A new beginning...

Welcome back to tutudiaries!

I haven't posted in a very long time for no good reason other than I 've been pretty "uninspired" and have been trying to figure out my life for the past few months (who isn't at this age, right...?!). But in the meantime I've still been following some (dance) blogs and actually got to meet one of the writers in person! It was no one less than Cecilia Iliesiu former soloist with Carolina Ballet!!! To get back in shape for the upcoming season, she was in one of the classes I regularly take. She will now be dancing with PNB as a corps de ballet member! I am so happy for her!!! Congrats Cecilia!!! :D It was a total coincidence that we met and at first I didn't even realise it was her! After watching her in class and chatting afterwards I can truly say Cecilia is a very humble, nice and caring person not to mention a totally awesome(!!!) dancer! She inspired me in many ways, one of them being to continue my blog. Thank you sooo much Cecilia! All the best in Seatle and I hope to see you again soon! :)

Summer Plans 2014 / Part I

As I mentioned in my last post, I'd like to share with you my plans for this summer. As most of you probably know, auditioning for ballet summer intensives and deciding on what one to attend is not always that easy. There are so many to choose from! This year I actually didn't go to any summer intensive auditions in person. There are literally no schools that hold auditions here in Switzerland and I didn't have the time or money to travel to other countries. Due to that, my choices for this year were pretty limited. First I was considering CPYB's 5-week program but after talking with my parents several times and considering my limited budget it didn't seem very realistic. I decided to apply for different schools in Europe instead and am now actually pretty happy with that decision. Here summer vacation isn't as long as in the US, we only get 5 weeks. Because of that the SI's in Europe are shorter. They usually go from 1 to 3 weeks. Unfortunately two programs that I'm interested in are both at exactly the same time. Since I really would like to do both, I'm going to one week of each program (both SI's are just 2 weeks). But this won't be until the middle of August. (I'll tell you more about the programs I chose later). June and most of July I'll be dancing at my home studio.
Anyway, not too long ago we found out that my aunt from New York will be visiting London in June. My mom had the great idea to go and meet up with her there. I'm really excited, I haven't been to England in five years. The last time I was there I wasn't even dancing ballet or had just started, so we didn't do/see anything dance-related. But not this time: I just got tickets last week to the Royal Ballet in Covent Garden. They will be performing a mixed bill consisting of three different ballets; The Dream by F. Ashton, a new Marriot ballet (premier!) by A. Marriot and The Concert by J. Robbins. Sarah Lamb, Natalia Osipova and Matthew Golding are among the principals who are dancing lead roles. I am very much looking forward to see these amazing artists perform. Of course one can watch them on YouTube but that's just not the same as seeing them live on stage! =)
What I'd also like to do while I'm in London is go to the Freed store and take some open classes at Pineapple Dance Studios. Of course I also want to visit museums, do some shopping and have the famous English afternoon tea with scones. 
Do you guys have any tips, must-see's or favorite things to do in London? Or any advice on cheap but nice places to stay? Would love to hear from you. 
So just feel free to leave a comment below.
See ya. 

Photos by me

Hi there, I'm back!

Omg, this is not good! How long have I left you guys hanging...? I hardly dare to say... September....! I'm really sorry about that. I've had a lot of changes and decision-making to do in the last few months which left me pretty stressed out. So I didn't really have time or the strength to keep blogging. 
Anyway, I'm back now and seriously want to try to stick with you guys :-) I just recently ordered a new book on blogging so I hope that will give me some help and tips on how I can make tutudiaries more fun and exciting for you.
When I read other blogs, I first get so inspired and enthusiastic but then I start to think of my blog and how it looks like and think: "Omg, my blog will never look that good!" But if I don't do anything cause I'm afraid to fail or not be good enough, I won't get better either. How does the saying go...? "Practice makes perfect" or something like that...
So yeah, I'm still a beginner in terms of blogging, but I'm eager to learn and discover more about this awesome way of social media :-)
Okay, so as I said before, the last time I wrote was in September. As you can imagine a lot of things happened in the meantime. One of the biggest changes that occurred was my decision to come back home to Switzerland. Things were just not working out for me in New York in terms of ballet, work and other reasons. It was definitely not easy deciding to leave the city of my dreams with all it's possibilities and opportunities. I sometimes still regret that I left and didn't try to make it work for longer. But in the end, I think for that time/moment in my life I made the right decision.
So now back at home I'm trying to stay in "ballet-shape" and (already) have made some fun plans for the summer, which I'd like to share with you soon. So stay tuned and till next time.

