New Ideas and Choreography

Sydney Harbour Bridge New Years 2015

Happy New Year every one!!!!!!!

I had a fantastic New Years, I was over in Sydney at the Boys Ballet Summer School.

It was held at the Shore School which had a great view of the Harbour Bridge.

We all stayed up to watch the fireworks and the next day we went to Wet'n'Wild.

Photo courtesy of the Boys Ballet Summer School

I had such a great time, wish it was for longer.  I am now saving and fundraising to go back next summer.

When I came back home, I only had a couple of days off dancing and have got back into the studio to practice.  I started back with lessons with Jacqui yesterday.

Today I finished my new contemporary choreography. 

I'm very pleased with it.  Now it needs lots of practice to make it look good.

I was so inspired from being at the Boys Ballet Summer School and had fantastic tutors - Jason Duff for jazz, Bill Pengelly for contemporary, and Christian Tatchev from the Queensland Ballet.

Bill gave me a load of new ideas and inspired me to create this new dance using lots of new moves that he taught us. Thanks Bill. And thanks to Jason and Christian too.

I also get to use a Kate Bush song which is a bonus.  I just love this song,

For those of you who recieve this by email, you can click on http://youtu.be/oxQmfzmdSkI to watch the video.

Me and Mum will be doing more updates to catch up on everything.

Bye for now - Salem xx

Contemporary Exams Next Week

Yes, it's that time of year again, the NZAMD exams.
This year Salem is doing his Level 3 Contemporary exam along with his Senior Bronze Contemporary medal.
For his medal he is doing the exam dance and a shortened version of his own contemporary dance "In the Shadows".

His contemporary classes at Hayley Johnson's have been going well, he had his last exam practice on Tuesday so now it is just practice, practice, practice!!!!!

Next year he will be getting back into NZAMD jazz, goodness knows what level he will be.
And would like to do medals for tap as well.

Level three has been a nice change music-wise as the two levels before were very monotonous.  But he is getting sick of it now especially as he picks up different sounds, like booking chickens and waterfalls, which end up distracting him.

Looking forward to Wednesday!!!!!!!!!

A Quick Catch-up No.I : In the Paper, Junior Associates Weekend......

Dancing his way to the top
By JOEL MAXWELL

Reaching for the stars: Kapiti’s Salem Foxx, 13, will join New Zealand School of Dance’s junior associate programme in February.
A 13-year-old Kapiti boy has been selected from hundreds to join a New Zealand School of Dance's programme for talented young dancers.
In February, Salem Foxx will attend the first workshop for the school’s junior associate programme.  Salem, who has danced for a decade, said he was ‘‘really excited’’ he had been accepted for the course.  ‘‘It’s just such a great opportunity. Dancing is my life.’’ He was accepted for the programme majoring in contemporary dance, but Salem’s real passion is ballet.
Mum Michelle Foxx said the programme caters for talented dancers aged 13 to 16 and draws hundreds of
applicants for spots as either a contemporary or classical major.  ‘‘Salem is working for a career as a professional dancer. He lives and breathes dance.’’  She said Salem’s first weekend workshop runs on February 15 and 16.
‘‘They also do the Royal New Zealand Ballet master classes, which are every ballet season . . . they have to
go on them as part of the junior associate course. And he will also be going to the New Zealand School of
Dance winter school.’’ Salem starts the summer school for dance next week as well, she said.
‘‘It’s hard work being a dancer.’’

- KAPITI OBSERVER, 9 JANUARY, 2014

It's been a while since our last post, I've had some major issues with our computer and haven't been able to upload anything, emails taking forever, even resorted to going up to the library to use there computers and getting very frustrated.  I seem to have fixed things for the time being and am keeping my fingers crossed that this will be successful.

A well deserved fizzy drink at the end of the
Associates Weekend

Salem had his first Associates Weekend at the New Zealand School of Dance on the 15th and 16th of February.  We were up very early to get the train and buses in to Wellington for early starts.  He really enjoyed all the contemporary classes a lot.  He is the only male contemporary major and was one of only three junior contemporary majors.  He enjoyed making new friends.  There were plenty of boys doing the ballet and they were surprised that Salem didn't join them for the boy's classes.

