Archive for sao paulo
January 9, 2008 at 12:53 am · Filed under dance, student, CATHY, brazil, education, sao paulo, performance, university
Carol doing her pas de deux with our teacher .
After a sort of long hiatus, I’m here once again!
I hope you all have had amazing holidays and am wishing you a wonderful 2008! 
Life’s a little bit crazy and many things happened the past weeks.
A not so nice thing happened: I didn’t enter the university I wanted to, because I hadn’t studied enough (therefore I was kind of aware that it would happen), so I’m spending this year studying by myself in order to enter it. I got close though, out of 90 points in the exam, I needed 62 - but I got 60.
So some dedication over the next months will most likely help me to enter. A year won’t make a difference, right? Good thing is that I have endless chances to try!
So bottom line is, school is over, and I have here a year with more time to dance. I don’t know exactly how my dance life will be, I am almost sure I am going to go to the other studio to train with Russian teachers that will provide me really good training, I hope. I still have to take some classes to see if I like it or not, but as soon as it happens I’ll be here again telling you how it went.
As promised in my previous post, some pictures from 2007’s performance in my other studio! It’s just a glance, because there are thousands of pictures and it was quite tough to pick up some
Us dancing a choreography with music by Piazolla - i’m in the front row, on the right.
Yolanda, her turn doing the same pas de deux, and her beautiful arabesque.
Dancing Help (by the Beatles), i’m the one with the hair down.
Myself, in a solo representing japan. it was a contemporary piece, I loved the experience!
Abraços and see you next time!
Cathy
Recent Posts by cathy godeghesi
November 4, 2007 at 7:04 pm · Filed under dance, friends, student, CATHY, brazil, sao paulo, life, university, school, carnival
Today was my last day at school, forever.
As I’m typing this, I’m getting very emotional once again…I’ve been like this the whole day 
I’ve been to that place everyday of my life since I was 7.
There were moments in which I would get tired and hate it, of course. But deep inside I’ve ALWAYS loved it.
It was where I grew up, where I met my closest and best friends, where I had teachers that I’ll remember for life.
I am what I am because of this school. It’s amazing how empty I feel right now! I never knew I’d feel like this once it ended. Afterall, it’s school.
Now I won’t see those teachers that I admired so much everyday. Me and my best friends won’t be going to the same universities.
Everything changes from a minute to another!
Ok, emo part done now 
Let me tell how we celebrated this moment this week:
We did parties during our breaks - The first day we wore our typical yellow t-shirt, it’s a symbol of the school.
Then, the following days we wore costumes and celebrated in a very brazilian style: CARNIVAL! the way it should be done! Everybody from the senior year gathered, dancing and hugging each other, while the people from the other years watched us. We’d sing and scream…we all had a lot of fun!
Our graduation will be in a few weeks, then we will have our party, and later, our trip!
In fact, many things changed since I last wrote here.
The most important and that is obviously affecting me most is that I had to cut many ballet classes (I had to reduce from almost full time dancing to twice a week) because I’m taking an intensive preparatory course to university.
I’m still going to dance with my studio by the end of this year.
It was pretty much a sudden decision, because it was tough studying by myself so I decided to do this little sacrifice to dance less for a single month.
The course ends in a couple weeks, so gladly I am soon to be back to a normal routine! I might start dancing soon in the new school I told you about previously, full time.
I don’t really know where life is gonna take me, but this is definitely a curious stage of life!
Hugs,
Cathy
Recent Posts by cathy godeghesi
September 18, 2007 at 2:09 am · Filed under dance, student, CATHY, brazil, sao paulo, university, school, diplomat
Wingers, wingers, if you knew how much I have to tell you… First let me apologize once again for my complete lack of posts for the past months. Life has been quite crazy lately and I’m about to explain it all. (Oh, and I am working on the 8 things. next post, probably!)
Well, to begin with, school. It’s almost over - forever! In less than two months it’s over! I’m happy but scared at the same time. That also means (besides the fact that I become a grown person in a matter of days - I turn 18 pretty soon!) that preparations for University are taking up a lot of time (besides ballet, of course). Here the system works differently to enter universities. The institutions apply an exam by the end of the year with EVERYTHING we have seen since our first year of high school. All the subjects, from physics to history (here we can’t really choose either what subjects we take in high school.). So, can you imagine the amount of stuff I have to see? I’m trying out for law in a public university (not to become a lawyer, but to become a diplomat), my first option, and International Relations as second.
Now, ballet: My RAD (royal academy of dance) exam is in two weeks, it’s a pre-professional level so it’s basically a lot of technique. I’m already starting to feel a little bit nervous, we’ve been getting prepared since january!
However, I had quite an issue a little over a month ago: I sprained my ankle badly, had to stop dancing for over 20 days (that also explains my lack of posts) and only this week I started jumping again (because once my foot healed a little bit I did some adagios, etc). But gladly I’m picking up stuff quickly, rehearsing hours and hours, even at home to hopefully pass on the exam. Thus that means ballet has been pretty tiring lately also.
