I'm in a PNB Mood.

I just have to share a couple of these videos that I found researching for an editorial that I am writing.

These people are truly inspiring. 

A Tribute to Lucien Postlewaite

I am a huge ballet fan.  I have been dancing for almost 10 years now (I think my fifth year on pointe), and I LOVE it.   

A couple years ago, my grandma took me to my first ballet, of coarse, it was the Nutcracker.  Since then, I have been to several ballets, my favorite being Romeo and Juliet. It was at my first time seeing Romeo and Juliet that I saw Lucien Postlewaite for the first time.  He is (was actually, he moved to the Monte Carlo Ballet...so sad) incredible.  So, here is my little tribute to him.  

Lucien Postlewaite

Unfortunately, the way that the realm of ballet is right now, many of the men in most dance companies are homosexual.  I appreciate male dancing for the athleticism and power, not for the grace and poise that many men attempt to carry today.  That said, there are a few male dancers who are able to embody both poise and power, and one of them Lucien (yes, we are on a first name basis).  He is homosexual, but he is able to pull off the roles that require power and dare I say it, manliness.

He retired from PNB to move to Les Ballets de Monte Carlo this last year, which was a huge bummer, because he was my favorite PNB dancer.  He became his characters on stage and played them over the top, but not to the point where it pushes the audience away from the performance.  The most striking character I ever saw him play (which was his favorite character, and the one that caused him to make the move to Monte Carlo) was Romeo in Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Romeo and Juliette.  Maillot works extensively with the company at Monte Carlo, causing Lucien to make this move because he got to work with him a lot when learning this role.    In an interview that an editorialist at Seattle Met had with Lucien, this is what he said about his role of Romeo when asked what his favorite role was to play. 

“Because it’s kind of what has led me to this decision, I would say Roméo et Juliette. When we performed that, it really changed the way I danced. It changed the way I look at dance. It gave me a way to completely express every range of my emotion on stage.”

Lucien carried the emotion of Romeo through the entire performance.  It was breathtaking.   The moment that he came on stage, my eyes were glued on him.  The air that he took on as Romeo carried the entire performance. 

Maybe I will go to the Monte Carlo Ballet some day, and I can see him again.

So, here's to Lucien :)

My Sister

I have the best sister in the WORLD.

She is my constant companion, best friend, and hardest critic in the best way possible.  She sees the best for me and always pushes me towards it.

I love my sister.

We do the weirdest things together, but we love it :)

That is me as Peter, Kayla as Susan, Kelsey as Lucy and Jackie as Edmund.

Yep, we are nerds, but we are definitely classy nerds.

We do homework together at Urban Coffee Lounge with our Mac's

We hike together (well, we did once, but we do go on a lot of adventures together).

Yes, I have the best family in the whole world!

My Class

For my first real post, I have to talk about my class.  

I have the best class, better than anyone could wish for.  We like to have fun, we are all opinionated, and we love each other.  

This is the senior class in Florence, Italy.

And this is them in Assisi, Italy...we are a pretty awesome group :)

This is my class with the three juniors, the latest addition to our numbers.

[Bond Day for Spirit Week]

And finally, this is my awesome group from a school project we did.  We taught the works of Shakespeare, Inception style :)

I have the best class.  I love them all, and they are so amazing.  We have been together all the way since kindergarden, and I am so excited to graduate with these guys!

So, here's to my class!

Future of Forestry

One of my favorite bands is Future of Forestry.  

I based the title for my blog off of one of their song's "Holiday."  

Its just a great vacation driving to the beach type of song :)

Here is my favorite song of theirs, "Slow Your Breath Down."  This is a video of their rehearsal for a concert.  Yes, there are only three people playing all of those instruments.  That is much of the reason why I like them so much.  They are all very musically talented.  

So, here's to some of my favorite music :)

A New Phase

I've decided to start into a new phase.

If you haven't noticed, it has been several months since my last post, so I think that it is time to start something new.  

Rather than simply posting about the books and stories that I read (which is at a minimum right now because I'm in my senior year of high school), I'm going to post about all of the different things I do in my life, dancing, cooking, and yes, reading. 

I like to think of these things as my holiday from school, hence the new title of my blog :)

So, here's to the future :)