Appearing in the New Zealand Woman's Day and Mentioned on TV

This is the article that appeared in the New Zealand Woman's Day magazine in June 2015.

I was interviewed while I was taking part in the Dance Art Competition in May and then did a photo shoot at the St James Theatre at a later date.
That was a whole new experience for me.

When the magazine with my article was out in the stands, I was mentioned on the "Good Morning" television show.
Mum videoed it off the telly https://youtu.be/RmmVJeuCkAs

Ballet Boy NZ mentioned on Good Morning

Hopefully you can read the article from these photos.

Salem

Exams Soon and Old Dance Videos

It's not long now until exam time so I 've been doing lots of practice. 

I have my contemporary and two jazz exams, plus medal tests for jazz, ballet, contemporary and tap.

I was very sick on the weekend, couldn't get out of bed at all. I caught some bug that was going around, luckily it only lasted 48 hours but it meant I missed exam practice, the boys master class with the Royal New Zealand Ballet, and going to see their latest production of A Midsummer Nights Dream.

I've been having a look through some videos of the old dance school productions I have been in. Some of them are so cute and some are just so funny. I will have to convert them all and put them up on You Tube.

Here is one I had already put up a while ago from 2009 when I was with Kapiti Dance Centre.
https://youtu.be/BgIAZRuq4c0

Colours of the Wind

And here's another old video that we just put up on You Tube, from 2010. 

It's of 6 dancers from the RNZB, they dance first and then it's us kids. I'm the skinny one dressed in black and wearing ballet shoes. Loved wearing my ballet shoes, now I prefer to dance in socks, no shoes.

This was part of The Nutcracker season, and I was lucky enough to have one of the children's parts in The Nutcracker. It was such a great experience and I knew then that I wanted a career as a ballet dancer.
https://youtu.be/-eEqBXT3zbc

Ballet at Te Papa 2010

I hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane

Salem

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

The BTDA Festival, Auckland 2014 - Salem's Report

This is Salem's report on the British Theatre Dance Association Dance Festival 2014, which he attended as part of the Waikanae Dance School's performance team.
He did this report to the Kapiti Coast Youth Council as he received a $200 Youth Dollars grant from them to help cover his costs to take part in this festival.

Salem’s Trip to the BTDA Festival in Auckland

5^th – 8^th June 2014

At the Youth2U Dollars ceremony

A very big “thank you” to the Kapiti Youth Council for granting me $200 Youth2U Dollars.  This helped me cover the rest of my costs for me to participate as part of the Performance Team for Waikanae Dance School at the British Theatre Dance Association’s dance festival for 2014.

As part of the performance team, I had helped in some of the fundraising activities such as performing at the Waikanae Easter Market, and even performed for the Paraparaumu/Raumati Community Board to get some funding for the team’s trip up to Auckland.  It was a lot of fun.

After all our hard work, I was so excited to go on my first plane flight ever, to Auckland.  I had never been to Auckland before either so it was a weekend full of new experiences.  We stayed at a holiday motel/park was had loads of palm trees which I was very impressed with as we don’t have any, or as many, down this part of the North Island.

I really enjoyed being part of the BTDA dance festival, I met a lot of new people and made plenty of new friends.  It was great to be able to compete against a lot of new people.

The Attitude film crew

I also had a film crew from Attitude Pictures with me.  They had been filming me before this trip, at home in Kapiti, having lessons and me teaching as well.  I got very used to having them around.  It was weird saying good bye to them at the end.  

You can watch my documentary at  http://attitudelive.com/blog/dan-buckingham/documentary-salems-ballet.  Here is the add for the programme on You Tube :

These were the first competitions I had ever danced as part of a duo, a trio, and an acrobatic troupe.

It was also the first time I had competed doing an acrobatic dance solo as I had only started learning acro in term 4 of last year.  I had choreographed my acro solo over the summer holidays and this was my debut performance.

I was up against very experienced and amazing girls, they were all very nice to me too.  I was a bit nervous as to how I would do. 

I received 2^nd Place.  I was very happy with that result.

Practicing for modern trio

My results for the festival were:

   

    1^st Place – Acro Duo

    2^nd Place – Acro Solo

    2^nd Place – Acro Troupe

    Highly Commended – Classical Duo

    Commended – Lyrical Solo

    Commended – Modern Trio

1st Place for Acro Duo

You can see some of my dances from the festival on my You Tube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWosTjBuKQhhucPJMxSK7Xg and I put together a video about my trip to the festival which you can watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PhZETQwTcE.

