Scared

—I am scared.

—Scared of what?

—Scared of doing it wrong.

So I guess that sums up the whole thing.

Marianela Núñez in Giselle

Ballet week!

So as previously stated, last week was also full of ballet, and I'm not talking about lessons. Actually I had fewer classes than usual, since the 19th of March is a public holiday in Spain.

Getting to the pointe, right before my slightly embarrassing interpretation of Christine I couldn't help but try to développé in that dress. Firstly, because it was nice and kinda Giselle-like in my head (yeah, you can call me crazy if you want); and secondly, because I had to wear my ballet slippers with the costume, since I had no other white shoes. Yay! Dancewear for the win!

Also I was  portraying a very realistic Christine, since she was a ballerina and a singer at the Opéra de Paris. See? I should have won the Best Actress Award or something. Instead, my friend (the Phantom; a super good singer) and I got eighth place out of sixteen. But I received a pretty white rose from my classmates which made me happy.

Where was I? Oh, yes. Ballet week!

The Royal Ballet (♥) has been specially adorable (♥♥♥) during these past days. First of all, they made a worldwide cinema relay of Romeo & Juliet. I absolutely LOVE them for doing this. I always want to see them dance and I never can because I live so far away (this must change). The thing is, I could see them live and it was amazing. Romeo & Juliet is one of my favourite ballets ever. It is just glorious. I really believe that Kenneth MacMillan was a genius, and the Royal Ballet can perform his works in such a flawless, wonderful way. The dancers were perfect. I found a particularly convincing Bennet Gartside as Tybalt, performing one of the most furious sword fights I've ever seen against Federico Bonelli, who played Romeo. Oh, Federico. I saw him live at the ROH some months ago and he was a perfect Prince Florimund (he signed my tiny pointe shoe too!). Now, as Romeo, he was spectacular. Strong, dreamy. The way he stared at Juliet's eyes right before their first kiss was sensational. Speaking about Juliet, Lauren Cuthbertson touched the whole world the other day. I honestly believe that it was a huge privilege to see her dance. So innocent, so emotional, so tragic. So tecnically flawless. They say I am a crybaby, but I cannot help whining every single time I see this ballet. I just can't! And I know it, so I always make sure there is a bag of tissues around.

Let's move on... though I could talk about the Royal Ballet for hours.

Oh wait, the next thing I want to talk about is actually... the Royal Ballet! Because, nice reader, the Royal Ballet rocks and last week they did something else to prove their awesomeness to the world. The Royal Ballet Live took place on Friday and it was basically a documentary on a day at the Royal Ballet, from the daily class to all the rehearsals... all of it broadcast live to the whole world via YouTube. Isn't it the most amazing idea ever? Well, for me it is. I had always dreamed of watching an entire class with professional dancers, and on Friday I could finally do it. It was so inspiring! Also, all the rehearsals were an absolute joy to watch. Well, the whole thing. It was just plain awesome. Did you read that, ballet companies?

The only thing was, I had to work at Munusal the whole day, so I had to divide my screen like this:

Have I already said that Marianela is lovely?

I also put one of my earphones on and I used my other ear to listen to my fellow translators. You can imagine the scene: translating from English into Spanish while my editors were speaking in German, my colleagues in Spanish most of the time; two girls in Romanian... and also listening to the Royal Ballet Live. Thankfully my simultaneous interpreting lessons taught me how to multitask!

Keep dancing!

Nerea.

Munusal 2012 and a festive atmosphere

Last week was very exciting for me, both as a translator and as a balletomane.

But since they are very different issues, I'm going to divide the story into two blog posts, being this one the entry on translation.

You may have noticed that I haven't written anything here for long. Well, let me explain why:

Firstly, because just like every year in March, my faculty celebrated an entire week of festive events, like a Trivial competition, an Eurovision-like contest called 'TraDocVisión' and a costume contest among others.

I participated in many of them. I even played Christine Daaé from 'The Phantom of the Opera' in TraDocVisión. And this is the proof:

Yep, that's me, and I'm singing. I never thought this could ever, EVER happen.

Secondly, because as a translation student, I can ask for an internship period with an institution, such as the UN, the Spanish Police, the University of Salamanca and many others. I decided I wanted to work for the Model of the United Nations of the University of Salamanca, also known as MUNUSAL. So after two weeks receiving and translating texts, my colleague and I were asked if we would like to work as press translators during the actual conference. We said yes, even though we didn't really know how it worked.

For those of you who've never heard of MUNs, they are basically simulations of the United Nations system, with all the organs and their respective committee sessions. They are held in many cities around the world and this one is called MUNUSAL because it takes place at the University of Salamanca once a year.

So that's what I did last week. I was one of the five translators at The Globe, the Munusal News Network.

