Finalist for the 2015 Attitude Awards

Me and my Grade Ones photo courtesy of Hayley Johnson Dance Academy

Hi everyone,  it's been a while since I last did an up-date, been very busy with my dancing, exams etc and also having a few doses of the nasty flu's that have been doing the rounds.
It is now springtime over here in New Zealand so hope fully all the winter nasty's are behind us.
So I will be doing a bit of a catch up and here is my first lot of news...........

Stretching with the film crew doing their thing.

I have been lucky enough to be a finalist again this year for the Attitude Awards which are held in Auckland on the 3rd December - World Disability Day.
I had a fantastic time there last year and meet some amazing people.
It is such an honour to be one of three finalists for the Artistic Achievement Award.

The Lovely Grade Ones photo courtesy of Hayley Johnson Dance Academy

The Attitude film crew came to my grade one class at Hayley Johnson Academy of Dancing to do some filming, all the students had a great time in front of the camera, they all did very well and looked great.
They had all their hair neatly done, were on their best behavior and did all their exercises etc brilliantly.
It was a really good practice for exam time.

Crazy time with the Grade Ones courtesy of Hayley Johnson Dance Academy

I'm dying to know how the filming turns out and what they will be using for my piece at the awards.
My Grade Ones and their parents are dying to see it too.

Ballet Boy New Zealand Supports the London Boys Ballet School

Salem with one of his Grade One ballet students

London is so lucky to have an all boys dance school, boys learn differently and the male ballet technique and performance is quite different.  As most dance schools cater mainly for girls, boys are often the only male in the class and taught to dance just like the girls.  This isolation from other boys in their classes can lead to them giving up dancing.

Being in all male classes, they can be taught male technique with other boys just like themselves and are able to compete against each other, like who can do the best grande jette or the most pirouettes, while having a real camaraderie.

Salem and I from the Ballet Boy New Zealand blog would like to wish the London Boys Ballet School all the best and we totally support what they are doing. 

What a fantastic opportunity for boys who want to dance. 

Michelle and Salem Foxx

Salem at the Upper Hutt Comps June 2014

This was the letter of support we recently sent to the LBBS http://www.boysballetlondon.com.

Sorry for the lack of up-dates lately, so much happening and Salem is at Winter School at the New Zealand School of Dance so it is very early starts and he comes home and it is straight into bed.  It's day three today and he is loving every moment.

Boys Only Open Ballet Class 23rd April 2014

If you live out Kapiti way, I am teaching a boy's only ballet class out in Waikanae for the Waikanae Dance School this Wednesday from 9 am til 10 am.

If you know of any boys, any age, who would be interested in giving ballet a try, get them to get in touch.
No experience necessary!!!

It will be lots of fun!!!!!!!

www.waikanaedance.org.nz

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!!!!!

Wellington Summer School 2014 Part One

Repertoire Class.

Sorry for the long break between blog posts, we have been having some computer and internet issues which has been making life and blog posting difficult.  I'm hoping things are getting back to normal.....fingers crossed.

Peasant Pas de deux (1)

Salem had Summer School in January, a whole week of dance which was held at the New Zealand School of Dance.  He had such a good time.

It was a very early start for him, leaving our house at 6.15 every morning to get the bus, train and then another bus to get there at 8 am ready for the warm-up class.


The warm up was taken by a different teacher each morning.
There were a couple of morning he enjoyed and got nicely warmed up but others he was quite stiff afterwards.  He would have prefered doing the Zumba warm-ups which they did last year which definitely got you ready for your next class.

Peasant Pas de deux (2)

This year his teachers were:

Anita Hunziker for Contemporary
Pagan Dorgan for Jazz
Kerry Anne Gilberd for Repertoire
Anneliese Gilberd for Classical.

Salem with Kerry Anne Gilberd.

He didn't do the RAD class with Paula Hunt as he is no longer doing the RAD syllabus.
His favourite classes were Repertoire and Contemporary.
He really didn't like the jazz class as he thought that it didn't cater towards boys and did not like being told to "strut his stuff down the catwalk" and to be "beautiful", not what a teenage boy wants to hear.

Peasant Pas II

He had one other boy with him in his group this year, Jake, so at least he wasn't the only boy.
It was nice to meet him.

In the Repertoire class he got to do a different version of Peasant Pas II.  It was very different to his own version which he has been doing for comps.  Jonty was saying that it is the one that the Royal New Zealand Ballet does.

