"Cold" - New Neo-classical Dance

"Cold" costume.

Salem debuted "Cold" his new neo-classical dance at the DanceArt comps on the 11th April 2014.
It went really well and really surprised everyone.  No one expected a dance like this and everyone was dead silent when Salem was dancing it.

When he had finished dancing he had a lot of applause and his first ever bravo, and it was from one of the dad's in the audience.  Salem was thrilled.
He was awarded 2nd place.

We had a bit of fun with the costume, originally thinking a light blue colour and then decided on silver.  I even found silver ballet shoes.
I thought silver leggings and a silver top would be a bit too much so we thought a white leotard would be better with white braces on the leggings.
It did look good from in the audience.  The silver leggings really showed off Salem's leg muscles.
You can't see that in the video very well though.

This is one of Salem's favourite dances at the moment.

Fun Practicing In A Kilt

Well it's off to Palmerston North tomorrow for the Palmerston North Dance Associations competitions tomorrow.
Salem had his last practice today going over all his dances that he will be doing and had some impromptu practice which is always lots of fun.

Over the last few weeks Salem has been practicing his James variation from La Sylphide Act II wearing a kilt.  It is a very heavy man's kilt, all wool tartan, very hot to dance in.

So Salem has gotten used to dancing in it and for the last couple of practices, he has been wearing the heavy woolen jacket as well.  Poor boy is covered in sweat after doing this short dance.

He will be performing this variation up at Palmerston North this weekend.
He has had a lot of fun dancing in the kilt, loves doing pirouettes and chaines in it!!!!!

Should be a great weekend competing against new people and making new friends.
Wish us luck!!!!

Robin Hood and Palmerston North Comps

Robin Hood

Yep, it's that time of the year when competitions start up again.
Salem has been busy choreographing more dances which brings his total up to 11 dances which are choreographed by himself.

He will be debuting his new demi-character dance "Robin Hood" this weekend at at Palmerston North Dance Association Competitions at the Regent Theatre, Broadway Avenue, Palmerston North.  He will be up there with other dancers from Waikanae Dance School.
Salem will be performing on all three days so if you are up that way, check him out.

Robin Hood riding through the glen......

I have made him a Robin Hood costume including green tights and his horse which we call "Truffles" ;-)
Actually he had grown out of all his costumes except for his Krakowiak costume so all costumes are new and look fantastic!!!!!!!!
I still have to sew up some more tights/leggings for him though.

It will be interesting to see what people think of this new dance, Jonty keeps laughing every time Salem practices it in front of him.  It is a very funny dance.

We will put it up on You Tube when we get back from Palmerston as we want it to be a surprise up there.

Practicing in Costumes and More Acrobatics Practice

In most of his Krakowiak costume and the boots

Last week was very busy, lots of practice sessions at the gym as usual.
On Tuesday Salem had a great lesson with Jonte, Salem is improving all the time.
They went over his variations,Siegfried and James, and smoothed a couple of things out.

Practicing with kilt and sporran.

Then very bright and early on Wednesday morning we headed into Wellington to pop into the Royal New Zealand Ballet to borrow some boots for Salem to wear at the up-coming competitions on Labour Day, and also to watch a company class which was really fun.
Salem really watched the technique of the guys and would have loved to join in.
It was lovely to see everyone again and to see some new members of the company.

When we got back to Paraparaumu, we bought our tickets to see the RNZB's "Tutus On Tour" which will be at Southwards Theatre.

At the Acrobatic workshop.

On Thursday Salem went to the Acrobatic Workshop run by Michelle from Waikanae Dance School.

He had such a good time and learnt a few new things and enjoyed helping some of the younger ones too.

We parents got to see all the kids perform at the end of the class and we were all very impressed at what they had managed to achieve in one morning.  Their performance was so good!!!!!

The Bridge

So now at the end of every dance practice session, Salem practices some acrobatics and is doing things now which he though he wouldn't be able to do for quite a while.

He could do a bridge from the ground and now does it from standing up and goes all the way over too.

More Acrobatics Moves

Salem has entered in The Coastland's Star Search again this year, the heats have already started and Salem will be performing on Thursday.   

So he had a practice on the stage today, boy it is worse than last year, there is a lot of movement on some parts of it and is very uneven so the only dance he feels safe doing on it is Valse.  

