Grazie, Italy

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Well ,  just like that my time here in Italy has come to a close (for now at least). These past 7 weeks have been filled with many memories that I will never forget. My time here started out with me working at Chille de la Balanza as well as taking Italian language classes at the Florence University of the Arts. I made friends with my classmates and other students of FUA, including my roommates, and I also became part of the family at Chille de la Balanza during these first three weeks. The next month my schedule freed up quite a bit since there were no more school classes. With this extra time in my days, I was able to hang out with my roommates and explore Florence even more. Not soon after classes ended though, both of my roommates had left Italy. It was at this time that I started to leave Florence on the weekend for day trips to other places in Italy. By the end of my time in Italy, I was able to go to Venice, Naples, Milan, Rome, Siena, Bologna, San Gimignano, Pisa, and Lucca. Th
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About Me

Hi, welcome to my blog! My name is Louisa Ramirez Forney, and I am 19-years-old. Here's a little bit about who I am:

 I started ballet, along with tap, at the age of 2 in preschool. After preschool, I told my mom I wanted to keep dancing ballet- that is when I first started at Dmitri Kulev Classical Ballet Academy. When I first started there, they had only been open a few months and had done one performance, Peter Pan. After the show, they had a one week break for the dancers to rest. When the classes started up again, I  started studying there. My first performance with DKCBA, when I was 6 years old, was the Nutcracker. Ten years later, I had performed over 30 Nutcrackers, many spring recitals, and quite a few OCBT performances. With DKCBA, I have been able to perform George Balanchine pieces such as Serenade and Who Cares?. Through competitions and master classes, I have had the opportunity to take classes with great teachers such as Anna Tikhomirova, Artem Ovcharenko, Misty Copeland, Larissa Saveliev, Gennadi Saveliev, Michelle Gifford, Natalya Lushina-Ziegler, and Liuba Kozereva Paterson. In 2015, I performed my last show with DKCBA, the Nutcracker, before leaving to Russia. After doing the 2014 Bolshoi Ballet Academy Intensive in Connecticut and the 2015 one in New 
York, I was accepted into the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. On January 31, at age 15, I landed in Moscow. The teachers I have had in the Academy include Gusev Georgiy Konstantinovich, Marianne Maksimovna, Kovalenko Lyudmila Vasilevna, Tamara Mihaylovna, Sergeeva Nika Vyacheslavovna, Tolstaya Nina Mihaylovna, Mirza Olga Antonovna, and Kazeeva Evgeniya Sergeevna. Other teachers from the Academy I've had classes with through the summer intensive include Ryzhakov Ilya Mikhailovich, Ivanova Svetlana Anatolevna, Kulikova Vera Nikolaevna, and Revich Natalya Igorevna. In July, 2018, I became the first Mexican-American to ever graduate from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy.

 As far as academic schooling goes, I am currently an online student at Oregon State University, working towards a BA in Business Administration. I graduated from Brigham Young University (high school) with honours through the National Society of High School Scholars and Honor Society in the 2017- 2018 school year. My favourite subjects include algebra and astronomy, but to be completely honest, I have pretty much loved every school subject I have studied so far. As strange as it may sound, I actually really love and enjoy school.

 Before leaving for Russia in 2016, I also enjoyed participating in OC Fashion Week shows. I walked for Coral Castillo, Berenice Gonzalez, Katherine Brown, KD Luxe Jewlery, and other various designers. I have also danced with DKCBA at OC Fashion Week and LA Style Week events. 

 Currently, I have a very loud cockatiel, Bobbie. In the past, I also had a Korean Jindo, a frog, two mice, a betta fish, two other cockatiels, and a guinea pig. I have been CPR certified since January 20, 2018, and I have also been a certified yoga instructor since November, 2018. Currently, I am working as an independent consultant for Arbonne, which is a cruelty-free, green health and wellness company (all orders can be placed here : http://LouisaRamirezForney.arbonne.com ). 

 I hope this gave you a good insight into who I am and I hope you enjoy reading my blog posts! I would also like to thank all of my old readers from my last blog (http://louisaforney.blogspot.com/p/test.html) for continuing to keep up with my life.

 Thanks for reading!
Deborah Hoehner Photography
XOXO,
Louisa 

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