He also got to do the Peasant Pas de deux which he really enjoyed.  It's not very often, if ever that he gets to do a pas de deux.  He looked forward to Kerry Anne Gilberd's class every morning!!!!

Waiting at the bus stop at 6.15 in the morning.

I'm going to quit this post while I'm ahead and continue with par two later tonight as I've been losing my internet contection on and off.  Bad for uploading videos.  These videos are not on You Tube but I will be putting other ones up on there soon.

Last Class of the Year for the Grade One's

Salem and the Grade One Class

It was the last class for the Grade One Ballet Class for the year, so everyone was allowed to get dressed up for class.  Two of the class weren't there today but it looks like everyone had a good class.
Salem was Ballet Santa and at the end of the class Salem gave everyone a couple of little chocolates.

He has loved being teacher's assistant to this class this term and is looking forward to continuing next year.
Doing this class is also helping him learn what the BTDA syllabus is like for the younger grades and will be a big help for him when it comes to exam time when he does his BTDA Intermediate exam.

"Merry Christmas Grade One's!!!"

Acro, Intermediate, Grade 1, Swimming and on the Leader Board

Salem has been busy as usual with his dancing.  He has been having his lessons with Jacqui and Jonty as usual and his Acro class and Lyrical & Jazz class as well.

On Monday he started doing his BTDA Intermediate class with Michelle at Waikanae Dance School.  He was very excited about that and found it very different to the RAD syllabus.  He is enjoying this a lot more.
So he has been practicing his new exercises up at the gym before he gets into his own dances etc.

What was even more exciting for him, was being the teachers helper for the Grade 1 class afterwards.
He really enjoyed being with the younger kids and is looking forward to next week.
It's a good sized class with six girls and one boy.

He is enjoying the challenge of his acro class and is so pleased at being able to stand back up after doing a bridge and is working hard at doing a tidy walkover.  Luckily we have a large flat lawn, which we just had mowed, for him to practice on.

It's a bit scary watching him sometimes!!!!!!!

Salem has been having swimming lessons once a week with the Kapiti Homeschoolers at the Aquatic Centre and after two lessons, can swim a length of the pool, back stroke, without stopping and can swim freestyle a bit.  He gets in to the big pool and practices for over half an hour before his class starts.

Not bad for a kid who hadn't been in a pool for over five years.

It's great exercise for him, really gets those leg muscles working.

Every Wednesday at City Fitness, they have a 1 Minute Challenge which Salem has a go at.
Last week it was how many push-ups can you do in one minute.  Salem did 35 proper push-ups, which isn't too bad for a thirteen year old.  He made it up on to the leader board.

Then today, the challenge was how many sit-ups in one minute.  Salem did 50 which put him up on the leader board and was still there when we left two hours later.

Well done Salem!!!!!!

Competitions and Other Updates

DanceArt - Senior Variation Award Presentation

It has been a while since our last post, I've had some problems with my internet connection and have been losing a lot of stuff, so I am hoping all goes well now.

Since our last post Salem competed at the DanceArt Society Inc's 11th Annual Dance Festival on the 3rd - 5th May at the Little Theatre in Lower Hutt.
His 13th birthday was on the first day of the comps so he danced in the Senior Variation Championship.  He really enjoyed being able to do two variations instead of just the one.
He didn't get a placing but danced very well.
He also got Highly Commended for his other dances.

Practicing "Du Hast"

Next up was The Associated Ballet and Theatre Club Inc - Tap, Modern, Restricted Ballet Competitions which were held on the 17th - 19th May.
He only danced four dances and did very well.

Last minute practice of "Sh-Boom"

He received Very Highly Commended's and First Place for Bond on Bond in the Neo Classical 12 years and over class.
Salem was very excited as this was his first trophy that he had won.  The last person who had won the trophy hadn't returned it yet, so we are still waiting to receive it.

Looking dapper for "Bond on Bond"

Then there was the Wellington Region Dance Teachers Competition Society Inc - Queen's Birthday Festival on the 1st - 3rd June.
He danced eight dances, was going to be nine but we couldn't make it in time on the Sunday morning due to lack of public transport.  But I think eight was enough.

Ready for his Polish debut

He had done enough practice on his Polish character dance to feel ready to give it a go, so luckily we were able to make a last minute entry because someone else had pulled out of that class.
So I quickly got a costume together for him making use of some of his older brothers Polish costume from years ago.  I had to do a lot of alterations as Salem is a lot slimmer but I think he looked great for his Polish debut.

