Pas de deux pictures! :)

This is something I requested Ikolo (my teacher) personally just because I wanted to have cool pictures. Pas de deux is something you feel so cool doing it.

But... I just realized today that I don't look that cool in pictures. Oh well, I should've just remembered the feeling and be happy instead! lol

Anyways, here are the pics. My legs are mostly straight, but in one pic particular (trying to copy The grand pas de deux from the nutcracker) I look really bad.

This is my first attempt, so I'm sure I will have a chance to take better pics in the future. We will see :)

Special thanks to my awesome coach Ikolo who put up with a shitty dancer for the pics!!

Adult Summer Intensive 2013 @Western Ballet

There was a summer intensive @ Western Ballet in August. This was the major cause of me doing pointe work!

Ramon Moreno taught the workshop. It was 3 Saturdays from 9am-1pm. 1.5 hr technique class, then 1 hour variation and 1 hour pas de deux class. Clearly, I didn't even have a pair of pointe shoes, and joined the class anyway for experience.

Part 1 - Technique class

This was my normal weekend routine, so there's nothing special about it. The only difference is that, it was my regular workout routine for the weekend, but this time, it was only for a warmup purpose!

Part 2 - Pas de deux

This was the most fun part of the workshop! And the best part is, the guys who were helping us were either professionals or super experienced amateur dancers. There were about 8 girls and 4 guys. The variations we learned were pretty simple, but if you are a first timer like me... it won't be that easy for you!

Part 3 - Variation

We learned classic variations of Giselle and Paquita. It was super fun. We also had to do our solos at the end, so paying attention is a must! We also get personalized corrections in the end.
I am not good enough to do variation en pointe yet. But even doing so in ballet slippers was challenging enough.

It's not an all day dance class or a week long, but it was very inspiring. After the first intensive course, I found myself at the ballet studio 6-7 times a week. I wanted to work on my strength to do pointe work correctly. It ended up being very expensive and time consuming, but I couldn't be happier with my new routine!

Western ballet is planning to have Winter intensive in January, and of course, I signed up for that already :)

Westside School of Ballet in Santa Monica

It was a 3 night trip to LA and I ended up dancing two days! Haha, I am such an addict.

It wasn't, of course, an unplanned event. As soon as I knew I was going to LA, I was shopping for an adult ballet class to attend. Westside ballet offers tons of adult ballet classes (http://westsideballet.com/classes/adult-classes/), and I was curious to find out the quality of the studio.

Negatives first...

I am from Mountain View California, so not equipped for such a busy area like Santa Monica. Parking is not free! The meter even takes credit cards. Fortunately, it's only a dollar per hour which is not so bad.

Ballet barre is not so great. It's light, so it's easy to move, but oh my. It is about to fall apart.

I didn't see any water fountain either.

Pros?

The dressing room there is pretty decent. There's even shower.

They offer a lot of classes including pas de deux! It's for advanced dancers, but they won't reject you even if you are not ready. I did pas de deux wearing pointe shoes, but it was made for adults like me. This class is for advanced kids (soon to be professionals), so yes, pretty intimidating.

Nader teaches the class, but Sven was subbing that day. He was very nice even when he knew that I was the only one who clearly doesn't belong there. Pas de deux is not so hard as long as you have solid basics. I did pas de deux with very experienced partners and professionals, and it went pretty well.

The boys in the class are not very experienced, and they are used to dancing with very advanced girls who can do triple pirouettes by themselves. Well, it's not like professionals can make you do something you can't do, but they help. When I was paired with few guys there, I wasn't able to do much. With Sven, I was able to! haha

I would have been happy just watching them, but some guys there and also Sven asked me to dance few times. Without that, I don't think I would have been able to dance at all. I just wasn't ready to walk up to a guy since I wasn't ready. Even with my very limited skills, I had a great time.

I also took beginner and intermediate classes there, and it wasn't very difficult at all. I haven't had a chance to do advanced classes, but if I ever go back, I will try.

I took Onisha's pointe class, and it was great. I just felt really light headed and was suffering from migraines, so I had to leave in the middle of the class :( which was unfortunate.

Sven's pas de deux was great! (Too bad I couldn't stay for the advanced class)
Joan's beginner class was great, and she invited me to join her intermediate next time :)
Onisha's beg/int class was great, and the pointe class was pretty fun too (except the fact that I had to leave due to migraines).

