Ballerina Swan Lake

Looking for a place to stay? I think I have the perfect place for you, they have it all!

What more could you want?

 

You never know what you find along the interstate once you get out of the cities. This was a total WTF, I have to get a shot of that, but damn it I can’t afford to stop right now, but I’ll be passing it going back the same way later on. Got the exit number and hit it up later. Bam, Ballerina Swan Lake Mobile Home Country Club.

Can you imagine if it was full of tutu’ed pointe shoed dancers hanging out by their double wide chatting about how much better it was back when they were still dancing.  These kids today with there internets and high tech pointe shoes.

Waiting For Class

The New Girl and Her New Shoes.

 

Stolen: The Story Continues

Dear readers, as you may have read the online dancewar store/ photography hi-jackers All Around Dance is using a photograph of mine on their web site without my permission. Basically they snatched the photo of my then brand new Gaynor Minden’s with the navy blue ribbons it right off my blog.

I’ve since sent them a strongly worded e-mail bringing this to their attention. It’s flattering yet way wrong and completely unprofessional. Duhh!

We will see what happens.

In the mean time, you can watch this. And yes I know, the irony that neither I nor YouTube have the rights to this clip is not lost on me, seeing how this post is all about intellectual property rights.

Enjoy!

And here it is in Spanish.

Stolen

Thanks to Nerea (@EowinKenobi), who excels at translation, ballet and now detective work. She discovered that the dancewear site All Around Dance has been using my photo of my Gaynor Mindens with the blue ribbons off my award winning blog on their web site.

Look familiar? Well it should.

I dabbled in the internet publishing business while I was in graduate school. I designing bull shit e-commerce sites and e-mail news letters, you know the ones, sites you’ll never look at and e-mails that clog your spam folder. Hey, a job is a job, and I got to photograph models occasionally. You learn a few things off the bat on day one, you don’t use work that you didn’t either create yourself or have paid for. Basically you don’t troll Google Image search to find illustrations for your site, not a hard concept to grasp, or so I thought.

I know they look nice, but don

So dear reader, it looks like I’ll be contacting the good people at All Around Dance, to let them know while I find it flattering that they enjoy my photography skillz, I don’t appreciate them lifting the photo off of my blog and using it on their site.

I guess the other photo with the PBR can just didn’t fit their design esthetic.

Hey All Around Dance, they are not saying Boo-urns, they are saying boo!

Word.

Attitude

Attitude ain’t just for ballet anymore.

Dude, check out that attitude attitude I’ve got going here. It looks like ballet skills are paying off and are transferable, or are my cyclocross skills transferable? Either way, I love the leaps!

I might even venture to say, wait for it, wait for it, I’ve got good attitude.

FYI, that’s how you get on a moving bike covered in 10lbs of mud, it ain’t easy.

Looking good, finished 10th.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas from the Charlie Brown tree in the front yard.

May your feet and toes stay pointed, your pirouettes plentiful, and your jeté are always grand!

Occupy Ballet

99%

Window

Reflectivity #1

Fall On Me

Really, You Again?

Ms Violin strikes again! Dear readers you may remember she was the one who not only answered her phone in class but held a conversation in class as well. Anyway, I’m sure your on the edge of your seats wondering just what breach of ballet class etiquette would she break today.

So the Upstairs Urban Storefront School, not to be confused with Hollywood Upstairs Medical College, has two studios. One’s a fairly nice size which my Saturday intermediate class has always been held, and a second studio about the size of my bedroom. The Hip-hop class has some sort of free try-a-class thing going and a ton of people showed up to get their inexpensive grove on. We eventually did the ol’ studio-switch-a-roo about a quarter way through barre. No biggie, we obliged and moved.

Small Studio, view #1.

We’re all there with our hand on the barre ready to continue where we had left off in the other studio. It’s at this point where Ms Violin chimes in with a rambling story about her visit to the new performing arts center that just opened here in Big City, A beautiful structure I give her that, but can’t this wait for an approiate time? But she rambles on about how she had to wait in the rain to get in, how her shoes got wet, how she ran into her neighbor in the lobby, then her late lunch downtown, complete with unnecessary details.

Small Studio, view #2.

It just would not end. I mean really, dear readers, how hard do I have to roll my eyes and scream at her in my head before she shuts her trap and we get back to our rond de jambes, a favorite of mine BTW. I’m like here to learn ballet, not to listen to what you had for lunch last weekend.

Oh, did I mention that yet again she shows up late, and leaves early. Leaving right before we start center work, like I said before dear readers, it’s the fun part of class where you get to actually get to dance.

Agghhh, need to take a deep breath.  ”She can’t fuck up my ballet class, she can’t fuck up my ballet class, she can’t fuck up my ballet class, can’t, won’t…” Another deep breath. Now, where’s the beer?