A Quick Catch-up No.2 - Lessons, getting ready for exams

Salem and his Grade Ones
Photo from Waikanae Dance School

Salem's classes have been going well and he is working hard at getting ready for his BTDA Intermediate exams which will be in early June.  He has had a mock exam a little while ago and would have passed if it was a real one.  He has done a lot of work in his dance journal, Michelle his teacher is pleased with what he has done so far.  So it is all looking good.

He is still loving being teachers assistant for the Grade One Ballet class, he gets so much satisfaction and joy from doing the class.  He has been writing up exercises for the grade ones and preps which is part of his exam work.

Jacqui and Jonty have been suggesting that he take up tap for quite a while now so Salem is now doing a Grade Four Tap class, he has been having a lot of fun with this.  He has to stop doing it like a ballet dancer though :-)  He has his third lesson on Friday night (tomorrow) straight after his Jazz/Lyrical/Acro class.  Hopefully his tap shoes arrive tomorrow!!!!

Salem has been having contemporary lessons at Hayley Johnson's Academy of Dancing in Tawa.

He has been loving the classes and everyone is so friendly.  We have to catch the train there but it is worth it.

His contemporary is really progressing this year.

More up-dating tomorrow night.... it has turned out not to be a quick catch-up!!!!!

Junior Associates Audition, ABTC Comps and Dance Journal

Practicing for Ameno.

Last weekend was very, very busy.
So much for a rest on Labour Weekend.
Friday evening it was class as usual and Salem had a very enjoyable class.
He is gaining more acrobatic skills.

He had to miss his Acrobatic class on Saturday as he attended the audition at the New Zealand School of Dance for the Junior Associates program.
We had to leave very early and got there in good time thanks to Grandma, so he could warm up in time for the classical class at 8.45am.

Salem will write more about that later in this post as he is now writing a dance journal as part of his work for doing BTDA Intermediate Ballet.

Being Siegfried.

After the audition we went out to the Hutt for the Associated Ballet & Theatre Club Inc's (ABTC) Competitions at the Little Theatre in Lower Hutt.

I had booked us into the Angus Inn as it was not worth going back and forward to Paraparaumu over the weekend.  This was so much easier.
Luckily they let us check in early as we had a few hours before Salem had his first dance.

It was so nice relaxing in a nice hotel room and not having to hang out in the dressing room for hours.
We enjoyed our stay there!!!!

Looking very Polish.

Salem did very well over the two days of comps especially as he was performing all new dances which he had choreographed himself.  Everyone commented on his Krakowiak costume which he loved wearing.

He has won another trophy for coming first for the Classical Impromptu.

His results are:

1st Place -  Classical Impromptu 12 years and over
3rd Place -  Barefoot Impromptu 12 years and over
3rd Place -  Character 13 years
VHC -  Classical 13 years
VHC -  Barefoot 13 years
VHC - Lyrical 12 years and over.

Salem will write more about the comps in another post soon.
Here is his first Journal entry:

Salem's Dance Journal

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New Zealand School of Dance

On Saturday the 26th of October, I had to go to the New Zealand School of Dance in Wellington, so I could audition to try to get into the Junior Associates.

I had to be there very early in the morning.  There was a lot of other dancers too.  There were four other boys as well but the rest were girls.

We had to get our numbers, I was number 37.  Then we went into one of the studios to have a warm up.

Eating my cheese and crackers.

Then we all went into Studio 1 for a ballet class.  All of us boys had to go down the back so we couldn't see what was happening very well.  The class went for one and a half hours then we had a break.  I had cheese and crackers.

After that we had a contemporary class which wasn't as long.  The best bit was doing an impromptu.  That was fun but the music choice was horrible.

UPDATE:  Salem was accepted on the New Zealand School of Dance Associate Programme.
He is now a NZSD Junior Associate Contemporary Major.

Blue Pointe Shoes and a Medal

Having a quick practice

Salem did very well at the Associated Ballet & Theatre Club Inc's 44th Annual Dancing Competitions yesterday.
It was held at the Little Theatre in Lower Hutt so we had a long journey to get there.
He wasn't dancing until after 6.30pm so we had a nice afternoon in Wellington before getting the bus out to the Hutt.
Salem competed in the Classical 12 yr olds against lots of very good experienced dancers and all were girls.
Salem was placed 3rd.
He couldn't believe it when he got his report and it contained a medal.
It is the first medal he has won at competitions and he is extremely pleased with himself.
And of course I am very proud of him as usual.

Some of the comments on his report are:

"What lovely long legs you have Salem.
You dance very musically.
Some strong jumps and tours shown."

It's great to see his hard work rewarded.
Salem got on well with the girls and will be seeing some of them next weekend for the Genee Dance Challenge.
He has practice for that as well as a Grade 5 class tomorrow evening at his dance school, even though it is a public holiday.

Salem and his blue pointe shoes

On Friday Salem wore his pointe shoes in class for the first time.
The girls liked the colour of the shoes and helped him with tying up his ribbons as he had never had to do this before.
He had his Intermediate Foundation class and while the girls wore their usual ballet slippers, Salem wore his pointe shoes for the whole class.
He did really well and said that a lot of the barre exercises are actually easier when wearing the pointe shoes.
His feet felt funny but soon felt normal after class.

The class really helped break his pointe shoes in.
He had been wearing them at home with socks over the top of them to break them in and even went to sleep with them on in bed.
I had to take them off him in the middle of the night to give his feet a break from them.
It's funny watching him wearing his pointe shoes while he is making up one of his model WWII fighter planes.
He is very excited about wearing them.

No Luck in Star Search Final

Friday was the finals for the Coastlands Star Search.

Salem was up against five other performers - 3 singers, 1 keyboard player and a hip hop dancer.

Salem danced really well and even had a few of his "Senior Fans" come and watch him too.

Everyone performed well.

First and third place went to singers and second place went to the hip hop act who was another boy dancer.

It's funny how the only dancers that got through to the finals were boys.

All of Salem's fans said he should have had a placing but it is a fact that no matter how good a ballet dancer you are, hip hop is more popular with the general public, and he was up against some stiff competition.

So thank you to everyone who was supporting Salem.

And a big Congratulations to the winner and place getters.  Well done.

Back at the gym

Afterwards Grandma treated us to another hot chocolate.  A big thank you for that.
And then it was off to Grade School.

We had a good session at the gym yesterday as Salem is having to go over his classical dance for the Associated Ballet & Theatre Club Inc's 44th Annual Dancing Competitions this coming weekend.
It is being held at the Little Theatre in Lower Hutt on the 20th - 22nd October.
Salem is performing on Saturday night.  He is only doing one dance.

And he had to go over his Bond on Bond dance in preparation for the Genee Dance Challenge Wellington Regional Competition which is being held at the New Zealand School of Dance on Sunday 28th October.
I'll tell you more about that later.

Today it is back to normal lessons as the school holidays have finished.