CNADM 2013: Day 2

CNADM Day 2: What a great day! The convention remains fun! Fayeth had Jazz, Ballet and Hip Hop. She received many compliments on her technique and hard work. Hannah had Jazz, Ballet & Modern. She was complimented on her hard work and great questions. Gabe and Lindsay had Ballet, Jazz, Variations, Jazz and Tap. Gabe received many compliments today in all of classes. Lindsay also received many compliments, but her best 2 compliments were in Ballet class, the teacher told them to stand in the ending pose until they were dismissed after the combination. Everyone in her group (35 people) walked off after they did the combination. Lindsay did not. The instructor stopped the entire class and pointed out to everyone how following directions will get you noticed. (and not fired from a job) Her most favorite compliment was after variations. Lindsay went to ask the instructor a question and she complimented Lindsay on her question and proceeded to tell Lindsay that she would like to chat with her more. They went to the back of the room and chatted a few minutes. She was asked how old she was and where she danced. Who were her teachers, etc. She then proceeded to tell her to continue the path that she is on because she is on track to be a professional ballerina!!!! (She was on cloud 9!!!!) What a great day!

Fayeth and her Ballet Teacher

Lindsay's Trophey for scoring a platinum score

After winning the Ballet Division

The Kids and Gramma

Her Medal for winning first place

Waiting for Awards

CNADM 2013: Day 1

CNADM Day 1:
What a fun day! This is the first time that the kids have attended a convention. Fayeth had Tap, Ballet and Modern today. She was less than thrilled with only having less than 3 hours of dance. Hannah had Jazz, Hip Hop and Ballet. In Hip Hop she was pulled out (first girl) with 4 others to perform the choreography infront of the entire group. She was very pleased with herself.Lindsay and Gabe had Modern, Hip hop, Ballet Center, Jazz Funk, Tap and Modern Improv. Gabe was excited to be pulled onto the stage to demonstrate. They were both pulled aside by multiple teachers to be told how well they did. The kids have had a great day and was very sad that the day came to the end. Tomorrow brings more dance and the Student Competition! Break a Leg Lindsay!!!

Lik

Faubourg 2013: Day 16! Last Update from Faubourg for 2013...Too tired the other days!

Completely floored at what my 9-year old said today to her 8-year old sister. "Just because I can do the step does not mean that I have the technique to do it. My leg might not be completely turned out or my feet properly stretch. Ballet is more than JUST doing a step. It is about the technique behind it. That is why we have to trust our teachers to move us to the next level when we are ready." Oh.My.Gosh! You do not know how mature that statement was. Now if we could just teach the parents that life for these kids would be easier.

Faubourg 2013: Day 14: Day 3 of commuting each way!

Faubourg Day 14: I am emotionally and physically exhausted! I DO NOT Understand how they can still have energy after dancing 7.5 hours. I am seriously toast! Today was an eye opening day. I had a quick errand to do and then came back to the studio so I could do some work. I was sitting at a table by studio 2 and something caught my attention in my peripheral vision. I thought, wow! That kid is a beautiful dancer! And went back to work not really completely checking out who it was. So a few minutes later it happened again. This time curiosity got the best of me and if I was not surprised it was Hannah! I was floored. I watched her for 35 minutes before she looked out and saw me watching her! Later today when Faye Faye and I were leaving to check into the hotel, Hannah was in the dancer area stretching... All on her own accord. The growth I have seen in Hannah is amazing! I think that her maturity level has increased and that she is more comfortable in herself and her body. She and I had a long talk about having this focus and work ethic when she goes back to IBT. I explained to her the importance of working hard for all of we teachers and in all of the classes. One of Fayeth's teachers told me today that her strength is coming along. Gabe and Lindsay are showing growth. I will post tomorrow before I fall sleep typing this up.

LOL!  I do not think that Lindsay is impressed with Faye-Faye's technique...

Lindsay

Sewing more ballet shoes.....

Hannah being her silly self!

Gabe Partnering with Fayeth

They are beat!

Gabe will not be outdone by the girls!

Faubourg 2013: Day 13: Too Tired from commuting to update!

Faubourg 2013: Day 12: Sunday: Beg Week 3...Commuting

Pre-day 12 Faubourg! Tomorrow will begin the 6 days of commuting that we will be doing. At best the commute will be 2hrs. This week I will need to be very disciplined about (my) bedtimes. Lots of prep work will be needed the night before. Tuesday, Thursday and Friday the kids want to be at their IBT classes also. That will be played by ear as we will see how fatigue will play with their minds/bodies and spirits.

