Some pictures from the beginning.

Myself, James and our friend Guilherme from Brazil on our way to Varna.

When we arrived in Varna, we wanted to walk around and stretch our legs from the long plane trip. What better way to do that by taking a walk along the beach :). I had to be careful not to burn or get any tan lines because I really don't want to have funny marks showing when I wear my beautiful costumes. A funny story, Guilherme was taking pictures of the beach and when we were looking through the pictures, it is so beautiful that he had not even noticed that he had taken a picture of a topless woman!!!!

Registration

These are our name tags that we have to wear in order to get into the amazing theatre, our program and a little glass cube with the 50th anniversary inside.

THE FAMOUS VARNA STAGE!!!!

The Open Air Theatre.

The performances take place during the evenings from 9pm.

The flags from all the competitors from around the world. Can you spot the South African flag on the far right...

The members of the International Jury.

 James and I still can't believe that we are here! Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us from your wishes to the very generous and amazing donations! We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!!

Welcome to VARNA

We are finally here

I must apologize for only posting now, it is a huge struggle with wifi. The line keeps disconnecting, so I will post every now and then. Please be patient.

Varna is such a beautiful City. You can see the ocean right from our hotel balcony and hear the sounds of the seagulls. Its the perfect place to kick back and relax for a wonderful European holiday. Well unfortunately, we are not here for holiday, we are here to take part in the World famous, Varna International Ballet Competition (IBC), which is considered the DANCE OLYMPICS!!!
Myself and James cannot believe that we are here!!

What makes this competition so famous, besides it being the Dance Olympics, is that the competition takes place in a beautiful, out door Open Air Theatre! The only competition in the world to do this. Almost all of the most brilliant ballet stars of the world during the last 5 decades are laureates of Varna IBC. Some famous names are: Vladimir Vassiliev, Natalia Makarova, Mikhail Barishnokov, Patrick Dupond, Vladimir Malakhov and Sylvie Guilem!!!
We are so lucky to take part this year as it is the 50th anniversary of this competitions existence and only now, James and I are making History by being the first South Africans to EVER to part!!!

Over the years there have been from over 200 countries! This year the International Jury is: Prof. Vladimir Vasiliev CHAIRMAN (Russia), Aurora Bosch (Cuba), Assoc Prof. Biser Deyanov (Bulgaria), Eldar Aliev (USA), Yoko Morishita (Japan), Johann Hans Vogl (Germany), Constantin Dutu (Romania), Acad. Krassimira Koldamova (Bulgaria), Luca Masala ( Monaco), Maximila Guerra (Argentina), Prof. Petar Loukanov (Bulgaria), Sara-Nora Krysteva (Bulgaria), Cyrille Atanassoff (France), Prof. Sun-Hee Kim (Korea), Dr Seon-Hee Jang (Korea), Prof Suhua Xiao (China), Tursynbek Nurkaliyev (Kazakhstan)

On the 14th of July, it was the number draw, where your name is called out and you pick a number randomly out of a bag. My number is 124 and James is 128. Round 1 takes place over 5 days and guess what, due to our high numbers, we will only perform on 18/19 July, the last days... We will perform Flower Festival in Genzano, my favourite ;).

 

Last night was the Opening ceremony of the competition. They introduced the Judges and there were many speeches. Vladimir Vassiliev is the chairman on the Jury and is very famous in this competition due to the fact that he is the only person in the world to hold the title of the Grand Prix Award! This award is above the Gold Medal! After all the speeches,the famous torch was light and then the show began...

I am trying to find enough wifi to upload pictures of the world famous stage. Stay tuned for pictures and more information :) 

Rehearsals

Rehearsals for the Gala

We have been very lucky to be able to use the studios at the Sangmyung University in the late afternoons and evenings. We just come in, warm our bodies up, do some exercises that we need then just do our own class to work our bodies the way we feel we need to. As a dancer, you know what your body needs and can work to your ability. Its nice to work slowly and take your time now and then and work!!! After doing a nice class, then we would stretch and I am so pleased to say that my stretching has improved. I have been working every night since I got  back from Russia. It has felt like it has been doing nothing, but it is so true that if your persevere, you will eventually see results!!! 

Here are my results: 

But this is what my goal is:

Olga, Gold Medalist from the competition.






