Davidson July Experience Program Day 1!!!

So, some of you know I'm going to be at Davidson College (my dream college!) for the entire month of July for their July Experience Program.  Today (technically yesterday since it's past midnight) was the first day and it was too amazing to put into words, so I thought I'd keep my writing brief and mostly share some photos.  Keep in mind, we haven't even started our classes yet (I'm taking a neuroscience class and an intercultural communications class), and it's still just that amazing.

Highlights of the day included eating dinner with staff and teachers and getting to know them, lunch at Ming's Bistro before check-in, fancy dinner complete with chocolate-covered strawberries, not one but TWO cups of black coffee (besides chocolate, it's what runs in my veins!), and a tour and scavenger hunt around campus.

Car ride...
 

Ming's Bistro menu

Card games during break!

Track



Coconut-covered chocolate-covered strawberries

Cup #2

Chocolate covered strawberries <3

More updates (mostly photos) to come over the next few weeks!  Tschüß :)

Ink and Paper

I wrote this poem a few years ago when I was 14ish and was really happy with it then.  I dug it out of a folder today, and I can't decide if I still like it or if it's too melodramatic.  I'm leaning towards the latter, I think.

 

 

To write
Glistening words on a page
Creating worlds
Shaped by
Dragons,
Dreams,
And thoughts unspoken but by the whisper of pages.
The pen paints with letters upon a virgin sheet;
It pauses,
Suspending thoughts in the air,
Then resumes its flight along the white sea.
A flight of freedom;
A limitless journey.
Ink,
And paper.

 

© 2012 Abby Danfora

 

What do you think?  Too melodramatic?

 

Tschüß !  :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MISHA !!!

Sooo, I have tons of schoolwork, but I thought I'd take a few seconds to say happy birthday to the amazing Mikhail Baryshnikov (Михаи́л Никола́евич Бары́шников)!!  I know he has inspired so many people (myself included!), and there will never be another like him.  It must have been amazing to see him perform live, and I'm sure anyone who had that opportunity will never forget it!

 "I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself." Misha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GksQygQnk4

I do not own any rights to the quote, youtube video, or above photo.

Dancing Inspiration

                            Coucou mes amis, j'espère que tout va bien ! 

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I haven't posted in a while, and I thought I should make at least one post over summer break.  For starters, happy birthday, America!
 
My motive for posting: my dance studio is closed the entire week of the 4th of July, so I've gotten pretty desperate and started watching tons of YouTube ballet videos of amazing dancers, some of whom I'd never heard of before.  And so, I thought I'd share some of said videos with my beloved followers.  If you aren't following yet, that doesn't mean you aren't beloved, but please feel free to click the pretty little 'follow' button at the top right of the blog!  Under (or somewhere near) each video, I will introduce the dancer(s) and try to explain what sets them apart from so many others of their profession.


**Note: I know not everyone will agree with me--you might hate some of the dancers I like, you might not agree with my ramblings below--that's ok!  I know everyone looks for something different in a dancer, and these are just my personal thoughts and likes.

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Even if you're not a huge ballet fan, you've probably seen or heard of some of the 'big' ballets:  Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Carmen, La Bayadère, El Corsario, and possibly La Sylphide and Talisman, all of which were choreographed by Marius Petipa, a Frenchman.  While the success and appeal of a performance can rely largely on the choreography of the piece (without Petipa, the world of dance would be an abyss) and on the dancer's technique (can you tendu?), each dancer (hopefully) brings something unique to their role.  In an ideal performance, each dancer is an animated person dancing and expressing themselves on a stage, not merely a moving corpse doing 'piroettes' and 'grande jetés' so they can get their next paycheck from their company or get a promotion.
 
Personally, I would much rather see a dancer portraying their character well, sending a message to the audience, AND enjoying themselves than see a 'perfect' dancer who has the same expressiveness as my desk.  This isn't to say that dancers don't need to have the best possible technique (there's no such thing as 'perfect'), but if a dancer sacrifices the artistry of the ballet for a 'perfect' arabesque at 175°, then I'd rather go see a not-so-acrobatic dancer hold an arabesque at 45° and still be beautiful and expressive.
 
