New School Year, New Dance Year, New Attitude

Julian began school on Monday. This year he’s a sophomore. He seems to have a new attitude (Thank God!) about school, schoolwork and grades. In fact, one of his best friends and a fellow dancer told me yesterday that Julian is “a different person.” It seems he was angry at her for talking on the phone rather than doing homework. Last year, I guess he didn’t have a problem with that (which would explain his terrible grades). While she spoke on the phone, he put in his Ipod earphones so he couldn’t hear her her and worked. Yahoo!

Maybe the trip to New York University, which is where he says he wants to go to college (if he isn’t recruited by Rasta Thomas first — his dream job at the moment) actually did the trick. I kind of hoped that if he got excited about a program and saw what it was going to take to get into a good school he’d get his act together. I do have to say, however, that his sister did have terrible grades as a freshman as well and then did really well after that. They both probably should have been held back before starting school since they were summer babies, but…too late now. Anyway, I hope Julian’s new attitude continues.

He appears to have a new attitude and work ethic at dance as well–left over from American Ballet Theatre and Broadway Dance Center. Dance at Teen Dance Company, however, doesn’t officially start until after Labor Day. That said, Julian has been dancing just about every day. He had choreography sessions most of last week and last weekend. He has also attended all the ballet and contemporary drop in classes offered at TDC. Additionally, he went to a ballet class at Los Gatos Ballet yesterday and tonight he is back at Studio 10 for jazz.  He’s trying to stay in shape, plus he simply wants to dance.

We received an evaluation form from ABT, much to our surprise. Julian got mostly “very good” and “good” grades. (The only thing better would be an “excellent.”) He was impressed with the fact that they thought his adagio was “very good.” I thought it was funny that all his “excellent” marks were in the areas of “presentation” and “class etiquette and presentation.” Well, he does like to look good, but you can’t say, “It’s better to look good than to dance well,” when it comes to ballet. (That was supposed to be a play on, “It’s better to look good than to feel good.” If you have to explain the pun, I guess it doesn’t really work.) These areas included dress, grooming, attitude, motivation, effort, progress, attendance, and dress code.  Actually, I’m proud he scored so well in these areas, and overall, he didn’t get one “satisfactory” or “needs improvement,” so I was a proud dancer’s mom. And Julian felt pretty good about himself as well. I think he was particularly happy that in the comment’s box it said, “Good partnering skills, and that is important for a boy.” (He felt that was the most important thing he learned this summer.

So, now to put everything he learned to use this year — including that new work ethic and attitude — both in school and in the studio. I hope he manages to be successful in both places. That would avoid so many fights and issues. And it would make him feel great.

In the meantime, we are grappling (already and it isn’t even September) with which Nutcracker to do. I think I already mentioned that. We still haven’t decided. The professional one seems enticing, but with no choreography set and a “child” role, there’s no telling what Julian will be doing. Plus, it requires all that driving to San Francisco and giving up social time on Fridays (no football games and dances for Julian — and no Shabbat services for me). The other production, which Julian was in last year, offers him the chance to be the Nutcracker prince. The choreographer said she’ll give him solos and lots of dancing and partnering work…but that will all have to be set on him as well. It’s not been done that way before. Yet, it’s local and she works around his schedule. (No Friday rehearsals…whoo hoo!) It could be a mute point, though, if any of the tech rehearsal dates conflict with TDC 2nd Stage tech rehearsals in December. So…it’s all up in the air.

With that said, I’ll leave you all to ponder for me the pros and cons and possibilities. I have to go off and search out more photos of Julian dancing. We wrote dueling columns for an upcoming issue of Movmnt magazine (the issue is focused on the topic of  ”family”), and they needed photos of him dancing. I didn’t really have any good ones. (Bad mom, I know.) So, I’ve had to search some out. While extremely time consuming, I must say I came up with quite a few from both TDC’s 2nd Stage and Concert performances last year, Los Gatos Ballet’s Copellia production, and even ABT’s final summer intensive performance. (Now I also have to buy some!)

