In Their Own Words....

We finished our last meal together, had our last bowl of suppe and plate of flieshe (amazing soup that you add your own noodles,veggies, pasta balls, etc to......and meat), laughed and reminisced about today's adventures (Carli falling when she landed after paragliding, and her instructor falling over the top of her/ Todd doing his runway walk/ Taylor splitting her pants doing splits/ Naomi getting shocked by the electric cattle wire on the mountain, etc) for the last time in Austria. What a ride this was. I love all these girls, their families and parents. Thank you for trusting me that this would be an experience worth every penny pinched and every concern felt. This couldn't have been a reality for them if it hadn't been supported by you: their parents, friends and families! I am sure that the trip has exceeded everyone's expectations ten-fold, and I am so thankful to have been able to bring the girls here to experience this all for themselves...it was all priceless, every minute.

I asked the girls to try to sum up in just a few words what this trip has meant to them, and or what memory they will keep forever...and here's what they said ( note: exclamation points and word emphasis is all theirs)

Taylor

This trip has been a wonderful experience that will NEVER be forgotten! I had so many great things happen! The dance experience was amazing and I loved every minute of it. I love to perform and after performing so much I love it even more. I became much closer to the girls this trip, which was much needed because I live so far away. This trip pretty much had me realize that you really do need to take every opportunity in life that you can! And I did! I thank Karen and Sabina and all of the Tanzsommer Staff! Oh, and I'll never forget jumping, paragliding off of the ALPS! Xoxo

Mariana

I just love all the things that we did at this trip! It's just wonderful to have a chance to hang out with these girls again! I love you all! And I will never forget this trip and my " All That Jazz" memories. Much love/ Muito Amor

Brie

This has been such an amazing experience and I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity. This country is even more beautiful than I had imagined! I will never forget the reaction from our audiences after every performance...it was one of the most amazing feelings I have ever had.

Naomi

There are so many ways to make dance look good...it could be a facial expression, flexibility, anything. Each tour dance group had something completely different and unique that made their dances great...everything looked incredible! I will never forget the food...four plates per meal, baby!

Emily

I don't think I ever imagined I would be dancing and dining in a castle, but now that I have, I would do anything to relive the moments. I learned that the more I experience the more I grow as a dancer and as a person. This trip was a dream come true that lasted TWO weeks! And I will never forget how hard it was to find a trash can, normal water ( not carbonated) WC's ( bathrooms), and WiFi !!

Carli

You never know when you're going to visit such a beautiful place again, so I've learned how important it is to take everything in that I can. I've also learned that different dancers have different strengths and it's important to feel comfortable in what YOU do and not compare yourself to others! I will never forget paragliding off the Alps...or my pooping problem (probably from eating too much gelato!). Disclaimer: Carli's " problem became everyone's running joke....here is the picture of the box that solved it all! She wanted to make sure I included that in this blog saying, " everyone on the tour knows, might as well tell the whole world! **She always makes me laugh...

Gabi

Something that I can take away from this AMAZING trip is that in order to dance you must let the music flow through your ears, go down to your heart and be released from there. All the teachers here have given me so many amazing tips on dancing. Petra told us about letting dance come from your heart. Something that I will never forget is riding in a gondola in Venice and all the BEAUTIFUL scenary!

Sarah

This trip has been so wonderful! It ended on such a great note! Thom's class was so much fun and it taught me so much! The teachers were great and so were the audiences! I will always remember jumping off the Alps and the yodeling waiter in Kuffstein! What a fun trip!

Sabina

I have learned that I am stronger than I thought! All of this time performing, taking class, being with Karen, the girls, parents and Tanzsommer staff has been such a blessing. It's been amazing every step of the way and I am thankful for every moment...it has been an experience that has helped me grow as a dancer, teacher and friend :). Xoxo love you all.

Madison

I will never forget the old, yodeling, polka-dancing waiter! What I've learned: car trumps person, every time.

Liesl

I learned the word " servus", which means hello and goodbye culturally distinct to Austria. I'll never forget sitting on the rooftop in old town Innsbruck, having coffee (it felt just like Dutch Bros.!) with the cultural exchange students we met, and realizing that no matter where we are, everyone is more alike than different.