Sadly, from comments I've seen on YouTube and other places, I think more and more people forget the artistic nature of dance and see it merely as a sport.  People compare modern-day dancers to Baryshnikov or Anna Pavlova, often claiming that dancers can now jump higher, do more turns, bourée en pointe longer, or have higher extensions.  However, people forget to take into consideration Baryshnikov's stage presence or Pavlova's grace, and, accordingly, many people don't seem to care that so many dancers forget to actually 'dance.'
 
What do I think makes a great dancer?  Everyone values different things in a dancer, but to me, a great dancer is someone who uses the body God gave them to the maximum of its ability, not out of desire for physical perfection, but out of love for the ballet and out of love for the audience.  Such dancers will never be 'perfect,' since they constantly strive to give more to the audience each show.  We all love to see a dancer do a ridiculous number of turns or an amazing arabesque penchée, but unless a dancer offers to the audience a performance both physical and emotional, their performance is little more than circus tricks.  Therefore, a great dancer is someone who dances well with amazing, nearly-flawless technique and who does so artistically.
 
If my ramblings haven't bored/annoyed you or if you just skipped over a majority of the text above to watch the videos, then please enjoy :)

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Mikhail Baryshnikov

Don Quixote

 

Don Quixote 

 

What is there to say?  Most everyone has heard his name before--he trained at the Vaganova school of ballet in Russia, joined the Kirov ballet, and then defected to the US while on tour.  The clips above are from a performance of Don Quixote with ABT after he defected.  Aren't we lucky he did??  Not that it needs stating, but Baryshnikov has all the qualities of a great dancer.  While dancing, he's having a conversation with the audience and with the other dancers on stage.  His technique is as flawless as possible, but he never sacrifices the artistry of dancing in order to maintain it.  In addition, he has a rare musicality that very few dancers have.  Even when he turns mid-air, he turns right with the music.

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Ekaterina Kondaurova

                                     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WjqLi9xyrw
                                                          (The video above won't imbed, but please please please watch it!!!)

Dying Swan

Until I went on my YouTube dance-video spree, I had never heard of Kondaurova.  Now that I have, I can't imagine why she's not as well-known as Baryshnikov (or is she, and I just totally missed something?).  In the first video, also from Don Quixote, her shoes hitting the floor actually seem to be a part of the variation (as someone else mentioned in the comments).  It adds a sharpness to her dancing, and makes the audience fully aware that she's graceful but isn't going to blow away with the wind.  She has an amazing musicality much like Baryshnikov--maybe it's a Russian thing--and nearly flawless technique.  In the second video, The Dying Swan, she is the opposite of her role in Don Quixote.  She's fragile, a swan close to death, and isn't afraid of being so in front of an audience.  Her grace combines with her fragility to fully bring to life the Dying Swan.

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Ángel Corella

La Bayadère 

Le Corsaire

 

We Got it Good 

 ROLEX Commercial

 Swan Lake

 

 

Meet Ángel Corella.  From Madrid, Spain, he came to the US to dance with ABT.  By now, you might be noticing a trend--many amazing dancers end up dancing at ABT at some point in their lives: Baryshnikov, Corella, Gillian Murphy (I might mention her later), and several others.  Now he is the Artistic Director of Barcelona Ballet, formerly Corella Ballet, back in Spain.  Ok, now that we've met, I know that's a lot of videos for one dancer, but they're all short, except for "We've Got it Good" and the "Swan Lake" clip.  You won't regret it if you watch them all.  But what's so unique about this guy anyways?  Amazing stage presence.  And musicality.  And technique secondary only to Baryshnikov.  In the first clip, his movements are sharp and statuesque, precisely with the music.  Even his facial expressions are sharp, portraying the Golden Idol.  In the second clip, once again, his dancing has a clean 'crispness.'  The third video isn't ballet, but he has an amazing energy throughout the piece that commands all attention.  Watch it and try not to get up and start dancing yourself.  I can't.  In the fourth video, Corella dances for the watch company ROLEX.  Check out their page if you need a new timepiece, especially the Lady-Datejust Pearlmaster for ladies:  http://www.rolex.com/ .  I don't know what I like about the clip, but I've watched it way too many times.  In the fifth video, not only does Corella dance amazingly during his solos, but also with Gillian Murphy, another dancer I might mention on this list, as stated previously.  The two dancers completely command the stage, and they portray their respective characters perfectly.

