I Will!

To everyone who is reading my blog:

I will follow God's Will.  I will trust in His love.

I  now am accountable to all of the people following my blog.  I pray that I will be able to always do this, and when it seems imposible, or if I loose my way, I will work to pick myself up and start again, trusting in His forgiveness.

Will you?

Cross

I am feeling lonely - bad about myself.
I look on the internet, but somehow, I know it won't help.  I begin to surf through my favorite webpages.

WAIT!!!  THIS IS NOT WHAT WILL GIVE ME COMFORT!  NO!

The cross is what I will look to.  I will look to Christ and Christ alone.

Beautiful

{Love Him with My Life}

I haven't Forgotten!

I have promised that I would post more about releves and pirouettes.  I haven't forgotten!  I have been just a little busy lately.... as I'm sure many people can understand.

I will post more about both topics!

Joy in Jesus,

-Mandy

Carried

Keep holding on, it will be worth it.

On Your Toes!

 Today is releve day.  I enjoy releves.  They seem to make everything shorter, or perhaps they make me taller, or a little bit of both. :D  Anyways, I would like to adress the subject of sickled feet in releve.  We are going to focus on 3/4 releve, not full pointe.

There are two main mistakes that can be made in a releve, and both are consequences of sickling the foot either out or in.  Pictures of these are below:

 As you can notice in picture #1, I am leaning on the big toe for support and the pinky toe and the fourth toes aren't even touching the ground.  This is sickling forward.  The feet can look more "archy" and "beautiful" in this position because the ankle is rolling forward, but all toes must be reaching for the ground and preferable touching it.  Keep the ankles forward, but don't sacrifice by lifting your toes from the ground.

Number 2 is also brought about by sickling, but sickling backwards. This often occurs when you begin to let go of the barre, because your balance gets off.  Now the weight is on your pinky, fourth and middle toes, and the ankles are rotating back.  Try to feel as if a magnetic force was pulling your heels towards each other, and turn out your entire leg so that your heels come forward.

This is the "correct" position, or as correct as I could get it.  In reality, my heels should be slightly more forward and my pinky toe touching the ground.

Hints on how to improve your releve will come soon!

The joy of the Lord is my strength!

-Mandy

Burning

I want to be a flame for Christ.
You can tell when a flame is there,
And you can tell when it's not there.
A flame can never be there and not show itself to all around it.


I will not be lukewarm!
I will shout to all that Jesus is Lord!
They can yell and scream at me,
but with Jesus I am strong.


I will yell to all that Christ is King!
He is the reason that I stand.
Without Him I am nothing,
but WITH Him, there is nothing I cannot do.

Jesus, set me on fire.  I am tired of being lukewarm.  I live for YOU!

Drifting

I am drifting, far away.
Things I do will never stay,
You are far - I've gone astray!
Jesus, show me - You're the way.

I am on a path that rocks
Around the bend my future knocks.
I'm scared to stay - afraid to go!
Jesus, break my rusting lock.

O Father, I am losing You!
Bring me to a creation - new.
I need Your love, you are enough.
Jesus, bring me joy anew.

Father, I need You in my life.  If I fill myself with things of this world, I am just as empty as I started.  Give me a motive, a reason, a burning fiery zeal for You that never dies. Amen.

{ACTION}

"Let us Love, not in word or speech, but in TRUTH and ACTION." 
1 John 3:18


Now is the time to act.  Stand up and live for Christ.

Turning

Pirouettes don't like me, and I don't like them.  The main reason, is of course, that my pirouettes are far from perfect.  I'm practicing though, and hopefully, God has some improvement planned for my future.

Here are some tips to try: (I am still working on these.  You really need to find out what works for you and then concentrate on that.  Focusing on one of these aspects a week would also be a great idea.)

1.  Use your plie.  Practice engaging your gluteal muscles at the barre.  Feel the control of the rise and fall, then take it to the center.  Your plie should be just as it was at the barre - this gives you a firm foundation to spring from.

2. Don't sit!  Even though your plie is important, don't sit in it too long.  Feel the engaged muscles and then go straight into your turn.

3. Be on count. Since you shouldn't sit in your plie, make sure that your turns are timed correctly.  Don't stop too soon, because then you will have to wait to prepare.  Feel the counts, and try to be right on time.

4. Spot, Stop!  Control when you stop.  If you do not spot, you won't know when to stop, and if you don't know when to stop, you get confused, and chances are, you won't end your turn correctly.  Spot your turn, and keep your retire position.  If you lose the reitre, the turn will fall apart (I speak from experience).

More coming soon!  I will try and share as much as I can as I discover more about turns!

The joy of the Lord is my strength!

-Mandy