Hopefully, next week I’ll have time to post what will probably be just the first in a series of blogs based on my conversation with Denise Wall, mother of choreographer Travis Wall and dancer Danny Tidwell.  (That’s if I can get away from the photo search and column writing for Movmnt, and other miscellaneous projects, to get caught up on my editing work.)

Second Day in NYC at the ABT Summer Intensive

So, we are here in New York City, and I’m about to pick Julian up after his second day at the American Ballet Theatre summer intensive. We arrived to find ourselves with a very, very, very small studio apartment as a sublet. This might be better than a dorm room at New York University, and it is cheaper, but it isn’t any larger I don’t think…or not by much. I’m sleep in a loft and Julian is on a blow up mattress. The kitchen is hardly big enough to cook in and terribly ill equipped for doing so. The place isn’t all too clean and it smelled like cat when we got here. We are, however, making do and adjusting. (I’m trying to figure out how to work in this space as well.)

As for ABT, we arrived early on Monday morning to find ourselves second in line. The kids aren’t allowed in until 8:30 a.m. , so a line forms all the way around the corner of the building and down a long city block. It’s pretty amazing actually. The kids are then let in right at 8:30 and walk up four flights of stairs sans parents. (Nope…We do not get to go in except on the two parent observation days.) They are not allowed to take the elevator.

Yesterday, they were split into two groups, older and younger, and those groups were split into two again. One group, Julian’s (the younger — under 16), had an orientation session before lunch while the second group had their placement class. Julian had his placement ballet class after lunch. This was taught by Kevin McKenzie, ABT artistic director, while other people (I’m assuming the rest of the staff) watched and evaluated. Kevin evaluated as well.

This morning, the kids arrived to find out into which “level” they had been placed: yellow, red, blue, green, aqua, fuchsia, and one more…(I’ll have to ask Julian when he gets back.) While the levels are not decided by age but by proficiency, more often than not kids of the same age tend to end up in the same level as well — with a few exceptions.

Julian was hoping for the green level (typically 16-18), which is the higher of the two middle levels, but said he would be okay with blue. He ended up in blue. I’ll know better how he felt about that when he gets back. I suppose it will depend upon his evaluation of the other boys in his level. He really wanted to be with a few boys he sees as “very good.” This was not just because he wanted to see himself as as good as them but because he wanted to learn from them.

Anyway, we are off to a running start. He seemed happy yesterday and eager to get back there today.

Last night we took a tour of Juilliard. That was informative and interesting. Julian still thinks he wants to attend a school with academics, rather than a conservatory, but we are keeping our minds open. After all Juilliard is the Harvard of dance.

We hope to go see an ABT performance on Friday. Julian is looking into getting discounted student tickets — a summer intensive perk. We plan on going to see Jared Grimes dance tomorrow night as well, if I can get tickets tonight on line.  And, of course, we have our Billy Elliott tickets already…and we went up to Broadway and checked out the theater!

While Julian is getting “buff,” more flexible and in shape at ABT, I’m getting in shape just by virtue of being in New York. My legs are really sore from walking around the city. And I have a free one-week pass to a gym! Someone else told me they could get me another one for 10 days…maybe I’ll just get free passes to a bunch of gyms and actually get buff myself! (I’m a long way from that, I’ll tell you.)

More in a day or two…

Finally Found: Ballet Tights that Fit a Teenage Boy!

As a short breather to the Duncan Cooper series (and since I don’t have time right now to post another piece to that interview), I’d like to share that Julian has finally found some ballet tights that fit and that he loves. He says he can’t even tell he’s wearing them! So, I want to share the brand: MStevens Inc. of Los Angeles, CA, in case any other boys his age – 14 – have had trouble finding tights that fit. (He happens to have purchased the footed tights, Style 1099.)

This comes after a very long search for tights. In fact, he’s been wearing the same pair day in and day out. He has a second pair, but he doesn’t like them and won’t wear them. (One more purchase that was a waste of money.) We have found that Discount Dance Supply carries MStevens on line, and we are going to order two more pair. (This week they have some special shipping discounts.) Then he’ll be outfitted with ballet tights and dance shoes for ABT this summer. We still need to buy jazz pants, which he hates, some footless tights for hip hop (no sweats or shorts allowed at ABT), and a Pilates or yoga mat. Then he is set to go.