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Marianela Nuñez

La Bayadère

La Bayadère

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6_pAshRSPM&feature=youtu.be

Once again, the video would not imbed, but please, please, PLEASE watch it if you have time!

Nuñez was born in Argentina, and now dances with the Royal Ballet.  She's very expressive, and I think most people would agree that she has very good technique.  She has beautiful arms!  My goal for the next month once dance starts back up is to make my arms look somewhat like hers instead of fried chicken wings.  There's a light 'airiness' about her dancing that makes it seem like she's always hovering slightly above the ground, and for the most part, she stays in character and plays her roles well.  There might be a slight exception when she turns--during her preparation and her first few pirouettes, you can almost see her thinking about doing the turn instead of just letting it happen.  However, after the first few turns, she comes back into character and ends them en pointe with amazing control.

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These aren't the only the amazing dancers I'd like to blog about, but I know we all have hamburgers to go eat and fireworks to watch.  The rest (including Gillian Murphy) will have to wait for another post.  Please leave comments!  Let me know if you agree/disagree with my dance philosophy and who your great dancer picks are.

Cheers and Happy 4th!

http://www.politicspa.com/1112-morning-buzz/44216/american-flag/

*NOTE:  None of the videos are mine, nor is the flag photo above, which is why I have included the links to these.  I do not claim any ownership of them and do not intend to infringe on any copyrights.

le bonheur et la grâce

© Nancy Moser Photagraphy

Oui, le bonheur et la grâce m'accompagneront tous les jours de ma vie, et j'habiterai dans la maison de l'Éternel jusqu'à la fin de mes jours. Psaume 23:6

 

 

 

Yes, goodness and grace will accompany me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Eternal until the end of my days.  Psalm 23:6

City Ballet Nutcracker 2012

 

Bonjour!

City Ballet's 2012 Nutcracker was a huge success! We were completely sold out of tickets for one show, and almost sold out for the other two! After wishing each other merde a few thousand times (merde is the dancer's version of 'break a leg'--it's French, but I won't provide the exact translation here :) ), everyone did an outstanding job dancing their parts, and I'm so happy I was able to dance with all my amazing fellow dancers!  I can't wait to see everyone in classes next week!!  A special congrats to our beautiful Clara, Sarah Morgan! Also, a huge thanks to the awesome Carolina Ballet dancers*, who gave their time and talent to help make our show a huge success!

I thought I'd post some backstage pics (yes, I managed to get some through the clouds of hairspray!!). I also have a dancer's message area below where I got some of my amazing fellow dancers to leave a note :). If you wanted to leave a note and didn't get a chance to, message me and I'll add it!!  It was tricky getting around backstage with my laptop without tripping and knocking things over (which I'm prone to do even on flat, clutter-free surfaces), so if I didn't get a chance to ask you to leave a note, please don't take it personally.  I'm just a klutz and couldn't get to you easily, so MESSAGE ME if you want to leave one!!

Meet Super Party Girl! 
Not only does she hold up the roof,
but she does pointe!
--say bye bye to Marvel heroes!!

Die Fotos:








Some costumes;  Left to right:  tea, guides, angels, and snow

Maid and Party Girl

Book time!!



Party girl drama :P

Two of our colorful Polichinelles



Mein Kostüm

Nice Uggs :)

Craziness

Party Girl makeup



Arabian swag!!!

 

I'm stuck!!!!! -.-

Gear...

Tea time!!



Studying backstage!  Proof that dancers aren't dumb!