Exploring West Village

Today was my first time in West Village. I know, pretty bad considering that I've been in New York like almost 10 times in my life... Anyway, I finally went and loved it! All the little shops and cafes between beautiful buildings and trees, it's so pretty! I would definitely recommend checking it out if you're ever in New York City.

Love the pink!

Magnolia Bakery

Notice the terrace between the buildings ;-)

Life in the City

I wanted to share some pictures with you. As I mentioned in my last post, I am currently in New York City. Last Sunday was a total lazy day. I didn't leave the apartment until 1pm and then headed downtown just to stroll around. Fortunately I found some fun things going on and took a few photos for you. 

This guy was awesome!

Beautiful music in the park

This was the view from my window when I came home

Back from a long summer break

Hi there,

I am so so sorry that I left you waiting for so long with absolutely no blog-posts. I just was doing so many different things, figuring out where I want to be/go next year and had literally no time to write or blog. I was lucky to at least occasionally find time to post some photos on facebook.


So you might be wondering what I've been up to all summer...? 
My journey started by going to Ballet Chicago's 7-week summer intensive. Well, actually it was spilt up into two parts: the 5-week course and the 2-week advanced intensive. 
I really enjoyed both courses, even thought it was a bit challenging for me at first because I come from a Vaganova basis and Ballet Chicago is all Balanchine. We had great teachers and got to learn amazing repertory. At the end of the 5-weeks,  my level performed the Pas de Neuf from Balanchine's Swan Lake and an excerpt of Who Cares?. I got to be one of the girls in the Pas de Neuf. This was my first time performing on pointe for an audience, but luckily I wasn't so nervous. 
The 2-week program was definitely more competitive and at a higher level (as opposed to the 5-week program). A lot of girls were coming from top notch SI's like SAB, PNB and SFB, just to name a few. I felt like we were getting more individual attention and corrections; I guess because we were not as many people as in the 5-week program. For the finale performance my level got to perform Serenade! I was so excited when I found out! :-) The first time I saw Serenade was this past January at Lincoln Center, performed by NYCB. I loved it immediately and never would have thought I would be dancing part of it this summer! There is something very magical about this ballet that words can't describe.

I am very grateful and happy that I could go to Chicago, learn Balanchine choreography, meet new teachers and friends and get to explore a new city. This has probably been my best summer yet! :-)

Studio 3 

After performing Serenade; Level 1 girls

After my 7-week summer intensive I went to New York, to meet my mom and my cousin from Switzerland. But you'll here more on that in my next post. Stay tuned.

Photos from my time in Carlisle

Hi guys, 
Sorry I haven't been posting so much lately. Next week is our performance "Chatouille", so we are pretty busy at my studio.
Anyway, I wanted to share some photos of my time in Carlisle PA with you. I know it's a bit late since I posted about CPYB a while ago, but I thought it would be nice if you'd have some impressions from the area. 

Me in front of my place. I was actually just renting a room
but since I was the first person to live there, I had the whole house to myself!

My street; East Pomfret St. Carlisle

A side street 

The balcony off my room

At the market. Mom took the photo :-)

Happy Sunday

Hi there,
Sorry you didn't here from me that much this week, I've been pretty busy. But now I'm here
and have some photos that I would like to share with you.
Have a nice Sunday :-)

Woody & Mimi

Polaroid Photos

I finally sent in some of my photos to print in Polaroid style. This is the first time I did Polaroids. I ordered them over Inkifi. Most of them came out very good, just two or tree got cut off arms/legs. I would definitely recommend Inkifi if you would like to print your pictures as Polaroids. 

These are some of my favorites.

And this is my absolute favorite.
I think it almost looks like a postcard.

Some little shopping

I got a H&M gift card from my mom for my birthday. To day I had some time in the city, so I went to the store. And these are the cute little things I found: 

Polka Dot T-shirt, White Garden Perfume, Hair stuff, Promotion Card

The best part was, they were giving every customer a promotion card for CHF 10.- ! How cool is that?!

