Experimental Rehearsal

A week or two before I found out I'd be getting surgery I got an email from an independent choreographer. He would be doing a residency at The Kitchen this fall and wanted to choreograph a new solo work on me. How exciting! I was looking forward to the prospect of working in a different style and having a solo opportunity in the city.

And then...the foot.

I emailed him apologizing up and down, emphasizing how grateful I was that he thought of me and that I hoped perhaps we could work together once I've recovered. We decided to meet for one rehearsal pre-surgery anyway, since he had already booked studio space.

And how nice it was! We chatted for a good 45 minutes before we did any moving - discussing the dance community in general, my background, his approach to choreography, gossip about dance critics, and so on. He explained that he saw something "real" in my article and that's why he wanted to work with me - I was honored.

I couldn't do much because the foot's been bad, but we spent a while going through a simple movement sequence with lots of walking and dynamic arm movements. It was nothing like I'd done before...no ballet here! But it was fascinating to work on something so pedestrian and make it art. He changed the timing of steps, the quality, the phrasing, the spacing...simple steps can be vastly different.

It's a shame I'll only have that one rehearsal with him for now and obviously won't be able to perform this work as hoped. It was tough to grasp what this was all about and to really make it mean something in just one hour - but he mentioned another possible residency in the spring, so hopefully I can try to be a part of that when I've recovered.

I was grateful at least to meet him and test the waters. Every minute in the studio is a chance to learn.

minor excitement

Okay, for the moment I've figured it's no use trying to catch up with blogging past events since I don't have time. I WILL do it eventually because some important things have happened, but for the moment I'm starting fresh with today.

Minor excitement of the moment: I made it through 3 cuts and have a callback tomorrow for the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular! Not to be a Rockette (i'm too short and don't tap!) but for one of the dancer parts. Exciting! Even if I don't make it it's nice to know I got this far since I rarely do these kinds of auditions.

I got there at 8:30am this morning for a 10am audition and already found myself drinking my coffee halfway around the block from the stage door! So many people - it looked like the lines you see on TV for American Ido. Funny. I was in the 2nd audition group (of 5 I believe) so we waited for an hour before I even went in. After a short combo they made a cut and then had us wait for like 2 HOURS! Insanity. They had us dance a lot more and made some cuts and after 6 HOURS of being at Radio City they called my name for a call back for tomorrow. Yay! There's still a lot of people they kept so I can't get my hopes up, but there were tons more that left earlier in the day, so I was happy.

Running amongst rehearsals the rest of the day...I'm performing in a small dancing part in a play at Manhattan Repertory Theater this Wed-Fri and also prepping for a student showcase next Sunday. AND getting in shape for ABT's intensive starting a week from tomorrow. AND other things.

The relaxation of Florida was wonderful but I'm glad to be back dancing to the faster pulse of New York!

Take Dance & more

What a busy Saturday and a full week(end) of dance events!

I'm running between performances and classes right now...Lots to write about...

This morning I went to a blogger preview of Take Dance, a company founded by former Paul Taylor dancer Takehiro Ueyama. Their performances will be at the Miller Theater at Columbia University May 15-17 at 8pm.

It was such a nice morning. Fellow bloggers Philip and Evan were there, and later I met Winger fan Sophie (had to laugh, she knew who I was before I introduced myself from my pics on the Winger...hah cool!) and it was nice to see everyone and chat about upcoming shows, since I missed the big blogger event at Cedar Lake the other night (but I'm going tonight...).

Anyway the dancing...was soooo good! Take's choreography is very free and released, with lots of swinging and throwing of the body. All the dancers looked like they were enjoying themselves so much. It seemed so natural for them, almost to the point that they were comfortable it seemed they good be improvising just from their own internal impulses of movement. I wanted to get up and move! It was interesting to see the process as well, as they worked through lifts and tough spots in between running the pieces. Being that close to the dancers was cool too, because you could share their energy entirely, feeling the landing of their jumps through the floor of the Duke studios (nice facility by the way...never been there).

