to the Tube-Fairy (2 of the girls had had tubes in their ears when they were younger).  Not to mention, they’re all really cute.

Courtesy of Pinterest

Anyway, that was a learning experience. Three, four, even five-year-olds are difficult sometimes. They get tired very quickly and have short attention spans. Whenever one raises their hand because they “needagopotty,” five more decide they need to go, too. At that age, you can’t just tell them to hold it, so the whole class has to take-5. 

I decided to keep in shape by taking class with some of the younger intensive students. Most of them were in my company anyway, so we were used to dancing together. Sometimes I forget how young these girls are. I’m the oldest at 16 and the youngest is 8 or 9. That’s a pretty wide range, especially when you consider talent and ability, but most of these girls are polite, mature hard workers. We've had very few issues where someone couldn't perform what they were given.

I've been tempted to switch to larger studio several times before, but I really love the girls I dance with. I would miss them too much if I left.

Courtesy of Pinterest

Which brings me to my news: My friend and I are working on starting our own business-type-thing with dance related products. That’s not really much information, but I can tell you more once we've got everything set up. I’m also working on a YouTube channel (that will probably also feature my friend) for tutorials and tips, so I’ll have more news on that soon, too.

I know it’s already really late in the week, but this weekend I’ll have review of the George Mason Dance Program’s Spring Gala up for you to read. I went to see it last weekend, and it was beyond amazing.  I couldn't find any video, but I’ll try to describe it as best I can.

Again, sorry for the late post. No need to worry, as long as you keep coming back to read, I’ll keep coming back to write.

Savanna

More on the Makeup Case (How I store it.)

Since yesterday's post was pretty long, I decided to save some other details for today. I spent this morning doing homework and getting all my pictures together, so I would be ready for a post by noon. Since I'm a little early, I'm going to work on next week's post later.   :)

Here's what i keep in my makeup case when I go to a performance:

• my dance folder (I'll put up links to what I have in there later this week)
• a small hanging organizer (with all of my make up)
• a medium cosmetic bag (with brushes, applicators, and an eye shadow palette)
• my hair stuff in its organizer
• hair gel

This is how I do it:

 My hair gel (Garnier Fructis Style Curl Shaping Gel) goes in one of the pockets on the right side of the case.

Then I put in my hair organizer. One of the straps came off last weekend, but you get the idea.

After I strap that in, I add my dance folder, which is a pink binder/folder. It has brads on the inside so that you can hole-punch papers and put them in.

My cosmetic bag and hanging organizer are both Vera Bradley (a must for most dancers) in Very Berry Paisley.

They get layered in on top of my folder, to add cushion to the mirror(just in case).

And then I close it up.

At home, I leave out my dance folder and hair stuff, and keep those in my dance bag. I haven't decorated my makeup case yet(and it still looks like an old suitcase), but when I do I'll show you how I do it. I'm thinking rhinestones and spray paint.  :)  Let me know if you try this, how it works for you, what you think, how you decorated it.

Vera Bradley unfortunately doesn't carry the hanging organizer anymore, but you can find a very similar (slightly larger) one here.

My cosmetic bag can be found here.