My Accident and Advice to Summer Intensive Students

So I want to apologize first to those of you who are followers of my GoFundMe page. I wanted to blog more frequently as I stated in my last post on GoFundMe but right after my last post I had a bad accident.

Early last week it was just another day here in Moscow at the Academy. My friend woke me up in the morning to go to breakfast. It took me awhile to get up but I finally did. We went to the cafeteria and I started to feel dizzy on the line for our food. I said I think I’m going to go back and so I started walking. The next thing I know is that I am on the floor. There is blood on my hands, I felt little parts of my teeth and I see tons of people screaming my name! The nurse picked me up and took to the isolator (it’s our school doctor’s office). I remember just crying because I kept spitting out my teeth and I didn’t know where the blood was coming from. I was so scared. Then the nurse told me that the blood was coming from the bottom of my chin which was sliced open and that I needed stitches, I also had broken teeth and my face swelled up. From the isolator I called my mom on Facetime. It was like 1am in NY. I just cried to her. I was so scared and I could tell she was too. She worked out the medical insurance stuff and two of my friends here took me to the American Medical Center in Moscow were I received stitches under my chin.

So even though we don’t know for sure and won’t know until I go back to NY and have a full exam done apparently we think I fainted because I haven’t been drinking enough water. I guess my body just shut down and I passed out. I went straight forward down and smashed my chin on the hard floor, splitting open my skin. I clenched down on my teeth at same time when I fell I ended up having to get stitches. I also damaged my teeth pretty badly. I will have to get dental work done when I am home in NY also. Thankfully the broken teeth are on the side of my mouth and not my front teeth. I couldn’t really eat until the swelling in my face went down and the pain from my teeth and jaw healed.
After my initial visit to the medical center I returned a few days later and the cleaned the wound and changed the dressing. Then this past Tuesday April 30th I returned to the medical center again and they removed my stitches. I also had a nice conversation with my doctor about where we are both from. He was from Peru. He did an excellent job as you can see below. The before and after pictures below show my chin with the stitches and then when the stitches were removed. The other pic is a pic I took today. Only 4 days later and it looks almost fully healed. The scaring is minimal to none! I am so relieved! It really healed well! Someone up there is definitely looking out for me

I want to give some advice to all the young dancers who are will be heading off to their chosen summer intensives this summer. You will be working very hard in the studios this summer and dancing in the heat. Please make sure you drink plenty of water and eat fruit to maintain your blood sugar levels. You always hear people saying drink water to stay healthy and it is true. I would have never thought that this would happen to me. It can happen to anyone. I hope you will think about what happened to me, learn from it and always remember get a good night’s sleep, eat and drink plenty of water every day so you don’t end up getting hurt the way I did. We can only be our best if we feel our best and take care of our health.

Love, Nicole

Something different for you! Photo Blog: Spring, Adventures, Exams, Performance, etc..

Third Course Acting Exam Bolshoi Ballet Academy 2013

Third Course Acting Exam Bolshoi Ballet Academy 2013

My first performance at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy 3/1/13

 

After first performance with girls from Italy

Tickets to see Bolshoi Ballet perform w/Andrea from Sweden

Svetlana Zakharova!

Art sculpture in Moscow

Moscow River in Spring

In front of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy on 4/14/2013

With Ambassador of the United States of America to the Russian Federation Michael A. McFaul and his wife

April, Easter and Exams

Well it’s April already and I can’t believe how fast time is flying by. It is still very cold here even though Spring began March 1st. The sun is shining more which is nice.

The 3rd course graduating class had their acting exams recently. As I mentioned before my class assisted with Ksusha’s final acting exam. She acted out the Mad Scene from Giselle. She did an excellent job. To be a part of her exam, to be on stage with my class during her scene and for the finale was a great experience. I now have a good idea as to what will be expected of me next year should I be fortunate enough to return to the Academy to complete my studies.

Here is a video created by Ilya Kuznetsov which is of the 3rd course acting exam. I encourage you to watch it not only because you can see a glimpse of me but also so that you can the talent that the Bolshoi Ballet Academy produces. It is truly a privilege to study here and I am so thankful for the opportunity.

