Hahaha!!! There ya go!

 

 

 

I..... am tired.

 

 

 

But trying to catch up on all manner of threads and such.

 

I imagine that's taking a while?

 

Quite, as I'm also eating dinner and being sidetracked in PMs.

Skipping every other step, she ran upstairs to peek in the window at the biggest girls. They were crowding around Mamzelle, smiling at her and clapping. Everyone knew what that meant: "Thank you, Mamzelle, for a class well taught." The Little Ballerina knew--as everyone else knew too--that little girls didn't clap for Mamzelle, they curtsied.

Hahaha!!! There ya go!

 

 

 

I..... am tired.

 

 

 

But trying to catch up on all manner of threads and such.

 

I imagine that's taking a while?

 

Quite, as I'm also eating dinner and being sidetracked in PMs.

DINNER! Whatcha eating?

 

And PMs.... *sighs longingly* I used to get those.

 

DINNER! Whatcha eating?

 

And PMs.... *sighs longingly* I used to get those.

 

I need to buy groceries, and after having a long day on short sleep, didn't feel like cooking.

 

So, Wendy's. Monterey Jack crispy chicken sammich and chili cheese fries.

 

HEALTH FOOD.

Mamzelle started class at the barre (bahr), the long handrail used for balancing that ran all the way down one side of the room, along a wall of mirrors. First, pliés (plee-AYS), soft and graceful. Plié in French refers to a movement in which the knees are bent while the back is held straight.

 

I need to buy groceries, and after having a long day on short sleep, didn't feel like cooking.

 

So, Wendy's. Monterey Jack crispy chicken sammich and chili cheese fries.

 

HEALTH FOOD.

Emotional health food.

(and it sure sounds DEEE-LIIISH!)

Edited April 27, 201213 yr by mmeeshal

(and it sure sounds DEEE-LIIISH!)

 

Pretty much, lol!

"Breathe," said Mamzelle. "Breathe, little girls!" And the Little Ballerina remembered to breathe. It was hard not to hold her breath when she was doing something so very difficult.

Frappés (fra-PAYS) came next.

"Yummy frappés" the Little Ballerina liked to call them, because the word reminded her of a special milk shake her aunt had treated her to in Boston.

 

She did frappés by beating her foot lightly against the inside of her ankle.

 

"Concentrate!" Mamzelle told them again and again.

"Stop squinching those toes!" Mamzelle said to the Little Ballerina.

"Squinching" was a word Mamzelle had learned from her girls. Squinching happened when her girls concentrated a little too hard.

And then, in an order so rapid that the Little Ballerina's head began to swim, Mamzelle had them do:

tendus (tahn-DOOS)

 

and piqués (pee-KAYS).

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itaUFNmmUps

Mamzelle had them do:

petits battements (puh-TEE bat-MANHT)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jiqrMb4Lu0

and grands battements (grahnd bat-MAHNT).

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVM8AP3luyI

And then it was time to do Center Work. Center Work was done way out in the center of the room--without any barre.

The girls spread out, arm's length apart, three deep, littlest ones up front. The bigger girls in back tried to hide themselves behind the littler ones, but Mamzelle always said to them: "Girls, don't you know you cannot hide in a room full of mirrors?"

They started with an adagio (uh-DAHJ-ee-o). Adagio means slow. It was hard at first not to lose her balance, but the Little Ballerina knew how important it was to learn to balance--without any barre.

Tour (toor) is a French word that means a turn. The tour, or pirouette (pir-ooh-ET), was the hardest step of all. To turn round and round without ever getting dizzy was something the Little Ballerina still had to learn. She picked a spot to stare at with all her might and never took her eyes off it. The spot helped her to feel as if only her body were turning while her head stood stock-still. The head was the part that got dizzy. The Little Ballerina's favorite spot was an old paint smear on the floor that looked like a yellow rose.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm-XZCi9skQ

After class, the Little Ballerina quickly ran up and curtsied for Mamzelle.

 

"I'm ready, Mamzelle. For tomorrow, Mamzelle."