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! :)

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.

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.