Besides that, we’re working on new choreographies, that are totally new to me in the sense that they’re very modern pieces. We’re doing Help, by Beatles, Libertango by Piazolla and just today I started working on a modern solo also with japanese music (we’re doing countries, so beatles would be england, piazolla argentina, etc..). Ballet routine has been absolutely crazy, as we need time to rehearse and finish the choreographies plus exam!
Carol takes a break from the rehearsals and shows her happiness with a chocolate! Luckily, pas de deux teacher didn’t catch her eating it…
Hmm now there is something that I was preparing to tell in this post, however as what I had planned didn’t happen, I will just introduce the subject. I was really confused as for example where I’d be taking dance classes and such, I was a bit lost because São Paulo is not the best city for dancers so I was saving some money to try to study ballet somewhere abroad for a few months.
To my surprise, when I least expected, this HUGE dance school opened a few blocks from my house. It’s something quite big and brought a totally new perspective to me. International teachers, strong pre professional programs.. the building is BEAUTIFUL… so i’m very very excited. Anyway, it turns out that I was going to take some classes to see how it feels last week but due to unexpected stuff and messy schedule I couldn’t. But once I can make it, I’ll be sure to tell you guys everything!
And by the way, a warm welcome to all the new wingers!
On that, I leave, and promise to be back here soon!
Bye!
Cathy
Recent Posts by cathy godeghesi
August 11, 2007 at 4:28 pm · Filed under dance, tour, food, books, architecture, CATHY, brazil, sao paulo
Mercado Municipal of São Paulo
Wingers might have noticed how much I like to do some sort of tourism in my own city. But that’s because São Paulo is big, interesting, and there’s so much to find out about. For example, at the end of my vacation, I decided to get to know the “Mercado Municipal” - they city market - and try out some of the food, that is quite famous. The “sanduíche de mortadela” or the “pastel de bacalhau'’ to mention a few.
On my way to downtown (which is where it is located), I got out of the subway and came across these ‘’book selling machines”. I found them rather interesting!
I also passed by the Cathedral - aka Catedral da Sé - which is gothic style. But I only got to see the back of it! And you may see, downtown is quite agitated. Traffic, people selling multiple things (everything you can imagine).
Anyway, I was expecting the market to be crowded, but to my surprise it wasn’t. And I got my “sanduíche de mortadela'’ - I honestly don’t know the translation of mortadela, but imagine some sort of ham, but it tastes a lot better. The sandwich is basically a LOT of slices of it, and when I say a lot, I really mean it! But I asked for a “baby” one because the original is way too big
The market is old and beautiful. I had never been there before. So if you ever come to São Paulo, don’t forget to stop by there.
On my way back…I stopped by Paulista Avenue and checked out the sunset. Paulista Avenue is the most famous avenue in São Paulo.
Paulista Avenue sunset, São Paulo
I’ll come back with news from ballet. Many things have been happening!
Cathy
Recent Posts by cathy godeghesi
May 10, 2007 at 8:10 pm · Filed under dance, choreographers, student, culture, CATHY, brazil, sao paulo, united nations, bolshoi ballet, royal academy of dance, virada cultural, balé da cidade de são paulo, ivaldo bertazzo, festival
Posted by Cathy Godeghesi
Well here I am again, after a long time!
Now life is really on its tracks again, after that UN model that I have mentioned in my previous post. So I’ll start by telling how it went.
As I said, after ballet this is something that I really like. Participating in the simulation was a huge experience for me (especially when representing the US, it was a hard job!)
I was in the General Assembly and our theme was The Religious Issue. We discussed for five days and then wrote a huge document recommending solutions to the nations concerning the matter.
It’s really hard to defend point of views that are not yours, especially when these are so polemic!
But I had fun and it was unforgettable!
I was pretty busy before that because I had to research about the United States position, and then EVERYTHING about the United States, and then about religious issues in the world, and so on.
My school colleagues also loved the experience, and we learned so much.
Well during this period in which I was studying, etc, I could barely go to ballet, and now I am finally back!
We have three performances coming up and it’s time to rehearse. We are dancing the Waltz of The Flowers (again) and also each girl will take a variation. I’m rehearsing Kitri, although we also learned Blue Bird and Flower Festival in Genzano.
Also, there will be an open class to parents and anyone else who would like to watch us, so we’ve been practicing the syllabus by Royal Academy of Dance (our examination is only in September, though).
My city held something really nice last week, a huge event called Virada Cultural. It was a 24 -hour event that went through the night, and there was absolutely everything: music, cinema, theater, exhibitions, dance, etc. And everything was free and spread around the city.
I attended some of the dance ones, in a stage in the Vale do Anhangabau (you know this already! I’ve shown it in another post).
I watched three pieces, the first one was Les Sylphides, danced by the girls from Escola Municipal de Bailados, which is the “municipal school of ballet” that belongs to the theatre and feeds to Balé da Cidade de São Paulo (”São Paulo City Ballet'’, but they’re pretty much contemporary nowadays and don’t dance classical anymore; however the school teaches just classical).
