Classroom Confidential: TMI and Honorable Mentions
September 2009 is Birthday month for the following dancers/classmates: Sarah Handza (1st); Amy Connor (5th); Randy Aaron (7th); Brandon Sierra (8th); Josh Widick (R.I.P 10th); Natasha Klibansky (11th); Melissa Merritt (12th); Christiana Lazo (18th); Pam Hayes (18th); Kat (21st); Pam Chancey (21st); Michele Assaf (21st); Dennis Finch (22nd); James Tabeek (22nd); lockmin lee (23rd); Stacy Turner (24th); Mary Carpenter (25th); Chris Pape (25th); Laura Di Orio (26th); Chrisi Carter (28th); Vicky Leung (29th). Happy Birthday tutu each of you! Make this year the best yet!

Check out the Whiskey Dregs…Alexis asks Elena Vazintaris all the tough questions about life in NYC, growing up in Toronto, dance and fashion!...This is the original "press release" about Jeanette Tannan Hoffman, which led to the interview/article in the Suburban News, which led to the forthcoming 'visit' by Verizon Fios, when her Tues. night class will be filmed for TV, along with interviews, etc. Yeah Jeanette!...Olympia Astrid Deià Dahlén was born in Manhattan on the 13th of August of 2009, 7 lb 12 oz. Her mummy is Isabel Cantallops Fiol who hopes tutu be back in class soon! Congratz Isabel. See Olympia's first pix here in class pix...Chris Davis shares some words of wisdom and mentions his favorite ballet teacher here…Gregory O'Connor wants to introduce you to his new acting blog and website. Please feel free to leave a comment , digg, or any social web things you do, lol!...The video is up: Tracey Paleo's debut as an executive producer. Congratz Tracey!...Check out Sarah's (Amy & Gene's from 6pm class daughter) entry into Inc. Magazine's "Best Lemonade Stand in America Contest." They just found out her entry was chosen as Lemonade Stand of the Week. You can rate her story and leave a comment if you want. OMG! Congrats tutu lil Sarah!...Candace Leung fell off the earth after June, lol! Actually she ended up going to Spain, doing Angel Corella's intensive. We hope to see you again soon...David Lemberg is writing a nutrition book on gluten intolerance and celiac disease - more soon...

*Quote of the month: "Plie is the first thing you learn and the last thing you master." -Suzanne Farrell

*Andros on Ballet: Positions of the Body. If you're serious about learning classical ballet, you will learn the vocabulary.

Taylor's Tales
A column by our webmaster, Taylor.

(It was 4 years ago this week that I first moved to New York City - and took Kat's class my first Friday night! I am truly awed at how much has happened since my first days as a new New Yorker, a barely-past-sweet-16-year-old college student, a bunhead with a dream, a quiet kid with a phonebook entirely empty of New York numbers. Here's part of an essay I wrote on this incredible city after only 2 years here. Read the whole thing here.)

I love you, New York. You are the hope that got me threw some tough times; the opportunity that shined at an arms reach; the community for which I longed. Your bright lights waved at me with every visit and I knew some day I would be welcomed to call you home.

I love you, New York. Born in a small town of nothingness I always knew I'd have to look elsewhere to seek what I wanted: a life, happy and successful. We would visit you occasionally for a weekend in the summer, and honestly, it was love at first sight. I could see not much more past the striped walls of our hotel room and the scuffed leather of a cab, but I felt so alive as I had never felt before.

I suppose it was the movement. Even just glaring out from the 30th floor of the Marriot Marquis I could see the river of people below, the tops of heads like a school of fish trying to stick together yet still somehow apart. There was no sign of stopping. It was constant motion, without a moment to catch a freeze frame with my CVS-brand disposable camera. You couldn't see their faces, but I knew they were all happy.

I love you, New York. Years later I moved to a boarding school in Philadelphia. In the spring we would hop on the Greyhound and come to your thrilling land for day. Oh, it was such an escape! I could not have loved the traffic preceding the Lincoln Tunnel more: it forced us to sit there, with a screaming baby in the seat in front and a homeless guy drinking from a paper bag in the seat behind, and stare at that jagged skyline that is Manhattan. I would play Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind" on my uncharged iPod and had learned to time it just perfectly so the big finish would sing right as the Empire State Building came into view.

It was perfect. Port Authority Bus Station was the golden gateway to fun, fame, and freedom. My heart would throb as I rode the escalator bringing me up to 8th Avenue. The bums on the corner could be my best friends. The trash on the sidewalk could be diamonds. I was in New York, and life was all good.

I love you, New York. I would visit Broadway and Lincoln Center with stars in my eyes. The music resonated inside me, flowing like the stream of people in Times Square. Curtain calls were just the beginning. I would never admit it, but every time the red or gold velvet closed for the last time of the evening and the orchestra packed up, my eyes would turn to puddles, evaporating only when we hit the dark sun of 42nd Street.

