First blog EVER! + finally in a real studio again!

Not only is this my first blog ever, it is also the inauguaral post for my ballet blog for my ballet class at school. This is quite exciting for me :). I am taking a pretty basic ballet 1 class but its definitely helpng my gain the formal training that I lack. My dance background is something of a mismash of teachers, locations, sytles, intensities, etc, etc. the last time I took real studio class I was probably not older than 6 or 7. Even then, I was at a "dolly dinkle" type school--It was in the same place as my gymnastics gym and there was not any kind of pre-professional track or syllabi to follow. In fact, I am not even sure that they had class for people older than 6 or 7. Rambling.... Anyway, I pretty much stopped dancing all together and played soccer and continued with gymnastics. It wasnt until 6th grade that any sort of dance reentered my life in the for of a mini-cheerleading camp run by the local high school. I fell in love with it and BEGGED my mother to let me do "All-Star" cheerleading (which is UNGODLY expensive) she finally agreed to let me do it with my friend in 8th grade. I loved it and remembered how much I enjoyed dancing. I auditioned for the Varsity Pom Squad at a local private high school in 8th grade and unfortunatly, did not make it. I still remember feeling so unprepared at the auditions, with only cheerleading knowledge in a gym full of girls who had been trained in their studios for years. I instead tryed out for the cheerleading squad at the public high school and made Varsity. Freshman and sophomore year I worked as hard as I could to be the best cheerleader I could be. I managed to maintain and better my flexibility through all this as well as gain strength, which I think is helping me a lot right now. However, I still had a nagging feeling that dance was my passion. I read up on it, devouring every bit of information I could and even going as far as to buy "Ballet for Dummies." I could see the passion and light when I watched dancers on stage and knew that I had to feel that too. At the end of my sophomore year, my high school pioneered a dance team/pom squad. I called and e-mailed back and forth with the new coach expressing my interest. When auditions roled around in the fall, I was surprised to not only make the team, but to be offered the spot of captain for this brand new squad. I did not return to cheerleading that year and finally was a 'dancer'. We attended dance camp, learned countless routines, performed at football and basketball games. I loved every minute. Senior year, I tryed out for my schools competitive Show Choir, a musical theatre class that competed and performed singing-and dancing routines, often from Broadway musicals, all around the state. Again, I could not have been happier.

(new paragraph! whew!) When I was getting ready to attend college, one reason I choose Loyola over Boston College was the dance program. It was new and maybe a little rough, with no major option or auditions, but it was also perfect for me. I was able to get in to a Jazz 1 class in my first semester of freshman year. I loved it and was extremely surprised when I wasnt falling behind, as I expected to be with girls with years of studio training. In fact, I was told by my teacher a few weeks in tothe semester that I would have been fine in Jazz 2. I was estatic. My the end of the semester it felt even too easy.

For my second semester (now) I decided to take 3 dance classes: Modern 2, Jazz 2, and Ballet 1. I had been dissappointed with the fact that Ballet 1 had been full the semester before and then a spot opened up, I took it immediately (even though it is at 8:40am!). Again, I surprised myself. The countless hours spent reading my silly Ballet for Dummies book, stalking the dance.net forums, using my kitchen chairs as barres and doing countless tendus and plies, really helped. while I don't think it replaced studio training, I feel confidant in ballet class, even while learning new, foreign things. I think my determination and immersion on dance and ballet culture gave me a huge stepping stone into the world of ballet and dance, and now I'm living the life, dancing 4 days, 6 classes per week. Love it!