I Couldn't Live Without....Pasta! (weekly line-up)

It's been quite a while since I've posted, but I saw this new weekly line-up hosted by a friend of mine at Pursuit of Pink and thought I'd give it a shot!

Every week, at least once, my family has pasta in some way, shape or form. Not only is it sometimes the main feature of a meal, I also use it to reinvent leftovers all the time! Here are a few ideas for pasta that I've made over the past few weeks:

• Spaghetti w/ Tomato Sauce and Leftover Pot Roast (essentially a ragu)
• Shrimp Scampi w/ linguini (white wine, lemon, butter, basil, YUM!)
• Baked Leftover Pasta (add extra cheese and some milk or cream)
• Mac & Cheese (homemade or boxed) w/ broccoli or butternut squash or spiced up with pickled jalapenos
• Spaghetti al Melone from Giada De Laurentiis
• Linguini Shrimp Fra Diavolo w/ Rao's brand Fra Diavolo Sauce

No surprise that my one year old daughter loves pasta. But what IS a surprise is that she'll eat it almost no matter what sauce is on it. The biggest surprise was that she scarfed down the scampi!!!

What are some ways you like to incorporate pasta into your meal?

Color Guard: Tips for Turning - Learning the Turn

After building strength, here are my top seven tips for learning a pirouette itself.

  Learning the Turn  

1. Practice by going onto releve and posse, without turning first. Prep count 8, up on count 1 in posse, hold for count 2, down on count 3. If you achieve that with a solid balance, hold counts 2 and 3, and come down on count 4. If you can balance in posse on releve, you'll be able to turn better.

2. Balance by engaging your entire standing leg all the way up into your hip/butt muscles and engage your core. If there is a weak or non-engaged muscle in the chain or alignment, it will be the weak link that makes your balance not as rock solid.

3. Do not twist your back. Shoulders and hips should stay in line. And make sure your shoulders and hips are both parallel to the ground both when you start, and during the turn. If not, it will cause you to go off center.

4. Launch your turn from a balanced, centered pile. Feel grounded before the turn and feel the energy that you need to push off the ground into the turn.

5. Withdrawl your working leg quickly and get it into posse right away. It will make the turn look cleaner.

6. Make sure your working leg is turned out and the toe is at the knee. Depending on the technique or school of thinking (or in guard, the choreography!), you could have your toe on the side, the front or the back. NEVER put your arch on your leg. Ick!

7. Practice the turns slowly! If you can turn a pirouette slowly, you can do them controlled quickly. You'll also be able to know which way you're leaning if you fall off balance and should be able to analyze your standing and working legs better.

Do you have any other tips for pirouettes?

Color Guard: Tips for Turning - Building Strength

At Stonewall Independent auditions, I taught pirouette turns and thought I'd share some of the tips we used to help everyone learn how to do them properly. In this blog I'll cover how to build muscle strength to prepare you for turns such as pirouettes. In a future blog, I'll cover some tips on the turns themselves.

  Strengthen Your Muscles  

1. Build Ankle Strength: Your ankle strength is key to avoiding that wobbly-ankle look when you releve or turn.

One exercise it to use a bar or the back of a chair, and standing up very straight on one leg (turned out), coupe the free leg. Slowly go into releve and back down 10 times. Then switch legs. Your ankles should feel tired. If not, try doing 15 or 20 in a row. Be sure you are maintaining control and engaging your core. You also need to ensure proper alignment to bring your weight over the middle of the ball of your foot - don't roll out or in or you'll actually start straining the tendons and ligaments around your ankle.

A second option is to scrunch a towel in your foot. Stand up, and put a towel on the ground. With your bare feet, grab the towel with your toes and lift it off the ground. Control the release back to the ground. Repeat 10 times, and then switch sides.

2. Build Calf Strength: When I was at Crown, I believe it was in 2000, the horn line had a marching exercise to build calf strength. They would backwards march a yard line (10 yards) in 8 counts and then stay on that yard line 8 counts, up in releve, while lifting one foot at time (so their body stayed at the same height but their ankle would bend so one foot would come off the floor, then they'd switch feet). As I explain this, I think I need to make a video!