Photographer Dilemma

The other day in ballet was a typical day, except for one thing: a photographer.

I was warming up at the barre when my instructor told us that a photographer was coming in to take pictures of us. She said a similar thing Tuesday, but the photographer never showed. At first, I thought this was him or her taking a rain check, but then I learned that the photographer was with one of the local newspapers.

Now I know you're wondering, why do I even care? Well, my mom gets this particular newspaper. My entire family gets this newspaper. I don't want them to know that I'm taking ballet class.

The story is I've been sneaking out to take these classes. I've told my mom that I'm driving to class at my college, but instead, I've been going to a local studio. I would wear my tights and workout clothing underneath jeans and a tshirt and then change once I got there. My shoes are hidden in my room along with my tights. I've been working so hard to keep this under wraps that a photograph with me in a ballet class would ruin it.

I don't want my family to know I'm doing this because, well, let's just say it was only this year that a picture of me went up on the wall that wasn't me in a recital costume or in a dance uniform. I quit dancing ten years ago. There was huge family drama when I quit and I still get hounded about why I quit to this day. I don't want them to know about this because this is supposed to be only for me. It's my own little sanctuary. I don't want to come home and talk about it with my family.

Luckily, the photographer understood. My instructor placed me on the end so I wouldn't be in the pictures and the photographer didn't get a statement from me after class. I think I'll be okay. So, obstacle hurdled and over with.

My ballet skirt's progress

I've started working on my skirt first. A little backwards, I know, but it has the easier directions so I want to give it a whirl first. Plus, I'm way too exhausted to put a lot of effort into my trial run, so I'm going the easy way.

The waist is sloppy since I had to pin the short ends of the belt to the dressform.

Right away, I'm running into some trouble. I can't seem to anchor down the chiffon so when I cut it, it tends to sway. This isn't too much of a problem. I did a good job on the main skirt, which is all I'm worried about, but for the belt it's a slightly different story. Still, it's not too big of a deal. BUT, I made a huge mistake. The problem with the fabric is that it's transparent, so when it looks like I have the wrong side up, it's actually the right side. I've already messed up a seam. I either tear it and another seam out and risk ruining the fabric, or I leave it and try to cover it up in a unique way. I don't know what I should do... I'm going to practice ripping out seams on a discarded scrap of the same fabric before attempting the skirt.

I'm positive I cut them the right length. I even double checked.

Also, an even bigger problem is that somehow the belt straps are too short. I'm pretty sure I followed the pattern correctly, but there's still not enough to wrap around the skirt. Luckily, I have a plan for this. I'm going to cut out another, longer strip and just add it to the ends. Once I tube the skirt, it shouldn't matter much. Besides, when its tied, it'll be hard to notice, I think.

I plan on working on this leotard over the weekend. I already have my trial pattern cut out!

It's really easy. There are only a couple of pieces: the front leotard, the back, crotch guard, bra, and sleeves.

More ballet-themed exercises to come!

I was browsing eBay and found some exercise DVDs for great prices. I just couldn't pass it up. So now I have three more workout videos to add to my growing cue. Let's see how they measure up. Granted, I'm probably not going to need these DVDs at all since my college offers free yoga and pilates classes and I'm taking ballet classes outside of school, but they are still nice to have around in case I don't have the time.

The new DVDs I'm going to receive sometime next week are: Balocity, Trudie Styler's Sculpt & Tone Ballet, and Attitude Ballet and Pilates Fusion. I'm most excited for the Balocity since it features an ex-New York Ballet dancer.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to find time to review the other items I have planned, such as Ballet Boot Camp. I have taken some screenshots, though I haven't completed the exercise yet. Here's a little snippet of what's to come there:

I have ballet class in an hour so I'm going to get ready! Have fun at your own dance classes and keep up the passion!

"You're lucky you're wearing a leotard!"

AKA: Russia is HARDCORE.

I was talking with my ballet teacher during class when another student brought up a documentary she saw over the weekend. The documentary is called Ballerina. It's about Russian dancers. It's available on Netflicks so many people can get a hold of a copy if they're interested. What this brought up was my teacher's interesting experience with Russian instructors and dancers.

One day she was practicing and (I don't know... she was doing something wrong or complaining about her leotard) and her Russian instructor reprimanded her by saying, "You should even be grateful you have a leotard on when you dance!" She was surprised at first by this comment, but she learned later that some Russian dancers aren't allowed to wear them! I'm not sure if this was for the older dancers, but younger dancers weren't always so lucky.

Or perhaps they are lucky in a strange way. It is really prestigious for a girl to get into a Russian ballet. As my teacher says, if you make it into one of those, you're basically set for life. The tryouts have their odd/HARDCORE moments.

One thing they look for is the girl's flexibility. They see how far she can bend backwards, etc. They also look for features of their body. Their heads most be smaller than most and their limbs must be long. They test their flexibility and body shape...in their underwear. Imagine that flying in America? Yeah, I can't either. The parents would have a nightmare, but in Russia it's much different. This is where my ballet instructor got the "You should be grateful" speech from her Russian instructor. Apparently, some girls didn't even get the luxury of having a simple leotard.

Even their privacy is tapped into. They share dormrooms and if they have food in their rooms, the instructors or someone will come in and take it away so you can't eat it. I understand they are trying to promote the diet they've had, but come on! Who doesn't want a Hershey bar every once in awhile! Hahaha

Russian dancer Natalia Osipova

 The sad thing is they don't look for passion. There's a girl in my class from Russia. She was not accepted as a Russian dancer, yet she has so much potential! She loves to dance and is quite good at it. It's a shame they didn't accept her or even allow her to take lessons. At least here in America she's allowed to do whatever she wants with her dance.

Still, I'm basing all this information off of what's been said to me. I feel as if I can trust these women, but who knows? I've never been to a Russian ballet academy so I can't confirm this. Besides, I'm sure all ballet academies in Russia are different in slight ways. Russian dancers are amazing. They dedicate their lives to their art, so it's no surprise how wonderful they are! Here's to Russia, as hardcore as they may be, for their contribution to the ballet world!

The pattern's here!

The pattern made it here! I'm so excited! I'm going to start working on it right away!

Here's a picture of it:

The pattern is bigger than most. It comes in two large sheets of paper. I'm going to be tracing over them so I don't have to cut it out. So far, it's really easy to make adjustments. They have right on the pattern where the waistline is so you can adjust as needed. Though depending on your size, there's not too much room you need to make adjustments. The differences between the sizes is small.

I'm a little worried about the instructions. I'm not used to them and the way they have everything labeled throws me off. I'll have to keep looking over them and I'll definitely try a trial leotard before trying on the more expensive spandex.

I'm already starting to make a pattern for a leotard! Today I went to the fabric store and asked the associates what they would recommend. They pointed me straight to spandex and, get this, even recommend bathing suit spandex for leotards. This is particularly good for the "crotch guard" as this pattern likes to call it. I bought a sample of it and will compare it to a couple others to tell you how I think. It's shiny (good or bad depending on the individual) and has the 70% stretch both ways that's needed. 

Pictures later once I cut out my trial! Meanwhile, class tomorrow and college tomorrow... I'm going to be a tired girl!