So “Thank You” again to the Kapiti Youth Council and the Youth4U Dollars grant for helping to make this great experience happen for me.  It has been really appreciated.

Salem Foxx

Upper Hutt Comps June 2014

Upper Hutt Competition Society

Competition Results 

20-22^nd June 2014

Salem received a Upper Hutt Competition Society Incentive Award for Restricted Jazz.

Results for the weekend were:

Second Place - Restricted Jazz

Third Place - Musical Theatre

Very Highly Commended - Self Choreographed

Highly Commended - Contemporary

                         Lyrical

                                      Jazz Impromptu

Salem competed at the Upper Hutt competitions for the fist time in June and had a lot of fun.

A new theatre to dance in and some new faces for him to compete against.

Warming up backstage for lyrical

It was a nice big stage at Expressions Theatre and the boys had two dressing rooms to themselves which was a bonus.

In the dressing room.

It was a modern and tap competition, so no ballet this time and it will be a little while yet before he competes in tap.

They had a self choreography section which required a time limit of two minutes, Salem had wanted to do his acro dance "Safety Dance" but that was well over that time.  So he choreographed a new acro dance "Cotton Eye Joe" for a bit of fun and performed it for the first time at these comps.
Hopefully he will get to perform it again.

Cotton Eye Joe

Truffles was due for another performance so this time Salem entered "Robin Hood" in the Musical Theatre category so he sang while he danced.  He was very nervous beforehand as he had never sung on stage but he had a real blast doing it and achieving a third placing was a bonus.

Robin Hood and Truffles

He was a bit dissappointed with the Jazz Impromptu section as they played a very contemporary piece in which basically everyone danced contemporary while Salem, being the Aspie (Aspergers) that he is, only did jazz steps which was very, very hard with the choice of music.  Well done him for keeping to the style!!!!

Warming up for jazz

All in all it was a great weekend, just lot's of time spent travelling and getting home very late.
Public transport is pretty bad on the weekends especially when the trains are replaced by buses making for a very long journey indeed.

Incentive Award for Jazz

Salem is on TV

Tomorrow morning Salem is appearing in his own documentary on TVNZ1's "Attitude" at 8.30 am.
Salem is talking about having Aspergers Syndrome and his love of dance.

It shows him at home, at practice, classes, getting ready for exams and travelling up to Auckland for the British Theatre Dance Association's Auckland Festival.

He had a lovely film crew who were very supportive.  Thanks guys!!!!!

Here is the promo for the programme.

Salem is very nervous to see the finished product.
He will be at day two of the Associates Weekend when the documentary is shown, but we don't get tv anyway so he can watch it On Demand when he gets home.

I'll put up the link when it become available.

We Need Your Help Identifying a Song

In his Krakowiak costume.

We need your help to get the name and composer if possible for the music of Salem's Krakowiak character dance.

The Hutt Valley Performing Arts Competition Society's comps in July require that all the dances entered have to have the song name and composer on the entry form.  I have had the music for years as it was from a group dance that Salem's older brother had done.

So please take a look at this video and if you can help we would be very grateful!!!!

UPDATE:

A big "THANK YOU" to everyone who has replied to our request for help, especially Alan, Felix and Benni.  We are able to fill out the entry form and will be sending it off soon.

We have decided that it is "Krakowiaczek jenden" by Anonymous.  

Wellington Summer School 2014 Part Two

Chatting before Contemporary class.

After the warm-up class, Salem's first "proper" class of the day was Contemporary with Anita Hunziker.

He really enjoyed this class and said that Anita was a great teacher.

Contemporary class (1)

Salem did very well to travel into Wellington every day and the get home between 7.15 and 7.30 pm, eat dinner, tell me how his classes went and then off to bed ready to be woken up at 5.45 am for his cup of tea and to get ready for the day.  Out the door for the 6.15 am bus,then on the train where he ate his breakfast.

Contemporary class (2)

On the last day parents were allowed to watch the classes which was great.
It's really good to see what they have learnt and what they need to work on.
And of course it's a good experience to learn from different teachers.  Salem's a bit spoilt in that way.

I'm not sure yet if Salem will be going to next years Wellington Summer School as I think the Boys' Ballet Summer School in Sydney is more important for him to attend.  He really needs classes that are just for boys.

Contemporary class (3)

Unfortunately when being the only boy in a class full of girls, you miss being taught how to dance like a man.
Salem is lucky now as his teachers, Jonty, Jacqui and Michelle are concentrating on Salem standing, gesturing and dancing like a (young) man.

