Contemporary – Diary of a Daydreamer

Hey daydreamers! Random question: how early is to early to listen to Christmas music? Usually I strictly ban it until after Thanksgiving, but the Jonas Brothers just came out with a new Christmas song and okay, I admit I’ve listened to it about 15 times since it came out…

Anyway, I know I just did a “what’s in my dance bag” in like August, but my dance bag has changed a LOT since then. First of all, volleyball season ended, I got pointe shoes, new leotards, I’m now at the dance studio 24/7…and oh, yeah, I got a new bag. So yeah, I think that justifies a new tour! If you want to check out the first one, click here.

Let’s just dive headfirst into the post, since I can’t wait to get started!

First, we have the actual bag! I got it for my birthday, and it’s this really cute duffel bag from Rebok. I love the blush pink color! (Pretty much everything I got for my birthday is blush pink…) There’s a mesh pocket on the side, another side pocket with a zipper, and a front pocket with velcro. There’s one main strap that goes over your shoulder, and two smaller straps that velcro together to hold stuff on top of the bag – I use it to hold my pointe shoe bag in place!

In the mesh side pocket, I keep my ballet shoes! I normally just stuff them there after class. That way they can air out after getting all sweaty from dancing (ew). My ballet shoes are leather split-soles from SoDanca, but I’ve been thinking about switching to canvas ballet shoes so I can point my foot more easily.

And next, my pointe shoe bag! I keep my shoes in a blue mesh bag that I stick in the outside pocket. Like my ballet shoes, that gives them a chance to air out after getting sweaty, so they won’t break down as easily!

In my pointe bag, I have my toe pads, toe tape, and of course, pointe shoes! I wear Pillows For Pointe Gellows toe pads, and I love them because they’re reversible! I really like the gel side on my toes – for the first few releves, it’s actually comfortable because the gel feels really soothing. (After that, well…not so comfortable.) I also use Gaynor Minden Microfoam toe tape, which I don’t use super often since I haven’t gotten any blisters yet (thankfully!).

Then, of course, my pointe shoes! Like I said in my pointe fitting vlog, I wear Bloch European Balance, size 4, No X. Translation for non dancers: the number of “X” you have determines the width of your shoe – so if you had XXXX, you’d have really wide feet, and No X means your feet are so narrow that they’re not even wide enough to have one X. Like me. 😂

Here are some gorgeous pictures of my feet. 😂 These involved me tying them, standing on top of my desk, bending down and desperately grabbing the wall while I tried to balance on one foot in the left picture. You’re welcome. 😜

The side pocket contains a very dirty-looking Ziploc bag that contains a travel hairbrush and used to have bobby pins and hair ties in it, but I don’t know where those ended up…and also my red Theraband, which looks really cool in front of my desk lamp, lol!

Finally, let’s look INSIDE the bag!

First, I have another mesh bag containing all my shoes that aren’t actually ballet-related. I’ve had this in my closet since like fourth grade, and I just decided to use it to keep all my shoes together. It’s really cheap and flimsy, but it works!

Inside my purple mesh bag, (how many times have I said the word “mesh” in this post??) I have my jazz and contemporary shoes! When Payless had this huge closing sale I got these tan jazz shoes for only $4 or $5. I think I got the contemporary/lyrical shoes off of Amazon?

Some more slightly weird looking pictures of my feet that also involved standing on top of my desk! In the right one, you can see how the contemporary/lyrical shoes fit over your foot. I actually don’t use these very much; I’d rather go barefoot. The other day in contemporary class, I tried to wear them, and I actually got annoyed that they were slipping off my feet and took them off! I just keep them in my bag anyway.

Then I have my pink leg warmers I got from Target in my birthday shopping haul post that I love! I wear them all the time, especially in my early-morning weekend classes to help me warm up.

Then I also keep this warm grey sweatshirt in my backpack to wear in between rehearsals and on the way to class! It’s really cozy and now that the weather is FINALLY cooling down here in southeast Texas (😂), I wear it all the time.

I love how the filter made my dirty desk look like a clean white background, lol! I also keep these black Spandex shorts that I wore under my uniform during volleyball season in my bag, but now that volleyball is over, I always wear them over my leotard and tights during class! I also keep blackish-navy biker shorts in there too in case I don’t have my Spandex for some reason.

My level color is royal blue, so I have two leotards in that color! The first leotard has spaghetti straps, a lower neck, and V-cut back. The only problem is the straps are a little loose, but otherwise it’s really pretty and comfortable!

