ballet class observation day

 well, it's the end of the ballet year and it was parent's observation day this evening.

 (i feel a little stunned about this . . bamboozled by time . . . . .  cheated, tricked, hoodwinked, swindled . .  . . )

miss irene giving notes . . 

 adagio . . 

 one of my favorite pieces of music from romeo and juliet, by sergei prokofiev, written in 1935, and first presented as a ballet in the czech city of brno at the mahen theatre in 1938.

grande pirouette in the center . .

grande allegro . .

reverence . .

 putting on pointe shoes for variations class (when they work on repertory from specific ballets).

for the past few weeks they've been working on kitri's variation from don quixote (music by ludwig minkus, choreography by marius petipa; first presented at the ballet of the imperial bolshoi theatre in moscow in december of 1869).

onward to queens in a nor'easter

greg and i had to brave a nor'easter to see chanda's ballet school's recital in queens today. he first drove her out for the dress rehearsal at 8 am this morning and then came back home. the dancers rehearsed and then had a 3:30 pm show. we left the apartment at 4 pm to first check in on minerva, and then to catch the E train to queen's blvd for the 6 pm show. i had wanted to take the 7 train, but you need to transfer from the 1, 2 or 3 to that train, and the 123 line had delays. when we got to queens blvd, we looked on the map to see where we had to walk . . and we ended up having to cross this very long bridge over the long island railroad's rail yards to get to the school! it was so windy and rainy with cars and trucks and buses roaring by! chanda later looked at us askance and said, "you took the E train! but you have to cross the rail yards if you do that!" gee, thanks.

anyway, the above pic is of chanda and hannah with their ballet trainee friend james and a friend of his from the program (joffrey ballet school has an afternoon youth program and a day long trainee program).

we took the 7 train home!

we were all very wet . . 

and i felt very cold.

almost home . . we were so happy to finally get there and i made us all a cup of hot miso broth. since i had cleaned all day (the refrigerator and the bathroom) i hadn't cooked, so a quick cup of hot miso broth was the answer.

 chanda was the red queen and i'm not sure who played the king, but he was very cute and appropriately submissive. greg loved how he quickly did what he was told when chanda pointed and gestured to him. chanda ended up wearing a red camisole leotard underneath the costume that made it much more comfortable to perform. she did a wonderful job of being a demanding red queen and it was fun to hear the audience laugh with her antics and oh and ah over her fouettés and balances.

 these next three pics are from chanda . . her friend hannah is getting last minute coaching from their teacher, miss irene.

 hannah played tall alice and alice's sister.

 the young ladies who danced the pool of tears.

 

 miss irene's picture of her pool of tears ladies . . (they were so beautiful and i loved their costumes!)

 and her two alices . . 

 and the littlest alice, antriana, whose dancing chanda particularly loved. she was very sweet. she's from greece and chanda enjoys hearing her speak with her mother before and after class. she says its a very beautiful sounding language.

 miss irene's pic of the little hedgehogs who chanda had to hustle through all the hoops in the game of croquet. these little ones were very slow and went at their own whim. the poor red queen had quite a time of it!

 the tea cups and roses.

here is miss irene's cast. she was responsible for the mad hatter, the white rabbit, the dormouse, the march hare, the red queen and king, the cheshire cat, the gryphon and tortoise and the pool of tears. that's quite a lot! oh, and the three alices . .

 and last, but not least, a view of the house while warming up for the show.

too many things i have to go to sleep

 we began the day with taking down the christmas tree ornaments . . 

 as we had to get the tree to washington square for it to be mulched.

 greg is taking off the lights. you can see chanda's shoes and tutu in its pouch waiting to be carted to rehearsal.

 we wrapped the tree in an old sheet so it's needles wouldn't get everywhere . . morgana was a big help (chanda was at a ballet class at peridance).

 destination: washington square!

the tree mulching guys made sure i filmed from the best vantage point .  .

see? they were very helpful!

 beautiful washington square!

on our way to chelsea market to look for a gift for the young girl chanda will be staying with in missoula, montana for the ballet competition she's doing.

i also was figuring out what vitamins and supplements chanda should take with her for the week to boost her immunity and keep her strong and healthy. 

 taking the high line to chelsea market . . 

 the beautiful snow!

 oh my goodness . . now at the studio for chanda's rehearsal . . will this day never end?

the gamzatti piece . . 

 getting ready for the comtemporary piece . . 

 and the neoclassical piece . . three dances in all.

 after picking up chocolates at burdick (and getting hot chocolates to go!) and chicken from the butcher, we dropped everything at home and then went to darling to look for a gala dress. fortunately, they had a fifty percent off sale!

 greg made us a delicious chicken soup with carrots and celery.

the gala outfit: a simple black skirt and bright blouse made by the shop owner. and now . . to bed! probably without even enough time to dream. we're up at 4 am to get to the airport.

getting back on the horse

 this summer's ballet intensive was not the best so it was with much happiness that chanda had a private with her ballet teacher today (she had been away on vacation). 

the lesson was at her old school which is not far from us. 

 the school whose ballet intensive she attended ended up not being a place that she was comfortable at. they emphasized a particular body type and technical tricks rather than a person's dance ability. so for a few weeks she felt in limbo and unsure of what to do for this fall, but after seeing her teacher and reviewing her hopes and desires, a plan was made. after our week away on the cape with my sister she'll attend fabrice's intensive (which she went to last summer also) and see if he'll accept her as a student for the fall. and then in december she'll re-evaluate her situation again to see if she should maybe apply to gelsey kirkland's school, or continue with fabrice. in three weeks she'll be in rehearsal with dances patrelle for their september ballet production of macbeth, and with this plan she hopes to also dance in their nutcracker again (which she's had to miss for the past three years).

miss irene lectured her about trusting her technique so she can relax and dance more boldly.

 i started a shawl when chanda first began taking classes with irene (yes, three years ago). i didn't like the first one i made and knitted this one up in june. 

i really love it. it's the 22 little clouds pattern by martina behm, done in shibui pepple and sensei mohair (colors "fog" and "smoke grey" respectively). oh, the trim is koigui painter's palette.