Contemporary class (4)

The contemporary class this year really inspired Salem and he has since choreographed a contemporary dance to "In the Shadows" by The Rasmus.  He will be doing this dance at competitions this year.

It is very different to his old contemporary dance "Du Hast".

Well, I seem to be have had better luck uploading everything tonight even though it is sooooo slow!!!!!
All the videos which are on this post are not on You Tube.

Contemporary class (5)

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.

Ballet Boy NZ is now on You Tube

Happy New Year Everybody!!!!!

We thought it was about time to do things properly and have now got a You Tube channel up and going.
The channel is simply called Ballet Boy NZ : http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWosTjBuKQhhucPJMxSK7Xg/videos

I'll be up loading videos over the next few days, just got to go through them all and see if they are worth putting up.

To start of I have uploaded some old concert dances from when Salem was 9 and 10 years old.  It seems like a very long time ago.

Last Practice of 2013 and Plenty of Pointe

Today was Salem's last practice session for the year.

It's not open tomorrow either, pity as Salem really wants to do some work on his dances and to do some more pointe practice.

Normally he doesn't take his pointe shoes to the gym as the floor is incredibly slippery and he is constantly having to wet his normal ballet shoes so he isn't slipping all the time.  Unfortunately we can't use rosin there.

So we put yoga mats on the floor which worked quite well and used the step ladder as a barre.

Salem hasn't been doing as much pointe practice lately due to being so busy with all his other dancing but  is now very determined to put loads of practice in and to have a dance choreographed and ready for competitions towards the later part of 2014.

We are thinking a demi-character dance would be good.

Salem is now on to his third pair of pointe shoes and we aren't colouring them yet until we decide on costuming, that's if his feet don't grow before then.

His last two pairs of pointe shoes were Bloch Sylphide's but we decided to go for a Grishko pair, not sure what they are called but they fit him perfectly and have a slightly longer vamp and are nice and narrow.
He says they are very comfortable.  So we are sticking to these ones now.

Last Acro class of the year.

So we will end this year with a photo of Salem's Acro class, we hope you had a great Christmas and wish you

Happy New Year!!!!!

Ballet for a Boy Fundraiser

I have just started a fundraiser for Salem to help raise the money for him to go the National Boy's Ballet Summer Camp in Sydney next summer.  This will help with air fares and the cost of the camp.

You can check it out at : http://www.givealittle.co.nz//cause/balletboy .

Salem is very excited about the Summer Camp and it will be his first time overseas, actually he hasn't been out of the North Island of New Zealand.

http://www.boyssummerschool.net/

He is looking forward to being with other boys who love ballet as much as he does.  And to make new friends.

If anyone would like to donate, we would be very appreciative as every little bit helps.

Exam Results and Another Chance to Dance

Salem with Jonty after performing at the
Coastlands' Star Search.

Since our last post, about one and a half weeks ago, Salem has a lot of good practices, fun lessons with Jonty, performed at the Coastlands' Star search, had a really good lesson with Jacqui today and has received his contemporary and jazz exam results ...........

Very proud of his performance.

He was very pleased with his exam results:

NZAMD Jazz Grade 5 - Distinction 95% + pass

NZAMD Intermediate Bronze Jazz Medal Award - Excellence Plus (Highest Mark)

NZAMD Contemporary Level 2 - High Honours 90 - 94% pass

NZAMD Intermediate Silver Contemporary Medal Award - Excellence Plus

Last Thursday he performed at the Coastlands' Star Search.
He did his classical dance "Valse", which he choreographed himself, and dianced so well, I was very proud of him.
He managed to fit it on to the very small ricketty stage.

Excuse the video, it is very shaky.

With some of the other performers.

Jonty was there to watch him and was very happy with Salem's performance.
Salem didn't get a placing but he impressed a lot of people.  We had so many people coming up to us saying that Salem should have been a finalist, even some of the finalists themselves.
Salem just loved having the opportunity to dance up on the stage in front of lots of people.

Performing "Ameno" at Waikanae Dance School's Concert

I've posted his dance which he did at the Waikanae Dance School concert.  It is "Ameno" which he also choreographed himself.

If you are receiving this post by email you will have to go to : http://balletboynz.blogspot.co.nz/2013/10/exam-results-and-another-chance-to-dance.html  to see the videos.

Tomorrow he is back to his Jazz/Lyrical class at Waikanae Dance School, and on Saturday he starts his Acrobatic class.

Also this weekend he is attending a Masterclass at the Royal New Zealand Ballet, then the weekend after that is the ABTC Comps at the Little Theatre in Lower Hutt.

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.

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

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.