Faubourg Day 12: The commute both ways were good. A little stop and go (darn Bolingbrook) but around 2.5 hours each way. The kids love their classes and they transitioned back in like they were not gone. Lindsay has said that her body is more sore now that it was the first week of dance. She stated that she needed to ice from her chest down! LOL However they all came home and worked on specific combinations for tomorrow. Gabe had another boy in his class today, it always makes him happy to have other guys in class with him. Hannah is working hard and is complaining about needing a new pair of ballet flats and Faye Faye is STILL complaining that 2.5 hours is not enough. She is watching the Faubourg technique DVD to learn their technique so that she can move it to Tech-3 so she can dance more. Lunches and Dinners are packed, Notes are written, and this momma needs to head to bed!

Today's picture brought to you by Silly Sisters in the back seat!

Faubourg 2013: Day 10: Friday Week 2:

Faubourg Day 10: Long Day! Fayeth 3.5hrs, Hannah 5 hrs, Lindsay and Gabe 7.0 hrs. During the children’s audition at Faubourg, Casey asked them, “What are the three most important things in ballet?” He told them, “Beauty, Elegance and Confidence. He also asked them, “90% of Ballet is what?” He told them, “Mental”. He asks them almost every time he sees them. I tease that he is brain washing the children, but heck I am not going to complain if he brainwashes by child into being confident in herself. Today I brought my mom along. First off, I wanted her to see how hard the kids work and how an intensive works. Casey believes that if you are at the studio you need to be either in a class, stretching or if you are not doing either of those 2 things you best be on a break eating. Stretching and Flexibility are 2 very important things at Faubourg. Today, Casey was in lecture mode as well as work mode. The Tech-3 Students (Hannah’s group) was waiting for their class to begin. He told them that they needed to attend the Tech-2 class until their teacher arrived. As it turned out they took the entire Tech-2 (Ballet) class. During Tech-3A he reinforced Beauty, Elegance and Confidence. As well as posture (which is a part of Beauty, Elegance and Confidence). At the intensive they are very much about technique. If it means that they spend 30 minutes on demi-plies so that every person has it done correctly and has made their changes then that is what they do. He also explains it to them and makes them reiterate it back to him so that he knows that the dancers truly understand what he is talking about. Today the Tech-3A spent 2.25 hours (almost 2 full classes) on barre technique. Breaking things down and re-building new habits. They did 15 minutes of center work before it was time for a short break them back into technique. In their 3rd technique class of the day their teacher Tatyana was able to get them into the center since Casey had broken down the issues. The majority of the dancers applied their corrections so this allowed Tatyana to take the class further. It was amazing for my mom to watch how the children have adapted to the new syllabus at Faubourg. They still struggle from time to time, but the syllabus is significantly different.. My very awkward 9 year old (5’ ½ in-long arms and legs) dancer lacks confidence in her ability. Lacks the confidence in her body and how to move her body. It is no one’s fault for this. This is HANNAH’s issue. But today after Casey spent a while working with her on where to hold her arms and how to hold her arms for right now, she told me tonight, Mommy today I FELT beautiful, elegance and confident! So while I hope that we take technique home from the intensive, I hope that Hannah and all the kids take home that they SHOULD feel beautiful, elegant and confident because they are beautiful, elegant and confident dancers and that if they believe in themselves no one can take that away from them. I guess my point today is that, Ballet is not just dancing to the music. It is about believing in yourself and that comes out when you dance.

Today's photos brought to you by: 1. A very tired gramma, 2. A Young Man who was ready to kick someone's butt but was happy to realize that I was just teasing him, 3. A silly little girl that makes everyone laugh, 4 and hopefully a shunt programmer that will make a certain young man feel better!

Faubourg 2013 Day 9: Wednesday Week 2

No Update!  Drove home with everyone traveling for the 4th of July.  NEED.WINE!

Faubourg 2013: Day 8: Tuesday Week 2

Faubourg Day 8: Short day! Faye Faye 3.5 hours, Hannah 3.5 hours, Lindsay/Gabe 5.5 hours. Tonight is our last night in the hotel. We check out tomorrow morning and we will leave right after dance to head back home. Tomorrow is a very long day of dance. Today was a day of many first. The first time my son sewed his own ballet shoe, his first blister on his foot from dancing so much. The first day that no one fell asleep during dinner! The first time that I set off the smoke detector in our hotel room. (Damned electric stove!) Fayeth did floor barre while in a handstand. So I guess maybe it should be called air barre, the first day of the kids doing their 170 tendues a day, and the first day that they woke up and did not sound like a bunch of old men getting out of bed.  I am attaching 2 photos today. 1 of Lindsay helping Faye Faye stretch and 1 of the ducks that are in the pond near our hotel. We opted to feed the ducks and as soon as we stood my the pond the ducks started towards us. Of course we won't discuss Lindsay and Hannah's reaction to the ducks. Though I almost got eaten by the ducks since the girls threw their bread at me and ran in the opposite direction....

Faubourg 2013: Day 7: Monday Week 2

Good Morning!  To Classes we GO!