Having a "Proud Mary" moment.

Salem was given lots of nice comments about his Polish dance such as:
"Lovely light holoubets.  Great Hinge.  Very enjoyable!"
He was given a Commended which he was very happy with.

Article in the Kapiti News. A few facts slightly wrong but never mind. 

Salem was very fortunate to be awarded another Variety - The Children's Charity Gold Heart Scholarship this year.  We are so grateful for the help with Salem's dance expenses.
A big "THANK YOU" to Variety!!!!!

Salem has been having lots of fun with his lessons with Jonty and we are all very pleased with the progress Salem is making.  He has been pracicing doing classical and barefoot impromptu dances with Jonty watching to see if what he is doing is passable and Jonty has been quite impressed.
Salem's first impromptus at comps are coming up soon!!!!!!

Salem is also working on two more variations:
James' solo - La Sylphide Act II and
Sigfried's solo - Swan Lake Act III.

As James from La Sylphide

He has only just learnt Sigfried's solo on the weekend at the Boy's Ballet Class with the Royal New Zealand Ballet Education Program with Shannon Dawson.
Shannon is a great teacher and Salem really enjoyed the class.
So Salem is putting a few of his own little touches along with Jonty's help to the Sigfried variation.

We are still going up to the studio at the gym all the time for plenty of practice as it is competition time again.

Competitions coming up are:

Hutt Valley Performing Arts Competition Society - Ballet and Tap/Modern Dance Comps 12th - 16th July

The Dance Kapiti Competition Festival is on the 20th - 23rd July, held at Southwards Theatre, here in Paraparaumu.

The Alana Haines Awards Experience

Waiting to be called backstage

This Easter weekend, the St James Theatre played host to the Alana Haines Australasian Awards 2013.
Salem had a blast and meet so many other dancers, both boys and girls from all over New Zealand and Austraila.
He really enjoyed meeting up with other boy ballet dancers.
He has made a few friends.

The waistcoat I had just made

Basically at the last minute we had to change his costume as his dance teacher thought he had better wear his black tights instead of his white ones and to change his shirt.
The black tights did not look as good with the green waistcoat I had made.
Luckily I had just made a new waistcoat for him out of a huge size 2XL waistcoat I had bought from the op-shop for $1.  The op-shop bargin had such great fabric which I thought would look great on Salem.
I did a bit of lacing up the back to look a bit more interesting.

The back view and the sleeves before I changed them

I didn't really have another type of shirt for him, so I re-arranged an old satin shirt of mine and changed the sleeves to have a bit of a frill around the wrists.
I think the costume looked okay but it wasn't as nice as the other which we had based on the RNZB's recent production of Giselle.

Having a rest at The Jimmy (St James Theatre)

On the Thursday night we had to be at the St James for Salem to do a 30 min class.
It was a very hot and humid night and all the young dancers really made the studio very, very hot.
I was up there for a little bit and was glad that I could go back downstairs into the cooler temperature at the Jimmy.
Salem said the class was over quickly.
He was the oldest in the group so had to be at the back but he is quite short so couldn't see everything that was being taught.  But soon picked up everything.  He did fine.

With fellow Junior competitors

On Friday, the Junior Scholars got to perform.
He was in the second group which started performing at 5pm.
We made our way to the boys dressing room and I helped him on with his costume and make-up.
He chatted to the other boys.
A real friendly bunch.
While waiting to be called backstage, the kids were all chatting and laughing at each others accents.
I watched Salem dance on the moniter with Lindsay.
Salem danced really well and made full use of the large stage.  He knows that stage very well.
He was very excited when he got back to the dressing room.

On Saturday we came back to the St James so Salem could watch the older dancers, especially the boys.
He was so impressed by them.
He would run up the stairs to the dress circle, watch some of the boys, run back downstairs to tell me all about it, then run back upstairs to catch the next let of boys.
I don't know where he got all the energy from as he did that so many times.
We left a little while after the Junior Scholars semi and quarter finalists were posted up.  We didn't want to be too late back out to Kapiti.  The public transport isn't the greatest on public holidays.
Salem would have loved to stay longer to watch more of the older boys.
Salem didn't get placed but he just loved the whole experience and can't wait for the next AHA Awards in 2015.
http://www.ahaawards.co.nz/

Ballet Boy is Back

We are back after having a few technical difficulties and ready to do regular posts again.
Salem has been busy with his dancing all summer only taking a few days break.
Last week he attended Summer School which was held at the New Zealand School of Dance.
He had classes from 8 o'clock in the morning and finished at 4.15 in the afternoon.  That was Monday til Friday.

