So I'm not really a health-nut, but my boyfriend teases me about being one. Here's how I operate: I eat super healthy food most of the time, but often eat chocolate in the evenings, usually end up ordering a caramel latte at Starbucks for my morning treat, and almost always eat 3-meat cheese-stuffed crust pizza for Friday night dinners.

But today I was in the mood for something healthy and yummy. So I went to the store and found a recipe on the back of a whole-wheat flour bag for banana bread. But the thing is, I don't like bananas. So I changed the recipe drastically, substituting everything I could for something healthier.
And they turned out amazing.

These would be great before class/rehearsal/performance because it has a very good mix of complex carbohydrate, unsaturated fat, and protein!

Health nut Muffins

Their recipe	My recipe
2 C mashed bananas	1/2 C Pumpkin 1/2 C Apple Sauce 1/2 C Cranberries 1/2 C frozen blueberries 1/4 C frozen fresh Coconut
1/2 C Vegetable Oil	1/2 C Chunky Peanut Butter*
1C Sugar	1c Sugar**
1C Unbleached all-purpose flour and 1C Whole Wheat flour	1/2 C Wheat Germ, and 1 1/2 C whole wheat flower
1tsp baking soda	1tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder	1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c chopped walnuts	none ***
1tsp vanilla extract	blop of vanilla extract (highly precise!)
2 large eggs	2 large eggs
3 tbs milk	plop of milk
	cinnamon
	pumpkin spice

1. Mix fruit, add in wet ingredients
2. mix in dry ingredients
3. Pour into muffin tins and sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon/sugar/pumpkin pie spice on top
4. pour into muffin tins and bake for 10-15min at 350
5. eat with a hot cup of chamomile tea. <3

*They tasted VERY peanut-buttery… so if you don't particularly like super-peanut-buttery stuff, just use olive oil or veg.oil.

**I'd have liked to use Stevia, but 1. Walmart doesn't sell it, and 2. the Truvia was $6 vs sugar $1… I'm a broke college student.

*** I don't like walnuts… also I used chunky peanut butter.

MMMMMmmmm so yummy and perfect with a cup of tea!!

and point your toes.

Please vote for my photo entry in this contest!

This is the pre-pointe notebook I put together for my students who are pursuing pointe shoes. Enjoy!

PP1

One of my students has a stress fracture in her foot—bless her heart!—but she still comes to class and does what she can while sitting on the floor or laying down with her legs in the air. Sometimes she'll do the releve series on one foot. She's a trooper!

A while back I started giving her private sessions with pilates, conditioning, and floor barre exercises. This has lead to an interesting journey in exploring training methods, and I've found that floor barre has many awesome benefits.

1. You are forced to use correct alignment. When you're laying on the floor—or sitting up on your sits bones—it is physically impossible to do many steps incorrect, because if you do it wrong, you'll literally fall on the ground. It forces you to do it properly, and work within your turnout and flexibility, which is very good for young dancers who are trying to find their positions.
2. It develops key muscles. As mentioned above, you're forced to do it right: therefore you're using the muscles you're supposed to be using. Because you don't have a barre to hold or a floor to press into, you have to use isometric muscle movement, which strengthens your muscles in a different way than isotonic. When you get back up off the ground, you'll be able to hit new heights.
3. It relieves stress on joints. For those of us with chronically bad knees, hips, shoulders, etc. floor barre lets you use your muscles and hit your full extension/strength without compromising your joints. For example, I can do a high developpe to the side without worrying about pronating on my ankle, or popping the knee of my standing leg.
4. It strengthens your balance. A woman's center of balance is in her hips and torso. Because you're laying on your back, or sitting up on your hips, you're forced to use the correct alignment, therefore you're centered as you should be, and will learn the position quicker. When you stand up, you'll have stronger balance.
   
   Also, ever lay on one hip with your arms in fifth position and do a developpe to the side? You'd be surprised how hard you have to focus on balance.
   
5. It helps with coordination. Try this: lay on your back, and do a fondu and extend to the front. But instead of pointing both legs when you fondu, pointe only the working leg, and flex the "standing" or floor leg. It's more of a brain teaser than you'd expect! When you train your brain to send different instructions to different body parts, that skill transfers to other aspects of dance, like sharp petit allegro and graceful arms, or having the legs move en de hors while the arms move en de dans. It can be done, but you have to stretch your brain.

I'll be posting a series of floor barre videos as soon as I get a chance to film them ;) Meanwhile, check out these videos:

 

 

One year, for Christmas, my ballet teacher gave me a sweat cloth. It has the ballet studio logo on it, with my name embroidered in the middle. It's a pretty purple lavender color, and I always keep it in my dance bag.

At first I thought it was a really strange gift: I always wore legwarmers because I was always cold, so why did she give me a sweat cloth? I figured it was to fold up and place on the barre for when we stretched on the barre, so we wouldn't hurt our ankles.

Years later, after I've left the studio and gone to college, and now teach 12 classes a week, I finally understand the purpose of that cloth. It's a bright purple so I can place it in the corner and spot it when I can't seem to concentrate. I keep it in my dance bag for when I break down after class or after a late night, so I can clear up my face. I have it on hand for when a student spills a water bottle. I look at it and remember how smart and experienced my teacher was.

But mostly, I keep it by my side during barre to remind myself that I should, at all times, be working so hard that I'm pouring sweat, and therefore need a sweat cloth to wipe it off my neck, back, and wrists.

With that gift, Miss Laura still helps me work hard in class today, even though I haven't trained under her in over three years.

Guess what my students are getting for Christmas?