To see more videos created by Ilya Kuznetsov please visit http://vimeo.com/ilyaballet

EASTER SUNDAY

Cathedral in Moscow

Easter in Moscow was an adventure. A couple of friends and I woke up early, went to the store and bought eggs to color for Easter. We went to church at noon thinking it was an English speaking Mass but it ended up being in Albanian Mass. It was really different from what I see in church back home. It was still a beautiful mass. We left half way through the mass because we felt out of place since it wasn’t our language or religion which we practice. After that we were went to Burger King for lunch (yea I know very fatty) but we didn’t have enough money so we needed to go someplace cheap. Then we walked to the Moscow Zoo and took some pictures. Unfortunately our day came to a stop when my friend Shans phone was stolen (for the 2nd time). She was pick pocketed by some sketchy guy! I felt so bad because it was the second time her iPhone was stolen. Well after that we went to the American Embassy. At first we couldn’t find it. I knew where it was but no one wanted to listen to me because usually I’m wrong with directions. This time I was 100% sure I was right. We asked around and a nice couple walked us all the way to the embassy. It was exactly where I said it was so of course I could not let that go lol. Anyway, it ended up being closed, so we just went back to the academy and colored eggs. Overall it was an interesting and nice Easter.  

Finally my class is now preparing for our ballet exams. The duet exam will take place on May 27th and our character exam is on May 17th. We still did not get a date for our classical ballet exam but it should be around the same time as the other exams. Speaking of exams today most classes were cancelled because graduating 3rd course A and B girls and course 3A boys had their exams on stage. The girls all did a very nice job. They danced beautifully. The 3A boys were amazing. There were a few errors but they danced with artistry and looked look manly and strong. I am so happy that I was able to watch the exams today. Next year I will be in 3A and performing on stage like them so it was good to see what I will be a part of and to know what to expect! It was also very inspiring. I have a renewed motivation to continue to work hard and focus solely on my future. I am very excited and thankful to be part of this school and its legacy of training the best dancers. I only pray now that I will be able to raise the money needed in time to return to the academy in the fall 2013 and complete my traineeship.

Easter with my Bolshoi family <3

Well until next time…
Love from Russia,
Nicole

March at the Academy

Hi Everyone,

I can’t believe it is already March. Time is flying by here at the Academy! For the past few months I have really been focusing on myself and trying to perfect my technique and pointe work. My goal is to become stronger on pointe. This semester is more intense. I am really enjoying my new class, Historical dance. We learn dances that date back to the 16^th and 17th century such as Medieval, Baroque and Renaissance dance.  We get to wear long gown skirts and chopenaa (practice) skirts and the boys wear black long capes and top hats. I love my teacher. She seems to really like me and my partner. We recently had a show were my class and I performed a piece called Siganski which is a type of character dance. We were gypsies. It was really fun! You really have to get into character to look good. The only way you get to perform though is by auditioning. See at the Bolshoi if you want to perform in a show they hold auditions on stage where you do variation, pas, character, etc… and you have to audition in front of Ms. Leonova the director of Bolshoi Academy as well as many other teachers and fellow students. It is very nerve racking and intimidating! Here is a link to our audition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPT5rNZJhF0

Since the show we started working on exam work. At the end of the year we have an exam class where we have set dances in each class and we get graded on our overall year.  From what I understand we are judged on our technique, artistry, progress, etc…This year I will have an exam in my ballet, duet and character classes. We won’t have our acting exam or historical exam until next year. So I hope to stay next year so I can be part of that and complete my studies here. The exams are all in 2 months. I’m a little nervous for my ballet exam because we haven’t started our exam work yet and we only have 2 months to practice it.

In my variations class I am thinking about changing the variation I have been working on. I am thinking about trying the following variation. It is from Paquita. I posted a link to a video for you to see here (watch from 0:00 to 3:30):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw8P8kjBgXA

So the graduating class a.k.a the Third Course classes have their exam in a few days and my class gets to perform in there acting exam this Thursday with them. We are performing in the Mad scene from Giselle. We are the peasants for Ksusha who is a graduating ballet dancer, very talented and has a very bright future in the ballet world. I guarantee you will read about her someday either Bolshoi Company related or elsewhere in the ballet world. I’m excited to be on the stage again as her support.

In other news…A few weeks my friend and fellow student Remy invited me to go see the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet perform here in Moscow. Remy is from Colorado, where Aspen Santa Fe’s home is. They invited Remy to be their guest of honor. Performing in Russia was an honor for them. They were amazing! I was able to meet some of the dancers and the Company directors thanks to Remy. Not only was the performance excellent but the night was an adventure. Funny story: We were supposed to have a taxi pick us up from the academy to take us to the Theater but the taxi never showed up so we had to run to the metro so we wouldn’t be late. When we arrived at the theater it was like 6:15pm and then we realized the show didn’t actually start till 7ish (we thought 6pm) and our car was picking us up at 615pm from the academy not 515pm. Such a fail lol. Then at the end of the night we had to try to find a taxi and some random guy said he would bring us back. It was really sketchy but thank god Remy got a call from the taxi guy and he showed up to drive us back to academy. In the end we arrived back at the academy very late but it was a great performance!