My other one is like the opposite of the first leotard: it has a very high neck, thick straps, and back that’s higher than the top. Both are really cute and comfy, though! I also have a black leotard, but when I was taking the pictures for this post I was actually wearing it since I had just gotten back from class. 😂

And, of course, I have tights. I always wear convertible tights, because it’s so much easier to put on toe pads and go barefoot for contemporary class! Once again, I have another pair, but I was wearing them at the time…

I also have a random hairbrush and spray bottle that I use to do my hair for class and rehearsal on the go. There’s not actually thickening spray in the misting bottle – it’s actually just a totally random bottle that I’ve had since the beginning of time, and it’s full of water.

I also, quite randomly, have a pinkish-red fox Squishmallow in my dance bag! Isn’t it cute? For pre-pointe class, we would do releve exercises in parallel, and we’d have to keep a small stuffed animal in between our heels without dropping it. We’d also have to do bourres with them in between our thighs to keep your legs together! Now that I’m on pointe we don’t really use this that much, but I still keep it in my bag in case we do.

(Okay, but the picture on the right actually looks really pretty?) I also keep Spenco 2nd Skin™ Squares in my bag. They’re like little jelly squares with blue backings on them. You stick the square on your blister and peel off the blue backing, and finally attach it with toe tape, and it completely covers up your blisters and keeps them from rubbing! Once again, I haven’t had to use these a lot because I haven’t gotten a blister yet (YAY).

Finally, I have a bag with all of my pointe sewing stuff in it! (Not sure why there’s an empty band-aid box?) The bag is actually the baggie my pointe shoes came in! Inside is scissors, some ribbon and elastic scraps, stretch ribbon that I don’t use but came with my Bloch stitch kit that has some thread and a seam ripper plus some ribbed elastic, a Bunheads stitch kit that has thread and needles, and some measuring tape.

And that’s it! Wow, that ended up being way longer than I expected, and I even left out some stuff. Applause if you made it to the end! 😂

Also, don’t forget: There’s still time to ask questions for the Q&A next week! All you have to do is simply comment down below, and I’m going to be answering all of your questions this Saturday!

I hope you enjoyed looking at what’s in my dance bag, and happy Saturday! *waves*

How early is too early for Christmas music? Do you dance? What’s in your dance or sports bag? How do you organize everything? Any questions for the Q&A?

P.S. – If you share this post by reblogging, pinning on Pinterest, sharing on social media, or sending the link to a friend, you’ll get three FREE desktop wallpapers sent straight to your inbox! Just leave a comment telling me how you shared this post!

Hey daydreamers! (Sorry this post is a day late. I started this one really long post yesterday, and it was really dry and boring, so I decided to scrap it but didn’t have time to start a new one.) You guys seemed to really like my What’s In My Backpack? post, so I decided to do a sort of sequel to it and show you guys what’s in my dance/volleyball bag!

pair of brown ballerina shoes — Photo by Nihal Demirci on Unsplash

GASP?! Emmie, you’re a DANCER?!! It’s not like you have dancer graphics plastered ALL OVER your blog and talk about dancing ALL THE TIME!!!!

Yes, I’m a dancer. (Could you tell? 😉) I’ve been dancing longer than I can remember, but I started at my current studio when I was about five years old. Since then, I’ve moved up the levels at my studio and this year, I’m hopefully going to be getting my pointe shoes soon! *is totally not freaking out with excitement and fear* Over the years I’ve totally improved as a ballerina, and also have tried out styles like Contemporary and Jazz that I love, too!

women playing volleyball inside court — Photo by Vince Flemming on Unsplash.Com

Wait, you play volleyball? *Actual realistic reaction unlike the one above*

Since like two weeks ago, yes! 😂 🏐 A ton of my friends have been playing volleyball since second grade, and they FINALLY convinced me to try it out! I joined my school’s Junior High/Sixth Grade volleyball team, and I like volleyball at lot so far! Even though I’m on the C team, lol. At least I actually get playing time, and I’m not the worst person on my team (but not the best either). I play Defensive Specialist (back row) right now and I’m hoping to be picked as libero for my team! Our first game is this week, and I’m also definitely not freaking out right now. 😂

Okay, that was a pretty long intro! You’re probably just DYING to dig through my sweaty gym clothes and ballet shoes with me, so let’s get started!

