Dance Shoes

CAP21 requires certain kinds of dance shoes: ballet, jazz and tap. Well, my ballet shoes were from Payless, my jazz shoes have giant holes in the bottom due to performing in outdoor theatre, and I don't even want to talk about the state of my taps. So Mom and I went off on a mission today: purchase dance shoes for the summer (and for all the dancing I do in future musicals too, of course! =D).

Well, I hate shoe shopping to begin with--I'm decidedly un-girly in that way. I hate shoe shopping, I hate trying to find my right size, I hate breaking shoes in. I'm very picky about the things I wear. I have wide feet, which means I tend to have a hard time finding shoes that fit. I also have small feet, which is irrelevant to this post but is true about my feet. (Small feet are convenient though--I usually can grab the display shoe and it'll pretty much fit.) But dance shoes are different than normal shoes. I don't need them to look cute, since I just need them to be practical. I need them to really fit my feet, since I'll be on my feet, dancing, for long periods of time. And they need to move well. Obviously.

I got my tap shoes pretty quickly. I'm not much of a tapper (I can do a basic time step and some simple moves, but I'm nowhere near calling myself an experienced tap dancer), so I got a pair that was not uncomfortable, stayed on my feet and was cheap. Ballet shoes weren't too bad either. Got a pair of Bloch ballet shoes that fit pretty well and aren't uncomfortable, though they're a teeny bit long.

But the jazz shoes took forever. For some reason I couldn't find a pair that I liked. I was pickier with these because I tend to wear jazz shoes more than ballet shoes in the random dancing I do--I'm wearing them for the MT Singing/Dancing class I'm teaching now, and I wore them for my show. So I wanted them to be really comfortable. But every pair I wore were either too long, too tight, digging into my heels or didn't move. After more pairs than I can count (I feel bad for the girl helping us--she kept going back and forth between the storage room and my chair), I finally picked another pair of Bloch shoes. Apparently they'll stretch out, which might not be the best thing, since they too are a bit long. But they didn't hurt. And even though they weren't as flexible as some of the other shoes, they'll do the trick. Honestly, I bet you anything that when I wear them in class, my feet won't be hurting from shoes. They'll be aching from the massive amounts of dancing I get to do. (YAY! Haha!)

[Random: did you know Bloch also sells normal shoes? As in, non-dance. I had no idea until we went into the dance store. And some of them were cute! But not cute enough to try on. Like I said, I'm picky.]

After that exciting adventure (NOT!) we went into a Macys, because Mom had some coupons. And I bought this adorable Fossil bag:

The picture sucks, but trust me, it's adorable. It's a messengar bag style with lots of colorful flowers. It has tons of pockets, including 2 on the outside (one zippered, one not) that'll be great for storing a cell phone or something else you need quickly. And the inside is the perfect size for a couple of notebooks or thin textbooks. Unfortunately, it'll probably be too small for all the homework I tend to bring to classes, and it's definitely too small for my huge binders of music, but it's great for other events where I need to have paperwork. And it's colorful and cute! I'm so excited. I love Fossil brand. I also really love the brand Haiku. Both companies feature lots of pockets in their purses, use space effeciently, and look really cute. Win win WIN!

Kat Goes Geeky

It's time for a non-theatre related post! Crazy stuff, huh? Here's a list of a few geeky-girl things I'm obsessed with right now:

1) My iPod Shuffle. It's not the brand new one with the controls in the headphones (horrible idea, personally. I like having buttons to press!); in fact, I'm pretty sure it's 2 generations old. It's the small rectangular one, in a beautiful sea green color. I bought it with Christmas money a few years ago, always intending to use it at the gym (which didn't seem to happen, considering how often I go to the gym these days!), but since I never seemed to make it, it just sat at the bottom of my bag. Until recently, when I saw someone carrying it to walk around. In that moment, I realized I could use it as my new primary iPod. It's super lightweight and portable, fits in my pocket without a problem, clips onto whatever I'm wearing and holds enough music to last me a good long while--definitely enough for a day's outings. And when I come back, I can load it up with new music and new podcasts, and have fresh new listening material for the next day.

I really, really like the fact that I can put podcasts on it, because I can listen to stuff on the way to class or while doing my theatre costume shop hours, without it taking up too much room in my limited purse space. When I load up my Baby iPod, I just make sure to put podcasts first, then my hour long track of "ocean music" (fantastic to study to-it makes great white noise), then music. Right now it's a combination of Sutton Foster's new album Wish, Kelly Clarkson's new album All I Ever Wanted, and the new Best of College Acappella--BOCA 2009. Reviews coming up soon, I believe. It's perfect! I love it I love it I love it. Yay music. Yay podcasts. Yay study "tunes."

2) Another technology-related thing, though it's not something I love: the new Facebook. Or should I say the New New Facebook, since the prior version was the "New Facebook." Well, whatever. I'd seen the warning post on Facebook earlier this week, so I was more prepared than most, but it definitely was jarring--at 12pm today I was using the old New Facebook, and at 3:30 it was something completely different. It's interesting, but it's definitely something to get used to. I don't think it's horrible though. I just think it's hilarious that people are so passionate about it--so many status' are complaining about how ugly and annoying it is.

But honestly? You guys got used to the old New Facebook. You complained, bickered, tried to get the old Old Facebook back, and joined groups to petition a change back to how it was. And eventually, you got over it. You learned the new system, and you liked it. Well, you must have liked it, considering how many of you are now complaining about getting the old New Facebook back. But just give it time. It's only the first day! You'll learn how it works and eventually you'll grow to love it. And if you don't... It's just a website. Not the end of the world.

3) Speaking of first days... Spring Break has officially begun! (This is not gadget-related at all, btw. But that's ok, haha!) I flew back home from school on Thursday night, then had to send in a paper about Artaud and Brecht by 5pm on Friday, so until about 4pm I was still in semi-school mode. But now I'm totally free, and I'm going to enjoy it to the fullest! Dorothy said it best: There's No Place Like Home.

4) Twitter. I got a Twitter a while ago and never used it, but the other day I decided to give it another go. (I'd been talking with a friend about it, and she convinced to give it another try.) I like it! It's the style of Facebook statuses without feeling embarrassed about changing it too often. If you have one, find me as onehappykat, or go to twitter.com/onehappykat. Hopefully I'll find some friends of mine to twitter about with!

Being an Actor is No Excuse

I don't do sports. Partially because I've never enjoyed them, partially that my lack of athletic skills makes me suck at them, and partially because I'm an actor. I dance onstage, I don't run. I enjoy bouts of yoga far more than sprints or goals.

But last weekend I realized that being an actor is no excuse for not being in shape. I was filming a student film with my friend. In it, my character was chasing after this guy who stole a purse. We were running all over campus, shooting short chase scenes in at least 5 or 6 locations. And each time we changed locations, we'd shoot it at least 3 or 4 times, just so that our director had a good shot.

Well, after all those locations and sprinting as fast as I possibly could (the guy I was chasing was ridiculously fit and incredibly fast! It was just insane!), I was sore for the entire week. We shot both Saturday and Sunday. Sunday, I was pretty sore, but Monday and Tuesday? Horrible. It hurt to stand up, it hurt to sit down, it hurt to walk and it hurt to move. Made the dances in our acappella competition exhausting, and Furies rehearsal also rather painful.

Moral of the story? Being an actor is no excuse for being lazy. I gotta get going to the gym more often, dance even more, try a bit of yoga once in a while. And maybe, just maybe, try running on the dreaded track. Because honestly, I don't want to have to go through all that again! It just hurt too much. =(