He had a bit of an audience watching him today and got lots of claps.

James Variation Practice

This week Salem has been practicing in some of his costumes to get used to them for the comps.

He has been wearing his kilt and sporran for James.  His legs have gotten longer so his kilt is a little short for him but it will do for the mean time.  I'll get him a new one next year.

He has been wearing the heavy wool jacket, belt, hat and boots for his Krakowiak dance.  He gets really hot in them.  It will be great in winter!!!

Tomorrow he has a lesson with Jonte and we will be getting his exam results.

We are dying to know how he did.

To our friends who subscribe by email, you will have to go to:    http://balletboynz.blogspot.co.nz/2013/10/practicing-in-costumes-and-more.html     to be able to watch the videos.

Last Practice Before Concert Day

Ameno practice

Tomorrow afternoon Salem is debuting his new barefoot dance Ameno at the Waikanae Dance School's concert at Waikanae Memorial Hall.
He was luckily invited to do this solo as well as his class dance with his class mates.

So today he went through Ameno a few times and in costume to see if there was no costume malfunctions and that it looked good ...... he looked very good.
It is a great opportunity to do this dance before the next competitions in October.

A quick water break

After a quick change into his practice gear, we want to keep the costume clean for tomorrow, it was back into practicing all his other dances.
His lyrical dance, Polaroid Millenium, is looking so good, I keep asking him to do it again as I really enjoy watching him dance it.
Salem had shown this dance and his Krakowiak dance to Jacqui this week and they both have her seal of approval.  She also gave him some advice on technique which was very helpful.

Getting lyrical with Polaroid Millenium.

He really enjoys his Krakowiak dance and can't wait until his costume arrives from Poland.
We have checked on it's tracking and the package is currently in Sydney, Australia, so it won't be to much longer before it arrives here in New Zealand.

After our lunch break, Salem had his second Intermediate class at KDC.
Yay, no more Intermediate Foundation!!!!

Dancing On Shaky Ground and Costume Making

At the Botanic Gardens oblivious to the
 earthquakes

Yesterday, Friday, we decided to catch the train into Wellington to have a bit of a break from dance practice and to by some fabric and look for some patterns to make some more costumes for all the new dances that Salem is choreographing.

First we went to the St James for lunch and a pot of tea.  Then it was off on the bus to Spotlight to look at all the fabrics.  We couldn't find what we wanted there, well there was some nice stretchy fabric but I was not going to spend $40 a metre for what we wanted.  Spotlight is supposed to be reasonably, if not cheaply priced.  But the cheaper stuff (not by much) was see-through when stretched.  So we didn't buy any fabric there, but we did by two Burda patterns there that were half price.  Not exactly what I wanted but I can adjust the patterns.

It is really hard to find patterns to make dance costumes for boys, especially a very skinny boy.  I find that I can lengthen patterns if buying children's ones, but with men's I have to shorten and take in them.  Also the designs are not exactly what I want so I have to alter the designs.  for jackets, the arm hole length has to come up higher under the arm so that it doesn't pull when the dancer lifts up their arms.  I bought a men's Butterick pattern very cheaply on-line as well this week.

So after leaving Spotlight very disappointed, we caught another bus back into the city and went to Arthur Toyes Fabrics in the Grand Arcade and had much better luck fabric-wise and bought some red and some purple stretch fabric.  I'm going to make some leggings (tights), leotards and body suits (long legged unitards).  The fabrics were on sale, I love sales!!!!!!!!

The patterns and material we bought

So happy with our purchases, we caught the very crowded bus up to the Botanic Gardens to chill out a bit and breathe some fresh air.  Salem ran about and went exploring while I found myself a nice spot to sit near the fountain in the shade.  It was so lovely after the bustle of the city.

While sitting enjoying the gardens I felt the earth move a bit under me and thought "ha, a small earthquake" and shouted out to Salem that I thought I had felt a small earthquake, he said he didn't feel anything, but he was running around.  I then forgot about it.

Soon after lots of people started walking through the gardens and I noticed that the traffic had got very heavy and I just dismissed it as people heading home for the weekend.  Not long after we notice fire-engine sirens and the engines coming past, but still thought nothing of it.