He had six classes every day starting with the Zumba warm up which he didn't really enjoy but he still did it.
It really wasn't his thing.
He also had Jazz with Ange McKellar which he really enjoyed.  He liked it so much that he decided to go back to doing jazz which he hasn't done for 1 3/4 years.
Then there was the Classical class with Nicole Ransley, he liked that class but really enjoyed the Repertoire class with Shannon Dawson.  Shannon is such a good teacher.
Next up was the Intermediate Foundation Syllabus class with his old teacher from Wellington Dance Academy, Helen Calman, followed by Contemporary with Geordan Wilcox to finish off the day.

His favourite classes were the Jazz and Repertoire classes followed by the Classical.

It is sooooo nice not to have to get up so early everyday to get into Wellington in time for the classes.

On Monday he went and had a contemporary class with the Wellington Freelancers with Sacha Copeland at Thistle Hall.  He really enjoys doing these classes with adults and learns so much.  This class taught him about using space and using your body for percussion and improvisation.
What impressed him was doing some of the exercises with his eyes closed, he really got to feel the music.
We are now using that in our sessions at the studio at the gym.

The last two days Salem has been going to the Summer School that his dance school, Kapiti Dance Centre, is running this week at their new studio.  He has been helping with the littlies which he really likes doing.

This runs from Monday til Friday 9 am to 12 noon so he will be helping out for the rest of the week.

After this we have lunch then it's off to the gym for a practice session.

We have been working on all his competition dances, improvisation for his contemporary, and some jazz thrown in for good measure.

I was going to include some videos but I still can't upload them.

I'll try again tomorrow on my oldest son's computer.

Having Fun Now Exams Have Finished

Exams are all over and done with for the year and this is the last week for lessons at Kapiti Dance Centre.
Monday's New Grade 6 class was heaps of fun, it wasn't too serious at all.
Miss Pond choreographed all this new stuff for us to have a fun class and we all kept mucking up and then laughing lots.

Up at the gym, Mum has been getting me to do lots of different things.
I'm working on my Intermediate Foundation stuff and polishing up my competition dances.
We aren't being too serious with this either.
I wore my "Bah Humbug" hat to practice.
I have to keep my fitness up for Summer School in January.

So I have normal classes today and tomorrow and then on Friday we have the dance school's Christmas Party and Prize Giving.
The parties are always heaps of fun!!!!!!!!

Practice, Boys Class,Pointe Shoes and Ballet Exams

Hard at practice

This is a very busy time for Salem.
He has been getting ready for his RAD Grade 5 exam and his RAD Performance Award exam.
We have been up at the gym in the dance studio nearly every day.
Salem has had his normal classes plus a mock exam on the weekend.
He knows it all and now we are working on polishing up everything.

Glen Harris

The day after his last performances of Giselle, he went to the Boys Ballet Class with the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
His teacher was Glen Harris who is the RNZB's ballet master for the moment.
Salem really enjoyed the class and Glen gave the boys lots of good tips which Salem has found very useful.
He has been practicing one of the dances from Giselle that Glen taught the boys.

Getting ready for his Intermediate
Foundation Class

Salem loves his blue pointe shoes and has been using them in his Intermediate Foundation class.
He is becoming more confident with them and is doing centre work with them on.

His blue pointe shoes

His pointe shoes still need a bit more wearing in.

So exams are on Sunday and his examiner is his old ballet teacher from Wellington.
I know he will do very well!!!!

A Master Class and Two Performances - Giselle

Me and Loughlan Prior

Ballet Diaries - Giselle
By Salem

A Master Class and Two Performances in One Day
10th November 2012

We had to get up very early in the morning and had to catch the 7am train into Wellington.
I had a Master Class with the Royal New Zealand Ballet at their studios at the St James at 8.30am.
It was a real rush to get there in time but we did it!!!!!
Loughlan Prior, one of the RNZB dancers took the Senior class which I was in.
It was a real fun class and we did some exercises and lots of combinations.
He was a really good teacher.