Today he had his year-end evaluation at dance; it wasn’t as intimidating as it was last time, and his Dad and I didn’t have any “stuff” up around the studio/company or anything like that. (We now are very happy with our/his studio choice.) So, it was pretty smooth sailing. They seem happy to have Julian, and he’s happy to be there. After a bit of a plateau in his dancing, he seems to be improving – or so they say. They also feel sure that going to NYC and dancing with a bunch of boys and under the tutelage of new and excellent teachers will be a superb experience for him. That made us all feel good about the decision, which is a bit of a hardship on our family, to say the least. He does need to work on a few things to avoid shin splints while at the intensive, such as landing and rolling through his whole foot and using his full plie on his jumps. And there was something or other about his hips or pelvis that related to his core. I know from writing about foot health twice now that that affects everything, the legs and feet in particular.

Speaking of feet, my story on how to keep a tap dancer’s feet healthy is now out in Dance Teachermagazine, for those of you who subscribe or want to purchase it. I guess the one about how to attract boys to a studio must have been in the April issue. They failed to send me that one, so I didn’t see it. Look for an article on three teen dance companies, including Julian’s company, Teen Dance Company of the Bay Area, in the July-August issue of Dance Spirit magazine.

Empty Green Fields of Raw Talent…After 11 Years of Dance Training?

Okay, so call me a Dance Mom or a Stage Mom. I think my son’s got some talent when it comes to dance. That said, some other people who know more than I do about dance, and who aren’t related to Julian, think he’s got some talent, too. But lately a few dance professionals seem to be telling us about how Julian’s talent is “raw” and like a “green field” with no houses, sky scrapers, or other structures built upon that field.

Excuse me? Does this mean that after 11 years of training at the best dance schools we could find and with the best dance teachers we could afford, that this young male dancer has learned nothing? Does this mean he has not constructed even a foundation on his “green field” of talent since he began dancing at the age of three? Does this mean that at the age of 14 not one other dance teacher has managed to mold that “raw” talent at all – or put it on the grill and cook it even a little?

Give me a break.

I think maybe these, albeit well-meaning professionals…I won’t name names…want the credit for taking Julian’s so-called talent to the next level, and that’s fine. They are helping him do that, I admit. (And I’m happy and grateful that they are.) But do they want to take credit also for the foundation that has been laid already, which they seem to be ignoring, and which they will now build upon it. Do they want to take credit for the seeds previously thrown that grew that beautiful, long, swaying, healthy grass that they will now cut or tame or pull the weeds out of to make it healthier, stronger, more able to withstand the weather and to grow and mature into a strong field of…Well, you get the idea.

Seems a bit egotistical to me. Does every dancer or dance teacher end up with a big head? (I know they don’t really…) Does that grow somewhere in that field, or is it a weed that can be pulled? Someone have a weed killer named “Ego-Be-Gone” (like “Weed-Be-Gone)? If so, I want some fast! I’ll spray Julian’s green field with a thick dose. (I don’t doubt that some people think he has an ego a bit too large of his own…) Then, I’ll buy some great fertilizer: “Dancer Grow” (like “Miracle Grow”)!

Do you think that then he won’t need those big-ego-ed dance teachers any more?

I know…too bad, though. It would have been nice. Cheaper, too. And would have required less driving.

Dance Evaluations and Lessons Learned

It’s amazing how far a little bit of communication goes to soothe concerns, ease bad feelings and boost your sense of well being. As you might have guessed, Julian’s evaluation at Teen Dance Company went quite well and helped not only him feel better about what he’s doing there and how his teachers are dealing with and viewing him, but it made his dad and I feel a lot better as well.

 

No, we didn’t storm in and ask that he be treated like a prince, and they didn’t offer to treat him like one either, but it turned out okay all the same. And they gave us 30 minutes rather than 15 minutes, as scheduled.