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hi there, I'm back with the promised muffin recipe, the ones I made for my birthday brunch. Originally they were supposed to be vegan strawberry chocolate chip muffins, but since I didn't have all the ingredients and I love raspberry's, I decided to make them my own way ;) Luckily that worked very well and as I mentioned in my last post, they were delicious!

So here's the recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

1 cup of raspberry's (frozen or fresh) - set aside

Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl:
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup corn starch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup brown sugar

Add in and stir:
3/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 vanilla extract

Stir until the batter is smooth, if it's too runny add some more flour. It should be like a cake batter.

Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I put in a bit more just to give it a more chocolaty taste).

Instructions:
Spoon only one tablespoon of the batter in to the muffin cups. 
Add three to four raspberry's - sticking them in to the batter a bit but avoid pushing them to the bottom.
Then divide the rest of the batter between the 12 muffin cups. 
Take the remaining raspberry's and push them slightly in to the batter - about 3-4 pieces per muffin. Add some extra chocolate chips to the tops.

Bake in center of pre-heated oven till domed and firm for about 25 min.

Original Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

Birthday Brunch

So, as promised I'm back with some impressions of my birthday brunch from last Sunday. Even tough only 3 out of the 11 invited people came, we had a very nice time. I really enjoyed it. The chocolate chip raspberry muffins were delicious! I found the recipe on pinterest and I'll definitely share it with you in my next post. 

DIY Birthday Banner

The brunch table

The best muffins I ever made (so far ;)

My friends Despina, Anita, Annica and me 

My super cute birthday presents

Encouragement

Just yesterday I received the new issue of Dance Magazine. Sitting in the train on my way home from ballet class I read the cover story about Hee Seo, a principal dancer of ABT. She looks beautiful on the cover and I'm sure she is even more so performing on stage.
I thought her story is very inspiring and encouraging. To see that I'm not the only one who sometimes struggles in progressing as fast as some other dancers do, gives me hope and strength to keep on working towards my dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer. And an important thing she says is that one has to be patient. That is one of the crucial things I still have to learn in live.

Keep Cup

I don't know if you heard about Keep Cup's yet...? If not, it's about time you do ;) They are these awesome re-usable Coffee cups for "on the go". Just by coincidence I saw a small article about them in COUCH magazine. Since I am always trying to improve my environmental awareness, I just had to order one. They have a website were you can create your personal Keep Cup by selecting your favorite colors. It's so fun creating your own cup and just as fun using it. Every time you take a sip out of your Keep Cup, you know you spared an other throw-away paper cup, that would have ended in a landfill.
Go check out their website, it's really cool!


http://www.keepcup.com/

The blue one is my moms, the pink one is mine

A small part of my journey

Last fall I had the great opportunity to study for a short period of time at CPYB. I wrote this article not to long after attending the school. It reflects how I saw and experienced CPYB in the limited time I was there.


An Insight into CPYB

Have you ever heard of the professional ballet school Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (CPYB)? If you live in Europe, probably not. But if you live in the US, you most likely will know them. Since I had the opportunity to study there for a short while, I wanted to give you an insight into one of the most successful ballet schools in North America.

It all began in 1955, when Founding Artistic Director Marcia Dale Weary opened up the Barn Studios in Carlisle Pennsylvania. It quickly grew from a small local dance school to one of the top ballet schools in the US. They even have their own company which performs throughout the year. A highlight is George Balanchine's "The Nutcracker", which the school shows in December. The nice thing about CPYB is that they will teach any student who really wants to dance. You don't have to have the perfect feet or body. Just the desire to learn and work very hard. And they have great success with that approach; today over 100 of their alumni are dancing with professional companies around the world.  The training is very intense. You have class Monday through Saturday. Most days one has at least three classes in a row without a break. Saturday is the most challenging day; it starts at 9 am and ends at 6:30 pm. Some students have as much as seven classes with two half-hour breaks. They structure the schedule very well so that you can get through the day. But by Saturday evening, the only thing you want to do is go to bed and sleep. During the classes they focus on every detail of technique, but also on artistry and presence. One repeats the same exercises many times to achieve the perfection that is needed in this challenging career. The lower levels have tap (to practice rhythm), pointe and of course ballet. Upper levels have additional repertoire and pas de deux, but no tap. Once in a while they will have useful seminars on nutrition, pointe shoes and other dance related topics. These are held by CPYB faculty or professional guest instructors.