(Do ya like my setup thingy?) Alright, let’s get started with the stuff that doesn’t actually fit inside the bag! 😂 Those puffy boot thingies on the left are my dance booties, which I can pull over my ballet shoes (and eventually pointe shoes) while I’m walking to and from the parking lot and the dance studio so my shoes never touch the concrete (they’d get ruined within seconds)! Then, of course, I have my volleyball! (Which I don’t actually take to practice but looks cool in this picture so here ya go.) I have regular ball somewhere in the garage, but pictured is my Tachiara Volley Lite, which is great for beginners and is much lighter than a regular volleyball.

Now, for the actual bag! It’s pretty much just a duffel bag with a broken zipper and a watercolor galaxy pattern, with a mandala on the front. My basketball team gave it to me a year and a half ago when I got back from the hospital when I was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes, which was super special! There’s not a zillion pockets like in my backpack, so everything’s just kind of stuffed in there.

Okay, we’ll actually take a look inside now!

First, the essentials for any young athlete: a half-empty water bottle and a Maddie Ziegler book. 😂 Just kidding, but HYDRATION IS IMPORTANT PEOPLE so I always, always, ALWAYS keep a water bottle with me. I also HAVE to bring a book, (like The Audition, shown here) because I’m always waiting around for practice to start or driving to class, and I like to have something to do while I’m waiting!

Second, we have my Nike slides and volleyball court shoes! I got my black-and-rose gold Nike athletic slides from Academy for I think $30 dollars. Like dance booties, volleyball players have to wear them to and from the court since you also can’t wear volleyball shoes outside. They’re really nice since I can wear them over my socks and kick them off whenever! I probably never would’ve gotten volleyball court shoes, since they’re like $75, $80 dollars, except one of my friends offered to sell us her old ones for $25! So that was pretty cool! They’re kind of big, but they work. 😉

Next, here’s some of my dance shoes! On the left, I have tan jazz shoes I got from Payless when they had this huge closing sale, so they were only like $5 dollars or something crazy like that. Those tan thingies on the right are lyrical/contemporary shoes (the brand calls them Toe Undeez) that fit over the ball of your foot and keep you from slipping when you’re dancing barefoot. I don’t actually use these very much (normally I just wear my jazz shoes or go barefoot) but they’re nice to have if I need them!

I also have my ballet shoes (of course)! They’re pink leather, and have split soles so I can do pre-pointe in them. They also have crossed elastics, and they don’t have those annoying drawstring thingies (yes)! I actually got these at the beginning of summer for summer classes, and of course by the time I’m back to dance after a 3/4-week break, they’re getting too small. 🤦‍♀️

Next I have my kneepads and socks for volleyball! If you’re not familiar with the sport, in volleyball you have to dive for the ball sometimes so most players wear kneepads. Mine are Mizuno brand from Academy – and my mom washed them, so now they have lint all over them… And the socks are, well, white socks. Not much to say about socks.

Also, I have my Spandex shorts and a pump belt! As part of our practice uniform, I have to wear these really short Spandex/compression shorts under my practice shorts. (They’re actually surprisingly comfy!) Also, I have black pump belt, which is basically this fabric band I wear around my waist, under my shirt, and it has a little pocket for me to put my insulin pump in.

In my bag, there’s also my practice uniform, which includes my Athletics shirt and these really huge, annoying Adidas shorts that we have to wear! They’re so long and baggy, and so big I have to pull the drawstring as tight as possible! They look like basketball shorts! 😑

Then, I have my ballet outfit! At my level, I have to wear a royal blue leotard, so I always make sure to keep that in my bag so I can get dressed for dance without digging through my drawer. I also have a pink cover-up skirt to wear in-between classes, plus black shorts for jazz/contemporary. I also have light pink ballet tights, along with tan footless tights if I have a jazz or contemporary performance.

And lastly, I have a red and a yellow stretch band! The one on the right is tied up in knots that I can wrap around my feet, hands, legs, etc. in order to stretch. The red one is just regular, with no knots or anything. I actually don’t use these stretching bands that much, but for some reason they’re buried in the bottom of my bag. You can find them for pretty cheap by searching “TheraBand” on Amazon. (Lol that sounds like this post is sponsored, it’s not 😂)

And it looks like that’s it for this post! I really hope you enjoy it – and if you did, don’t forget to share this post and get free desktop wallpapers! Have you ever danced or played volleyball? If not, what other sports have you played? What’s in YOUR athletics bag? Would you want to see a post with a daily stretching routine or a Top Ten Dance Moves post?