Some of the hairpins it took to keep everything in
place--mostly for the hat, a few for my hair.
Between a brand new pack
(thanks Nola Grace :D), the dozen or so I had
in my bag, and the ones I scrounged around for,
I ended up using about 40 :O



Bonding time :)

 

Feet!!  Someone has serious Arabian ninja swag on the far left...you know who you are ;)

meinen Spitzenschuhe before the first show

meinen Spitzenschuhe after the second show

Sad :'(

RIP!!

Someday someone will write a tragedy about those shoes...

My backups





For the third show:  Shoes with giant holes or shoes with thin tips??
(Why yes, that is my computer open to the beginnings of
this blog post in the background!)

I guess the ones with worn-down tips...



Grrr...





Beautiful Clara and her handsome Prince after the show!



Clara and the Prince have the Rat King cornered !!

Here ends the photo section of this blog post!  I hope you'll find some sort of comfort looking at them while waiting for next year's Nutcracker!!







Messages from the cast:
(thank Stephanie for the idea :))



Stephanie says hey!


HAI!!!!!!!!!!!! Uh, yeah., Idk what else to say. Uh yeah. hahahahahaha. It's tea time!!!! Weeeee. I promise I'm not really that stupid. But I am a spazz. I'm super excited for the show. I can't believe it's the last one this year!!!!! It's been so fun. YyyYYAAAAaaaaaAAAyyyyayayyyYYYYY!!!!! Abby, she think I be drankin.Nah nah nah nah. Dat I ain't tha truth. I'm good. I'm good. I like chocolate milk. ^_^ BYE!!!!!!!!!! ~Christina AKA Tina AKA Beavis k thx bye
    tsk tsk tsk...drinking before the show, eh? haha kidding! :D  must have been the chocolate ;)


Hey! I'm is so excited for the last show!! Except I'm sad because it's the last show...it was so much fun and an awesome way to spend my Saturdays. You can always use more ballet! At least I'll still see everyone in class. Love you guys!
Emily <3


I can't beleive this is the last show!!! It is an amazing show and we're gonna rock it! -Reaghan


We are so amazing and this show is gunna rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~Allyson Kohl


The Nutcracker experience has been amazing!!!!!! Can't wait for next year!!! -Aubrey


Abby is a amazing dancer and I am truely honoured to be in the Nutcracker with her this year! YOU GO ABBY!!!!!!! ~Megan
    (aww, thanks, Megan!!  so are you girly!!!! awesome dancing with you--you have EPIC Trepak swag!!! <3)


So guys Ive got Arabian SWAG!!!!!! this year is the best year ever and i absoluty love danceing!!!!!! never give up on what you love!!!! FRENCH BUDDY!!!!
~Sydney Begg <3kki
   FRENCH BUDDIES POUR TOUJOURS!!!!


i measure my year in "days until nutcracker" yall! i love this girl abby and i practically live at the studio. oh by the way ARABIAN SWAG ALSO!!!!! ~Sabrina
   this girl abby loves ya too!! <33


Abby is my special people person and I always enjoy nutcracker with her.  City Ballet's nutcracker rules and I practically live to dance and do this show. It's a great honor to be part of it.  SPECIAL PEOPLE 4EVER!!! <3 ~Brandi Richardson (party grl)
    Brandi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It's awesome doing nutcracker with you too!!!!  you. are. an. AMAZING party girl!!!  party girl swag :D  <3333











If you got a chance to come or if you were in the show, hope you enjoyed it, and if you didn't, well, we'll just have to come after you...wait, no, I mean, there's always the spring recital...and Nutcracker 2013 ;)

See you all in class!!  I'm going to miss all the crazy, awesome, on-stage warmups with Mrs. Sandy waving fluffy red socks in the air to get us to look up at the audience!




*Alicia Fabry performed as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Marcelo Martinez as her Cavalier, and Nik Smirnov as the Prince

Still being me...

Salut!

I decided to start blogging again!  You can thank (or blame, depending on how much you hate this blog ;)) my friend, Ivy, and my epic Omnibus V teacher, Mr. Martin for inspiring me.  They're awesome people.  Thanks.  A bunch.