Then it was time to head off on our walk back into the city to get to the railway station to go home.  So off we went via a dairy (convenience store) and bought ourselves some ice creams to eat on our walk.  So much traffic and more fire engines going by, we thought there must have been a fire in the city.

As we walked we couldn't believe how much traffic there was and there were so may people waiting for buses and walking home.  It shows you how long it has been since we have lived in the city, we just thought it was normal.  When we got to the subway to get to the station, it was quite deserted even though on street level it was hard to move because of people everywhere.  Then we saw that the doors to the station were closed. which I have never seen before, and were cordoned off with emergency tape.  We went up to the security guards and asked why the station was shut.  They said the trains were not going.  We asked why.  They said because of the earthquakes.  http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9052471/Strong-quakes-hit-Wellington.  We must have been the only two people in the city oblivious to what had happened.

Salem was upset as there were not going to be any trains at all and there were no replacement buses and that he was going to miss his dance class in Waikanae.  Well, we had nowhere to stay overnight in Wellington, no transport so there was only one thing for it.....get to the main road and hitch-hike.  So off we went through hundreds of people, there were hundreds at the side of the road waiting for people to pick them up and we stuck our thumbs out and had a ride in a couple of minutes.  http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9053603/Commuters-rely-on-the-kindness-of-others  A lovely lady was going out to Waikanae said jump in and we did along with a man who was going to Paraparaumu.  Fantastic!!!!

It was a long ride as the traffic was grid-locked at times but once out of the city and up the gorge, the traffic was quite steady.  I had phoned home to see if the grumpy teenager was okay and he said that the earthquake had really rocked the house but nothing was damaged.  The electricity had been off for a while but was back on again.  I felt better knowing that he was alright and he said the cats didn't even bothre moving when it had happened.  Typical.

When we had stopped in traffic between Paraparaumu and Waikanae, we felt an earthquake, the car was rocking.  Then this lovely lady took us all the way up to Salem's dance class which he was ten minutes early for.  He had a great class and got to show off one of his own new dances "Ameno" which everyone though was really good.  Next week he gets to show off another.  While I was waiting I felt a few of the aftershocks.

Afterwards were lucky to have the bus driver take us all the way back to Paraparaumu, as there were no trains, he was going back to the depot as he had finished his shift and then he gave us a ride home in his car. People are so great in an emergency!!!!!!!

Well, that was our exciting day out.  We are still experiencing a lot of aftershocks, some quite big.  Check out this site at http://www.geonet.org.nz/quakes/felt and http://www.geonet.org.nz/quakes/statistics to see how many are happening, there's been hundreds!!!!

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/

Costume Check

Peasant Pas - Giselle costume

Today we thought it would be a good idea to check that Salem's old costumes still fit him.

And to try out what he was going to wear for the Peasant Pas and for Proud Mary.

I was pleased with the waistcoat I had made for Peasant Pas.
We were influenced by the costumes from the Royal New Zealand Ballet's recent production of Giselle.
So that is why he is wearing a shirt with rolled up sleeves.
I think it looks very smart.

Du Hast contemporary costume

His Du Hast costume still fits and so does his classical outfit which I think we will have the black leotard under the waistcoat like the photo we have used for the blog title above.  Last year Salem wore his red leotard but I think the black looks more grown up.  I'm pleased I don't have to make any alterations.

Our first idea for the Proud Mary costume

We had a few ideas for Salem's Proud Mary costume so had Salem dance in them.
Our first idea looked good but Salem does like to wear tighter fitting costumes when he has to do a lot of more dynamic dance moves.

This is now the Proud Mary costume

So we came up with this costume which he can move very easily in.
Not very jazzy but he loves it and he can wear his Elvis frilled shirt which is now too short in the sleeves so he can't wear it for his Bond on Bond costume.

I will make him a black pin striped waistcoat to wear as well but if it's too much, I'm sure he will be able to wear it for something else.

I'll make a few different waistcoats for him, they don't take too long to make.

Then I have to start making some patterns up to make him a Polish character costume because as soon as the Alana Haines Awards are over then he will be working on a Polish character dance for the next lot of competitions.

I've found some great photos for design ideas.

I'm lucky I can sew!!!!!!!!