The Red Shoes?

Just came across this...

Ballet flats are in style - could pointe shoes be next?

Haha oh wow. Not sure why anyone would want to be on pointe in everday life if they didn't have to be. The heels really make it.

Found them at this new site that actually sells some interesting things...nice console tables, yoga gear, fun shoes, and more. Check them out!

unexpected rehearsal

My original rehearsal for today was cancelled, so instead of being a good student like I should have been and catching up on my school work, I decided to take pointe class so I could work on all the details we touched on yesterday in my private. First of all, it was a bad idea to decide this last minute because I took a cab to get there, totally forgetting that it's St. Patrick's Day and the stupid parade makes it impossible to get from east side to west side in a timely manner. My cabbie was nice though, haha, and we had a conversation about writing. He said he had a goal of reading 1,000 books in 10 years. Wow!

Anyway, pointe class was good. I'm definitely sore way deep in my muscles from yesterday and felt it all coming togehter in class, which was reassuring.

THEN afterwards I'm getting ready to leave and go about the rest of my afternoon of papers and work and stuff and I'm called in unexpectedly to do this rehearsal thing we weren't supposed to start until next week, but they happened to have studio space today.

This choreographer needs to do a demo reel to showing Ailey II and asked my teacher to help choreograph and work with a more balletic dancer rather than the modern dances he's used to, apparently. So she suggested me, and he's choreographing on me for that and for our next little student showcase. I knew all of this, but was SO not prepared to start today.

It went okay, but definitely could have been better. The choreography is nice, but it's kind of uncomfortable the first time around. I guess that's like with anything...time will help it all to sink in. It's also hard because...and I don't mean this in a bad way or anything...but the steps given are difficult to execute on pointe because they are choreographed more for flat shoes since he is a male choreographer not on pointe. It was a challenge...for instance, moving around on pointe on forced arch, like walking around but not in the foot position you would do hops on pointe in, but in FORCED arch. No can do. Luckily my teacher was there to help explain that both to him and to me to make it work better, but I got a bit frustrated. I'm thrilled about the opportunity though and hoping it will come along with time. We have until June, thank goodness.

Anyway that took up a good hour and 15 minutes or so, so now I'm a bit thrown off...gotta try to get some work done before going back there for lots of class tonight. Sheesh! The good news is that my foot isn't hurting so bad this week, after taking a few days off while I was away last week.

Bloch shoot, and movmnt magazine

New addition to my insane schedule:

I've been a "test dancer" for Bloch dancewear for a while now, and they've been creating a new beginner pointe shoe on my foot. I've been providing feedback on it for months and they've been reworking it and tailoring (no pun intended) it to create the best shoe for dancers just starting on pointe.

Now that the shoe creation process has finished, they are shooting a film for their annual sales conference so that their many retailers nationwide are informed about their new products and such. Being active in the process of everything, the asked me to be in the film to compare shoes and demonstrate some things wearing their new shoes.

So that's pretty cool...we're shooting on Friday. Not that it really matters for this kind of thing, but I haven't worked with film much. They did an episode of MTV's "MADE" on us back at The Rock School, but that's pretty much the extent of my experience. THAT is a story in itself...camera guy always in the way in class...oh the memories. Anyways, I'll write more about the filming after it happens!

One more thing...everyone should go to Barnes and Noble and buy movmnt magazine. Yes, that's how it's spelled. It's a relatively new dance/pop culture/fashion magazine co-founded by Danny Tidwell (So You Think You Can Dance). The magazine itself is wonderful, but you should particularly buy the most recent issue that just came out because there is a big section on The Winger! It's really great that we as a general community are getting publicity, and it gives me another accredited source for my little senior thesis haha. Read it!