They all worked hard over the weekend and just before it was time to finished on the last day, the parents were treated to a display of some of the work that the Associates had learnt.  It was very good to watch and I was very pleased with what Salem had learnt.

His poor toes had taken a beating over the weekend and I had to tape them up for him for his Intermediate and Grade One classes the next day.  I made sure he had a good sleep in.

That's a good start to our catch ups, more tomorrow night if my computer doesn't have another melt down.

Success At The Ribbon Festival Competition

Wellington Region Dance Teachers Competition Society Inc

Ribbon Festival

15th - 17th March 2013

Little Theatre, Lower Hutt

Back stage getting ready for the Restricted
Ballet Championship 

This weekend was very busy.
On Friday we made our way by buses and train to Lower Hutt for the Ribbon Festival.
We arrived quite early so hung around in the library reading some funny books.
The library was right next door to the Theatre.
Salem was a bit nervous about dancing that night as it was the first competition of the year.
The last one he was in was in October.
He wasn't expecting to win anything, just to have fun, but he did really well.

Alayna Ng

The adjudicator for the Ballet and Modern classes was Alayna Ng from the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
She has had a knee injury so she wasn't on tour with the RNZB so we were lucky to have her as adjudicator.

His first dance was his classical for the
Restricted Ballet Championship - Under 14 yrs.
He danced really well and was up against some stiff competition.
When all the competitors were lined up on the stage for the presentation, they were all given a bag of lollies which was really nice.
Then they started reading out the placings in reverse order, Salem's name hadn't been called out and they were up to the fist three placing, this was getting very exciting.
Third place - Elorah........Second was Georgia ....... First was Salem.
I could see the surprise on his face.
This was his first win.
Alayna put his sash on him and he was delighted.
I was very proud of my boy.

With his 1st place ballet Championship sash

He was so happy and excited when I went to the dressing room to help him into his next costume for the Junior Variation.
We forgot to take a photo of him with his sash in his classical costume so I took one of him with his sash in his variation costume.
He didn't get a placing for the variation but we didn't expect him to as he was competing against some very talented girls.

His reports for his dances contained good comments and pointers to make his performances better.
Some of his comments are:

Restricted Ballet Championship - Under 14 yrs.  First Place.
"You look very happy Salem, on stage.
I can see you're working your legs and feet very hard.
You showed off some good jumping strength, keep working hard on this."

Junior Ballet Variation
" You look good in white tights Salem.
Keep working hard on your jumps, really pushing hard off both legs to really get the power to get off the floor.
Good job."

Waiting to be called backstage for the
Junior Variation

We didn't get home that night until 12.30am due to lack of public transport.
Salem was very tired and we had to be back at the theatre at 8.30 Saturday morning, luckily we had a ride in with friends.
First up was the Restricted Jazz - 10yrs and over.
Salem was dancing Proud Mary in this.
This was to be his first jazz solo ever.
He was dancing against some very talented and older girls and was blown away when the results were announced..... he came third.
 We stayed and watched some of the other classes for a while then went off with friends for a pot of tea and something to eat.

The Junior Ballet Variation Award Presentation

That afternoon we were back  for him to do his classical dance again in the Restricted Classical Ballet Solo - 9 & under 13 yrs.
He danced very well again and as soon as he had finished I went and helped him get into his costume for the class that was up next.  Unfortunately due to the heat in the theatre, Salem had a bleeding nose so we had to do our best to stop it bleeding.
Luckily we were sucessful and stopped the bleeding.

He was doing his Du Hast dance in Contemporary/Modern Expressive - under 13 yrs. 
It was nice to see him do this dance on the stage.  It was very different compared to what the girls were dancing.
When he finished dancing he came and joined me to watch the others and wait for the results.
He got first place for the ballet and very highly commended for his contemporary.  A second place hadn't been awarded so in essence he was third.
He was absolutely thrilled.