Though, I must say, I missed my studio! Western ballet in Mountain View California. I've been going there for over a year, so lots of people (teachers and students) know me, and I am excited to go back there tonight :)

Flexibility training with Stacey Nemour

It was few months ago when I've heard of Stacey Nemour. Flexibility is very important for ballet dancers, and I wanted a decent training. It seemed like she is near LA area, so I didn't think it was an option for me to meet her in person.

My friend was going to visit me from Korea, and she was going to come to SFO. For some reason, she had to change it to LAX, so I had a plan to visit LA in October. Then I remembered Stacey, and emailed her. I scheduled a session with her and she agreed to meet me at my hotel in Santa Monica.

I felt a bit skeptical about it. I mean, how can you get anything from just having one session? Flexibility is something you need to work on daily, and it's not like I don't know what I am doing. But then again, I felt like I could learn how to do so properly, and I felt hopeful.

Stacey is prettier in person. I saw her videos and such, and she's very personable and easy to talk to. I met her at the hotel lobby then went to the fitness center there. It was only an hour, but I've learned so much from her and had no idea my body had that much potential!!

Here are some pictures after one session with her. I could only do splits with my left leg front, and I was able to do both sides. I am always aware of my "bad" side - my right leg/hip - but after about 30 minutes with her, I even forgot which side was "bad."

Also, since I started pointe work, I had this ongoing ankle pain. Stacey told me to do stretch with flexed feet too because ballerinas focus on pointed foot a lot more.

Sure enough, the next morning I woke up, I didn't even feel any pain in my ankles. Proper stretching is beneficial in so many ways. 

If I ever visit the LA area again, I would love to do another session with her. If you are in the area, and serious about dancing (or flexibility in general), you should definitely contact Stacey! :)

Pointe shoes I've tried so far..

Obviously, there are about 5-6 more pairs I've tried over two decades ago, but I can't really comment on them.

I started pointe work again two months ago (August 2013), and as of today I own 3 pairs of pointe shoes. All of them are either brand new or pretty much new. And here's why...

[My feet]
medium to narrow width
high arch - well, not compared to other ballet dancers but high compared to average (most street shoes are very uncomfortable, and ballet flats - the normal shoes, not for the dance class kind - are the worst/super uncomfortable type of shoes I refuse to wear
sensitive skin - get blisters a lot from both street and dance shoes
second toe is super long

....pretty much not made for pointe.

[Gaynor Minden]
Apparently the fitter didn't give me the right size. I got size 8, medium/3/extra flex/sleek fit.
After one pas de deux class, I got blisters, foot pain, bruised toe nails and everything else in between. It's because the shoes are too big for my feet

[Bloch Balance European]
I got 5 XX but apparently I should've gotten smaller/narrower shoes.
I do about 1-2 hours of pointe work per week, and Block is more comfortable than Gaynor, but I can go over the box more with Gaynor than Bloch.

So, I needed to get a better pair. I happened to be in LA this weekend, and found a dance store called The Dance Store. The fitter spent a long time with me and recommended me Russian pointe Encore.

[Russian pointe Encore]
Haven't been to a class yet, so I can't have a decent opinion just yet. Both Block and Gaynor felt GREAT at a store. It's never the case after one hour of a real class. Everything hurts.. Then again, I know enough now and more picky. I hope I picked the right one.
I tried more than 10 different types of shoes, and it was a very interesting discovery that I can only over the box with some shoes and some are just impossible to do so. The store had Grishko Miracle which I wanted to try. It was soft inside and out, but I couldn't even go over the box at all. Before I tried the shoes on, the fitter told me they will NOT work for my feet. She was right. There's no way I can even do releve in first position. Oh my...

I am almost done sewing my russian pointe, and hopefully I can wear them this Wednesday! :)

Just turns workshop with Ikolo Griffin

I am NOT a natural turner, and my turns simply suck.
I saw this "just turns" workshop poster at my studio, and decided to give a call to Ikolo Griffin.

He said he didn't have any workshops scheduled, so I asked him if he would do private with me. He said yes.

Ikolo is amazing. Here's why..

1. Professionalism
- He lives about an hour away from my studio, and he agreed to meet me at my studio on Sunday mornings. He is never late, and comes to the lesson prepared. One day, I was about 2 minutes late, and Ikolo was there waiting for me with the barre already set up. I was really impressed!
He also has a special app that can help you (=dancer) analyze what you are doing wrong by looking at slow mo video.

2. Inspiring
- A lot of teachers just "mark" the moves or tell you what to do by throwing lots of French terms. Which is encouraging for dancers so that you can create your own version. But, it's also good to see what it should look like.
Ikolo demonstrates (and it's not just marking, it's almost like watching a performance!), and his turns are just amazing! It's so nice to see someone dancing so well so close to you.