I'm looking forward to seeing them perform in May. Take also has a piece in Eugene Lang College's spring performance next weekend at Ailey, so I'll be heading to that as well. Exciting.

Took class right afterwards and am having a quick coffee/blogging break now before pointe class later, and then seeing Cedar Lake's Glassy Essence. I've been at the theater, one or another, every night this week since Wednesday. Watching dance. That's a lot for one week...and a lot of writing to come from it (soon). Keep an eye out, and go see some performances if you're around!

RKB Dress Rehearsal

While all the other bloggers were at the fabulous preview of Cedar Lake's Glassy Essence installation (wish I could have made it to catch up with everyone...I'm going on Saturday though...) I was at the dress rehearsal for RKB's performances this weekend.

It was so great to finally see the piece we had been rehearsing all this time go onstage with costumes and lighting and everything. I admit I was a tad jealous I wasn't up there dancing :( haha it's okay though. I'm in the program at least :) that was a nice surprise. The company looks great and it's going to be a good show for everyone, I'm sure. Some of the tech stuff was still shaky but it was still just the process. I'm looking forward to seeing the real deal with the audience on Friday night.

I should take this moment to say how glad I am that I got to be a part of these rehearsals and everything the past few months. What a good experience.


--
Lots of reviews and excitement in the next few days...RKB, Cedar Lake, Yasuko @ the Kitchen, Take Dance Co. blogger rehearsal preview, and more...

showcase rehearsal

We've started rehearsing for another little student showcase like we had in February with the people I take open class with. It's set for June 1, but my teacher is going away for the month of May so we are scrambling to finish setting choreographing and everything. There's a lot more people involved this time and it's a little chaotic, but it's fun..

I'm doing the Pas D'esclave pas de deux from Corsaire, and the variation that goes along with it. I'm also supposed to be doing this modern-ish solo thing, but we haven't had time or space to rehearse it in a month so that might be off. Plus there are several group pieces and such in the works, so it should be a nice little show. It falls right after my first week of ABT's intensive, though, so that week is going to be insane!

It's nice to have so much going on though. I'm doing an audition this afternoon and have a few other prospective opportunities in the works, both dance and otherwise, so I'll be posting more soon.

reviews & rehearsal

My two recent reviews for ExploreDance have finally been posted:

Petronio here
Ballet Tech here

News of the day is that I started rehearsals this afternoon for this little performance in May. It's part of the New York's Amazing Play festival, and a girl who takes class with me sometimes is directing a short piece and asked if I'd be a part of it. I haven't gotten a chance to read the full play yet so I'm not sure where our dance fits in, but it's me, the director, and one of the actresses that do a dance to "celebrate spring." It's pretty! It's something to look forward to anyway...a week of shows before I start the ABT intensive (which I just received paperwork for...amusing...I'll leave it at that for the moment...) so it should be fun.

After rehearsal I had a private with my teacher like last week, and she basically killed me again, haha. I'm already sore. It's a good soreness though...if there is such a thing.

Anyways...lot's going on in the week ahead. I've finished 2 big articles and have 1 more to go before tomorrow...I get to dance in my usual rehearsals this week because one girl is out so I get to fill in...and some other busy stuff going on. Fun fun.

a moment to breathe...

Instead of running off to morning class today I decided to take a moment to breathe after not stopping for the past 48 hours or so, haha. In efforts to organize my thoughts and start fresh today with mooorrre work, I figured I'd take the time now to blog about the past two days.

WEDNESDAY

-In the morning, the company had a master class with Karin Averty, a former dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet. What a great opportunity! It was nice to be in a small class for once, and she was such a good teacher...it was a super fast class, not just the combinations themselves but the way she taught them. For instance, petite allegro is usually my favorite because it's complicated and quick and something I can do, but even I couldn't get her combination! It was all tricky because it's a different style...not different in the same ways that Balanchine or Russian or Ceccetti styles have distinct differences in porte de bras or timing etc, but different in terms of transitions and in between steps. I really enjoyed the class, and hopefully she'll teach again before she goes back to Paris.

