How to Act When You're Watching Live Theatre

I love me a good musical. But when SOMEONE in the theatre is being RUDE it ruins the ENTIRE SHOW for the audience AND the performer. So please don't be that guy. Please. No one likes that guy. Here's how to not be a public nuisance:

1) Before the Show
Arrive early, but don't act like your life depends on being the first one to your seat. The doors open at the same time for everyone, you're no more special than they are. Also, be nice to the people at the door and the people selling merchandise. All they're doing is trying to make your experience better, so show a little gratitude and thank them. If you have to climb over a few people to get to your seat, try not to cause too much of a disturbance. I know, sometimes you can't help it, but at least alert the people you're climbing over when you're coming.

2) During the Show
As soon as the lights start to go out, TURN OFF YOUR FREAKING CELL PHONE!! I would say that it would also be okay to just put it on silent, but to be honest, it really just needs to be turned off and put away where no one can see it. You can't use it during the performance, so why not just turn it off?? Speaking of that, listen to the announcers and absolutely do not use your phone, especially for flash photography. Everyone can see the little light if you're scrolling through facebook in a dark theatre, and it distracts and disorients the performers if you're taking flash pictures all through their number. Patti Lupone even stopped Gypsy just to tell a guy off after he kept taking flash pictures and making her trip. You really don't want that to happen to you. And to be honest, why would you do that anyway? You just paid a crap ton of money on seats to see a live play, and you're wasting it just to be looking at a little screen you could be looking at any other time of the day? I really don't understand.

Don't talk while the show's going on.  A little "Oh, I love this song!" to your friend is fine, but please don't be having excessive conversations with the people around you. This might be a little hard, but you really shouldn't sing along to any musical numbers, either, unless you're specifically instructed to do so. If you really can't resist, lip sync, but people came to the show to listen to the performers, not you. Your time will come.

3) After the Show
Never. EVER. EVER LEAVE DURING BOWS!! I don't care one bit if you want to get to the stagedoor or your car fast, applaud the performers and show your appreciation until the curtain goes down. Even then, be polite just like you were when walking in. Don't trample anyone, just leave with the crowd. If you're going to stagedoor, don't worry. The performers still have to gather up their stuff to leave and even if they beat you out of the theatre they'll still probably be signing autographs when you get there.

Now it's time for a little stagedoor etiquette. Always remember to treat the performers like what they are: people. Be respectful and tell them what a good job they did. It's fine to ask for an autograph and a picture, just be polite about it. They're probably very grateful that you came to see them and they'll be happy to sign your playbill.

preach, carrie

Thanks. It's important for you to have fun, but you also have to make sure you don't ruin the experiences of others. Have a nice day!!

Pointe Shoe Prep: Breaking them In

Even after your ribbons have been sewn, they're still not ready to dance in because of the stiffness of the shoe. Before you can dance comfortably in them, you need to take steps to break them in and form them to your feet.

You will need:
-Pointe shoes with the ribbons and elastics already tied on
-A sturdy door
-A hammer or a hard surface
-Scissors

1) First, you need to smash/flatten the box of the shoe. This can be done in multiple ways, but I like to use all three to get the best results. To start, place the shoes on the floor and stand with your heel on the box. Alternate between putting all of your weight on your standing foot and the heel on top of the shoe.

2) Place the box of the shoe between a sturdy door and its frame. It is very important that this is a strong door, because the shoe could potentially break the door if you push too hard. Move the door back and and forth a few times until the box is adequately flattened.

sorry for the gross lighting

3) The last step to flatten the box is to either hit it really hard with a hammer or whack it against a hard surface like a granite table. As a ballerina, I find this the perfect time to get my anger out without hurting anyone and in a way that actually benefits me.

4) Next you'll need to form your arch. Like you did with the box, place the point where the arch of your foot is (where your ribbons should be sewn) in between a sturdy door and its frame, and move the door back and forth until the arch of your shoe can be easily bent with your hands.

okay, I've already broken in and worn these, but how else
am I supposed to show you what to do?

5) Bend the arch a little bit more in the same place, but move it both ways back and forth with your hands this time. 

