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.

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.