Right after that we had rehearsal as usual, and I had to fill in for a different dancer than I did on Tuesday. Luckily I took a copy of the rehearsal dvd home Tuesday to go over the different part...the way this piece works is complicated because everyone does similar phrases but in different timing and spacing and with different people, and it's a lot of patterns and crossing with people and such, so I really didn't want to mess up and be crashing into people, haha. It went well, though. It's kind of fun to be different people every day.

-That rehearsal ran late, so I barely made it uptown in time to teach as I usually do on Wednesdays. I gave the kids a really quick warm up because I wanted to push through the rest of the choreorgaphy to get this piece done, since it needs A LOT of cleaning. We didn't finish it as I had hoped, but we did get another minute or so done in only an hour, so that was good. They work well with me, which apparently is surprising to their normal teacher who doesn't get much respect from them. Interesting...I think it's good for people to branch out from their regular teachers once in a while despite leaving their comfort zone (myself included...).

-Took my usual night classes that night and broke in new pointe shoes...ouch. The only good thing about new shoes is that you can balance forever, so that was fun, haha.

-Also between Wednesday and today, the company (RKB) has asked me and been on me about helping them with publicity stuff. I'm honored that my opinions are valued, but it's so hard to help with such limited time. They're working on marketing plans for the season in April and want me to write some things, etc. More on this to come...I'm meeting with their development people next week to try to help out. As the director mentioned once before, "there's no problem that couldn't be solved with a lot more money." That's too bad...

Moving on.

THURSDAY

As I mentioned, my boss went out of town for the holiday weekend, so I basically had to take over for him, doing things way beyond my normal intern duties. He had shown me some of the things I'd need to do over the past few weeks, and he left my a details packet of directions (with added humor...hey, it's the cartoon department) so that I would be prepared for anything that came up.

So I thought! In the morning, the editors have their meeting to decide which cartoons to purchase from the artists, but those don't usually run in the issue right away. Well yesterday they decided to get one to go in THAT DAY's issue (the one that will come out this Monday, but it closed yesterday). So that put everyone into a frenzy and added a whole hurried process that I had to be a part of that I was unaware of. It was like treading through the dark, hands outstretched feeling my way around the unknown. I was pretty much clueless, and the editor people were like talking fast and assuming that I knew the process. I must have looked at them like they had 5 heads, because eventually they got the idea that I was lost, hah. Wasn't my fauly though, and they knew that and were super helpful with showing me what to do. We got it done and taken care of, but since it was a timely issue and everything it definitely added some stress! It was exciting though...I like the publishing world, haha.

Speaking of that, a few times recently people, both in and out of this industry, have mentioned to me that publishing is a "cut throat" industry. I would say no more so than dance! And in my experiences thus far, everyone has proven to be helpful in aiding a newcomer like me :)

Anyways. After the exciting morning things calmed down a bit. I followed all my directions and got everything done, but it was a long day. I stayed til 7pm to get some of today's work done since I knew I couldn't go in as long today. It felt good at the end of the day to have accomplished a full day of almost being a real contributor to The New Yorker (okay, I'm sure my little exciting escapade wasn't THAT essential to the magazine, but I felt like it was pretty darn important at the time, haha). I was so tired by the end of the day though!

Somewhere in all that work I found time to keep up with my own email and got another few writing assignments for the next week or two. Lots coming up...and lots of people asking for my help/advice with things, which I find amusing. I don't know that I have that much to offer these people in terms of advice, haha, but it's nice to be asked.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some details of the past few days, but that's enough for now. I'm running to pointe class now, before more New Yorker excitement. Later today I'm doing one of my interviews for movmnt...details on that to come...I may get to go backstage at a Broadway show ;) not positive yet, but that seems to be the convenient meeting place for the moment. Then taking class all night as usual. What a life I live, haha.

whirlwind two days

The past two days have been absolutely INSANE! Yesterday was the heaviest ballet day I've had this semester, and today was the heaviest work day! Two totally different aspects of my life, but equally exciting...