6) Put on and tie your shoes, making sure that the drawstrings are hanging out. Flex your toes and pull on the drawstrings until there's very little room between your feet and the sides of the shoes. Tie the drawstrings in a knot and cut them so that the tails are only about one inch and tuck them into your shoes. 

7) Here's a little extra thing you can do at home or when you're stretching during class to stretch both the arch of your foot and the arch of your shoe: get on your knees and sit on your heels. Put your hands behind you and lift up your butt and your knees so that your weight is on your hands and on the fronts of your toes. NEVER do this when you're not in pointe shoes, you could seriously injure your feet without the extra support from the box. 

hopefully you can see what I'm doing with these fabulous pants in the way

8) Keeping your shoes on, the last thing you'll need to do is walk around on as high of half-toe as possible. This might be uncomfortable at first, but keep doing it until it gets slightly more comfortable. Take off your shoes and do the same thing you did with the arch: bend the half-toe area with your hands back and forth both ways.

You can repeat these steps at any time in your pointe shoes' life if you think a certain part needs adjusting. For more information on pointe shoes, a great book with lots of information is To the Pointe. Some of the information is outdated, like the method for finding the place to tie the ribbons, but a lot of it was really helpful to me when I first started pointe. 

Comment if you'd like me to make anymore posts with pointe shoe information and tutorials!! 

Pointe Shoe Prep: Sewing

Yeah, I know this isn't really related to what I usually post, but nerds can do ballet too, right? Anyway, I've tried lots of different methods of sewing/breaking in my pointe shoes, but this is what I've found works best for me.

Materials:

wow nice photography skills jayda

-a new pair of pointe shoes
-3/4 inch grosgain ribbon to match the color of your shoes (mine look all wrinkly because I recycled them from my last pair)
-3/4 inch pink elastic
-light pink/cream thread
-a sewing needle
-a pen
-matches or a lighter
-scissors (fabric scissors work best but I couldn't find mine so I used these scary looking ones)

What to do:
1) The purpose of your ribbons is to support your arch while you're dancing, so you want them to be sewn right where your arches are. Find this place by putting on your shoe with your ribbon underneath your foot. Pull on each ribbon until you've found the highest point of your arch.

the ribbon is at the highest point of my arch

Mark each side of the ribbons on the drawstring casing with your pen. This is where they will be sewn in later. Then mark an "R" on the bottom of your shoe if you used your right foot, and an "L" if you used your left foot.

2) Now cut your ribbons into four equal lengths if they aren't already. If you want to insert elastic into some or all of them, do that now. My ribbons have elastics pre-sewn into them; you can buy those here.

3) Fold up one of the ribbons about 3/4 of an inch twice to enclose the raw edge.

folded over twice

4) Line up the top folded edge with the bottom of the drawstring casing, the folded side facing the canvas. Starting on the inside of the shoe on one edge of the ribbon, make a whipstich around the drawstring casing.

inside view

outside view

5) Once you reach the other side of the ribbon, sew a running stitch around the rest of the edges, making sure to only go through the canvas layers and not the satin on the outside. This may take a few tries, but it looks really nice if there is no thread on the outside of the shoe.

your needle should look like this when making the stitches

Go all the way around the edge, and finish with a French knot (pull the needle under a stitch you already made and back through the loop).

this is what it should look like when you're finished

Repeat steps 3-5 on the other side of the shoe.

6) You can either sew your elastics on the outside of the shoe at the back near the seam, or on the inside of the shoe in between the side seams and the back seams. I like to put them on the back at the outside because the other place tends to give me blisters. Put on your shoe and hold one end of the elastic where you want to sew it. Stretch it across your foot and cut it at the other side.

7) To sew on the elastics, I usually just use the same whipstitch method that I use for the ribbons, but without the running stitch around the edge. This is usually strong enough for me. Again, finish with a French knot.

this is the back seam of the shoe, by the way

Repeat with the other end of the elastic.

nice

8) Now put on your shoe and tie your ribbons on the INSIDE of your ankle. Cut the loose ends so that there's about 1 1/2-2 inches of excess ribbon outside of the knot.

aren't they so pretty???

9) Take off the shoe and burn the ends of the ribbons.

Repeat steps 3-9 on the other shoe, and they're halfway ready to use! I'll be making a post on how to break them in soon. See ya later!