Handsome Little Nutcracker

Our handsome little Nutcracker on picture day.

Alive in the Music

Those fleeting moments when you are free within the music and alive in the movements…I’m still not there yet, but everyday my foot is getting stronger and I hesitate less before moving on my bad foot. I’m looking forward to letting go again!

Quote of the Day #4

A Picture is Worth...

Just a few photos that I took last weekend!

I really like the texture of the fabric.

 Love, Lillie

Observations

Here is a short list of things that I notice from my first two Nutcracker Rehearsals last weekend!!!

1. Not everyone wanted to be there. Most of the girls seemed happy to be in the Nutcracker, but there were a few that started to grumble and moan 15 minutes into rehearsals! Shame on them! 
2. Bringing a snack is not only okay, but NECESSARY! About half way through our 4 hour rehearsal we were allowed a 15 minute break to rest. Most girls used this time to eat snacks! Lots of fruits and nuts! I will never not bring snacks again.
3. "Dance Moms" observable in their natural habitat. Not the overly dramatic, foul-mouthed type shown on TV, but the kind that are just always there watching from the corner or whispering to their daughters. 
4. A lot of time was wasted trying to remember what was done last week. Did we change that step? First or Third arms? Are we in a line here? Which count do we start on? Let's watch the video from last year again! 
5. Missing one person makes everything confusing. Having to keep track of where the "ghost" is hard when you are learning new steps and positions. Especially when dancing in and out of circles and lines.
6. Absolutely don't talk (unless you want a serious telling off). Those girls were stupid. I couldn't believe how much they were talking. 
7. The amount of bourrées that I'm going to have to do is going to kill me! As a lilac flower in the Waltz of the Flowers, I will pretty much bourrée forever. Good bye toenails! 

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I've Known Since Monday

I've known since Monday, but I did not want to say anything for a while because I wanted to make sure it was real. After everything that has happened with my foot injury over the summer, I was fully resigned to the fact that I would have to wait until next year to make one of my dreams come true and try-out for The Nutcracker. Yet, the ups and and downs of life always have a way of balancing out. 

I am officially in this years production of The Nutcracker!!!!! Even though I have been unable to dance for the past couple months and I was unable to try-out for the Nutcracker, my amazing and supportive teachers felt comfortable enough in my dancing abilities to cast me in the show even without an audition. I'm honored and beyond thrilled to be one step closer to my dreams, but I am terrified at the same time. My teachers have faith that I will be performance ready in time and that is a lot pressure coming back from a serious injury. Not that they are pushing me to return too soon and aggravate my injury! I just want to be at my best for them and for myself.

Anyways, enough with the feelings, and feelings about feelings, and feelings feelings, and one feeling that turns into another feeling... :P

I know that when someone says "I'm in the Nutcracker!" the immediate response of the other person is "What parts did you get???". 

I am a Snowflake and a Lilac Flower! I promise to write more about my first Nutcracker rehearsals (which happened yesterday) later. Right now I'm floating away on a cloud of happiness towards my second rehearsals later today! 

Never give up on dreams, people! 
Love, Lillie 

Catch Up Series: New Beginnings - NYC Ballet

There are times when words aren't enough. Times when there are no words or combination of words that can accurately describe a feeling or event. The video below, from the New York City Ballet, is a better commemoration to the events of 9/11 than any words I have ever heard.

 

"It is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, 

and a tribute to the future of the city that New York City Ballet calls home"

Catch Up Series: Going to the Beach

Went to the beach. Wasn't a lot of fun. The End.

Love, Lillie

Catch Up Series: Breaks Come in Threes?

I visited my ballet studio a month or so after my injury, you know just to check in and make sure the place hadn't fallen to pieces without me... more like, to make sure that they hadn't forgotten about me!

And I found out that about a week after I broke my foot in class another girl broke elbow, but not in class. I think she fell off of a horse or something like that. Then! A few days later another girls mother was in a car accident and broke her leg!

It is a weak coincidence at best, but it could be said that I was the first of three bad things to happen, and that's how bad things are said to come, in sets of three.

Catch Up Series: Words of Encoragement

Long story short:

I was feeling a little down about my injury; feeling like no one around me understood my frustration. So I decided to take a chance to ask for advice from someone who knew exactly what I was going through...I think I told y'all that I suffered from the same type of break that Ronnie Underwood (First Soloist at Ballet West) suffered from during the second season of Breaking Pointe...ANYWAYS,

I messaged RU on facebook asking him about how he handled his injury and if he had any tips for me. A few days later he responded!!!!!! He suggested watching lots of videos of ballet while recovering and doing lots of ab workouts so that I could return to ballet with an extra strong core. 

