The Nutcracker

Hello my Lovelies! If you're reading this then you already know casting has been posted and rehearsals start soon for our 2011 production of The Enchanted Nutcracker! I'm proud of each and every one of you and I know you'll continue to make me proud throughout the upcoming performance season.

This season is going to be a little bit different than last year as we have more local performance opportunities and we'll be using a real theater. (Not that there's anything wrong with using a parish hall, but the theater experience is so much better!)

This is the season where we all get to pull our weight and really work our ballet butts off for the show. My younger one's need strong role models and I know my Grande Premiere company members are just the thing they need. We'll be doing a big sister/little sister program this season and I hope everyone can really take the time to bond with each other.

Naturally we'll be using a lot of the same choreography, but we will be changing quite a few things. First of all you can expect an entirely different battle scene, using the original Nutcracker score and brand new modern and contemporary ballet choreography.

The second thing you can look forward to is brand new Snow Scene Costumes and revamped choreography with one of your fellow students dancing the lead role of Snow Queen, en pointe. Tea (China) will also be danced en pointe this year.

I'm pleased to announce our newest roles added to the Enchanted Nutcracker will be The Spirit of the Christmas Tree, Gingerbread Children (Germany) and The Fairy Doll. (I'm so excited!)

Ocala Ballet Theater has opened a cafe press store for all of your nutcracker and obt wants/needs, we also have a facebook page available for everyone who prefers to view their information online.. This looks to be a very promising a fulfilling season for everyone involved. Welcome back everyone!

Thank you for reading this, My Lovelies! Tell me what you want to hear about, are curious about or confused about and I'll post a blog about each topic. Please email, comment or facebook me!

Love,
Ms Ivy

The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers

Have you heard? Someone has taken my two favorite things in the world and created something amazing with them! If you know me at all you know that I love comics, video games, rpg's, all of it. I'm such a geek it's crazy! So when I heard about the LXD I literally jumped for joy. I heard about it through a dance spirit magazine a few years ago and eagerly waited and waited and waited for them to finally produce the series they've been wanting to do for so long. I actually forgot about it by the time they were famous and a dear friend of mine who knows very little of the dance world but loves comics sent me a link to it and said just watch, I promise you'll love it! Ok, I'm hooked. For good.

The series starts with forming the legion and the story goes from there. It explores how the energy of dancing can effect the world, by saying all of the dancers in the legion have superpowers through dance. I've literally never been so into any internet video series in my entire life. It's totally worth checking out and at least watching the entire first season. (That's right I said first, they're working on season three right now.)

Their performances on SYTYCD have been extraordinary and Yellow piece they did, had me so pumped I was almost in tears. All in all, it's just super cool.

As always, Message me or comment on here, My Lovelies! I'd love to hear some feedback! -Ms Ivy

SYTYCD Choreographers

Hello my lovelies! I'm sure if you're a dancer you've seen So You Think You Can Dance and you've witnessed some very moving and touching pieces over the years. Where does it all begin? With a choreographer, coming up with a concept and executing it on dancers. I've found a few interviews from choreographers that have really touched me over the past few years and I'd like to share them with you.

Mia Micheals has been my hero since I first saw season 2's the bench dance. I absolutely adore her! She's very down to earth and no nonsense at the same time and a stunning women to boot! Her leaving the show actually had me in tears. (Finding out she doesn't have cancer made me feel better though.) In this interview she talks about being a dancer and season five and a myriad of other things. How can you help but love her?

To witness Sonya Tayeh is an experience like no other. She's my favorite contemporary jazz choreographer of all time and finding out she loves super heroes? TOTAL BONUS! She didn't begin dancing until she was seventeen or eighteen. I have so much respect for her, its crazy! In this interview she definitely shows just how eloquent and intelligent she is (which is something that unfortunately doesn't always come across in the show.)

Next we come to Stacey Tookey. I can honestly say she's not always my favorite choreographer, but when she does it right, its right. I love anyone who loves ballet as much as I do and knowing she initially wanted to have a career in a classical ballet context? I'm in love, we're done. Hearing about how people find their inspiration has always fascinated me, and I absolutely adore violin as well! This interview is short and sweet but you get to know her just a little bit better after this.

