The General Lowdown:
As of April, 2015, I am a principal ballerina with the Maine State Ballet, a rising senior at a small, private college near my hometown in Maine with a major in writing and publishing and a minor in business administration, I am a dance teacher of ballet, tap, and jazz with both Maine State Ballet and Center Stage Performing Arts and I love my job, I'm an intern with Taproot Magazine, I'm a daughter of two loving and hardworking parents, a big sister to two, a girlfriend to the most wonderful man, and (when I have time to remember that I am) I'm a writer.
I'd like to continue the Dancer S.O.S. advice column so please continue sending your questions and dilemmas to me. I'd be happy to address them.
Personal News:
Today is my two year anniversary with said wonderful man, Travis. We managed to fit some quality in our day between studying for his chemistry class and my Introduction to Management course... Oh the woes of college students.
Student Activities:
For whatever reason, in the same management course I received one of the lowest exam grades I've had. An exam I in fact studied quite hard for. Nothing's more reassuring than the thought: no matter how much you study, imminent doom awaits! Good luck!
A Dancer's Days:
I currently wear Bloch Heritage pointe shoes. They're great and relatively consistent. I recently switched out of Suffolk Solo shoes which had been fatally inconsistent and disparagingly different from the first pair I tried on and loved a few years ago. But even still, the Blochs differ slightly pair to pair.
Why does this happen?
Pointe shoe manufacturers often give their best products to professional ballet companies that order in bulk. The shoes that the ballerinas don't want get donated to affiliated schools or are sent to different dancewear distributors. So some of the shoes we dancers are buying are the reject pairs from big companies whose dancers didn't want those specific shoes. It's no wonder I and many other dancers have had issues with inconsistencies in pointe shoes. A battle, my friends, that I can say from experience is long, hard, and possibly without resolve.
Glad to be back, lovelies! Don't forget to LIKE A Dancer's Days on Facebook and follow by clicking the blue "Join This Site" tab below my profile.
All my best,
Rhiannon -