Anonymous asked: What is your "Pointe Shoe Ritual"? Like where/how do you sew your ribbons and elastics and what do you do to break them in?

Ah! The Pointe Shoe Ritual! Good question. You know, I feel like I’m too new to the frequent performing to have a really solid routine, but usually, I sew ribbons on a diagonal alongside the seam of the arch of the shoe, and sew my elastics on the inside very close together at the heel. I wear Bloch Axioms now with a regular shank, so I don’t need to do much bending to wear them for the first time. I bend at the demi-pointe and a bit of the arch until it cracks a little, then step on the boxes a lot to soften them. After that, it’s just a matter of doing some releves, then I’m good to go! 

Lately I’ve been finding myself on stage quite a bit, with even more performances up and coming in the near future. 

When you’re just a student, performing is usually a rarity, something to get really nervous and excited about for months in advance. But when performing becomes a bit more regular, you begin to understand more closely the relationship between your work in the studio and your work on stage. 

It’s really two different things completely. 

In the studio mistakes are acceptable, your entire body and psyche is more relaxed, you’re probably weary from a long day, and there is always room for improvement. On stage, you’re going for perfection (of course this a relative use of the word, especially in ballet), your body is high on adrenaline and your nerves are dancing in your stomach. You are rested up from “taking it easy” all day, and you sense a strange feeling of finiteness, as if this performance is a benchmark in your development that can never be erased. 

And in reality, that IS what performances are. It’s when the public can evaluate your dancing and determine your skill, grace, beauty, strength, etc, when you are putting yourself in the spotlight to test  yourself. Will you do the pirouette correctly? Will the menage you have planned span out evenly on the stage? Will your partner lift you at just the right moment? 

And when you succeed in doing everything you have planned, there really is no other feeling like it.

And that’s what we work towards every day!

That level of satisfaction and proficiency where you can walk into the wings and feel like you don’t have to get back on stage and do everything over to prove to the audience that you CAN do it. That smile on your mentor’s face when you see them for the first time since the performance. Going to sleep that night and feeling truly proud of yourself and all your work. 

But then surely, the next day, you’re back in the studio rehearsing the same thing you just presented in the theater. And suddenly you have to switch out of performance mode and back into student mode, where you receive instruction, absorb it, nod your head, smile, and practice, practice, practice. You’re no longer invincible like you were on stage. You have second chances in the studio, there is no disappointment, no regret. 

And so, I’ve learned to relish my time in the studio. While sometimes the rehearsal process grows tedious, those hours I spend at Valentina’s every day are precious. They are the in-between times when I can work honestly, before I have to perform again and put my efforts to the test. It always seems that the grass is greener on the other side, that the stage seems so appealing when you’re stuck in the studio, that the studio feels so cozy when you’re stuck on stage. 

I guess I’m slowly learning to appreciate both. It’s a process, just like everything else. 

Happy Spring everybody:)

Sarah xx

Heyyyyy Brooklyn! 

Me modeling a new Grishko tutu @ the Grishko NYC store. Like the photo on the Grishko Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/GrishkoUSA !

Anonymous asked: Hi!! I'm looking at a couple of SI's around NY and came across VKDCNY. Could you give a short review about it? What's it like? Coz I'm wondering where I want to audition in NY for next year. :) Thanks so much for your help! :D

Hello! Valentina’s Summer Intensive, of all the intensives available in the city, is one of the most intense. You receive Vaganova training in technique class from Valentina herself, and from other members of the faculty. There is also pointe class, variations, contemporary, and character.  Pointe or variations you have every day. We also learn a piece of classical repertoire which we present in a studio performance at the end of the intensive. There is also a VKDCNY “Exclusive” which is a week of coaching from only Valentina. It’s a lot of fun, since you’re right in the middle of New York City, but you’re also getting amazing, authentic, Russian training, which is difficult to find. Everyone is really friendly and I’m sure you’d like it! I would also be there this summer! 

Hope this helps. All audition information about the Summer Intensive can be found on the website at www.vkdcny.com

Check out about 0:50 through 2:11 to watch her variation. I’m dancing this at Valentina’s Spring Gala in April alongside Diana & Acteon. It’s harder than it looks!

Oh how does she make everything look so effortless? Please appreciate the speed of her pique turns at the end. Only Nina can do that. 

So beautiful. 

xx Sarah

forthedancers asked: 1. You're gorgeous! 2. Where are you sending your headshot to? If I may ask

Thank you!! :D I’m sending my applications to mostly American companies, like Houston, San Fran, Boston, Washington to name a few. I’m not expecting much, since I’m not a high school graduate, but it doesn’t hurt to put myself out there. 

Headshot, baby. Sending this stuff out soon. #scared #excited #PLEASEACCEPTME

Some Nutz backstage/train photos from both Sugar Plum-ing and Snow Queen-ing. 

I miss Nutz already… is it sad if I can’t wait till next year? 

You’re never too old for Nutcracker.

12/31/11

I’m not sure about my resolutions this year, because there are so many things I aspire to achieve in the next year of my life. But I guess if you’re not too specific about it, my resolutions this year are simple. It’s always the simplest things that are the most difficult to attain though. (Because they’re abstract and too general to ever be completely true.)

I hope for happiness and health for both me and my family — those are the first two on the list, without a doubt.

I hope to have good grades— since junior year is no easy feat nor is first semester of senior year.

I’m going to have  (I really really really hope to have) a kick-butt season in ballet— since that’ll pretty much make my dreams come true. 

It sounds so nice and easy when I type it out, but I have a feeling I’m in for a hell of a year. I’m dreading it. I’m so psyched.

Here we go, 2012~~Happy New Year everyone:) 

Anonymous asked: Which dance school are you associated with now and what competitions are you doing this year?

Right now I am training with Valentina Kozlova at Valentina Kozlova’s Dance Conservatory of New York. Im doing the Boston International Ballet Competition in June of 2012, and then the Varna IBC in July of 2012. 

My body is feeling like it has just been shoved outside in the middle of a hurricane, and only a couple seconds ago I’ve been brought back inside to shelter as the winds die down. 

I feel slightly numb; My vision blurs when I focus on something for too long. I can walk down the street in the city for the first time without looking at one person on the way. I forgot what it is like to make my bed in the morning. 

Nutcracker season was an absolute joy. I had the time of my life performing and rehearsing all day and night. There are no words to describe how excited  I am to do this for a living, to dance on stage in front of an eager-eyed, awestruck audience. 

I’ve danced the sultry Arabian princess, decked out in a glittering headband, sparkly red bra, and princess-Jasmine-esque pantaloons. I’ve danced the fierce yet delicate role of the Sugar Plum Fairy, pirouetting away in the Land of the Sweets. I’ve danced the role of the Snow Queen, directing Clara & the Prince on their way to the Sugar Plum Fairy’s realm. 

I feel like I’ve done it all this season, with an added taste of independence upon turning seventeen. I’m a car-driving, boy-dating, ass-kicking ballerina on the loose. In the city. 

But thank god this holiday break came when it did. Running from rehearsal studio to rehearsal studio is more tiring than it sounds, especially when subway cars are running late. I now have the time to bask in my most recent performances, reflect back on every moment I spent on stage and think about how I could have done it better. Surrounded by vases of flowers in my room, I’m content, but feeling more motivated than ever to get out there and show those ballet companies what I’m made of. 

So it’s the calm after the storm— the point where my brain is still spinning but my body is still. Physically, everything is fine. But behind the scenes, there is still so much left to do.