Finally I am still desperately seeking a sponsor so that I can return to the academy in September 2013 and complete my final year here. Would you please consider donating or sharing my story? Every dollar helps. I would be truly grateful and I will pay it forward someday.

http://www.gofundme.com/nicolezadra

Well back to rehearsals and exam prep. Wish me luck!

Love, Nicole

My class, 2nd Year Russian Course, with my teacher Irina Sirova

Inspiring Words

Words to live by…

“Get a dream and commit to that dream. Real commitment as in 8 hours a day prepping that dream for years until its a reality.” Questlove

January at the Academy

Hi Everyone!

So I am back at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. I went home for a short two weeks for Christmas. The time at home flew by and before I knew it I had to say goodbye, which was much harder this time then when I originally left back in October. The thought of not seeing my mom, family and best friends for almost 6 months really hit me hard.

When I arrived back at the Academy I had a few days before classes started. With so much down time and so few people here I ended up making some new friends, which was nice. We went to dinner a few times, had a scary movie night and stayed up late being silly.

Our classes started back on Monday and I learned that my primary ballet teacher was in Japan for the week so we had a substitute. She is young and training to become a ballet teacher. On Tuesday I also found out that in place of modern dance class, which we completed last semester, this semester I will now be taking historical dance. I am very much looking forward to this.

On Tuesday in Russian language class I also found out that I will now start book 2! This makes me happy because it means I am progressing in my Russian Language studies. I am also trying to speak to my Russian friends a little more in Russian.

I am still practicing my variation from Le Jardin and I will be learning many more variations in the coming months. I have been working hard on trying to get into shape. I learned that because I am in the Russian course here at the Academy that when it comes time to takes exams in the Spring we will take our exams on stage and supposedly companies come and watch us to see who is up and coming and what next year’s graduates are like. Apparently this only happens when you are placed in the Russian course so the kids in the international course don’t have this opportunity, which is unfortunate and makes me even more grateful to have been placed in the Russian course. I really have to focus and work hard because I want to leave a good impression. I only hope that I will be able to stay on until 2014 and  complete the course so that I can have the opportunity to be watched by companies and possibly asked to audition for one of their companies. Right now it doesn’t look to promising for me though due to finances. As always everything revolves around money and without it trying to make it in ballet can seem hopeless.

That being said I hope that if anyone even read this that you will consider sharing my story. Every dollar helps. If you have friends in college maybe you could ask them to not buy a beer this weekend and maybe instead donate the dollar. Maybe you can share my story with your friends in church, maybe say a pray for me. I need all the support I can get.

Finally I want to thank everyone again who helped make my opportunity here now possible. I am so grateful to be here. The training is truly amazing and like no other. So thank you so much from the bottom of my heart!

Love,

Nicole

My weekend in Moscow

Hey everyone! Sorry again for not updating my blog. I promise I will start writing in it as much as I can so that you all can have an idea of what I actually do here.  

I have 10 days till I go home!!! I fly back on Dec 22^nd. I am glad to have one of my best friends here, Sara, who lives in Delaware to fly back to NY with. We still haven’t figured out how we are going to get to the airport but whatever we will figure it out somehow. I’m so excited! I really miss my mom and my friends

 My Weekeknds:

This past weekend was very nice. On Friday I only had ballet class for an hour and 45 mins. It was a good class. It ended around 2:30 so after I went with two of my girlfriends out for a girls night. We went to Red Square to do some Christmas shopping at ГУМ which is a huge shopping mall here and everything in this mall is way overpriced. It was very cold out but so beautiful. They had an ice-skating rink right in the center of the Square and ГУМ was decorated all Christmas like. I bought a nice new bag as which is an early Christmas present form my mom. I am in love with it. After our shopping excursion we went out to dinner at Древний Китай. a Chinease restaurant near Red Square. We got dumplings and fried rice (I know not that healthy for a ballerina but we really missed Chinese food) One of my friends though got really nauseas and couldn’t eat. I felt so bad so we sat in the restaurant for about an hr and half and we said why don’t we got to Cinnabun. Hoping our friend might feel better if we get some air and such so we did and when we went outside it was snowing and it was just so gorgeous out and I was soo happy. After that we ended up going to another mall called Цум. Its located right next to the Bolshoi Theatre. It was amazing! The type of stores  there were Prada, Channel, DKNY, Armani, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and showrooms for Bentley, Ferrari and Maserati type cars. It’s so cool how someone can buy a Bentley and then go next door for a suit from Zegna or heals by Jimmy Choo. It reminds me of Bloomingdales in the city. We felt like we had to walk like we all had money because the people in the store were so glamorous with their high heels and there fur coats. Not going to lie, I so want a fur coat! lol. For the rest of the night we walked around the Bolshoi Theater area and then came back to the academy to have some nice tea and relax. Overall it was a very nice girl’s night out without drama. I cannot  wait to do it again.

Saturday was the usual. I had ballet and rep from 11- to 230. I usually have partnering after but for some reason we didn’t have it. I feel like I never really know what’s going on here. One because I can’t speak Russian that well and two know else even knows. So I just follow what my class does. But that night I went out with a few people to Fridays for a nice meal and yes I said TGIF. In Russia the service tends to be a little slow so we had to wait awhile to be seated but the food was soo good I was stuffed after one bite. I really am starting to enjoy the food here. I think I will also start a food blog on tumblr maybe…. If you would like to see what type of Russian food I eat just comment and say yes or no to the food blog.

Sunday I woke up at 9 and finally went to breakfast. (I never wake up for breakfast) And after breakfast Sara, Michael, 2 of my close friends and I went down to the second floor to do an intense workout. We ran a full mile and did crunches and all that type stuff. We then wanted to take a ballet class so we had to ask one of the 3rd course boys to got a key for us because if you’re not in the highest course u cannot rent a studio or something like that. I don’t really know the exact details. Like I said I never really know anything lol. We got to practice our variations and just practice moves that we have trouble with and of course we did some compy type moves just for fun . It was nice to have a huge studio for just us three. Afterword’s Sara and I went out to Arbat Street to buy some more Christmas presents. We ran into my two roommates Heloise and Cary. So we all shopped and bought presents for our family and friends. It’s very hard to buy stuff when you have very little money but I managed.  

 Overall I would say I had a nice fun weekend with my friends. Next weekend will be my last so we are planning on getting a huge group of people together and just go out celebrate Christmas. 

A group of us are doing a “secret Santa” and for my first gift last week I received a sign that says USA and a box of Russian tampons lol Its for nose bleeds. It was quite funny. I figured out who I have and I’m pretty sure everyone else knows who they have. I have my secret Santa a shot glass but you won’t understand that because it’s an inside joke.

 I hope everyone is getting ready for Christmas, buying their gifts, making treats and getting ready for a break from work and school! woohoo  

 Exams next week, cross your fingers for me! Xoxo Nicole

Sorry for the delay in blogging! Here is a little about my classes at the Bolshoi Academy:

Hi Everyone! I am so sorry for not blogging sooner. Life has been hectic not to mention a big adjustment for me. Let me tell you a little about my classes: 

I’m in Course Two A, which is a Russian course. My class consists of all Russian students except for me and two other American students. It is really hard to explain the system of the courses so I will connect a link explaining each course which may help:

 http://www.balletacademy.ru/eng/page-process_eng1.htm.

 My primary ballet teacher is Irina Sirova. Ms. Sirova was a soloist of the Perm Opera and Ballet Academic Theatre. She is an amazing teacher and she really works on perfecting our technique. She is also my teacher for rep class. In repertoire class I’m doing the variation from Le Corsaire. The scene is Le jardin animé. I performed this before however I am now working on the Bolshoi version which is a little bit harder than what I have performed last year with Manhattan Youth Ballet.

After having my first rep class I realized how they work here. They just play music and you are expected to know the variation. If not then have you learn the variation by yourself. I showed her the variation from Le jardin amine and she said I was wrong and had to learn the Bolshoi version. So that night I taught myself the variation from watching you tube. Next day in class when I showed her I realized I learned the Marinsky version :/ but she was okay with that and I have been practicing this one variation the whole time I have been here. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little upset with this process and disappointed in myself.   

My Character teacher is Tatiana Petrova. I had Ms. Petrova as my rep teacher over the summer so I was so happy when I learned that she was my character teacher. She is really tough and character is actually really hard but fun!!! We learn different dances from Spanish to folk and historical dance.