Ready for his Proud Mary dance

After dinner it was back to the theatre again.
This time it was the Junior Modern Championship - under 13 years.

He was doing his contemporary Du Hast dance again.

He was very tired as it had been a very long day and a very late night last night.

But he danced very well again and all the other dancers were doing a jazz dance except for Elorah who did her Lyrical dance.  

Everyone danced really well.

After they had all danced, they were all up on stage again for their award ceremony.  

They were all given a bag of lollies again, Salem just loved that.

They said the placings in reverse order again, the first name up was Salem.  He came forth place.

He looked so happy and very surprised and was thrilled to get another sash.

He was a very happy boy.

We had a ride home so were home by 9.30pm.  Had a great nights sleep and we didn't have to be back at the theatre until 1pm the next day.

Salem with Elorah who placed 2nd

Restricted Jazz - 10yrs and over.  Third Place.
"Great song choice Salem!
It looked like you were enjoying yourself."

Restricted Classical Ballet Solo - 9 & under 13 yrs.  First Place.
"Your shoulders were better today but keep working hard on them.
Keep working hard.
Good Boy!"

Contemporary/Modern Expressive - under 13 yrs.   Very Highly Commended
"I think this is a great solo for you to keep working on and progress your skills."

Junior Modern Championship - under 13 years.  Forth Place.
"An improvement on this afternoon.
Keep up the good work on this."

We had a nice sleep in on Sunday morning, and we were lucky to have a ride in again.
First up was the Neo Classical - under 14 yrs.
Salem was doing his Bond on Bond dance for this.
We had a bit of a surprise to find that the ballet flooring was gone as it had to be taken up for the tap classes that were held in the morning.
Salem had to dance on a wooden floor which was slippery for him in his ballet shoes so it was a mad dash to the dressing room so I cold sand paper the soles of his ballet shoes and also wet them to stop him slipping on the wood floor.
I was in the audience watching him dance and he was doing a great job and he slipped and fell but he got straight up kept going without missing a beat.  He was so focused.
It was a quick change after that as he was in the next class, Modern Jazz Solo - 11 & under 13 yrs.
He was doing his Sh-Boom dance for this.
He was all ready to go but the theatre had gotten so hot that they had to have a ten minute break to open all the doors to cool the theatre and stage down.  It was so hot and humid.
I had to scratch up the soles of his jazz shoes as they were slippery on the wooden floor.
He danced well but didn't put as much energy into it as he was afraid of slipping again.

After watching the next two classes it was time for the last results and presentation of special awards.
They announced the results for the jazz but seemed to miss out the results for the neo classical.
Salem came second in the jazz, another surprise as his style of jazz is different to what the girls were doing.

He picked up his neo results when he got his ribbon and report for the jazz.
He was placed third for the neo even though he slipped over.  Well done Salem!!!!!
This was a very successful competition for him.
The next competitions after the Alana Haines Awards, he will be competing in the 13 years and over age groups.

Neo Classical - under 14 yrs.  Third place.
"Don't you look smart Salem!
A great action energy shown on the stage.
Nice tour.
Keep working hard.
Good Boy."

Modern Jazz Solo - 11 & under 13 yrs.  Second Place.
"It's all nice, neat and tidy.
Keep up the hard work."

Practice, Pointe Shoes and Praise

Straight after class

At lunch time today, Salem went down the road to get some bread for lunch from the shops.
On his way home he walks past the local primary school and today a group of boys came up to talk to him.
They said that they had seen him dance at the local talent quest and thought that his dance was really cool and that he was a great ballet dancer.  One of the boys even said that he would like to try ballet.
This was really nice for Salem to hear and apparently this happens from time to time when I'm not with him.

Then after a day off yesterday, it was back to work as usual.
Lots of practice at the gym and we concentrated a lot on his Peasant Pas variation.
It was mainly some contemporary to warm up with then it was on to the ballet.
This weekend is the Ribbon Festival at the Little Theatre in Lower Hutt and he will be performing all three days.