Basically our work consisted of translating all the articles written by the journalists at MUNUSAL, from English into Spanish. At the beginning the texts were all abstracts of the sessions, but at some point, the committees simulated a global crisis, so the whole situation became very exciting! We received lots of articles and press statements from many countries, we all got very stressed and we really had to work as a team in order to hand everything in on time! It was such an amazing experience!

I really loved translating in a "real" context with my four colleagues, meeting our editors in chief and all the nice people at MUNUSAL. I enjoyed all my time at the "office" -some days I was there from 9 am. until 6.30 pm.-, the coffee breaks, the hours we spent at the canteen, having lunch together along with the delegates and chairpersons.

So basically it was fun, fun, FUN! I can't wait to do something similar again!

Look! I even got a Translator Pass with my name on it!

That's all regarding the translation matter. The balletic part is yet to come... :)

Keep translating!

Nerea.

Anoche en el Bretón...

So it's been more than a week since we performed our Quintuple Bill.

The whole spectacle was called Anoche en el Bretón..., something like Last night at the Bretón..., which was a theatre located here, in Salamanca. The performance was inspired by the only visit the Ballets Russes made to this city, back in 1918 in that theatre. At the time, the company came and danced Le Carnaval, Les Sylphides, Le Spectre de la Rose and The Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor.

So our ballet school -whose students have founded the Ars Movendi dance association- created a new vision of that night. We performed all those dances in a different way; kind of neo-classical and some of them were even contemporary. We also added a fifth piece, the Ritual Fire Dance, by Manuel de Falla, danced by the whole company as a way to put an end to the spectacle.

And let me say it was a huge success. We danced in front of a full house! There were even people sitting on the stairs! We were told it had been very beautiful and as I went out of the theatre, I heard many comments which made me believe that the public had actually had fun and enjoyed the show a lot. The day after, there were articles in all the local newspapers, some of which had really good critics. They even interviewed our choreographer on the radio!

Needless to say, we, the company members, had so much fun. The final purpose of all the things we learn in class everyday is to be able to show them; to be able to perform in front of a crowd at some point. When we were told we had this opportunity, we all got very excited. You can imagine our dressing rooms, full of happy people taking pictures and recording videos, laughing and dancing around... But the real magic happened at the moment we got onstage and started to dance. It is a feeling that only those who have already danced on a stage can understand. It's something like happiness, excitement, nervousness, sparks, rainbows and unicorns, all mixed together and exploding. Duh! Do you get what I mean?

As for me, I can honestly say that it was one of the greatest days of my life. I spent my whole evening recording backstage videos and hanging around with my ballet classmates as we got our hair and make up done and we put our dresses on. Oh, and I felt free onstage. I stopped thinking of all the steps I had done a hundred times during rehearsals and I focused on having fun, smiling and making the most of it. And it worked; it was amazing. I am very happy I could perform in Salamanca again, along with my wonderful classmates and under the watchful eyes of my three ballet teachers, who were supervising the whole thing. I am going to miss them all SO MUCH after June.

So... that's all. I leave you with a picture and the video from Les Sylphides, which is the part I danced, as well as the video of the Ritual Fire Dance, with the whole company. Oh, and in case you're interested, you can see all the other pieces by searching for Ars Movendi on YouTube.

Les Sylphides. I am the one on the right.
Don't look at my right foot; I was having trouble with my balance there!

Until next time...

Keep dancing!

Nerea.

Michael Jackson Syndrome

You know this thing that happens when people are bored? Like, they do random/weird/stupid stuff?

Well, I was really bored tonight after ballet class.

And I also miss Ballerina Class®, because we are rehearsing for Les Sylphides instead of doing pointe work.

So I decided to put my pointe shoes on and then... this thing happened.

Sigh.

Nerea.

Sweet face!

Ok, so now you know the choreography; let's start focusing on your expression. You know, Les Sylphides is a very romantic ballet, like, very feminine and sweet. I need to see that sweetness on your faces. No, don't smile! That's too much. Just show tenderness with your eyes... everything is very romantic...

Oh, yeah, sure! I'm going to try and show tenderness and sweetness when I'm counting and when I know I have to chainé-né® to the LEFT after those two soutenus!!! Yeah! I'm going to try and make a pretty face which I don't really know how to make! As if I wasn't scared enough!

DARN!

Well, I guess that's ballet!

And we love it!

Nerea.

It wasn't embarrassing, but it does hurt!

Last minute of class. We were doing some temps levés en arabesque with a chassé and the floor was a little slippery, so I lost my balance and fell down with all the impulse on my knee. Yes, the very same knee that was already bruised. So I got up quickly, Mrs. M asked if I was alright, I said yes (my pride, you know) and continued dancing.

When class finished I looked in the mirror and I saw my torn tights and my blood and... let's just say that it wasn't very funny.