Every student is seen as an individual and is respected as a person. They are willing to guide and help the young dancers where ever they can. When you have a question or concern, one can go and speak with the faculty. They always have an open ear for their dancers.

Students are mostly on their own to find a place to live. CPYB provides a housing list, with different host families and apartments near the school. But the rest is up to the student.

Every summer they have a large 5-week summer ballet program which attracts students from around the world. In August they also have a short 2-week program which most kids attend to get back "in shape" before the school year starts in September. Both programs are created for a wide range of dancers, from beginner to professional. The classes are held at the Barn Studios, the Warehouse Studios and, if more space is needed, in Dickinson College Studios.

I would definitely recommend CPYB for pre-professional ballet training. One just has to know that the days are long with many classes and, in the beginning, all students are placed in a low level. They want to ensure that everyone has the same strong basis on which to build. That could mean that you are in class with kids that are much younger than yourself. Level is based on ability not age. Sometimes it is hard to see the six-year-old dancing next to you, doing the exercise perfectly correct, while you are struggling. One has to try to keep one's focus on one's goal. It's not always easy, but with desire, endurance and the right attitude, many aspiring dancers can strive at CPYB. And that could very well lead you to a contract with a professional company, anywhere in the world!

The Barn Studios

Delicious home made peanut butter

The last time I was in New York (this past January) on my mission auditioning for various summer intensives I expanded my taste buds and tried some new foods. One of them was organic peanut butter (no sugar or preservatives, just nuts and oil). I found it at Whole Foods my favorite food store in NYC. The pb has this rich, nutty flavor and is a bit more firm in it's texture as opposed to "regular" peanut butter. I never ate such a delicious peanut butter before. I was impressed. So back home in Switzerland, I wanted to buy some organic peanut butter. After searching trough many stores I had absolutely no luck (typical Switzerland doesn't have half the selection America does...) As I didn't prefer eating the regular peanut butter, I had to come up with an other solution. So I tried making it my self. At first I was a bit sceptical since just throwing peanuts in a mixer didn't sound so promising (a bit to easy if you asked me). But to my surprise it came out very good. It tastes very similar to the pb I bought that time in Whole Foods. The only difference is it's texture. It's very runny. I haven't bought pb ever since. I like it so much I go trough a little jar a week. Probably you could say I'm a bit addicted. But hey, one of my first words as a baby was "petabut" (meaning peanut butter) so no wonder ;)
Wow, this was a long story on pb. Sorry guys, I hope I didn't bore you to much and you're still with me. Because here's the recipe:

You will need: a bag of roasted peeled or unpeeled peanuts, a mixer

How you do it:
Peel the whole bag of nuts and put them in the mixer
Mix for 5 min. et voila, finished is your pb, it's that easy
Before I fill it in a jar, I clean the jar with hot water (just to make sure there won't be anything unpleasant growing in there later)
Store pb in fridge

Spring Awakening

Today after ballet class, I met a friend I rarely see for a short lunch break (well, hers was short, mine was rather long...). We sat outside the Opera de Lausanne in it's pretty little park. There were all these beautiful trees and bushes blooming, so I felt like I had to take some pictures and share them with you. I love to see all the plants and animals in the spring awakening from a very long winters rest (note; the last snow we had was last Saturday... !).
Hope you enjoy the photos.
Happy spring! :)

Premiere

Hi there,

So this is my first post on Tutu Diaries. I am totally new to blogging and am very exited about it. I am still trying to figure things out, so please excuse me if my blog isn’t  that “cleaned-up“ yet. 

Yesterday we had a long day filled with ballet class and rehearsal's for our upcoming performance in June. We will be performing „Chatouille“, a ballet choreographed by my teachers. The story is about a big celebration and the mystery of a cat named Chatouille.

We will perform it in Lausanne at the Théatre des Terreaux on the 1 & 2 of June. So if you happen to be in Lausanne come and see us perform. 

(sorry, the link is only available in french...)

http://www.igokat.com/spectacles_ecole.php?lang=fr