My Pas teacher is Ilya Ryzhakov. He was also my teacher in the summer so I already knew how he taught and I knew he liked me. We are doing a lot of lifts and things which I have never done in partnering so it is very interesting and a challenge for me. I love the class though. My partner is Michael Mengden, another American student here.

My modern class, which honestly is more like jazz here, is very fun. We actually have an exam in 2 weeks…YIKES! Apparently anybody can come and watch the exams here and so many teachers come and watch. They score us to see if we pass or fail. We have to get a good score to move on to the next level. Cross your fingers for me!

So I have made some really nice friends from all over the world. The international students come from locations including England, Canada, Brazil, Italy, Greece, and Japan, etc… I haven’t really ventured out much except for to go to the coffee shop and Billa which is the local grocery store.

Probably the scariest thing that I have been involved in happened today. So I’m at Starbucks with my friends Shan, Rose, Michael, and Georgi. Shan, Rose and Georgi went outside for a bit. Shan left her iphone on the table and I left my mac and blackberry and I went up to get a drink. Michael was sitting the other way facing away from the phone. I man came up to Michael asking something in Russian while that was happening another man grabbed Shan’s phone and ran out of Starbucks. The guy talking to Michael also ran out after him. Shan came back in and realized her phone was gone and we tried looking for it but then we put two and two together and realized these Russian guys scammed Michael. We learned a big lesson! New rule keep your electronics with you at all times in Russia!!

Well I will try to write more soon! Again I want to thank everyone who is supporting me here. I am trying to work hard and do my best. More to come…

 

Ebony.com Interview

Hi Everyone,

Last week was another exciting week for me. On 9/22 I was interviewed by writer Natelege Whaley for Ebony.com magazine. The interview process is always so scary for me. I always get so nervous when being interviewed. I probably said “um” and “like” a thousand times! I am getting a little better at being interviewed I think, plus this time the writer Miss Whaley was younger and so sweet which made the interview easier for me.

On September 27th Ebony.com featured the interview. It was so awesome. I was on the front page of the website! Literally on the top of the page was PRINCE and then when you scrolled down there I was! It was amazing! Ebony.com used 3 pictures of me also which surprised me. The story was written perfectly. I am so thankful to Miss Whaley for writing the piece. The link to the article is below.

check out Miss Whaley’s blog at http://natelegewhaley.com/

THANK YOU MISS NATELEGE WHALEY! <3

http://www.ebony.com/entertainment-culture/ballerina-nicole-zadra-776

 

http://natelegewhaley.com/

Twitter and my angel Questlove

After the anonymous donations started coming in I had also started receiving twitter notifications. People are following me on twitter? Really? Me?

I went on twitter and not only did I have new followers but I also had someone tweeting my Go Fund Me story. His name was Questo to the Roots aka Questlove. I was like omg this random guy is so sweet! I didn’t know who he was then but I do now. After some online research I learned that he was involved in the music business. He is the drummer for the band The Roots, which is the house band on the Jimmie Fallen Show, amongst other things. I am not going to lie and say I knew this because I really didn’t. I honestly go to bed early most nights so I didn’t recognize his name or the band name. If you are a young dancer you know that most of the time your in dance class when you are not in school and you are not always up to date on who’s hot and what not.  Anyway Mr. Questlove love tweeted my story and from his tweet other s retweeted my story. It was amazing. I was shocked and speechless and so grateful. This man who doesn’t even know me tweeted about me and now my story is out there and others are sharing. It was so sweet! He is like an Angel!

Shortly after that Mr. Questlove tweeted to the Huffington Post who then tweeted to me asking me to contact them because they wanted to run a story. Next thing I know my story, with a excerpt of me dancing was on the Huffington Post site.  I was like is this really happening!?!?!

Questlove’s Latest Project Is Nicole Zadra, A Ballet Dancer With Bolshoi Academy Dream

A link to the article is here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/questlove-ballet-dancer_n_1853256.html

Again I was so grateful, happy, and thankful! It also becoming very nervous and overwhelmed. If you know me you know I am VERY shy. This was all so exciting but overwhelming for me. How can I ever thank Questlove enough.I really don’t know. The only thing I can do now is tell him how thankful I am and promise to work hard and do my best to make his efforts worth it. I am going to try my best and work hard to make everyone proud. I hope everyone knows that. I feel truly blessed