Lastly in my journey to find out more about these lovely ladies, I found this article about how professional dancers, teachers and choreographers feel about the show. I can say I was initially shocked, but now I understand where they're coming from. You can't take an art, turn it into a sport and give dancers a false representation of what the dance community is really about and expect it to always be respected. I can understand why there is never any ballet or hardly any tap on the show, but I hate rarely seeing the ballet dancer on the show. There are plenty of B-boys, contemporary dancers and ballroom phenoms on the show from year to year. That's just my opinion.

What would you like to hear about next? Message me or comment on here! -Ms Ivy

Random Dance Stuff :D

Hello, My Lovelies! We've just begun our first week of regular class schedule and I feel good. I have so many exciting choreographic ideas for this year's recital and for Nutcracker! I have to say that I love seeing how much my students improve from year to year. You're all becoming such lovely artists! Our auditions are this Saturday and I am so pumped!

This season of SYTYCD was kinda lacking in phenomenal choreography and the male dancers were pretty lack luster as well, but the few pieces that did really inspire me were: The circus sets up, Total eclipse of the heart, Skin & Bones, Misty Blue & Pop Drop & Roll. (And as person satisfaction, I knew who the top three were going to be after watching the first episode.)

I just read an interview with Melanie, (which if you remember was the first person they showed auditioning on the show this year.) I just love her! How can you not? She's beautiful, talented and humble. Who is humble anymore? I love her and my boyfriend who doesn't know anything about dance loved her. I can't wait to see the things she'll do in the future with her career.

I'm working on a blog on Fusion Classes, but I'm always looking for more ideas for my blog! Message me or comment on my blog. Thank you My Lovelies! -Ms Ivy.

Boys in Ballet

Ah the elusive boy's ballet class. With the amount of strong male dancers being produced from year to year it's hard to imagine such a class to be so rare. When you think of ballet you generally think of the tutu's, pointe shoes, over all femininity and well, women. Little girls have tutu aspirations and the competition is fierce for those coveted prima-ballerina parts.

Where does this leave men? Where do our princes, cavaliers, kings and nutcrackers come from? I can say as a ballet teacher keeping a boy's interest is tough. If a boy doesn't have a strong male role model to look up to in a ballet class they're more and more likely to not care and stop taking classes at a young age. Angel Corella believes that male dancers are born to be male dancers. Its something in them from day one of their existence, I wouldn't know, I'm not a boy.

Everything I've ever studied about dance between men and women is men have so much support from the ballet community and women are a dime a dozen and replaceable. I've worked with both sexes for teachers and the perspective men have on the anatomy of the ballet dancers has always fascinated me. One of my favorite teachers of all time was a man (Tom Barber) who would constantly drag my class and I back to the basics, which made class extremely difficult some days.

There are entire websites devoted to boys who do ballet with plenty of encouragement from professional dancers, honest opinions of parents and different advice from male dancers world wide for young men. In such a female dominate field of study it never ceases to amaze me the strength and the courage it takes to be the only boy in a ballet class. Angel Corella, Ethan Stiefel,
Mikail Baryshnikov and George Balanchine have really paved the way for future generation of men in the ballet field. Younger Generations will appreciate Danil Simkin's fresh approach to dance and his blog will really connect with younger boys needing to feel "cool."

Where ever you are and whoever you are, I highly reccomend taking a ballet class at some point in your life. You'll never know what you're missing until you've tried it. My younger brother (13) takes ballet on a regular basis because it "calms" him and is a positive outlet between video games and sports. I know quite a few men who started taking ballet in their late teens and now are fellow teachers that are so passionate about what they do, they blow me out of the water at times! And my adult ballet class has a few men that take ballet as a way to keep in a shape and practice an art form. Ballet is so obviously not just for girls, it just sickens me to hear that backwards mentality being produced for boys. Men who dance have much more endurance than professional athletes its hilarious!

One ignorant statement that has always bothered me is the "you have to be gay to be a male dancer" train of thought. Boys who dance are not necessarily gay, as a matter of fact I've danced with more straight men then gay men in my life time! Many of whom had a wife and children. People are people and an assumption is almost always wrong.

Alright my lovelies what would you like to hear about next? Message my facebook or comment here to let me know! -Ms Ivy