Time for some nostalgia!! 2010 – the summary

This summary has A LOT of links. It doesn’t mean you have to click all of them, just figured, if I mention something you missed, and you’d want to read it, I’d make it easy for you! So, let’s go, here’s the summary of Tights and Tiaras first year, 2010:

Tights and Tiaras is born on a day in January 2010, on a blogspot-domain. Although new, I had some ideas of what to put in the blog, and started off straight away. I present the dancebelt and the Pointe shoes, two basic tools of the trade, in the first of many-to-come columns on Tights and Tiaras. The blog is a fact, Tights and Tiaras is up-and-running, and my head keep spinning off ideas for new posts. I introduce two new columns the first month, Norway and Norwegians, presenting fellow norwegians in the world of dance, and Stories from the road, which really should explain itself (not that the “Norway and Norwegians doesn’t)…

I’m in the euphoria of beginning something new, and every day brings another idea that totally will rock all my readers. I had only a page-refresh hit counter to measure them back then, so I didn’t really know anything of how many (or, rather few) people were reading my post. But as I said, the euphoria of something new. Almost like falling in love..

The original header of Tights and Tiaras, as it was in the blogspot-days. I learned a lot about html coding and how to build a site in the beginning, something I am still using frequently.

February: Now I was ready to give my new blog some weight. I wrote new posts constantly, but (luckily) had the guts to delete or rewrite them before they went up on the blog. When in a state of blog-euphoria, you think everyone thinks what you write is just as interesting as you find it. Well, it’s not.

I did post a lot, though. I told you about Mie, added some stories and some more tools of the trade, and described what it means for a dancer to attend an audition. I was featured in an interview at 4dancers.org, a connection that would grow to bring so much during the year! I also were heavily working (as a dancer, I do have a job too, remember?!) with the rehearsing of a rock-ballet to premiere in March, called U2, that inspired me to make more than just posts. I also commented on a serious issue, the whole “why men dance” topic – why is this still something we have to “defend”? Anyway, I got out some steam, and linked to a couple of articles I mean everyone should read to better understand what it means to be a male ballet-dancer. It’s really quite macho stuff!

Finally, at the last day of February, I posted one of the posts I am truly proud of, the one describing the Hierarchy in the theatre. Tights and Tiaras was taking shape like I wanted it to…

March: As I had decided early to make Tights and Tiaras a site on ballet for anyone, I knew I would have to write posts on ballet from different angles. To this day, I always try to think that my readers shouldn’t have to know anything about dance to enjoy my posts. I kept posting Tools of the trade, and shared generously of stories and situations from my life as a dancer. I touched into a serious topic too – underpayment. I also introduced a new column at the end of March, Henrik teaches French, where I would explain some ballet-technical stuff to an “outside-of-ballet” reader. The terminology in ballet is French, hence the title…

April came with important change for Tights and Tiaras. First of all, thanks to the forever generous and helpful David Hunter, author of Balletformen.com, the blog got it’s own domain. Tights and Tiaras were now officially awesome, on it’s own .com-domain and with a wordpress setup that allowed me to do some of the stuff I couldn’t manage with the old html. From this moment, the blog went from being “just another blog”, and became Tights and Tiaras – a site on ballet!

My posts also changed a bit. I now had the basics covered in my actual columns, and started writing more uncategorized posts. I wrote a funny post (you know, when you are trying to be fun, and it ends up not being fun at all? Yeah, this post is nothing like that. AT ALL) mocking some of the characters in the ballet company. Some of my colleagues didn’t take it too well, but that gave me the idea for another post – Situations to avoid in a ballet company. Also, I now used Google Analytics, and were able to see what people were searching for on my site, and how they got there. Turned out, a lot of people were wondering how male dancers shave or not, so I wrote a post on it. Again, in the last days of the month (see a pattern here?!), I introduced yet another column, one that has become a Tights and Tiaras-trademark: The Bedtime Stories. Going to a ballet, but don’t know the story? Went to a ballet, but didn’t really get it? Or just curious of the stories of the famous ballets? Bedtime stories is the column for you, my friend!

May and June were both productive months. Again, I added several posts to the columns, now starting to become a big part of the blog. I discovered Twitter, and the resource it is for the online dance community, and through it, I found several great sites on dance. I added several Bedtime Stories, and posted a video on how pointe-shoes are made. And again, in late May, I introduced yet another column: the obligatory “how to” column. With great inspiration, I added the first contribution, “how to dance”. Late june, I was featured on the site Scribnia in their “behind the blogs” series. Because of a lot of questions on whether dancers are all dieting, a couple of weight-related posts came up, like the one on Eating Disorders and How to keep (or lose some of) your weight. I tried to write another funny post on how to quit your job, but against all my efforts, in june, readership fell. It was my first reality-check, and it sure wasn’t a good one. I find lots of joy writing posts for Tights and Tiaras, and we’re delighted to see more and more people reading it. Needless to say, I was not happy to see the bad “results”.