3. Caring
- I make so many mistakes during class and some of them are just plain stupid. Sometimes, I can't do things very well. But Ikolo always tells me encouraging things and he is very kind. Even if I ask him the same question over and over again, he is very patient with me and explains stuff. He is also very caring and wants you to succeed.

4. Smart!
- Knowing something and explaining the knowledge to someone are two very different things. Ikolo is an amazing dancer, but he is also very good at breaking things down and explain them clearly. I've learned some very useful tricks, and some of them were extremely helpful. He also knows what YOU need, not a cookie cutter recipe that works for majority of people. He examines you and gives you what you need. He calls himself a coach, not a teacher, and I think I know why.

If you are interested, here's Ikolo's info.

http://www.justturns.com/Just_Turns.html

(Yay for living in NorCal!!!)

It's not a magic lesson that you can just turn well. You need to practice a lot to make this yours. With very busy schedule, I am not taking 100% benefits of taking his lessons. I need more time to process all the precious info.

Well, I am going to the gym tonight after ballet, and will practice few moves :)

Summer dance intensive at Sun King Dance 2014!

A friend of mine told me about Sun King Dance camp.
It's made for adults, and it's a week long intensive class. There are few locations in the US, and I am planning to attend Vancouver camp in July.

The target level I want to be in is 3B, but we will see how that goes.

Oh, before I forget, here's the website.
http://www.sunkingdance.com

Here are few things I need to decide.

1. Roommate or no roommate?
- Living with someone is a tough thing. I mean, it's only one week, but not sure what's good for me. But, then again, having a great roommate during the camp is also beneficial.

2. All ballet or full day?
- Full day includes other dances (modern, character, jazz...) and also stretching class. There are some lectures and such too. But, I am not sure if I am capable of dancing 8+ hours a day. Now I do about 6-7 technique classes per week, and some days I do pointe on top of that, but that's only 1-2 class(es) per day. And I am already sore all the time.
Well, I have some time to build up my strength, so we will see. I have 8+ months to get there!

3. Clothing
- How many dance clothes do I need? I am stocking up already, but it seems like I need two new fresh pairs per day.

4. Extra pointe shoes?
- I just started pointe work, so I have two pairs that are relatively brand new. I only go en pointe about 1+ hour per week, but I'm not sure if bringing an extra pair (new) would be overkill. It's not like I go through them quickly.

My new journey!

My first dance experience was a gymnastic class. I was 4 years old. Soon after I started ballet. When I was in 2nd grade, I went to a new ballet studio, and I was the best student there. I had a pre-professional training till I was in the 5th grade or so, and just started going en pointe. Soon after I had to stop. In junior high and high school, every time there was a dance related PE class, I felt like something was missing. I missed my intense training. In college, I took various of dance classes, but nothing was serious enough for me. I did competitive ballroom dancing from 2007-2011, and it partially satisfied my love/passion/need to dance.

I started going to a ballet studio again in September of 2012, and had no desire of performing, intense training nor going en pointe. It was a beginner class, and I was so lost during center work. It took me a while to get used to the routine. A lot of days, I would drive to the studio, sit in the parking lot and was debating whether I should dance or not. I promised myself that if the lesson gets too hard or tiring, I would leave whenever. That's one good thing about being in adult class. I've been taking minimum of 3 technique classes for almost a year but didn't have any desire to wear pointe shoes.

In August of 2013, there was a summer intensive program for adults at my studio. The program included technique class, pas de deux, and variation class. From 9am to 1pm on Saturdays.

That was my first pas de deux ever, and I didn't even own a pair of pointe shoes. The first class I went, I was so hooked. And I realized why it's "strongly suggested" that you wear pointe shoes to pas de deux class. That afternoon, I drove to a local dance store to get a pair of pointe. Everyday, I practiced doing releves "at the barre - in my kitchen." That Saturday, I wore pointe shoes to pas de deux and had the best time of my life. Sure, it was my first time after twenty something years since I've been en pointe, but I actually remembered a lot of things. My classmates didn't believe me when I said it was my first time. Well, technically, it's not my first time, but two decades later... it's pretty much the same.

Since then, I am taking about 6-7 technique classes, one pointe private, one pointe group class per week.

Winter intensive 2014 is coming up and I already signed up for the class.

I am starting this blog to share my journey as an adult ballerina! :)