New Video! What's in my Dance Bag + Product Review!

Hey guys, sorry this took so long! Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified immediately when I upload a new video. Enjoy!

Performing: Handling Curve-Balls

    I don't know about you guys, but to me, the only thing that totally makes up for the hours of stressful rehearsals and frustrating classes is performing. I love being onstage. Sure it can be scary and nerve-wracking, but when I really start dancing, it feels like everything is moving in slow motion. I have all the time in the world. I can express any and all emotions. When I really get into it, there is nothing in the world that feels better.

Me, onstage performing Sugar Plum in our Nutcracker.

    That's not to say I don't need to work on my stage presence. Believe me, I do. But I definitely feel like I've improved it in the last 6 months, mostly because I've gotten much more comfortable with being onstage. Part of this is because I'm a member of my studio's ballet and jazz/contemporary companies and we perform all the time, and part of it is because I've gotten used to performing in...well...less than ideal circumstances.
     Just this past Friday, for example, we performed at a summer camp fair that was being held in a
gymnasium. Gym floors are slippery. It was incredibly hard to jump or turn without slipping or landing awkwardly to keep your feet underneath you. In addition, I was performing my Sugar Plum variation (for like the 800th time) to the uncut version of the track, meaning there were about 45 seconds of music in the middle where there was no set choreography. As this had happened twice before, I was prepared to improv and knew exactly what to do, so there was no visible pause in the movement. The first time it happened, I nearly jumped out of my skin, but this time I didn't let it throw me off. I have come to understand that while preparation is best, nothing ever really works exactly the way it's supposed to in showbiz, so you have to always stay on top of things.

The Val Jacobs dance bag, mother of all dance bags.

      As someone who is extremely Type A (especially when it comes to dance), my biggest coping mechanism is my dance bag. It's huge. My parents always make fun of me for carrying absolutely everything with me to dance, but that is how I make sure that I'm prepared for whatever is thrown at me. If anyone needs Advil or an extra pair of shoes, I've got it covered. Sprain an ankle? I've got a brace and some Icey-Hot. In addition to extra tights, toe pads, bobby pins, hairspray, tic-tacs, a brush, a roller, therabands, snacks, and toe-nail clippers. All of which have come in handy at some point.

Our adorable snowflakes, preparing to go onstage.

     My second method is to forget everything before I go onstage. Run over everything in the dressing-room, get it into my muscle memory, warm-up, shake it out, forget it all, and perform. I try to do this while onstage, too, not just in preparation. If I make a mistake, I catch up, forget about it, and move on. You can't let an error in one number ruin the rest of them. You can't let it affect the rest of your performance.
     

Performing Waltz of the Flowers for the American Girl Store.

So I plan on putting some new videos and stuff up soon, sorry it took so long to get this posted. Let me know in the comments how you guys prepare for performances and what you favorite things about performing are! I love to hear from you.
~Savanna

Happy International Tutu Day! (+ video)

Happy International Tutu Day everyone! Hope you're celebrating somehow. I celebrated by spending my morning watching dance videos on You Tube. Although, come to think of it, I mostly just watched this one video over and over. Ballet Babble shared this video on Facebook about a month or so ago, and it quickly became one of my favorites. It's a pretty simple video featuring Polina Semionova and some great music, great technique, and great artistry. The main reason I love this video is probably because she looks like she's having so much fun. Hope you enjoy!
Savanna
P.S. - More posts coming your way soon!

New Years Resolutions and Goals 2014!

Hey guys! So it's been about a year since I started seriously writing on here. I haven't quite kept my promise of posting once a week, but it's a heck of a lot better than I was doing before then. Anyways, this year I've got some new goals and resolutions to share. So here they are:

2014 Resolutions
1. Keep my room neater, cleaner, and more usable.
2. Procrastinate less.
3. Be a more generous and compassionate person.
4. Eat healthier. (Less processed food, less sugar, more veggies.)
5. Learn a new word every day.
6. Keep all of my grades from ever getting below a B-.
7. See more movies, plays, ballets, and concerts. Learn to appreciate more types of art.
8. Schedule more posts ahead of time. (Again with the "less procrastination" thing.)
9. Work even harder in technique classes. Always go the extra mile.
10. Learn to be less lazy in the morning! (Eating better breakfasts, looking more presentable, cleaning up after myself, not being late or making my carpool wait for me.)

2014 Goals
1. 130 degree extensions on both legs.
2. Perfect middle split and frog.
3. Solid triple pirouette on both sides.
4. 8-16 fouettes on pointe.
5. Maintain my GPA!
6. Make my feet look like this.

I've got a lot to work on this year, and I'll be sure to keep you guys updated with tips and what's going on, etc. Happy New Year!
Savanna

Happy Holidays!

Hey! Long time no see(or write). Between school, Nutcracker, and holiday busy-ness, I just haven't had time to update you guys. But now I have something! It's not really a big something, but it's a little something to hopefully make your day a little more interesting. So this year in my studio's Nutcracker, I was Clara's mother, marzipan(reed-flute, shepherdess, or candy canes depending on your studio) and the Sugar Plum Fairy. It was awesome-amazing-fun and torture at the same time. Our professional videos always take forever to get sent out, so I had my friend tape my variation backstage. You can hear her and one of my other friends being amazingly supportive the entire time I was onstage. When I first saw the video and heard them I almost cried. I don't think they know that. I have a very strong bond with the girls I dance with.
Come back soon!
Savanna

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