Karen

The more we experience and learn, the more we realize we have a lot MORE to experience and learn. Thank you for teaching me so much, dancers....I truly love you girls! And, thank you for your love, sweet notes and flowers! Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxo

*Gross Gott. ( a common goodbye salutation here in Austria which translates as: God is great)

Our Last Day in Austria :(..... Paragliding, hiking, apple strudel & more

What an adventurous day for everyone! It's our one totally free day...and then we board the plane tomorrow to return home. Can it be over already?? The time has flown by; this has been one amazing journey and the dancers and I have been blessed beyond belief with all of the memories we've made together. I am so proud of them all, they have been stellar ambassadors of the studio, and of American teens!! They have grown SO much in these last 12 days, and are ready to bring the excitement and professionalism they've discovered in themselves back to the states to share.

Parents, be ready to greet a new person, your daughter with a wider world view, coming off the plane in Oregon....much was expected of the girls, and they all rose to the occasion at every turn! They have a new appreciation for other cultures and the fact that our similarities are more important and tangible than our differences. And perhaps most importantly, America is not the only great place to live, and we don't have all the answers. Maturity and a real sense of the importance of BEING a person of compassion and collaboration with others in our world are the two things the dancers have gleaned. I will get their thoughts tonight at dinner in their own words, and post them in one final blog for you to read in about 5 hours...

So, anyway.... Here's what we did today...enjoy the pictures. Video will be posted on the studio website and on the Facebook Production and studio pages once I get home and can upload them to a real computer rather than this iPad ;). Enjoy!

The Ride Up The Alps on the Gondola

It's A Bit Chilly...But We Are Having too Much Fun To Notice!

Jumping for Joy on Top of the Mountain

Taylor split her pants doing her splits, and wanted it posted on the blog as proof ...she's such an endearing goofball...like the rest of them :).

Our Cute Austrian Paraglide Instructors

Preparing to Jump...even the Alpine Cows watched with their bells ringing around their necks

Lunch, & Strudel, at the Top.....coffee and sundaes at the bottom

Goodbye St. Johann, we will miss you!

Salzburg...the hills are alive with the sound of music

After a breakfast of fresh Austrian yogurt (joghurt, in German), fruit, local alpine organic eggs, an array of meats and cheeses, peppers and tomatoes, muesli (a yummy mixture of grains/seeds/nuts and oats), juice and coffee, everyone loaded the bus for a day in Salzburg.

We toured the palace gardens, and walked through the graveyard where the scene near the end of the Sound of Music was filmed...and saw the actual convent on top of the hill where Maria Von Trapp lived as a young nun-in-training. Because Salzburg is the city of music and Mozart's childhood home where he wrote his first concertos at the age of 5-7, much is Mozart/music -themed. The city is very much the way it was 500 years ago.... With little shops inhabiting the the same spaces in stone buildings as the medieval shops of yesteryear: complete with little intricate iron signs hanging above each door announcing what you will find inside : bakery, cobbler, woodworkings, clocks, etc. You halfway expect to see customers inside dressed in Shakespearean garb or a knight in shining armor trot by on his horse outside.

Many of our crew tried specialty Austrian pastries, pretzels and schnitzel...most toured Mozart's house and saw his first piano and musical score written in his own 6-year old hand....and everyone shopped for trinkets and souvenirs in the stores that lined the cobblestone streets. Musicians played on the sidewalks, local artists in the square painted water colors of local sites, and horse drawn carriages loped by. Salzburg is truly a picture postcard city.

A pose with Ceaser, our Tanzsommer finale choreographer At out hotel before we left

SALZBURG!

After an amazing day in Salzburg, we were honored by a special reception for us at a restaurant back in St Johann where local children performed traditional Tirolian/Austrian dances for us. See us posed with them below.

After an evening ballet class with Thom, we all went to bed at a reasonable hour....tomorrow is FREE day here in St Johann! Many have signed up to hang glide off the side of the Alps, most are going to zip line across the lake, and all of us are going to ride the luge down the of the mountain!!! FUN....should be some good pictures on tomorrow's blog:)

Oompah Band, Venice, St. Johann

I am blogging from my room in St. Johann at 1pm (4am US time) following an amazing ballet class the girls took with Petra, a former principal dancer with the Paris Opera. It has been a whirlwind the past 24 -36 hours for us. After dinner on the balcony of our hotel in Lienz overlooking the town square where music was being played by a live oompah band , we all headed for bed early.

Alarm clocks went off at 4am for a crack-of-dawn flurry of luggage-loading and grabbing seats on the buses to get situated for a 5 hour ride to Venice. Most of us slept (see photos suitable for blackmail below ;D) on the bus, awakened by Reiner announcing over the microphone: " We are now in Italy, it's time to wake up....we are taking a rest stop."

