Blistered, Bruised and Bleeding...Toes?

I know that I promised I would write a follow up to my post about dance camp.  Ya know, something more detailed than just "I'm going to dance camp.  Yay." But I really don't think I can sit down and put my experiences so far into one single post.  Plus I'm lazy.  So here is a little tid-bit of what I'm experiencing...

My ballet experience simply pales in comparison to the training the girls at this camp have.  I'm in the lower group with girls who are twelve years old (there are three other girls my age) and the all have more ballet experience than I do.  Every.  Single.  One.  It's sad. 

So because I have such little training, ballet has been a struggle for me.  We're doing things I've never done before, so while everyone else is perfecting the movement, I'm struggling just to figure out what the heck we're even doing!  Even harder than the ballet though, is the pointe!  My pointe classes this year were only about twenty minutes long, which makes it hard to accomplish a lot.  At camp, the classes are an hour long.  My feet are taking a beating!!

I had a really great pointe day on Tuesday (we only have pointe on Tuesdays and Thursdays).  The teacher said she was really impressed, and that she didn't expect me to do so well because she knew where I was coming from.  (I feel it necessary to say that I am not at all bashing the training I gained from my studio.  I'm simply trying to emphasize the culture shock I'm experiencing!)  My toes hurt a lot, but c'mon, you're bopping around on the very tips of your toes in shoes made of plaster and glue.  Ouch!  What I didn't expect to see, though, when I took of my pointe shoes, was blood leaking through my toe pads.  During the class I had broken the nail on my big toe and my toe started to bleed.  Sexy, I know.

Just in case you've never had the pleasure of breaking your toe nail...and continuing to dance in your pointe shoes...let me inform you that it is in no way, shape or form a pleasant sensation.  My toe has throbbed non stop for the past three days.  I almost cried yesterday in pointe class when I was dancing on the broken-nail-foot, and I never cry!

Broken nail aside, I had new blisters on each pinky toe today, along with all the old blisters on the bottom of my feet.  I bruised three toe nails, and my ballet teacher says she thinks the one I broke will probably fall off...cute.

But for now I'll soak 'em in epsom salts and cross my fingers that nothing falls off!!

Dance Camp

Today was the beginning of the first of five weeks of dance camp!  I'm so excited.  More to come later, now I need some sleep and a new pair of feet!!

Are You a Dancer?

"Are you a dancer?"...My favorite question from strangers.  I think I've mentioned before, but my favorite compliments come from strangers, as they are considerably less biased than those from people I know.  My absolute favorite thing, though, is when strangers ask me if I dance, or tell me that I look like a dancer.  That's when I know my hard work is paying off!!

Earlier this year I was at my doctor's office getting the physical that was mandatory in order to obtain my driver's permit.  The last time my doctor had seen me was in seventh grade (I'm going into my junior year now..do the math) for the physical I needed to play volleyball that year.  She asked me to do something (I can't remember what exactly) that required standing, so I hopped off that weird little bed thing you find in Doctor's offices.  Immediately she asked me if I was a dancer.  She said she could tell just by the way I stood up. 

A few weeks ago I went to my friend's dance recital to help her with her costume changes so her mother could watch the show.  While backstage waiting for her to come off, another girl, about my age, who was helping with costume changes came up to me and asked if I was a dancer.  When I said I was she asked if I took ballet.  I said yes again and she went "I thought so, you totally look like a ballerina".

Not bad for the girl who has only taken three years of ballet.  I must be doing something right.