I know that he isn't a ballet superstar, but I can now say that I've kind of talked to a professional ballet dancer and that is pretty freaking awesome! He didn't have to take the time to respond to me and it really made my day that he took the time to encourage me. 

Thanks Ron ;)

Catch Up Series: Ding Dong the Cast is Gone!

I have a foot again!  
I can see my entire leg and foot! 
I can take a shower without having to cover up a cast and worry about it getting wet!
I can scratch that annoying itch on the bottom of my foot! 
I can put a sock on my foot if it is cold!
I can do so many things with my foot! 
It's like I'm a whole human again!

but I still can't walk...  :(

Another few weeks with a big boot ( you know the big clunky Velcro kind) and then I can start to put a little bit of pressure on my foot. The doctor confirmed that the bone is healing nicely, but I still had a lot of swelling and bruising so I need to take it slow. 

Let's Catch Up!

It is hard to start this post partly because I feel like I have so little to say, and partly because I feel like I have so much to say. 

Part of the reason I have been so absent from DAB is because the fall semester started at the beginning of September, and like many adult ballet enthusiasts, balancing ballet and my adult life is always a challenge. It takes a while to get back into the swing of things, but I am super pleased with my schedule so far. For those of you haven't taken college classes, your schedule can make or break you.

Over the past few weeks there have been several things that I wanted to write posts about it, but just didn't get around to it so I have decided to kind of make quick bullet list of things that I really want to write about here and then dive deeper into each bullet point in separate posts in the next couple of days! That way I am forced to get those post up, lest I make myself a liar, hahaha!

Catch Up Bullet List: 

(crazy awful title, but I like being literal)

(by the way, I am going to try to put these bullets in chronological order)

(not that the order makes much difference... it just seems neater in my mind)

Ding Dong the Cast is Gone!

Words of Encouragement - Ronnie Underwood Style

Breaks Come in Threes?

Going to the Beach

New Beginnings - NYC Ballet

My Alternative Nutcracker Plans

Take it away Annie!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya...

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.

Love, Lillie

Quote of the Day #3

“To tend, unfailingly, unflinchingly, towards a goal, is 

the secret of success.” 

― Anna Pavlova

Climb a Mountain, Ride a Horse

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.

My Top 5 Ballet YouTube Channels

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!

Ballet YouTube Channel #4

Sara Mearns

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!!!!

Ballet YouTube Channel #1

mydancetv

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!

Quote of the Day #2

How Casts are Made

This will definitely help my street cred... HAHA!

Life BFF and AFF

Life BEFORE FOOT FRACTURE and life AFTER FOOT FRACTURE

BFF my life consisted of going to work, going to ballet, and hanging out with friends.

AFF my life consists of trying to go to work or working from home, dreaming about ballet, and hanging out with friends.

BFF

I took this photo right before class. T-minus 1+1/2 hours until AFF

AFF

This is how I shop now!

My "Breaking Pointe"... Review

Just in case some of you don't know, CW recently aired the season 2 premier of "Breaking Pointe", the reality TV show about a few dancers at Ballet West. I am constantly searching for new documentaries, shows, and videos about ballet, so I was pretty happy when I heard that BP would be returning for a second season. 

I think it is amazing to bring ballet into more mainstream markets, but I have to admit the reality TV style of the show makes me cringe. (I much prefer the fictional and quirky world of Bunheads, but sadly that, I believe, has not been renewed for a second season) I hold my breath for the moments when they show bits of Ballet West's classes, rehearsals,  and performances. Personally I could care less about who is dating whom, and why some girl is mad at another girl... 

But will that stop me from watching the show? 
    Honestly, no! 
Why? 
    Because how often do you get to see some of the inner workings of a professional ballet company? 

In this first episode we learn that several of the girls will be competing for the coveted role of Cinderella, Rex and Allison have officially broken up, BeckAnne has a new beau, and Ronnie is injured. Having so recently been injured myself (Like just a couple days ago! Ugh, I still can't believe that I broke my foot!!!), it took me aback when Ronnie announced that he is seriously injured and unable to dance. 

Then, Ronnie starts talking about what type of injury he has and I will be the first to admit that I started BALLING the second he said that he fractured his 5th metatarsal, just like me! I guess I wasn't prepared to see how serious my injury might be...I have an appointment next week with an orthopedic doctor to determine if I need surgery or not. Granted, he also broke his 4th metatarsal bone, so I don't think my injury is quite as serious, but only the doctor will be able to tell me. By the end of the episode we learn that Ronnie's foot has become infected after the surgery. I'm not even going to begin to think about how much that scares me, especially if I too require surgery. The series title "Breaking Pointe" definitely has a whole new meaning for me.

Over all, I wish the show was less docuDRAMA and more DOCUdrama, but I am looking forward to seeing where this season goes.