Yep, I fell down in class, I got a cut that hurts a lot and I ripped my tights.

So what? Professionals fall all the time. Even the amazing Sylvie Guillem! I've got over it! I'm already getting ready for a two-hour-long rehearsal tomorrow afternoon! Say what?

National Ballet of Canada - Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann

Let's dance!

Nerea.

Sylphides update

Last week was a pretty busy week.

I had four days of dancing, including two classical ballet lessons and two long rehearsals for Les Sylphides. Oh, and also a dress fitting. I can now tell you, nice reader, that the only thing about the performance which has to do with Les Syphides is the music.

The costumes are pretty, but they are blue and completely different from the ones worn by the sylphids in the ballet. And the choreography is also very, very different. It's neo-classical, kinda contemporary and we don't wear pointe shoes. But I like the whole thing, anyway!

On Saturday we finished learning the choreography. You know I've just been "promoted" from beginners level to intermediate, so I guess you also understand that I feel a little behind the rest of the class. It's more difficult for me to get to remember and perform all the steps and I'm feeling really challenged. But I'm determined to rehearse a lot and I'll do my best!

The performance will be in February 17th, and until then I'll have classes and rehearsals from Monday to Saturday; at least eight hours a week (well that's crazy, innit!). Oh, and my choreographer told me that whenever I have free time I can go to the studio to practice. Free time? Me? You know that now I'm in Salamanca just because of ballet, right? I have no uni classes! I'd be in the studio during the whole day if possible! So maybe I'll get to add some more private lessons with her so I can work on my déboulés and soutenus, which are giving me a lot of trouble... and unfortunately there are lots of them in the choreography!

That's all for now!

I leave you with a quote by my choreographer:

"Give a hundred per cent of your dancing during rehearsals so when I ask you for 120% during the performance you won't run out of stamina! Make the most of every rehearsal!"

Nerea.

P.S.: I had to buy a knee bandage because my right knee was giving me a little trouble due to my falling on it over and over again during the beginning of the choreography.

¡Talón!

Is there any word that your ballet teacher says a lot?

Mine, apart from "¡no!", likes to shout "¡TALÓN!" all the time. It literally means "heel!", but not literally, it means "push your heel forward so I can see your turnout, damn it!!!".

So basically, if we're doing a series of relevés, we hear something like this: "¡uno, talón, hop, talón, tres, talón, cuatro, talón, hop, talón, hop, talón, etc.!"

And the same happens when it comes to tendus and jetés: "¡y, fuera, talón, fuera, talón, fuera, fuera, fuera, talón!"

Kinda funny, guys!

This is not even possible!
Venus Villa's turnout

Remember your turnout!

Nerea.

New Year's Resolutions

Hi everybody!

How's this new year going? For me, quite well, even though I spent the first week really stressed due to bureaucracy. I hatehatehatehate it! But some hours ago I sent the last envelope to the correct address and now I'm happy to say I am free!! I am back in Salamanca and I'm allowed to do nothing but dance, read and write, because I already did my exams in December. Big YAY until February 13th!

So I have never, ever, written a list of new year's resolutions. We don't do that in Spain, nice reader. But some things just came across my mind and then I thought: "hey! I could do those during 2012! They are perfectly achievable in a year!". So this is my super short list:

• Learn Catalan. I know: nobody can learn a language in a year (unless you're the most intelligent person on Earth). But the thing is, I already know Catalan. I know I do! I can perfectly understand it, both reading and listening. But I never dare saying it's one of my working languages, because I always struggle when it comes to "producing" the language. Catalan is kind of similar to French and I can't help but mix them in my head. If I start speaking Catalan, I always end up saying things in French and so on. So yeah, by the end of this year I'll be speaking and writing Catalan fluently, you'll see!

• Become a translator and a teacher. Just six months to go and it'll be done. I just need to pass three more subjects and write a long Bachelor's Degree Thesis (on dance, nice reader! I got to mix translation and dance for the last essay of my degree!) and I'll become an official translator. Obviously, I still have lots of things to learn, but for now I'll be happy with my Degree thingy. The teacher will come later, because I'm probably going to work in France as a Spanish Language Assistant in October. Pretty nice, huh?

• Pirouette. I just need to be able to do some clean singles before I even think of doubles. I am getting better, yes. I can pirouette, but I just want to be comfortable and get to measure the amount of impulse that I need, both en pointe and in soft slippers. The round fouettés will come when I am fully aware where my weight is and where it should be.

• Always dance like nobody is watching. This may be cliché, but I have realised that I dance way better when I forget about everything and everybody. I must get to find this feeling every single time I practice.

• Work hard... in every aspect of my life.

Also, can I haz Lucía Lacarra's arabesque? Plz!? *_*
 Photo: Stanislav Belyaevsky

And that's pretty much all.
Be happy, y'all!