SI INSIDER: LAST WEEK!

LAST WEEK OF PRINCETON BALLET SCHOOL'S SUMMER INTENSIVE 2010! =( only 4 days left. i'm missing all my new friends already. this experience was so fulfilling and rewarding, it's too difficult to express in words. i'm so grateful for all the friends, teachers, lessons, laughs, sweat and even the painful blisters! all of it made me a better dancer. i know it's cliche, but i'll always cherish the precious memories made this summer. the performance is coming up so fast! i'm so pumped to perform and to see everyone's hard work. there are still tickets left to see our shows (1 and 3pm at the Frist Theater on Princeton University Campus) buy a ticket, and support us!

i want to say thank you to all the faculty, teachers and staff. for all the advice, guidance, criticisms and encouragements, you are all amazing individuals, and i thank you for sharing your gifts and wisdom. to my fellow students, thank you for all the great memories and laughter throughout the 5 weeks. thank you for your hearts and commitment to this art we all love.

thank you all for reading my humble blog =) and thank you Christine Chen for giving me this amazing opportunity!

<3 MS

SI INSIDER: WEEK 4!

is it really WEEK 4?!?! this is so unreal. time really came and went, haha. we had kyra nichols for technique class and pointe today. i really like her way of movement quality, and it was really fun trying a new style i wasn't used to. i also had a costume fitting for the performance (which is next friday!) i'm so anxious. mary barton's piece is coming together and i'm excited to see all the other pieces. it's really cool that kyra nichols is setting serenade for the first time for the summer intensive. it really hasn't hit me that it's almost over! the end is coming way too fast. is it pathetic that i keep hoping for another week, then another? haha.

tickets are going fast, don't wait last minute! please come to see all our hard work and dedication!

MS

SI INSIDER: End of Week 3

Kirk Peterson taught our technique class today. i absolutely loved it! his jovial attitude made class so much fun. theater dance was amazing too! we did a Hairspray routine. i wish we had it more often! it felt so good to cut loose with all my friends. i'm really excited to have Kathleen Moore tomorrow, because i've never had her for pointe before. also, come to Princeton's Palmer's Square tomorrow night to see some of the students of PBS Summer Intensive dance on the grass in pieces by Mary Pat Robertson and Susan Tenney, as well as other choreographers! Please come to show your support =D

p.s. reserve your tickets for our shows soon! we have 1:00 and 3:00 pm shows at the Frist Student Center on Princeton University Campus! the theater is beautiful but small so seats are limited! Please come and see how hard we've worked this summer!

-MS

SI INSIDER: WEEK 3!

it's already week 3?! what??? haha. i really can't believe it. today was amazingly fun. =D my best friend came back from her intensive today. you don'y really know how much you miss someone until they're gone. she's my other half (as i always say). it was so great catching up again. Douglas' class was great today too. it was hilarious. it's so awesome just joking around with him. i can't wait to see what he does next year as artistic director. i'm also really excited to start theater dance on wednesday. it's going to be a blast. i really can't wait to cut loose and have some more fun. =)

i'll be posting some pictures and videos as soon as possible! keep posted!

MS

SI Insider: Week 2

is it kind of bad that i sleep from around 9:00 pm to 7:00 am? wow almost ten hours! haha. i find myself sleeping so much because i'm so tired from the hard day that i crash right when i get home (reason for the delay in the blog =P)is it only the second week? it honestly feels like we've been doing this forever! casting went up yesterday so now we're in full swing for rehearsal mode. i'm in Mary Barton's piece. she's re-working a Mozart piece she did a couple of summers ago. it's so much fun just playing around in rehearsal with her as she re-choreographs as she goes. i definitely could not do what she does! Mary is also teaching Serenade until Kyra Nichols comes to the intensive later on. Maria Youskevitch is teaching Giselle Act One while Mary Pat Robertson is choreographing a new piece of her own. of course, a group of students are choreographing a piece on their fellow students. i'm really curious to see how all of them turn out! i also really can't wait to start some modern and jazz. hopefully my body will cooperate! =P

-MS

SI Insider: End of Week 1

END OF WEEK 1!!!! it went by really fast, almost too fast. this week was challenging and exhausting, but i enjoyed every minute of it. i actually haven't blogged in a while because i have been so tired. like today, i came home, ate dinner and crashed on my couch until 9:00! but, my body is adjusting to all the hard work we're doing. i am so excited to find out which faculty piece i'm in, and to start rehearsing! this weekend the SI students are going to NYC to see ABT perform. we're seeing pieces from choreographers like paul taylor and twyla tharp. i can't wait to get inspired by these beautiful dancers. hopefully the weekend will also give us a well deserved, and needed rest! =D

MS

Recent PBS Alum Adrienne Esposito Shares her Sleeping Beauty Theater Week Experience

May 6, 2010

Theater week has brought nothing but butterflies to my stomach. In less than a week I will be joined with my fellow Princeton Ballet School dancers and peers on the Trenton War Memorial stage in our production of the Sleeping Beauty. I find myself dreaming and even day-dreaming about the show and the choreography I have spent months rehearsing. Countless weekend rehearsals and hard work have gone into what will result in two shows on Saturday, May 8.

On our first day of tech and spacing rehearsal in the theater I enter an almost empty house. I feel chills running up and down my body and I know that it’s not the air conditioning that’s blasting the auditorium. Approaching the stage, rows and rows of red seats surround me. In a couple days they will be filled with all the dancers’ family and friends, hopefully even mine! I look up at the magnificent ceiling and chandelier and think to myself “ I’m the luckiest girl in the world.” How many people can say that they get to perform for a live audience? How many people can say they were given the opportunity to perform in front of hundreds of people? How many can say that they performed their last show as a senior in high school at a theater as beautiful and professional as the Patriots Theater? I am so grateful that I am one of few people that can actually do this. Ms. Youskevitch reminds us “ The theater is our church, our temple. This place is sacred to us.” As she says this I look out from the stage and tears fill my eyes. No one can take this moment away from and the joy that fills my soul.

As a senior in high school I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately. I’ve been thinking about how far along I have come in the past 10 years. It feels like almost yesterday I was a court child in Sleeping Beauty or a snowball in the Nutcracker. If you were to tell me back then that I would dance on stage in a tutu I would think I was dreaming. That day is quickly approaching and I can’t believe my dreams are coming true. I couldn’t ask for a better performance or group of dancers and teachers to work with . With all of their support as well hard work coming from all the crew backstage, May 8^th will be a day I will never forget. My goal for that day is to share my passion and love for performing and do it in such a way that it enters the audience and touches them all.

Adrienne Esposito graduated from Princeton Day School this spring and will attend Texas Christian University on an academic and dance scholarship in the fall.