After that, me and Mum stayed in the green room for a while and had a cuppa and a biscuit to eat.
It had been quite a while since we had breakfast.
Then we went for a walk to upper Cuba Street to have brunch at Arthur's Cafe and to meet up with a photographer to have some photos taken of us for a newspaper story.

Visiting Jonte in his dressing room

A bit later we had to go back to the St James and up to my dressing room and Mum put on my make-up as usual and I got into my costume.  We were doing a matinee show this afternoon.
I went back downstairs and visited Jonte (Sir Jon Trimmer) in his dressing room.  He let me choose one of his costume rings for me to have.  I chose a big green one.  Thank you Jonte, I love it.

I went and got some more autographs in my Giselle program.  I just knocked on the dressing room doors.
All the dancers are lovely and signed my program.  I think they are used to me doing this now, except for the new dancers though.

Knocking on the dressing room door to get more
autographs.

I went back up to my dressing room and Mum went into the St James as she was watching the show in the audience again.
Me, Paris and Jaida mucked around until we were called to go down to backstage.
Our performance went well and I got some souvenirs, some of the leaves from the trees had fallen off so I picked some up and put them in my pants until I got up to the dressing room.
As usual, I quickly got changed and went downstairs to chat to Lindsay until Mum picked me up at intermission to take me into the theatre so I could watch Act Two.
I got to watch Lucy Green as Giselle and Kohei Iwamoto as Albrecht.
They did really well and everyone danced brilliantly, but Antonia Hewitt and Andrew Bowan are my favourite Giselle and Albrecht.
Giselle is such a great ballet!!!!!

Me and Bronte Kelly

Between the shows we had a pot of tea at The Jimmy and then went and hung out in my dressing room and relaxed.
But on the way up to the dressing room, Ethan Stiefel came and waited to go up in the lift as well.  I needed his autograph so I ran up the stairs (the lift takes too long) to get my program for him to sign while Mum chatted to him while he waited for me to come back down.  Yay, I finally have his autograph.

I also finished getting all my autographs, Maree White's was the last one I needed and I finally tracked her down.

On our way down to backstage.

Later, I got back into my costume for the last time and Mum did a quick fix-up of my make-up.
Then I took Paris and Jaida downstairs to the dressing rooms to get autographs in their programs.
We had heaps of fun doing that.
Back up in our dressing rooms, we were feeling a bit sad as this was to be our last performance.

The Peasant Men

Our performance went very well as usual but it was sad.
I wanted to stay on stage as usual with my "family".

Back up in the dressing room, we all got changed and said our goodbyes.
Paris and Jaida gave me a little present of lollies for being a good "brother".
We gave each other hugs and then it was time to go.
We will all see each other again at future master classes and competitions.
It will be nice to see my friends again.

I was a very tired and sad boy and needed to get home to bed.
Jonte was on the train with us again and both of us caught some zzzzzzzzzzzz's on the ride home.

The Genee Dance Challenge - Wellington

Bond on Bond

This weekend we were busy with the Genee Dance Challenge.
It was held over Saturday and Sunday at the New Zealand School of Dance.

On Saturday each group had a class in Studio 4 with Christine Gunn.
Salem was in Group One which was made up of Grades 4 and 5.
It was a large group of 18 dancers, with 3 of this group being boys.
The boys were Salem (of course), Daniel and Issak.
Salem really enjoyed the class.

Then they each had a rehearsal of their dance seperately in another studio with Shannon Dawson (Royal New Zealand Ballet Educator).  He helped them with their entrances and spacing, etc.

Then on Sunday it was a real early trip into Wellington for a warm-up class at 9.15am.  It takes us a long time to get there so we had to leave home at 6.45am.

The adjudicators for today were Ms Turid Revfeim - Ballet Mistress for the Royal New Zealand Ballet, and Mr Peter Boyes Dip.Arch.Tech., A.I.Chor.

Salem was dancer No.8 and he really danced well.
He did his neo-classical "Bond on Bond" dance and did it with a lot of confidence.
He had put in a lot of practice for this.
He was then able to come and watch all the other dancers after he had performed.
There was a very high standard of dancing.
Two dancers were chosen from each level, there were four levels, to go on to the final.
Salem was thrilled that his friend Lokyee Szeto was chosen from his level.

It was very well organised and everything ran to time.
A great way to spend the day, watching some great ballet!!!!!!!