I've also discovered that I can upload my videos if they are short so below you have a bit of a taster of Salem's dances at practice today.

If you are getting my posts by email you will have to go directly to www.balletboynz.blogspot.com to see the videos.

At his Intermediate Foundation class this evening he was back in his pointe shoes, he stuffed lots of fleece around his toes so he didn't get another blister like last week.  The fleece worked well and there were no sore toes!!!!!

Warm-up exercise

Du Hast - Contemporary

Pas de Quatre Boy - Classical

Bond on Bond - Neo Classical

Still Dancing....Classes, Injuries and at the Ballet

Since our last post Salem has been very busy.

He has had a contemporary class at Thistle Hall with Lyne Pringle.

He really enjoyed that class and thought that Lyne was a really good teacher and gave him a lot of pointers.

Lyne Pringle

On the 24th February he attended the Boys Class with the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

Martin Videl, the RNZ Ballet's new ballet master, took the class.

Salem didn't enjoy it as much as the previous Boy's Classes he has been to.

The boys didn't get to have a chat with the male company dancers this time and only got to see the company's class for a few minutes.

Then on the 2nd March, he attended the Senior Master Class with the RNZB.

Rory Fairweather-Naeylan took the class and Salem said he did a really good job and Salem enjoyed it a lot.  This was the second class that Salem has had with Rory.

Rory Fairweather-Neylan

The lovely people at the RNZB gave the kids who did the Master Classes, free double passes to see the Made To Move ballet that afternoon.

So we got to see the ballet.  Yay!!!!!!

Made to Move consisted of three very different ballets - "The Anatomy of a Passing Cloud" by Javier De Frutos;  "Of Days" by Andrew Simmons;  and "Bier Halle" by Ethan Stiefel.

We didn't like "The Anatomy of a Passing Cloud" at all and were quite bored with it.  It really wasn't our sort of tatste.  The only part we liked was listening to the wonderful songs by the Yandell Sisters.

"Of Days" was a lot better, beautiful dancing but we found that the projected writing was too distracting.
It was so high up that when you read it, you missed out on the dancing and vice-versa.  The lighting showed off the dancers impressive muscles amazingly.

"Bier Halle" was a bit of a light-hearted laugh.
It was very impressive to see Jonte (Sir Jon Trimmer) do a backward roll!!!!!!

Can't wait to see Swan Lake next season!!!!!!!!

Salem has been doing plenty of practice but has unfortunately has had an injury which has put him back a bit.

He has been over stretched which has affected his hips and thighs so we are working through this with gentle exercises and plenty of massage etc.....

He is still doing all his classes and preparing for the up-coming competitions, The Ribbon Festival and The Alana Haines Awards.  

A Contemporary Class and a Video

Thistle Hall

On Wednesday morning we went into Wellington for another class with the Freelance Dance Community.
This time it was a Contemporary/ Improvisation class with Marisol Vargas.
Salem really enjoyed this class and Marisol was a great teacher.
Marisol is from Chile and even though her english wasn't 100%, Salem still was able to understand what she was saying and really learnt a lot.

Marisol Vargas

Seeing experienced dancers in the class made things easier for him and gave him more confidence in what he was doing.
The improvisation was challenging for him but he joined in with it all and made a real effort.
This was great as it is something we are working on for him.
It is giving him more tools/ ideas as he is wanting to enter in the Contemporary Impromptu section in competitions this year.
Thank you Marisol for the great class and the lovely things you had to say about Salem's dancing.

And a big thank you Alan for sending us the link to the You Tube clip above.
It is great to see a male ballet dancer dance en pointe so well.
Salem just loves this clip.

I've been trying to upload some videos of Salem dancing which we recorded today but it is just not happening.  I will try again another time, hopefully we will be lucky.

Salem practiced today at the studio at the gym but had a few falls as the floor was very slippery today.
It is a yoga studio so doesn't have a dance floor.  Lots of space and mirrors though.
He was very determined to continue on with practicing but when he landed hard on his wrist and sprained it, I said that was enough.  So it was off to get an ice pack.
I put arnica cream on his wrist when we got home.
His wrist was feeling better when he went to bed tonight.