Dancers, doctors and parents piled off the busses, and headed straight for the bathrooms...the last FREE WC ("water closet" as they are universally labeled in Europe) we will be able to use today. In Venice, you pay 1.50 Euro to use the facilities. After we all got our first genuine Italian Cappuccino and snacks at the rest stop cafe, we were on our way again. We arrive at the Vaparetto (boat-taxi) by 10:30am, and began the day in Venice that will be remembered forever.

Boarding our Vaparetto

The boat ride over to the island of Venice was picturesque.... Ancient buildings line the waters, boats and ships shared the waterway with us. Our studio sat in the front of the ship outside to get the full effect of the trip over. The day was overcast, but later cleared...it was perfect weather, only reaching about 80 degrees (with about 90% humidity, which made it VERY hot and muggy).

We entered St Mark's square and found ourselves in the midst of droves of tourists, pigeons, and sites that most had only seen in movies prior to today: St Mark's Cathedral, the bell tower, the Duke's Palace, gondolas traversing and gliding through canals, drivers in black striped shirts and hats singing Italian songs for their passengers, etc.

Our Italian guide, Geppetto, took our girls and parents to the Murano Glass Blowing factory where we were given a demonstration of glass blowing by an actual decedent of the original glass blowers that opened the factory some 250 years ago. We were told that glass blowing is an Italian art that must be passed down from generation to generation to qualify as authentic Murano glass. The blower created a beautiful vase in less than one minute while we watched...then, smashed it onto the floor where the "mistakes" were swept up and recycled. It was incredible. We also got to see the famous life size glass horse at the front of the factory. It was created more than a 100 years ago.

Murano Glass Blowing Demonstration

After the Murano tour, we split up in small groups and enjoyed the rest of the day shopping, gondola riding, museum looking, cathedral visiting, and eating authentic Italian pasta, pizza,panninis, and gelato! It's a good thing we are dancing and walking so much or all this amazing European food would not be burned up as quickly. Some of us were fortunate enough to have an accordion player and Italian singer on our gondolas to serenade us as we floated lazily along the Grand Canal and under the " Bridge of Sighs" (named that because it led to the island's prison 500 years ago...and criminals as they passed over the bridge would look out the teeny windows on the bridge and sigh as they realized it was there last look at the world for a very long time).

At 4:30, hot, tired and ready for air conditioning (how American of us!), we took one last picture in front of a statue of Poseidon (with Emily's fan positioned for blog-modesty!), and took the Vaparetto ride back to the busses.

Original Chagall and Picasso Paintings at the P. Guggenheim Museum

Bye bye, Venice :(.....After five hours on the autobahn, we pulled into our hotel in our next city: St. Johann. We were greeted even at that late hour, by joyful traditionally dressed front desk personnel and a banner across the front of the hotel that red "Welcome, Stars of Tomorrow!". Each of our rooms had our names on our doors, and there was candy on our pillows and personal robes in our closets for us. We are told that this city awaits our arrival with great anticipation and the towns kids view us as American celebrities. Everyone here stares (in the good way), and when we pass locals on the street we can hear "ooooohhhh's" and " ahhhhhh's" which is translated the same in any language :}.

Our hotel and St Johann

Our ballet class with Petra was so perfect! The girls loved her, and she was such an inspiration and encouragement. she told us at the start of class " rather than worry about making things perfect, I only want you to enjoy what you are doing.... I like to say: let the music enter through your ears, and flow through your heart, then dance... ". What a beautiful metaphor for dancing with intention and passion.

Ballet class with Petra from the Paris Opera

Tonight we will have two performances for the city in their theater so that as many townspeople as possible can see our show. We were going to perform in their outdoor venue where more than 3000 can watch at a time, but it's raining, and we must move to the indoor venue....that is what happens when you live in an alpine climate, rain one day, sun the next.

Tomorrow is our free day in Salzburg...we will tour Mozart's childhood home and see his first piano and first concerto composition written in his own hand when he was 7 years old! We will also tour many of the sites where the "Sound of Music" was filmed and actually, historically took place. It's funny, but although it is a famous movie/story in .America, most Austrians have never seen it nor do they know any of the music from the movie. They do, however, remember the plight of most Austrians during the war as they'd tried as hard as possible to resist the Nazi take-over of their country...and in that light, many have a similar Von Trapp story in their own family histories.

Good news! We just found out from our lighting technician that there are black lights at the St Johann theater, so we will be able to close our last two performances in Austria with our black light dance after all! It's been a crowd-pleaser across the country, so the Tanzsommer producers really wanted us to be able to dance it here.

Thanks again for following the blog...feel free to share this link on facebook or in emails so that all of your family and friends can read about our adventures.