Faubourg Day 7: Faye Faye 2.5 hrs, Hannah 3.5 hrs, Lindsay/Gabe 7.0hrs. The kids were told by Mr. Casey today that a dancer should do 1,000 tendues a week. Of course he did not say total or per leg. So when we got back to the hotel (after Gabe had obsessed about it) they made a graph on how they were going to achieve this 1000 tendues a week. They are going to do 168 tendues per leg 6 days a week. In 1st position 28 devant (front), 28 derriere (back), 28 a la seconde (to 2nd position). Then from 5th 28 devant (front), 28 derriere (back), 28 a la seconde (to 2nd position). *ROLLS EYES* I did not realize how technical this had to be. LOL Fayeth had a great day of dance. She is applying corrections and continuing to enjoy every moment of it. She has shown great improvement in her splits. There are 2 ways that splits are done here at Faubourg with squared hips and opened hips. Opened hip splits are easier (okay that is just semantics because ANY type of splits are enough to require a surgery to repair my fractured pelvis!) Hannah is still loving the intensive but she is missing her friends a lot. Hannah is starting to embrace her height and the length of her extremities. She is starting to apply that she can dance big because her legs and arms are twice as long as everyone else's. Basically put, Hannah and Fayeth should not make it across the stage in the same amount of steps because Hannah's legs are longer. Mrs T has been encouraging her about his as has Ms. Wendy. Now with the teachers here also reinforcing it, she is becoming more comfortable within her body. Today we got into trouble. When we came to pick up the twins, Mr. Casey came out of floor barre and told the little sisters that they should be attending the floor barre class in the afternoon. They were so excited to be told that they could do this, but embarrassed that they "got in trouble". :giggles: Gabe has had a great day. His flexibility has increased and he is working on his upper body strength. He is required to do push ups after the end of every class with Mr. Casey. Lindsay came out of class floating on cloud 9. Her technique teacher earlier in the day was very complimentary of her hard work and her performance in class. Then at the end of the day Mr. Casey pulled her and Gabe aside and complimented Lindsay on her hard work and motivation. He said he can see her hard work on her turn out, flexibility and maintaining her turn out. A compliment on her turn out is like giving that child the world. 3 compliments from 3 people that she looks up to in 2 days has motivated her to work even harder. She was beyond thrilled to be noticed by Mr. Casey! I am surprised that she did not pass out from the attention from him. The absolute funniest thing today was that we were able to find tape for Lindsay's toes that only sticks to itself. For those of you that know, Lindsay has multiple allergies and has a history of anaphylaxis. So we are always careful as once you have an anaphylactic reaction you can have another one. So, Lindsay preventatively taped her toes so that it could protect her toes from any further blisters. She did it by herself and before I left from drop off, she came up to me asking me for help. She said, "Mommy, can you please retape my toes?" I took her things from her and she says to me, "Yes one of the older girls told me that my toes were blue. I told her that it was my toenail polish but when I looked down they were BLUE!" When I looked down her 4th and 5th toes on her left foot were PURPLE-BLUE! I quickly removed the tape and allowed circulation to resume to her toes. I could not help but laugh at her. I said, "Child we have enough issues finding pointe shoes to fit your already narrow feet and tapered toes! Could you imagine trying to find a shoe for a 3 toed ballerina? :giggles: The best and worst part of the day was Yahtzee. We had a great time playing. Fayeth won the first game and Hannah the second. Fayeth did not like that and had an EPIC meltdown! She was exhausted and was sleeping by 9:30pm. Thank God for that! Today's picture brought to you by Hasbro! I am ready to send Yahtzee back to them!

Faubourg 2013: Sunday...DAY OFF!!!

Today is our OFF day and where are we?  At the Studio stretching and waiting on our private lesson with Ms. Amanda.  :-)

Faubourg 2013: Day 6: Saturday

Faubourg Day 6: Short day of dance, long day of commuting! Fayeth 1 hour, Hannah 2.5 hours Gabe and Lindsay 3.5 hours. Faye Faye got called a Ballet Dictionary which made her day. The teacher was asking what different things meant and Faye Faye answered all the questions (and answered them correctly). She was thrilled! She is very excited to tell Mrs T and Ms. Wendywhen she sees them next!  Hannah was complimented on her long legs and long arms. She beamed, Lindsay and Gabe had a short but very productive day. They learned 3 new variations today (in an hour)! CRAZY! By the end of the day (Jazz Class) I noticed that Lindsay was "off". I made her push fluids and fed her Zofran for the nausea. Pain meds had already gone on board. When we got home we chose to reprogram her shunt. She started feeling better within the hour. Not completely sure if it was due to dehydration, her shunt being not set properly or the crazy weather. We have pushed fluids and she is drinking a ton, but they are working so hard that I know she is expended a lot of fluid. The other day I purchased ice wraps. Best. Thing. EVER! They still have sore feet. This afternoon when we got home from dance and grocery shopping I looked in the living room and I had kids doing barre work, stretching then Pilates. Keeping these muscles loose and flexible. Tomorrow we are off from Faubourg (class wise). We will head back to Chicago at some point to check back into the hotel. What an absolutely awesome week the kids have had. Lots of new friends, Lots of new experiences, and Lot of hard work. They are my heroes! Today's picture is what my car looked like on the way home from dance. The 2 hour commute this morning took its toll on the kids.

