This is a blog about my ballet journey. I am an adult ballet student and my dream is dance in a production of The Nutcracker. Follow me for all things ballet.
Seeing that I get my cast off tomorrow, I thought I would share one final picture of me and my cast! :)
This was a super impromptu little photo shoot with my good friend Michael. He is an amazing photographer and I more than recommend checking out his website here: www.michaeldiamante.com.
P.S.
I know my form is awful in the picture, but it turned out to be a cute photo.
I should be getting my cast off next Wednesday. One week from today. I'm really looking forward to getting the cast off and being able to move my foot again, but I'm also scared too. There is a possibility that my foot will not have healed correctly or completely and that surgery might be necessary or at least a few more weeks with a new cast...but, to be honest, I am more scared of trying to get myself back to were I was before the accident. Ballet, for me anyways, is a constant battle of trying to increase your abilities (or at least maintain your current level) while balancing work and school and real responsibilities like watering the plants and washing the dishes. I feel like I've been climbing this beautiful yet terrific mountain to reach my goals and I was so close to the summit when I got pushed back by a sudden avalanche. I know I want to go straight back up the mountain and get back on that proverbial horse, but golly-gee-wiz I am pretty discouraged right now. Nutcracker try-outs will be held on September 14th a mere 24 days from now (only 17 days from the day that I get my cast off). Even if my doctor does clears me to return to ballet immediately (I'm pretty sure that won't happen), I don't think I would be strong enough to do pointe work for at least a month after getting back to class. I knew as soon as it happened that the Nutcracker would be out this year, but the reality of it gets a little harder everyday. I think I might ask if I can sit in on auditions and maybe a few rehearsals so that I might have a slight advantage of knowing what to expect for when I try again next year. For now I'm trying to stay positive about the experience.
Since I can't share very much about my own ballet rehearsals/classes/experiences right now because I'm injured, I thought I would share with y'all some of my favorite ballet YouTube Channels. I use YouTube almost exclusively to watch ballet; ALL of my subscribed channels have something to do with ballet. So here are my Top 5 ballet YouTube channels! (The title of each channel should be a link so click away!)
Ballet YouTube Channel #5
Ilya Kuznetsov This channel is created by Ilya Kuznetsov, a ballet teacher at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. Not only do his videos give you an amazing behind the scenes look at such an ASTOUNDING and historical academy, the videos are also beautifully filmed and produced. I never get tired of watching the videos even if they are in Russian!
Have you ever wanted to know what it is like to be best friends with a Prima Ballerina? Well, through her YouTube channel, Sara Mearns makes you feel like she is talking just to you. She shares her joys, her sorrows, and everything in between while giving us dreamers a glimpse into what being a REAL ballerina is like. I LOVE IT!!! I hope you will too!
Ballet YouTube Channel #3
New York City Ballet The NYCB channel is everything that I think about when I think of Balanchine; fast, dynamic, original, and breath taking. The videos are not only of high production value, but they also hold a lot of beautiful content. I particularly enjoy the little mini interviews with some of the company members. Another great thing about this channel is that they upload videos regularly so you never run out of new things to watch.
Ballet YouTube Channel #2
Royal Opera House / Topic - The Royal Ballet So, these are kind of the same YouTube channel because The Royal Ballet is a TOPIC under the Royal Opera House channel, but you can subscribe to them separately? I'm not really sure how it works, but I like to watch both channels on the regular. The ROH channel covers EVERYTHING that happens at ROH like operas, theater productions, and ballet performances. They have some really neat behind the scenes videos of what it takes to produce full length ballets! Under the topic TRB there is some amazing looks into the company classes, rehearsals, and performances. One of the things that TRB does is they open special rehearsals to the public so that we can see how much work goes into creating masterpieces. It is truly amazing! WATCH NOW!!!!
I have a special place in my heart for this Youtube channel... I don't want to get too sappy, but this was the very first YouTube channel that I ever subscribed to a few years ago and was a great inspiration to me getting back into serious ballet and starting pointe. The vlog style channel follows Robbie, an aspiring ballet dancer, as she works towards her dreams. I think she and her mom started the channel when she was around 10 years old and now she is a teenager so you really get to see her progress over a few years. Some videos are short and funny and others are more serious. I just really appreciate the passion that Robbie has for ballet and her dedication to sharing that love with others. Thanks Robbie!
I hope y'all enjoy these video as much as I do! It was really hard to decide which 5 channels I liked the most, so I am thinking about doing a part 2 of this post and extending the count to my top 10 channels, but we will see if that happens or not. Happy Monday!
