Late-Blooming Legends Week: Vanessa Sah

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Today is going to be short, but luckily I found a profile on Vanessa Sah, a dancer in the Anaheim Ballet who started in college.

Wednesday's Ballet: Giselle

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The ballet begins in a village, where a young girl named, Giselle is living with her attentive mother, Berthe. The village gamekeeper, Hilarion is madly in love with Giselle, yet Prince Albrecht comes into the spotlight. He is bored with his everyday life, and wants to escape from his fiance, Bathilde. Upon seeing Giselle, he disguises himself as a peasant named Loys, and approaches her by buying the cottage next to Berthe's, and begins showering them with gifts.

As soon as Hilarion gets wind of this, he is infuriated. He sees that Giselle is madly in love with Albrecht, so he mistakes that they are getting married.

That night, Berthe has a dream that Giselle will become a Wili, a bride who dies the day before her wedding. Every night, the Wilis emerge and trap any men who lurk their premises. Meanwhile, Hilarion finds out that Loys is not who he says he is and reveals his identity and fiance, Bathilde. Giselle is heartbroken, and dies that very night.

At the tomb of Giselle, the Wilis appear to anoint Giselle as one of their own. But soon, Albrecht comes to visit her tomb, feeling guilt and remorse for her death. Hilarion is soon found doing the same. The Wili queen, Myrta, orders her Wilis to dance around them until they die of exhaustion. The Wilis try, but they are unable to break the invisible bond of true love between Albrecht and Giselle. In the end, Albrecht is saved, and Giselle returns with the Wilis for eternity.

Come back tomorrow for Thursday's Inspire!

Late-Blooming Legends Week: Martha Graham

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I have seen pictures and videos of the famous Martha Graham, but had no idea that she was a late-bloomer, too! After seeing the gracefulness of Ruth St. Denis at the Mason Opera House, she began ballet training at the age of 17.

Late-Blooming Legends Week: Misty Copeland

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The American Ballet Theatre. One of the most graceful (and hard to get into) companies in the world. If you have any hope of performing there, you have had to be doing ballet since you could walk, to be at least a soloist. Really? What about Misty Copeland?



Misty began when she was 13. That's later than I started! Yet, look at her now, a strong, beautiful dancer performing in one of the greatest companies in the world.




She could do it, why not you?


For those of you with the pre-pointe blues, here is a clear glimpse at the perfectly shaped muscles for pointe work.

This literally made me cry. After two years of dancing, at 15, Misty performed this at a competition. AFTER TWO YEARS?!?!?! It took my breath away.

Tuesday's Tips: Staying Organized

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This week, I am going to share with you about keeping organized. As you begin ballet lessons, it is not too important, but when you start formal dance training, it plays a huge part in building your career.

This may sound crazy, but do you know how I got back to staying on top of From Plies to Pirouettes? FlyLady. I'm not kidding. Now, us dancers definitely do not have enough time to make it to classes and school on time and be able to clean the house. But it is a HUGE help to your mother. Once you have a good day, and everything is organized, take notes on how you managed your time, and use the same schedule everyday.

Now, I am going to take you step-by-step through instructions to get started on a balanced ballet life.

Go to www.flylady.com and scroll down until you see How To Get Started. Click on the link, and then select Join FlyLady Here!. Read through the email group contents, and click on the Bigtent link. Click on Sign Up and follow the steps to create an account. Don't worry, it's free.

After completing this, you will be at the FlyLady homepage on Bigtent. You can browse around for a bit, and then click on the Files tab. Here, you will see a list of Control Journals. The Student Control Journal is the best for me, but you can pick any one you want. Click Download, and print it out. You can choose to staple it, bind it, or what works best, put it in a binder. Now you have your Student Control Journal set up!

I can't take you through every page, so read this and start doing whatever is scheduled for the day. I love this because we can write our dance schedule in it!

Next Step:

This is optional, but since it's cutting so close to Christmas, I printed out the Holiday Control Journal and put it in the back of my Student Control Journal. Now you are on your way to be organized!

Monday's Blog Brag: Beginner Ballerina

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Are you ready for Monday's Blog Brag? Let's get started!

Today, I am going to brag about a blog called Beginner Ballerina. Here are some of the things that she blogs about:

Improving Your Arches

Late-Bloomer Profiles

All About Going on Pointe



Posture Tips

Late-Blooming Legends Week: Sabra Johnson

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For those who watch So You Think You Can Dance, you know that those dancers have some mad skillz, huh? I always think to myself: "She must to have been dancing since she was a child to be able to do that!". I'd like to introduce to you Sabra Johnson. She started dance 4 years before winning Season 3 of SYTYCD. Amazing, right?


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This gorgeous dancer was born in the Netherlands, and began formal dance training in Utah at Dance Impressions. When she entered the SYTYCD competition, she had no idea what was in store for her.


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Fun Fact about Sabra: She had a backup role in High School Musical in the "Stick to the Status Quo" scene as one of the skaters


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I must apologize, this is Monday's post, but for some reason it didn't show up. I had to re-post it.