They made a short adapted version and it was very nice and clean. I had never seen their work before and the girls are beautiful, they have amazing lines and they’re soft, and were so ethereal.
This school is free so the students come from poorer communities in the city, and I find that amazing. To give these girls the possibility to have such great education in ballet and to open so many doors afterwards.
The second piece I saw was by the choreographer Ivaldo Bertazzo. Guys, if you ever have the opportunity to see his works, DON’T MISS IT. Seriously, this man is awesome. It’s contemporary and he gets inspiration in Africa and India, and mixes with brazilian sounds and contemporary technique.
Also, he is another one who gives shots to people that don’t have money to take dance classes and are envolved with drugs and things like that. His dancers come from an NGO, and he trains them and does the choreographies. They are really strong and great dancers!
I think there could be so much more things like this here in Brazil. Arts don’t get much attention in general, but they could really be used to help a big part of the population.
As we’re on this subject, I don’t know how many of you know about this but Bolshoi Ballet from Moscow has a school here in Brazil (in Joinville, southern brazil).
They pick children from poor communities from all over the country and give them this unique chance to study at the Bolshoi.
It’s the only school from Bolshoi that’s outside of Russia. If you want to know more about the work, visit their website, it’s completely worth the visit and you can see many pics showing very talented kids.
I admire them so much for doing this! Take your time and read about it, it’s beautiful.
Dear wingers, now I leave and I promise to be back soon showing my performances!
Bye!
Recent Posts by cathy godeghesi
January 28, 2007 at 10:05 pm · Filed under architecture, CATHY, brazil, history, opera house, sao paulo, city tour
| | Posted by Cathy
Dear readers, I invite you all to join me on a tour around old São Paulo. As this big and cosmopolitan city has turned 453 years old on Janurary 25th, why not visit where it was born?
So, as I am sure most of you know, the Portuguese were the founders of the city, as they ‘’owned'’ Brazil at that time. Specifically, Portuguese priests, who came here to convert the Indians to Catholicism. Therefore, the first building in the whole city was a church and a school, that we call “Pátio do Colégio”, which translated means school’s yard, or something like that (unfortunately I don’t have pictures taken by myself, but you may open this link and see an official picture, found in the city hall’s website).
Of course, this is not the original building from 1554, it has been rebuilt in the past, but there you can still see some old walls preserved. Something curious about this place is that in the past you were able to see the sea, as it is located in a very high place (the city is over a mountain and therefore kind of far from the beach itself). Nowadays, unfortunately, that isn’t possible anymore, due to several reasons that you may guess (stuff built in front of it, pollution, etc etc).
Now that you know a little bit of the history (I’m not sure if you all already know this, but I’m a bit of a history geek, so I’m stopping here because otherwise I’d get very happy writing and this would turn into a monography ).
Shall we see some of the beautiful old buildings then?
So, I got the subway in the station near my house, and got down right in front of the Mosteiro de São Bento, after around 15 minutes. This church and monastery was built in 1598 and it’s one of the oldest in the city. Its interior is VERY beautiful, too bad we aren’t allowed to take any pictures. Nowadays the monastery still works and they also have a university in which they offer theology courses.
Now, a block ahead we have an important place in the city. The very beginning of Avenida São Jõao (avenue).
This is Edifício Martinelli. By the time it was built (1922 to 1930), it was the biggest in the city. Nowadays this is not true, of course. A curiosity: the person who built it (the Martinelli guy, a rich italian), had a house on the top of it (a mansion, actually). No, not as a penthouse, but literally, a big house built over the “edificio'’. He did that so that he could prove it was safe.
New Yorkers, can you guess what the inspiration to this ‘’edificio'’ was?? Anyway, it’s not as big as the ‘’original‘’, but it also used to be one of the tallest of the city (it has 38 floors). A bank works there.
Looking at the opposite side of the same avenue, this pic shows the Post office. This building has just been restored. You can also see some old fashioned street lamps.
If we walk some more blocks… we end up in the very famous “Vale do Anhangabaú” , or “Anhangabau Valley”. See the thing with the green roof resembling a little bit L’opera de Paris?
Let’s take a closer look.
My favorite spot in the city! The THEATRO MUNICIPAL. Or, translated, Municipal Theater. Guess you can figure now why it’s my favorite!
And, if we take a walk inside of it… look who has been here!
Hey, Paloma! Too bad I was very young when it happened, it was in 1996.
Anyway let’s go back to the ‘’valley'’.
Here we are on the top of “Viaduto do Chá“, a bridge. Translating: “Bridge of tea”. And why is that? Well, back in the past, there used to be a plantation under it. And yeah, it was a tea one.
Now let’s look at the other side, opposite to the theater’s one:
That white short building is the city hall.
Wingers, our trip is over. I hope you have enjoyed it. This is just a small part, because I haven’t shown the cathedral yet, for example. But this will be some other time, another part of the ‘’tour”!
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
