en arabesque

un talent de fille

Thanks to early investment from parents who worked hard, I spent most of my life immersed in performing arts or sports. As I got older, I continued to invest in myself. All the discipline and practice helped shape me into who I am today. Just like my job choices in MMORPGs, almost all of my hobbies are ones that will take forever to be useful in but will have payoffs in the endgame.

Harp

For over a decade I've taken private Harp lessons with the Royal Conservatory of Music and joined the American Harp Society. I've had the same teacher and she's like family to me. Most of the pieces I play are romantic, though I do like the odd celtic piece.

I started off my studies with a Lyon & Healy Troubadour lever harp in Ebony, as it was a good precursor to a pedal harp. When the Lyon & Healy Chicago Concert Grand Extended pedal harp was available in Ebony, I flew to Lyon & Healy in Chicago and brought my teacher with me in order to select which harp of the batch to bring back to Canada.

Ballet & Pointe

I began taking Ballet lessons at three and Jazz lessons at the age of four. When I turned twelve, I began taking pointe classes and ended the Jazz classes. My first shoe was a Capezio Contempura. My instructor liked it since this particular shoe forced me to work even harder in relevé. I still remember how painfully hard breaking into that shoe was in comparison to the girls who had Gaynor Mindens! As I got older and my body changed, I started using Capezio Aerial.

Everyone always asks if pointe hurts. In my case, I never had serious problems even when we didn't have fancy silicone padding back then. Since my feet are narrow, I was able to lowkey pad really well so my feet didn't get permanently damaged beyond blistering and callouses. The shoes I'm currently fitted with are the split sole leather Capezio Juliet and the Suffolk Solo (the Freed insole is to fill out the shoe because one foot is narrower). I was never very good at Ballet and am still not, as I don't have natural flexibility nor very good turnout. Nowadays I take classes at the National Ballet School with friends for fun, and I love that our pianist has been the same one for ages. They have the best instructors and we've become friends with some students.

Ballroom Dancing

Since I already took lessons in my youth, I convinced (pressured) some friends to join my husband and I at Anna's Dance Centre to be ready for our wedding. My parents and many others in our neighborhood practiced here for decades, and it was great that some things never change. Although we learnt all types of dance, my husband and I prefer the Waltz, Viennese Waltz and Tango. My main practice shoe is the Capezio Isis and I've had some custom shoes from International. Like all Capezio dancesport shoes, they're wide for my narrow feet, so I use insoles.

My husband and I later attended the Vienna Opera Ball and we plan to go again. It's one of the most elaborate balls that has been a tradition for hundreds of years, and was what really got me into appreciating tiara designs through their yearly debutante tiaras. I love Opera and Ballet, and going to the Opernball allows you to have a bit of both and then some amazing choreography before the real event begins – where travelling every room in the massive building is a wonderland of discovering themed parties. We got to dance, meet new people, gamble for charity, then did the midnight and 2am quadrilles together. We also happened to show up on both official videos of the gallopp!

Golf

My husband and I are taking private lessons from a CPGA Pro since we wanted to join friends and colleagues who live for golf and are excited we'll join them. This is definitely a sport we can age with and do with social distancing, but we did not expect it to be extremely satisfying to hit balls! We'll never catch up to people who have been playing since they were babies but we don't intend to either. But as my husband says, I'm really doing this for the cute and comfy outfits.

Yoga, Pilates & Skating

I take Yoga and Pilates throughout the week during my lunch hour at Totum with coworkers after a round of cardio. If I'm unable to make it to the class, I'll be focusing on weights, lunges and core after the cardio then stretch it out. I also have a setup at home to do mat work. I used to take Boxing, Tai Chi and Aerial Arts, but there is only so much time in the week and my body can only take so much activity. But whenever golf season is over, skating season begins! My skates are Riedell's 133 Diamond as I'm casual but like some support. To reset my body I get massages at least once or twice a week at either Shivaga Thai or Sutherland Chan.

Calligraphy

My friends and I took this up during lockdown as a stay at home activity and it's quite amazing how far we progressed with a little bit of practice every now and then. One of the main things I always have to do is slow down and concentrate. Nearly all of my mistakes are from trying to go too fast. I'm just happy that I can actually write my name nicely.

Piano

I started taking Piano lessons around the age of six, following my older brother who had already begun taking lessons years before. We eventually ended up taking private one-on-one classes at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Our instructors were really dedicated but like the Elizabeth Bennet quote on this layout, I wasn't very good at it because I never practiced enough. Our piano is a YAMAHA upright in Ebony, which happens to be the exact same model that Nobuo Uematsu owns.

Flute & Vocal

I first started playing the flute when I was around ten years old at school. I also tried the piccolo for a short time and know how to play a recorder, which was required. At the same time I took flute, I began studying vocal arts and continued for several years even though I'm terrible. I have a childlike choir voice that is alto and barely any range.

Rhythmic Gymnastics

Around the same time I took Jazz classes, I took Rhythmic Gymnastics as well. I spent a lot of time with the rope, hoop, ball and especially the ribbon! We didn't do batons though. The experience gave me precise hand-eye coordination and helped with flexibility. To this day I'm handy with throwing and catching objects on the right 'ends' of them but not so much with juggling.

Traditional Dance

Under instructors at other schools, I spent years learning Hawaiian and various folk dances that were required. From relatives and friends I learnt Filipino, Chinese and Korean dances. Like with Ballet, each of them had several specific dances and styles within them that I had to learn; like Korean buchaechum, Filipino tinikling and the Tahitian.
And like with Ballet, I was never good at any of this but it was fun. Poor Tita Mila, I was probably one of her worst Hawaiian dance students because I'm so stiff!