The ballet was my favorite, and even though I had yet to enter any of the theaters in Lincoln Center, I knew what that block at West 66th Street stood for: Passion. Pride. Perfection. To my left was New York State Theater, to my right, Avery Fisher Hall. Straight ahead was The Metropolitan Opera House, its looming windows making it appear as a place of worship. I stood there by the fountain, with a penny in my hand (not much more than I had in my pocket at all) and closed my eyes. I did not make a wish. I had been making the same wish with every penny or shooting star for my entire life and I knew this had to be different. I promised myself that I would be here someday. That I would dance here someday. That I would be on one of these stages someday.

I tossed my penny and watched it waver side to side before clunking to the bottom. There were hundreds of other coins down there, some shiny and new, some grimy and barely copper anymore. But mine sat on top of them all in that sparkling water. The fountain was fresh, clean, and bubbling with energy, just like my New York...(continue reading here. I cannot express my deepest gratitude to my New York family and my real family for helping me continue to live my dream in the city of my dreams!)

Kat's Monthly Mailbag
*Dear Kat: I met you in July the last week in Alvin Ailey. I only wanted to thank you so much for the classes. It was great. I really enjoyed and learned a lot. THANK YOU SO MUCH, J.
*Hello Ms. Wildish, I come from the Bahamas about twice a year to do your classes. It's the best pointe work I've seen and it has improved my teaching tremendously and my confidence in doing it. KM

*Kat, I am happy we are in touch again. I want to thank you for never giving up on me thru my stupidity and ignorance. You taught me so much not just ballet, but life. Every day now I try to be a better man and I must thank you for that…Thank you for being a friend and mother to me. I want us to pick up from here. I love u and miss u always. I miss your class. Here class is nothing, JB
*Hi Kat, I am a new student in your 7:30pm class and I just wanted to thank you so much for welcoming me back to class. I had previously been in your class a year ago, but I hurt my knee and had to stop dancing for a while. Now that I have recovered, it feels so nice to return. You are the best dance instructor I have ever had. I love how hands on you are with all the students and how attentive you are to each of us. Your classes really motivate and inspire me. Thank you so much!

Monthly Tips: Stretching, Pointe, Health, & More
*Stretch-o-da-Month: September 2009: The Full Boat Pose is often presented as an abdominal strengthener, which it is to a certain extent. But more importantly this pose strengthens the deep hip flexors that attach the inner thigh bones to the front of the spine. Learn to anchor the heads of the thighs bones deep in the pelvis and lift from that anchor through the front spine. Remember that the lower front belly should never get hard. Strengthens the abdomen, hip flexors, and spine.


*Pointe Tips of the Month:
from Lisa Howell, Dance Physiotherapist North Sydney, AUSTRALIA: "Hi Lisa, I have noticed that when I am en pointe or when I am coming down from pointe through demi pointe that I feel a little pain near my Achilles tendon. Do you have any idea what that could be? The pain is only in my right foot. Kind regards, S (Netherlands)."
*Hi S, Unfortunately many girls complain of issues with their Achilles while en pointe. Pain at the back of the ankle may or may not be a problem with the Achilles, as there are a lot of other things around the back of the ankle that may cause pain. It is important to get a good diagnosis of exactly what is going on back there, so if you can see a good therapist who is used to working with dancers then this is the best thing to do. However, there are lots of things that you can look at to try and settle the problem yourself. 1. If you are clawing your toes in your shoes, this may cause irritation in some of the other tendons at the back of the ankle, and this will also cause increased loading in the Achilles Tendon. It is very important to have good strength in the front and mid part of your foot in order to prevent loading on the Achilles. (exercises for your Intrinsic Foot Muscles). 2. When working in demi pointes or flat shoes, make sure you are grounding your heels completely in your jumps. If you are stopping short this can cause excess loading on the Achilles, not to mention overloading in your quads! 3. It is also important to make sure you have enough flexibility in your Achilles. Often dancers with tight Achilles will experience some compression at the back of the ankle when they pointe their foot. To strengthen through the calves and lengthen the Achilles it is best to perform rises over a step, rising up to 7/8 of your full height of rise and lowering all the way back down past the level of the step stretching into the back of the Achilles. You can do this on two feet, or by rising on two, transferring onto one, and then lowering the heel. This can really help with strengthening the tendon, and preventing any further problems. 4. If you are experiencing pain, I would definitely recommend icing the feet and ankles after you have been dancing by placing the feet in an ice bucket (cold water with 10-20 ice cubes) for 10-15mins every day. Kind regards, L. H.


*Health Tips of the Month:
"Damage Control. Neuromuscular educator Deborah Vogel, co-founder of the Center for Dance Medicine in New York City, explains how to safely integrate injured students back into class and ensure an injury-free semester for those students who haven't danced all summer.

And Finally...
Re've'rence:

*RIP Ernest Brown, Last Member of the Original Tapping Copasetics

*RIP André Prokovsky, Dancer and Ballet Choreographer