Dancing in the rain

I love rainy day weather! It gives me the perfect excuse to watch ballet videos. Since I made the transition from dancer to teacher I'm constantly looking for new ways to teach children. As I stumbled through youtube and expertvillage (now ehow) I found a video that took my breath away. Thats a five year old! Oh my Lord, I have never seen a child do half of those things!

As I continue on my rainy day ballet voyage, I came across this little gem. May I just say, lovely? How many hours of ballet does this one take a week? Where does she train? I wonder how much more amazing she is now! How has her pointe work progressed?

Speaking of pointe work... Any time I look up pointe videos I always come up with a bunch of eight to ten year olds dance enpointe. This is an outrage! Your muscles have not had the proper time to develop yet and your bones haven't set to where they need to be! This is a mostly American trend too. Some days I wish America would take the stand most other country's have on dance and say that you have to be certified by the state to be a dance instructor. How many children are hurt every year from having a teacher who doesn't understand how to properly stretch a child or puts them in pointe shoes too early? Or worse yet, allows them to wear poorly fitted shoes for classes.

Ballet should be cultivated like a soufflé, you need to take your time. You'll rise when its time, my lovelies! -Ms Ivy

Random Inspiration

Today I'd like to focus on the little tools we can use to inspire ourselves. When I was younger I happened across a website that was full of pictures of ballerinas. The site was invigorating and I spent hours looking at different pictures of all the amazing dancers, from Margot Fonteyn to Julie Kent.
The site features a short bio of every dancer they highlight and wonderful pictures of them as well. Its definitely worth checking out for a few hours for some small inspiration.The Ballerina Gallery is one of my favorite sites to frequent ;)

The next site I'd like to recommend is a series of youtube videos from the Anehiem Ballet Company. These videos are just simply breathtaking! I love watching all the different things they have to say about ballet and the life style. From ways to afford your one dance class a week to equality for anyone with passion, you'll love these videos.

Of course what type of teacher would I be if I didn't include some legit ballet wisdom? One of the greatest tools I've found on line is Lisahowell2's vlog. These video's are informative on pointe work and various other necessary training exercises. Their tips on how to break in pointe shoes and how to tie them are a life saver and will help you to not spend so much time figuring things out for yourself! I'm a firm believer in doing what works and not rocking the boat unless it doesn't. The Perfect Pointe is their main website and it offers more sage bits of ballet wisdom for the growing dancer.

My last little bit of inspiration is a book I like to refer to as The Ballet Bible. This book has everything you could want from a ballet book! From ballet's origins to tips for healthy cross training, its a complete wealth of amazing knowledge, and if you order from their website you can get all sorts of beautiful posters for further inspiration!

In your journey for ballet inspiration keep us informed. What gets you pumped for ballet class? -Ms Ivy

New Pointe Magazine

I wait patiently for a new issue to come out every two months. I sigh breathlessly every time I open a new issue. I brace myself for the wealth of knowledge I greedily want to devour, only to be disappointed time and time again by the lack of helpful articles. I've been reading this magazine for around seven or eight years, and while I'll say I've learned so much from them I can also say that I've wasted a lot of energy reading them.

The average "studio brat" isn't interested in different places to audition, or how many productions the Russian companies are performing this season. They want to learn how to become better dancers. The long and short of what I miss from the older version of this magazine are their care and keeping of you section, which discussed everything from different exercises for strengthening, how-to's on every aspect of your body as a dancer from your epaulment to how to properly hold your feet when learning to control your turn out, and different dieting ideas that were actually beneficial and not detrimental to your life style.

The newer issues highlight whats in style to wear around the studio, question and answer panels with a world renowned ballerina, highlights of different principle dancers from dance companies all over the globe and unlimited audition information for summer intensives and dance companies. You will never have another question about what to do, wear or act during an audition after reading about six months of this magazine. (Thats three issues fyi.)

I currently find myself only ready this magazine for inspiration of camaraderie. I love seeing how many other people are living their life through movement and are letting themselves get carried away with their dreams. Their main spotlight for this issue is on Melissa Hough of the Houston Ballet and may I just say, lovely? I love hearing all the different tales of dancer's becoming dancers! Its so inspiring and refreshing to hear that everyone starts out facing the barre in first position struggling to remember to hold my tummy in and your butt under while doing a plie'!

I'll still read this magazine every other month despite my disappointment with it's current condition. Its a window into the dance world that everyone can appreciate on some level and you will love seeing all the differences in style, technique and general artistry provided by our current prima's. Check it out and tell me what you think. http://www.pointemagazine.com/ -Ms Ivy