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!