Dancing Through the Holidays

Even though it is the summer holidays and Salem's dance school is closed until February, Salem is still doing plenty of dancing.  He wants to keep up his fitness for Summer School which is coming up soon.
If he doesn't dance, he gets too bouncy at home!!!!  But don't worry, he has had rest days too.

Since the last post, Salem has had some one on one time with Louis Solino and has learnt heaps.
Louis takes him through a floor barre and then his been doing a little ballet and a whole lot of contemporary.
Salem loves how Louis explains things to him and shows him how things are done.
They have worked on a old choreography that was done for Louis and have spent time working on Salem's "Du Hast" dance, changing bits of the choreography that Salem hasn't been happy with and making things flow more smoothly.  Salem has really enjoyed doing this and is confident to change the choreography by himself which he has done in his practices since then.
The dance is looking so much better.

This morning he attended another class of Louis's at Thistle Hall with the Wellington Freelance Dance Community.  It was a floor barre and a contemporary class.
He really enjoyed this and Louis taught everyone a great choreography.
I watched and it looked fantastic.
Salem worked hard and he kept up with all the adults in the class.

Afterwards we went for a cup of tea and something to eat at the St James and while there said hello to a few of the RNZ Ballet's dancers and had a catch up with Jonte.

Then it was a visit to the Hobson Street Park to have a bit of a play and a splash in the pond to cool down.
While splashing around in the pond, Salem decided to do some of his contemporary exercises in the water.
He had to do the exercises slowly so he didn't slip over, and it was quite windy, great for cooling off.
You can see one of his exercises in the video above.

Contemporary Exam Results

Salem got his Contemporary exam results today after his ballet class.  It was great to get the results so quickly.  We were very pleased with his results.

For his NZAMD Level One Contemporary exam he got High Honours which is a 90% - 94% pass.

His examiner made the following comments :  "A very promising dancer.  Contemporary style is developing.  Further study quaility of movement in Combinations.  A strong dance performance."

Going in to the Level One exam

For the NZAMD Contemporary Medal Award he was graded Excellence Plus.

The examiner made the following comments :  "Two strong performances.  Great dynamics developed in Dance 2 (Du Hast).  A very promising dancer."

Salem has done very well.  He should be proud of himself and the work he has put into his dancing.
I'm proud of my boy!!!!!!!

Today's Contemporary Exams Done and Dusted

Accepting his medal

The contemporary exams are over for another year.  Salem is very pleased with what he did today but has to wait a couple of weeks or so until we get his results.
At least with the medal test he gets his medal straight away.  The kids all line up when their group has finished and they each are presented with a medal.  This time it was his Silver NZAMD Contemporary Intermediate Medal.  But we still have to wait for his report.

Is No.5 for Level 1 Exam

First exam of the day was his Level 1 Contemporary Exam.  We had to be there over an hour earlier to make sure everyone had all the right gear, the girls had to have their hair done and they all had a good warm up.  They were in the exam room for about 45-50 minutes.  They all came out smiling so all must have gone well.

No.7 for Medal Test

Then it was off for a coffee (for me) and a hot chocolate for Salem.  He was able to relax a bit and he told me about the exam.  The examiner was really nice so made everyone feel at ease.  Then it was back to the studio and get ready for his medal test.

All ready for the Contemporary Level 1 Exam

With the medal test, the parents are allowed to go in and watch, as long as we are quiet.  The kids come in one at a time and then get to watch the dancers that come after them.  It was quite nice to watch them all.

During the Medal Test

Salem had to do two dances and did a very good job of them.  He seemed to have a good burst of energy and really put his all into the dances.  I was very proud of him.  I was filming his last dance and was so engrossed in watching him that I forgot to follow him with the camera near the end of his dance.  

Well done Salem!!!!
Then it was a quick bite to eat for dinner and he had a ballet class.  He was very tired after that.
He will sleep well tonight.