welcome to new york // part v

originally, i was only going to stay in the city for five weeks since my summer program is five weeks. however on monday, there was a sign up sheet for older girls (such as moi) to be a counselor for ABT’s young dancer summer program! i attended that in 2010 (when i was a baby) and i remember how inspired i was by my counselor, so i hoped to do the same to the girls attending this year. there are also three girls from my studio at home who are attending this intensive, so it’ll be awesome if i could take classes with them here! i’m already acting as a “big sister” at home, so seeing them here will make me so happy! anyway, i’m going to be staying in new york for an extra two weeks!! more dancing, exploring, and growing! <33

saturday, july 18

in the morning, i went to the grey bar with evelyn and her former (since we moved out already) roommate joanna. we had a really hearty and delicious breakfast/brunch filled with french toast, fruit, eggs, protein, and potatoes. it was a lot, but it was reeeeaaaally good. i also ordered a raspberry ice tea, which i finished before the food even came. HAH. i really liked the ambiance of the restaurant because it felt very relaxed and traditional. everything was wooden and, well, american.

evelyn and joanna had to run out to do some errands, so i was on my own again. i stopped by at the strand because it was only a few blocks away, so WHY NOT. i found and bought THE EDITION I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR of nick and norah’s infinite playlist AND I WAS SO HAPPY. if you recall from last time, i had to buy/return the book five times online.

next, i stopped by capezio because i needed to buy a white wrap skirt for our final show. i’m not a huge fan of white leotard/skirts/any clothing because, well, it makes anyone look huge and it’s so revealing. *shudders* but the piece we’re doing requires white. (we’re sylphes, if you’re wondering) it would be weird if it were any other color. ANYWAY, i went back home afterwards and finally got to sit down. do you know how comfortable it feels to sit after standing around so long? EXTREMELY.

evelyn called me when she was finished and asked if i wanted to go down to union square with her to do our nails. i was planning on getting a pedicure anyway because i was in a desperate need for something like that after four weeks on pointe. my feet were killing me. i met up with her, but the place we originally went to had an hour wait so we decided to find somewhere else. while walking to the other nail salon, we stopped by at chloe’s fruit, which we both heard a lot of raving about. personally, i think the place is alright and a bit overhyped.

we were originally supposed to go to a birthday party, but after we finished our nails we were running late and decided to skip it instead. however, evelyn had to go to another birthday party later. i wanted to stay home, so i bought sweetgreen and took it to-go. it was beautiful to have some time to myself where i could just relax and catch up on things like blogging and korean dramas. in fact, i finally finished dream high!! (it was fantabulous, in case you’re wondering)

sunday, july 19

i woke up in the morning to find one of evelyn’s friends sleeping on our couch. it turns out he lost his house keys sometime last night and had nowhere to go, so evelyn let him stay at her place. we decided to go to flushing to eat at (supposedly) the best dim sum place in new york city. however, the place was kinda disappointing. i feel like that was our fault because we ordered like, five plates of shrimp in different forms and it was just TOO MUCH. they also wouldn’t let us order any vegetables until after 11 am, so after eating all that protein i lost my appetite. usually, i eat 70% vegetables and 30% meats/protein so that was very different from my usual diet.

afterward, we decided to explore DUMBO because we were already in brooklyn/queens, so why not? it was honestly one of the prettiest places in the city and i’d love to go there for a dance photo shoot or something. while there, we also visited the powerhouse arena (bookstore), where jenny han had her p.s. i still love you launch party!

after that, we traveled back to manhattan because we got up too early and were feeling quite sleep-deprived. i woke up about an hour after my nap, starving and i tried to get evelyn up as well, but she was completely out cold. i decided to go to soho for some vietnamese food without her. the pho was supposed to be one of the top five places in new york city, but i still liked it better at home. :/

after that, i visited the chobani store and ordered the blueberry and power yogurt, which was delish. i definitely want to go back again. i don’t know why, but i have a strange obsession with parfaits and acai bowls. i could live off of only that though it probably wouldn’t be a very good idea. after i finished my yogurt, i went to pink to find a swimsuit. we were planning on going to the beach next weekend, but i didn’t bring a swimsuit so i was on the hunt. i ended up buying some stuff then went on my way home.

on instagram, i found out it was national ice cream day so i HAD TO buy some ice cream since it was national ice cream month as well. i stopped by sundaes & cones, which i heard many many amazing things about. it was completely packed! the wait was maybe… 15 minutes? i ordered a scoop of green tea ice cream and it was SO WORTH IT. i really really want to come back. i am dragging evelyn back here.

rest of the week

the was the last week of the intensive, so things were a little busier during the weekdays. the schedules were off and everything went crazy. but nonetheless, here it was in list form:

• on monday, we ran through the entire show in front of all the faculty members. it was a little stressful because it’s always scarier to see who you’re performing for. usually on stage the audience is a blur of darkness and heads, which i find much more relieving.
• monday was also day one of parent observation. basically, that meant the parents sit in and watch our first class of the day.
• still on monday, we had gabrielle “gabby” brown teach us which was awesome because 1) i love her classes in general, 2) she’s a super laid back person so, 3) she let us bend the rules of class (aka we didn’t really have a pointe class, but instead worked on our piece for the show), 4) she’s in charge of our piece for the show so that means she knows everyone in the class really well, 5) i just love her.
• on tuesday, rosalie o’connor, the photographer, was coming in to take pictures of everyone taking class. that was great because pictures and because we didn’t need to wear nametags on that day! but it was kind of anti-climatic because she came in for around 15 minutes then left and we never saw her again. :/// i’m sure she was super busy and running around to all the levels, though.
• melissa bowman taught us technique that day and harriet clark taught us pointe. mrs. bowman is the director of the summer program and she could be a little intimidating, but she’s still really nice. i really enjoyed her classes as well.
• my cousin – who i have not seen for twelve years – stayed over at our place with his friend. (they were on a road trip to explore law schools.) we all ate at ippudo – a famous ramen shop– and stopped by at bibbble & sip – which had a green tea cream puff and momofuku milk bar.
• wednesday was the last day with a normal schedule. i had class with kate lydon, who’s the director of ABT’s studio company. i enjoyed her class; her barre was short, which allowed us to do more fun stuff in the centre.
• in the afternoon, we learned a paquita variation from olga dvorovenko and had our last studio rehearsal.
• thursday was another busy day. we had a technique class in the morning with olga dvorovenko and traveled to astoria, queens to where the performance was going to be at.
• we had spacing for fifteen minutes, but i couldn’t run through the entire piece because i was in second cast. then we proceeded with the dress rehearsal, which is basically the exact same as the real show, except no one is watching. sorta.



• after we finished, ana and i were on our way to the bao! (remember her?) we were going to the night on the towns PAPER TOWNS PREMIER!!
• after eating delicious chinese food (MY HOME PEOPLES), we went to snowdays. theeeeen, we went to dean and deluca to buy tomorrow’s lunch (a spicy tuna wrap).
• when the actual movie came around, WE WERE SO EXCITED. i’ll post a full review on it soon~
• friday was the show day! we had a warmup class with gabby brown and it was awesome because we were allowed to wear color (leotards) and skirts/warmup. the class made me feel really happy and nostaglic.
• the entire day was filled with pictures, smiles, and tears. i’m so happy to have been able to be a part of the vio-LITs. also the show went fine; no one fell or forgot steps or burst into tears.
• i’m really sad my summer intensive journey is over, but i’m glad i have the opportunity to continue on for another two weeks! (FEELINGSSS)

– alexandra