July is summer-time, and I took a vacation. The Bedtime Stories had another update, so did the French-column, but in all, July was a silent month. That also showed on the visitor-count, that dropped to an all-time-low, and I decided: Tights and Tiaras will grow once the summer is over! I took a stance at the ratings for May (my best month so far), and sat up a goal for myself; I will double this by the end of 2010.

Some of the most used tags in 2010

August came, and I went un-employed for a while. It was hard, but it was also my decision to leave the theatre I had been working in before the summer, so it wasn’t like I was complaining. I posted two summer-related posts, on How to get back in shape (suitable named no mercy for lazy boys) and a post describing the importance of alcohol in a dancers economical life – pun intended. Also, Catherine from 4dancers, David from Balletformen and I got together and made the Pas de Trois-site – a place for discussing dance related topics. This project has unfortunately been neglected recently, but we are coming back stronger than ever before you know it! Readership was increasing, and it made me very happy, regardless of the fact that I still didn’t know where I would dance the coming season. Panic was just around the corner, but the green figures on Tights and Tiaras helped me keep the spirit!

While we’re on the “coming back” topic, September were audition-time, and I finally got a great job in Maribor together with my girlfriend. With a fresh dose of optimism, we moved, and started what has been a great time there so far. All the job-searching made me freshen up on where and how to find a job as a dancer, and I created a Resources page to help other dancers in the same position. I also wrote a post on how to write a good dancers CV.

September were also the month I discovered AdultBeginner, a blog you HAVE to check out. And the month I wrote on fail-fashion in the ballet studio, which has become one of the most read post so far on Tights and Tiaras, with over 3 thousand views.

October was another month of further expanding the already existing columns on Tights and Tiaras. I wrote only one uncategorized post this moth, a post touching into the fact that dancers retire quite early, and what opportunities one has after that. Speaking of which, I have been thinking about recently. Not that I wish to retire or anything, but I mean, the day comes whether we like it or not. Better be prepared, right?!

At Pas de Trois, we kept bombarding you with questions regarding dance, and all three authors published their answer on the separate sites. There was quite a lot of responses from the outside world, but we got a serious spamming-issue in on the package, too…

Again, on October 31th (I promise you, it wasn’t on purpose), I introduced – wait for it – a new column. This latest contribution to Tights and Tiaras is not the most serious of topics, but it is one that I enjoy a lot, and that you will see more of in 2011: So you think you can downs? – explaining some common dancer-diseases, and why we act so strange..  I felt I had to explain the title not to hurt anyone, but I still think it is too hilarious leave out.

The first of so far three “diseases” was posted early in November, and made an important contribution to the posts of that month. But I caught up on something else, too! My recently discovered favorite ballet-beginner Adultbeginner writes under an alter-ego. Now, that’s just begging for me to find out who’s behind that giant chicken head. I did some snooping and some long stakeouts, and managed to pull out some vital information: She works with costumes. From there, the road was short to the first guest post ever on Tights and Tiaras: Costume fittings from the costumers point of view, by who else than the AdultBeginner. I wrote a guest post for her, too, and were happy to see that it generated a lot of reader-comments. It’s a great feeling to write something people engage themselves in!!

Which leads us to December, the last month of what has been 2010. Getting warmer in my new company, I wrote a post on being “the new guy”, and what good and bad that brings. Starting my third full-time job in equal amount of years (who is this guy? Nobody wants to keep him longer than one season?!), I have worked up some authority on the subject.. I mentioned the routine-part of my job again in another post, and finished off the year by wishing you all happy holidays.

But wait, there’s more! Have you heard about the “Top Dance Blog 2010″ competition? It’s hosted by Nichelle from DanceAdvantage, and has been a great adventure. Tights and Tiaras qualified to the finals with the most votes of all the competitors. That, dear friends, blew my mind! (And no, I didn’t cheat with the comments. I even erased some comments that were duplicates, believe it or not (I can be quite competitive..)). The fact that so many people would vote for my blog were just more than I could imagine. But I also started sensing the goal – what if we could win the whole competition? What if Tights and Tiaras could be chosen as the “Top Dance Blog 2010″? Is that possible?

IT WAS!! After a thriller-contest close as the 100-meter olympics, about a million refreshes of the standings-page on my computer, and three more or less sleepless nights (okay, that’s not completely true… But I did think about it a lot!), when the contesters rushed over the finishing-line, the photo-finish picture showed that Tights and Tiaras were just that little inch ahead the others! WE WON! More than thousand people voted, which is insanely cool in itself, and when the fat lady sung, Tights and Tiaras had marginally more votes than any other blog. It’s official! The Top Dance Blog 2010 is Tights and Tiaras! And that’s so cool, I don’t even know what to say, yet!

2010 has been a fantastic year. I’ve learned a lot, met a bunch of great people, and found lots of inspirationI can use in my job that I burn so passionately for. I’m proud to say Tights and Tiaras has developed far beyond any goal I sat in the beginning! It’s been a ride, and I’m entering 2011 hungrier than ever! And for the goal to double readership?! We did it in Oktober. Shit, we almost tripled it in December! Good times!

Thank you all so much for making this year what it was! I had never expected so much support!! I am overwhelmed and grateful! I wish to wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!