Faubourg 2013: Day 5

Faubourg Day 5: Long Day: Faye Faye 2.5 hours, Hannah 3.5 hrs, Lindsay and Gabe 7.0 hrs. Our morning started off checking out of the hotel. We had decided to come home Friday afternoon and we would drive back Saturday for classes. Faubourg is a 6 day a week program. All of the dancers seemed to be very energetic for having danced 4 days already. I can tell you that us parents were not so much!  Fayeth is really enjoying her classes though she said that her Ballet Class feels a bit too easy. I told her it was all about mastering the technique. Keeping her back flat and straight and not having a duck butt. Which she still needs some reminding on. Hannah loves ballet (which never ceases to amaze me to type). She also got to have a hip hop class today. Which was "a lot of fun". Lindsay and Gabe also had hip hop along with their 4 ballet classes. They are always sad when their classes end but smile all the time as they are having a great time. Our drive home took just under 3 hours. I will be finding a new route! We went by to surprise Gramma and Grampa and the kids decided to take a quick swim in the pool as well as then soak in the hot tub. Lindsay said that the hot tub was HEAVEN! Tonight's picture is of Gabe. This poor child was so tired in the car that he grabbed the first pillow to cuddle with to sleep. He said to us before he fell asleep....By the time I wake up we will be almost home. Well.... time wise, we should have been. However it took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to go 22 miles. So he was very confused when he woke up and realized that we had only gone a short distance in a long amount of time. Tomorrow back to Faubourg for classes! They are having the time of their lives!

Faubourg 2013: Day 4

Day 4:  7:03am Sweet Baby still sleeping.  Perhaps dreaming of Sugar Plums.....

The very glamorous life of being the Baby Sister....Hurry Up and Wait.....

First Blister EVER!!!!

Faubourg 2013: Day 3

Faubourg Day 3: 2.5 hours Fayeth, 3.5 hours Hannah and 7.5 hours Gabe and Lindsay. This morning brought more stretching, but today it has been out of necessity not just for fun. It also brought the need for more Epsom Salt for muscle aches and more ice/ice packs for achey and swollen feet. (I have already gone through 20# ice). The humidity and amount of dancing they have been doing has resulted in swollen feet. Today a teacher was speaking to a few of us parents at drop off and she informed us that the worst is yet to come. She says Saturday will be the worst and it will get better from there. Faubourg is a technique based school. So technique is what they get. Lindsay and Gabe are averaging 4 ballet classes a day 5 days a week and 2 on Saturday. 4 days a week they get 1 hour of another discipline of dance (modern, hip hop or jazz). The kids are loving EVERY.MINUTE! The are so excited to go every morning (and wake up before the alarm) and they are so sad when it is time to leave. They would stay and dance more. What a great experience this has been! This evening the kids decided to spend the evening reading on their kindle and taking it easy. Muscles Ache and Feet Hurt, but Lindsay says..."No Pain No Gain!"

Floor Barre Day 3:  Hannah and Fayeth

Faubourg 2013 Day 2

Bedtime Day 2: The littlest ballerina has sore thighs, the oldest ballerina is sleeping with 1 leg warmer on (not sure why), sore ankles (she says good sore, like ankle strengthening sore), the middle ballerina has sore feet and legs, and the boy ballet dancer has sore hips and hammies. Epsom Salts are our friends! 

Faubourg 2013 Day 1

I am moving FB posts to my blog so that down the road the kids can come here and read about what we have done.  So please be patient while I update this from our intensive last summer.

Day 1 of Faubourg Summer Ballet Intensive: all Four had a blast. Faye Faye was very mad that she only got to dance 2.5 hours, Hannah was absolutely loving ballet. (Which is NOT her favorite discipline of Ballet) Lindsay and Gabe are absolutely thrilled with their teachers and their classes. After 7+ hours of classes they were very sad that it was time to go back to the hotel. While it is a pain in the but living in a small hotel room, their little faces make it all worth while. They cannot wait to go back tomorrow. 

While cuddling with The Baby while she was falling asleep, she looked up at me and said, "Mommy I hope that tonight is one of those sleeps that is a quick sleep. When you wake up it is time to go back an dance!

Stretching before class

Lindsay texting her friend Grace before the intensive.  She was wishing her good luck at the Joffrey Junior Summer Intensive.

The view while I was blowdrying my hair....