So, if you're still reading, you're probably wondering if anything awesome has happened since my last post!  The answer is:  yes, yes, and more yes!  Where do I start?

First of all, I started taking German in my spare time (not like 'spare time' really exists for a Veritas victim-er-student, except in theory) on an awesome site called Livemocha.com.  Go there.  Make an account.  Learn whatever language you want to.  You'll thank me, not in English, but in some other language no one has ever heard of!

"Boring," you say?  Ah, but that's not all (not to mention, German is NOT boring)!  This past summer, I was fortunate enough to go on a mission trip with amazing people from Landry academy to an amazing little ville in France called 'Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort.'  If you think that's boring, you should probably unfollow my blog (not to mention see a doctor!), because that was pretty much the most amazing experience of my life.

Our plane (Lufthansa) stopped in Germany on the way there and on the way back.  Silly, yes, but I enjoyed just being in the German airport and on the German plane (except on the return trip!) almost as much as actually being in France!

Every morning in France, we started the day with a worship service led by our hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Weiner (amazing, Spirit-filled people!), and then we spent some time getting to know each other and meditating while doing chores.  In the evenings, we went out in groups for walks, cameras in hand.  Being the crazy, weirdo dancer I am, I just HAD to wear my pointe shoes around France, so there I was, walking around a little town in the south of France in a new French dress and my somewhat ratty-looking pointe shoes with some friends who already figured out I was a little on the crazy side (ok, maybe completely on the crazy side) and didn't mind too much.  There were two open air markets while we were there (well, really three, but most of us were sick with a stomach bug on the day of the third one, so a lot of us, moi included, didn't go), with amazing clothes, handmade soaps, earrings, knives, and other awesome French stuff.  I ended up getting a dress, some soap, and earrings, one of which I lost a few days later in France on a walk (in my pointe shoes...of course).  Now I'm left with only one earring and a handful of silver memories *sniff*.

Ok, sorry for the drama.  On the return trip, we were all pretty much either in tears or on motion sickness pills.  When we got back to the Dulles airport, we said our final goodbyes and dished out a record number of hugs.  I miss everyone from that trip so much!  We all need to go back to France together, SOON!

What happened next?  Not that anything can live up to France and three hours of Germany, but after France, I had a three-week dance camp at IBA.  Thanks to that camp, I can finally do pirouettes without everyone thinking I'm drunk (well, most of the time--but if I'm having an off-day, you'd better evacuate the room), have better extensions, and still can't do calypsos or any of the other stuff we did in modern class.  PS--Did I mention I had my first partnering class at that camp?  'twas slightly scary, but we both survived, with minimal bruising.  I'm alive to tell the tale, right?

So, that was the end of my summer, right?  It couldn't possibly have been any better?  Nein, falsch!  After IBA camp, I had a week of another ballet intensive at my regular ballet studio (City Ballet <3) with a slightly crazed but completely awesome teacher.  We learned a variation, I think it was Hungarian, but I can't remember the name of it any more, and if you asked me to dance it again, it would be painful to watch.

After this, I proceeded to take a solo flight around the world, and that concluded my summer...no, kidding--summer ended with the above camp.  Awesome, right? JA!!!

So what am I doing now?  Missing France, spending too much time on Livemocha learning German (a native German person who also speaks French said I have a French accent when speaking German, which, until now, I wasn't even sure was possible...) , eating German chocolate without you ;).  Oh, and school.  Boatloads of it.  I'm seriously about buried by papers and books, and the fact that my two cats literally DO eat my homework (and now my chair...because it's leather and they're crazy cats) doesn't help any!

D'accord, c'est fini!  That wasn't so bad, was it?  I hope you had spare time and didn't just read all of this when you should have been catching up on Omnibus homework ;).  If that's the case, don't blame me-I'm just innocently blogging while I should be studying for an upcoming test.  Whoops.

'A test?!' you say?  Yes, a test.  Pray for me--let's hope Sugar Plum and Mindy don't eat my notes!

Ciao