Jessicas Ballet Life: Pictures

This was really delicious ice-cream. I took a picture because I loved the little container it came in.

This is the main studio that we work in everyday. Its a round studio.

These are some of the younger girls in the Summer Intensive. The one in the white, her name is Sasha and she can only say hello in English otherwise she can only speak Russian. Sasha loves to give me hugs and cute little smiles throughout the day ;). The other 2 girls are Orphans. The whole purpose of the summer intensive is not only for us to receive the best training in the world, but the money paid for this program goes towards giving some Orphans the chance to having a better life. Life in the orphanages are really terrible for the kids and they just live everyday to get by and thanks to the money raised by this program some of these children are given the opportunities to have a dream and be able to strive towards it. The girl in the black, her name is Tatiana and the one in red, her name is Lobar. Tatiana has actually been accepted to be a student in the prestigious Vaganova Academy and Lobar was given a scholarship to study English in the UK. such a lovely story to think that they have gone from having no future to actually having dreams and being able to pursue them. Lobar can speak English, but Tatiana can't. Lobar was chatting with me and also translating for Tatiana and she was telling me that she loves tennis and wishes she could be a famous tennis player and she is also quite a little comedian too :). I asked her how she met Tatiana and she told me she doesn't know but she has been her BEST friend since she was 5 (and they are now 12 and 13) and they are always going to be best friends forever and ever. What a heart warming story. I really wish these 2 girls all the best success in the world.

This is 12 year old Tatiana in class. As you can see, she has the most perfect ballet physic for ballet. She is really going to be a star one day. She is only 12 and already dances so beautifully. I already love to watch her dance!

This is my little Sonia. She is so sweet(and really flexible as you can see). Everyday she will walk in and say my name in her cute little Russian accent and ask many questions like what my mothers name is or do I like apples and oranges. She loves the word beautiful! She will tell me "Jessica", then point to my leotard and say "so beautiful" and then another time my clips, hair or feet and say the same thing. She said something really cute today. She thought I was from America and I said I am from Africa and then she said "Oh, you from Africa, you like banana?" he he... very cute (",). She is 10 years old. My little Russian friend xxx

This is me with Mr Semyonov. He was taught by the same teacher as Baryshnikov. His classes were really great! You work very hard in them. He now only teaches in the USA.

This is me with Mr Carreno who is an ex Principal dancer of the National Ballet of Cuba and was Carlos Acosta's teacher. For those of you who don't know who Carlos Acosta is, he is one of the worlds famous ballet stars and is amazing. Mr Carreno is an amazing teacher and the classes are so much fun!

The Experience of Flames of Paris at Mikailovsky

This is a picture of all of us, minus my roommate because she had to go to the hospital for her back, in the lobby of our hotel before we left.

This is outside the Mikailovsky Theatre. Beautiful isn't it...

This is the stage.

These are the balconies. There are 4 levels excluding the bottom where I was.

This is the ceiling where it had paintings and the most stunning chandelier.

A picture of me inside the amazing auditorium. Cant wait to see the Mariinsky after seeing this beautiful Theatre.

Myself and my 'beautiful' little Sonia (",)

YUP! I REALLY DID SEE THE AMAZING IVAN VASILIEV IN REAL LIFE!!!! I still cant believe it!

The curtain call, I snuck in some pictures ;).

One of their 7 curtain calls! The audience was going crazy. Wish the audiences in South Africa loved ballet as much as the Russians do.

That sign says Flames of Paris in Russian.

All my little friends ;)

My friend Molly from Texas and the little one, Agate came 2nd in the Junior section at the same competition that I did in Latvia. Agate is from Latvia.