Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

We loved our previous themes, Halloween, late-blooming dancers, pre-pointe, right? Well, this week we are going to get a jump on the Christmas season. You can NEVER start too early.

This week, I am going to have a round-up every day for gifts for fellow balletfreaks, dads, best friends, and more!

Another way to get started on the season is to make a Holiday Control Journal. If you don't know how to do that, click here to find out.

Thursday's Inspire

Tarzan Dan Photography

Pre-Pointe Week: Day 4 - Releve Checklist

One thing that I used to struggle with is staying pulled up and centered throughout the pre-pointe exercises. To be honest, I used to be so focused on getting pre-pointe over with, that I was pushing on the barre (dresser or desk) or lifting my shoulders. My pre-pointe teacher gave me a simple checklist to memorize while I am doing my releves.

1: Am I pulled up in my center?

2: Are my shoulders down?

3: Are my knees straight and pulled up?

4: Am I using the barre for support?

5: Is my demi-point the absolute highest it can be?

6: Am I really pushing myself or can I give a little more?

Let me go into a little more detail:


1: Am I pulled up in my center?
Don't get too overwhelmed with this one. It does not mean suck in your stomach and hold your breath. It means hold your abs and lift your chest slightly. Have good alignment.

2: Are my shoulders down?
This is simple: Are your shoulders down?

3: Are my knees straight and pulled up?
If your knees are not straight, there is no point of releves. It's not even worth the time. Make sure that you pull up your knees, too.

4: Am I using the barre for support?
This is key: You might start out gently holding the barre at the beginning of releves, but as your legs start to burn, your grasp will get tighter and tighter. As my pre-pointe teacher says: "Don't choke my barre!"

5: Is my demi-pointe the absolute highest it can be?
The higher you go, the easier it will be. This will help build muscles faster.

6: Am I really pushing myself, or can I give a little more?
This is the most important part of any kind of pre-pointe. If you are in Lah-Lah Land just bouncing up and down, then you will never go en pointe! Really push yourself, because there's a light at the end of each dark tunnel.

Giving Thanks Giveaway by DanceAdvantage!

So we've entered all of the crafty, yummy, pretty, cute, and ruffly giveaways, right?

Well it's about time there was a ballet giveaway!

How about a ballet giveaway roundup?

DanceAdvantage.net is hosting a week of ballet giveaways, just for you! Scoot on over and enter!

You can find the amazing giveaways here:

http://danceadvantage.net/2010/11/04/thanks-giveaway-preview/

Wednesday's Ballet: Romeo and Juliet

We could all use a good love story once in a while ;)

Romeo and Juliet is a ballet about two lovers who's families hate each other. It all starts when the two families, the Montagues and the Capulets, begin to fight in the street. The town authority breaks up the fight, and threatens anyone who "disturbs the street".

The Capulets plan a great celebration, and everyone in the town is invited, except the Montagues. The main reason for the celebration is for their daughter, Juliet, to meet a man to marry. Although not invited, Romeo, his cousin Benvolio, and his friend Mercutio decide to attend in disguise. The moment Romeo laid eyes on Juliet, he fell in love with her. He dances with her, and Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, realizes that there is and enemy at the party. He warns the authorities, but there was no fight because Romeo sneaked out the back.

He sat and listened to Juliet talking about the danger of loving an enemy. They made secret vows to marry each other the next day. So Romeo went to Father Lawrence and begged him to marry them. They get married, and they are together only in the secret of night. Meanwhile, Tybalt tries to fight with Romeo. Romeo refuses to fight with him for sake of Juliet, but Mercutio draws his sword. They fight until Mercutio is laying dead on the ground. Romeo is so angry, he kills Tybalt, and is banished by the town authority.

Unaware of the secret marriage, the Capulets plan for Juliet to marry another man named Paris. Panicking, Juliet goes to Father Lawrence, and he gives her a potion that will make her seem dead for a few days. When she awakes, she will be reunited with Romeo.

Romeo returns, and he hears of his wife's death and is heartbroken. In despair, he goes to her tomb, drinks a deadly amount of poison, and joins her in death. Juliet awakes too late, and finds her lover dead beside her. She then takes Romeo's dagger, and kills herself with it.

I am going to get together with a bunch of my ballet buddies and watch my special edition of Romeo and Juliet: The Ballet STARRING Rudolf Nureyev as Romeo! OOOOOhhhhh I get the chills just typing it ;)

Pre-Pointe Week: Day 3 - It Ain't Just Releves, Honey!

Alright, so you get the point (pun intended) that you need to exercise everyday, and you have a simple schedule. But if you look at the schedule again, you will realize that it isn't just releves and calf muscles that will get you en pointe.

The most important muscle for pointe work is the abs. What do you think holds you up? How do you stay balanced when you are standing on 1 square inch of your foot? Your abs! If you have weak abs ( or "flabby abs" as my pre-pointe teacher calls them ) it will be extremely hard to balance. Stand on demi-pointe. Hold there, and ask yourself, Am I wobbling? Now, fix your alignment, and squeeze your abs. Not sucking in your stomach, clenching the muscles. This may feel awkward, but are you wobbling less? If you can't stand straight on demi-pointe, how will you ever stand straight on full pointe?

The greatest way to get strong abs is doing crunches. Before you move on to the next post (I know you don't want to get tied up with this) watch this video so that you can do them properly, and do "earn" hard, strong ab muscles.

Work on that routine everyday!

For those of you who are non-squeemish, check out this chart to see a diagram of the ab muscles.

Tuesday's Tips: Take Time to Smell the Roses and Bake Some Pumpkin Bread

With all of this running back and forth to school, to ballet, to gymnastics, to your little brother's football game, things can get a little crazy. Time to wind down. Bake some pumpkin bread, brew some tea, and sit back and relax.

Here is our family's recipe for delicious pumpkin bread!

Ingredients

* 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

* 2 cups packed dark brown sugar

* 2/3 cup white sugar
* 2 cups pumpkin puree
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 2/3 cup coconut milk
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 2/3 cup flaked coconut
* 1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 8x4 inch loaf pans.

2. In a large bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, white sugar, pumpkin puree, oil, coconut milk, baking soda, salt, ground nutmeg and ground cinnamon. Mix until all of the flour is gone. Fold in the nuts and flaked coconut. Pour batter into the prepared pans.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cover loaves with foil tightly. Allow to steam for 10 minutes. Remove foil and turn out onto a cooling rack. Tent lightly with the foil and allow to cool completely.


Recipe courtesy Allrecipes.com.