This is the University where we rehearse






After we were done with all the stretching then it was time to work on Coppelia as we had dedicated so much of our time to all our other pieces due to the competition. Halfway through our rehearsal, Mr Park came in and saw that we were working on our partnered pirouettes (if you know me, its not my most favorite step in ballet). Well, he told me that I must put my weight slightly forward, and that it feels uncomfortable and to feel a rhythm with my head and relax. Guess what!!! It worked every time. He gave me a training exercise that he used to do with his partners. He is not a professor in the Vagonova method for nothing... He gave James and I many other corrections that have helped us so much! He is one of the most amazing people I have ever met in my life. He was the one who originally invited us to the Korea International Ballet Competition, as he is the President of the competition. Mr Park was a Principal of the Korea National Ballet and had many famous partners. He told us that he has no pictures except for 4 that his brother had of him because there was a fire that burnt down his house and destroyed all his photographs. This is so sad! He was also the Artistic Director of the Seoul Ballet Company. He is so kind, humble and helpful. He has done so much for James and I while we have been here. He has given us the opportunity to do what we love, to DANCE ON STAGE!!! He has changed our lives forever and we are so grateful to him!!! We both feel that he is our ballet father. The reason why I say this is because we have heard from many of his students that they call him father. We have wondered why, now we understand. We love you Mr Park, our ballet Father!

Experiences in Korea

Wanderings

James and I had a day to relax and recover after the competition. It is very stressful being in a competition and takes a day or 2 afterwards to recover and feel back to normal. Its very nice that we didn't have to get on a plane the next day and travel and get even more tired.

Mr Park took us to breakfast at a little coffee shop. It was really nice to chat to him and hear about his life. He studied for 10 years to become a Professor in the Vaganova Method, so this man REALLY knows what he is talking about. James and I feel so lucky to know him, never mind chat with him about his experiences and ballet!

After breakfast Mr Park thought we would like to see a little bit of the town, which we were dying to do! He dropped us off at the largest Buddhist Temple in Korea and was going to pick us up later. Here are some pictures:

Some of the Beautiful statues.

The Entrance to the Temple

Isn't this tree stunning!!! Looks really cool

The Temple

These are painted ALL over the Temple!

After seeing the Temple,we walked across the road to a market were they sold many interesting things! Here are some pictures from there just so you can get an idea.

Don't ask, I am not really sure what these are, but by the looks of it they are stamps for wax.

These are all paint brushes.

Rice punch... It's got a very interesting taste, very sweet, an acquired taste I think.

Some sweet little things like chops ticks and Korean items.

Some hand crafted traditional masks.

Some pottery.

A shop for me!!

Another shop that I looooved! Has lots of Asian styled jewelry.

These are all little hand mirrors.

James and I are having a wonderful time! Thank you to everyone who has helped us in anyway possible. We could not be here without all of your help!!!

We feel like we are on top of the world!!!!

Stay tuned

James and I will be performing in The World Ballet Stars Gala this weekend, we will keep you posted with pictures and updates soon...

GALA

GALA

WE ARE IN THE GALA!!!!

What an honour to be selected to perform in the Gala! They have asked for our Contemporary, choreographed by Angela Revie. The feedback we have received about this contemporary has been amazing! We were told by the judges at the farewell party that we received the highest score out of the entire competition for the Contemporaries. Angela can be very proud of her work. I really enjoy dancing this piece because I love to tell the story behind it, I never thought I would ever enjoy dancing contemporary because I have hated it my whole life, but now in this dance I LOVE it!!!

After the Gala is when they would announce who the medal and special award winners would be. James and I danced 2nd last at the Gala. The amazing Russian couple were last and they performed La Esmerelda, well needless to say it was amazing!!!

There was a short interval before the awards ceremony. They them placed us in a specific order, I was placed next to the girl from Latvia (I met her at the Baltic Ballet Competition) last year in Latvia.

Well now the time had come... There were many speeches, first in Korean, then in English. They announced all the medal winners for the Juniors first. Then they came to the Seniors. There were 3 winners for the females Bronze, 3 male for the Bronze. Then they announced and the Senior Silver Medal goes to Annija Kopstale from Latvia and Jessica Overton from South Africa!!!!! Can you believe that I won the Silver Medal!!! I am still in a state of shock!

James was awarded a Diploma for being a finalist as well as a special award Artistic Expression! I could not say thank you enough to my amazing boyfriend, because this is and always will be a partnership and without one there will be no other. He partnered me just the way that I asked! Thank you to all of you that have helped us get here. I can't believe that I have achieved my dream by 1, going to an International Ballet Competition(3 times) and winning A SILVER MEDAL!!!! Thank you to everyone who has done their bit! James and I love you all!!!

James with our great new friends. Rinaldo Vennti (Italy) who won Junior Silver and has just been accepted into ABT 2,  Miguel Pinheiro (Portugal) and also won Junior Silver and Seung Yong Lee (Korea) Senior Bronze 

Myself and Miguel

Myself and Rang Kim (Korea) Senior Bronze

Myself and James with Konstantin Korotkov (Russia) Senior Male Gold, Olga Chelpanova (Russia) Senior Female Gold adn Annija Kopstale Senior Silver with myself.

Myself and Annija

Myself with Olga the amazing flexible, beautiful Russian

The Senior Russian Gold Medalists

James on stage below the symbol of the Competition

Myself and Seung Yong Lee

James and Daniel Lee are really good friends 

My SILVER AWARD

James and his Diploma and Special Award!!!