 

As I’ve said previously, we’d been feeling like he wasn’t “appreciated,” but, in fact, it turns out he is. (We should have known.) And, it seems, he’s cared for as well. We were shown by Mark Foehringer the exact issues he’s working on with Julian and why. We were given more information on why the modern teacher, Brian Fisher, doesn’t yet want to move Julian up to the higher class, and it’s not just that Julian doesn’t know enough modern technique either. (After all, he’s only been studying modern for two months.) He’s actually concerned Julian might get hurt if he puts him in the higher class. (I suppose the fact that he goes 110 percent when put with the “better” kids and doesn’t actually know what he’s doing 110 percent of the time could lead to injury.)  Everyone wants to be sure Julian is doing things correctly and not moving forward with bad habits that later will be hard to break or that will cause him to get injured. (This speaks to the subject of moving slowly rather than quickly, something boys don’t like to do, which I will address in my next blog post.)

 

No one was jumping up and down and telling us how excited they were to have Julian in their company, but I suppose they can’t do that. They have to treat everyone equally. (Okay, I’m trying to be nice and play devil’s advocate to some extent here. I still want them jumping up and down, because I have, after all, brought them a boy, not to mention a boy with a fair amount of talent.) They did seem to indicate that they were pretty happy to have him with smiles and nods but no outright words when I said something that gave them a chance to actually do so. I’ll take that.  

 

As for the actual evaluation, they told us Julian is doing well overall. And all the teachers enjoy having him in their classes. (And why shouldn’t they? He’s a pretty pleasant chap most of the time, unless you’re his mother hassling him about his bad grades. Then he becomes something quite the opposite.) And many of the issues they saw with his dance, such as tight hips, lack of flexibility and problems with control of his back, they mostly attributed to the huge amount of growing he seems to be doing. (I think he’s grown about six inches in the last four months.)

 

The really great part was that Mark was able to give Julian specific things to work on and accomplish so he can move up to the next levels in ballet. One, interestingly, had to do with musicality: actually doing his barr work with the music in mind. For example, not popping out of a plié but actually coming out of it with the music.  Also, Darlene Castro-Easterling, who serves as the Pilates and tap instructor, said she will give Julian special stretching and strengthening exercises. Mark also will give Julian special stretching exercises.

 

Additionally, and this may be the best part of the whole meeting, when I brought up the fact that Julian is not getting to practice the “guy” ballet moves he already knows, nor is he learning any new ones, Mark jumped on this and solved the problem. While the girls are putting on their point shoes on Thursday nights, Julian will get 10 or 15 minutes alone with Mark to work on the “boy stuff.” Then, instead of being in the other “lower” ballet class that night, he will stay and do ballet with these girls, who are the really serious ballet students in the company, and Mark will carve out time for Julian to continue working on things that boys need to learn, such as partnering. Yahoo!  How the class will be structured for him is a bit up in the air, since all these girls are on pointe, but I’m sure it will be fine.

 

So, we left with Julian feeling pretty good about things in general. He even said that after hearing Mark explain to him in more detail some of the thing he needs to correct in ballet, he understands better and feels more inclined to go to him after class and ask for that type of explanation again. That’s a great lesson in and of itself: knowing that a bit of one-on-one time with a teacher so you can get an explanation about a correction can help you correct it more quickly.

 

And mom and dad felt better, too. We felt that the teachers at TDC are looking out for our son, not just now but in terms of helping him develop as a dancer for the long haul, and that they enjoy and appreciate him. And they were responsive to his needs. We were told to trust them…I guess a bit of trust is a good thing, too.

 

All is well here…for now. 

 

(Note: During the month of November I write and manage a blog called Write Nonfiction in November – http://writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com. It’s both a blog and a challenge to nonfiction writers, myself included, to start and finish a nonfiction writing project in 30 days. As you can imagine, between working on my own project and blogging – although I do have guest bloggers this year – this endeavor takes up a lot of my time. And I do also work as a freelance journalist and nonfiction book editor during November…life and work and driving kids to and from dance and swimming go on.  So, if my posts in this blog get a bit less frequent this month, please understand and be patient. Don’t go away and not come back! I’ll be writing more often again in December. And if you come here and don’t find anything new to read, you can always find me at http://writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com or at http://purespiritcreations.com/wordpress, although that blog also will be taking a back seat to Write Nonfiction in November for the next 30 days.)