I'm still having computer issues, on top of not having a moment to sit down and blog without being interupted by a thousand emails, so this has to be brief. BUT I promise on my bus ride home to Boston for Easter weekend (Saturday morning) I will write details about it all...the bus I take has wonderful WiFi so thank goodness for that.

Yesterday, the company had a master class with a teacher from Paris Opera Ballet, followed by a good rehearsal where I actually got to dance!

Then I went to teach as I usually do on Wednesdays. We got another minute done of choreography, so we're finally making progress.

There's a lot more to write about yesterday but just can't right now...

Today I was filling in for my boss all day at The New Yorker. I felt confident that I knew what I was doing, and he left me an extensive (humorous) list of directions for everything I needed to do, but the morning brought some surprises. Such is life in the publishing industry...luckily there were people around to help (patiently) and everything was good, but it added a bit of stress, haha. I spent the ENTIRE day there, staying way late because I can't be in as much tomorrow. I enjoyed it though, and having the extra responsibility was exciting.

More details on everything to come...also got a few more writing assignments for some different things and more...I've been getting e-mails from blog readers lately, too, which I love!!! So please keep those coming...despite my insane schedule I find these emails refreshing and fun to answer :)

on being valued, etc

Today in rehearsal I actually got to dance instead of learning the back trying to stay out of the way in my little corner of the studio. It was fun!

Luckily I remembered all of the girl's part I was filling in for, and there was another girl brand new to the choreography, so we didn't run through it full force straight away. And another good thing was that we didn't go it on pointe, haha. It was more for musicality and details today rather than the pointe technique stuff, so I was happy about that. I think it went well, and the director laughed and said it was good to see my finally dancing out of my corner, haha. Good.

Tomorrow I get to fill in for someone else, although I don't know her part nearly as well. I got a DVD of a rehearsal they filmed last week, though, so tonight my job is to re-teach myself. I'm happy to spend the time doing it though...I love the choreography and even just getting to work it out during rehearsal without performing it is an experience.

There are very few places, to my knowledge and experience, in the dance world where a dancer, particularly an apprentice or low person in terms of importance, is made to feel valued. I am happy to say that THIS experience very much goes against the norm and is quite fulfilling despite what you may think. Not only does it feel good to know that I can step in at any time during rehearsal (even if others don't find it being "important," I see it as such) but since this is a relatively small company and the director very clearly knows everyone and personalities mesh, I feel like the dancers are valued as people as well. It's very collaborative and everything...

Also after rehearsal, she introduced me to their intern-type girl and their development person because they're looking to get publicity for the season in April. She knows I'm a writer and apparently the development lady visited my website and stuff and they'd like me to write about it somehow. We had a nice conversation about dance criticism and writing and how a lot of times things get so technical, and really the choreographers (like her) are much more concerned with the ideas behind things, and how a lot of criticism tears apart the art form rather than pushing it forward. So she asks me to brainstorm and write...

I am MORE than happy to do this and think the program has so much to offer and write about - but sometimes I feel like people think way higher of me than I do of myself, haha. I'd love to WRITE about it, but I don't know where it would be PRINTED. She just finished saying she enjoyed my recent (online) article about the lack of dance writing in print...there are very few opportunities to have dance writing PRINTED besides in the few magazines out there (all of which need more lead time than we have here). So we'll see what I can do about this...I know I can post on the winger and reach lots of people for them, but I need to brainstorm what else I can do. The company is worth it!

Anyways, that's my rambling for the day. After my good rehearsal I went up to my old studio to meet about finishing up the PRINT newsletter (hah) I've been working on for them. It's being proofed tonight and then it should be complete! Finally. They usually put it up as a PDF on their website, so I'll link to it when it's officially up and done. That was a long project...another issue to be done in June.

Oh also, yesterday a girl from class asked me about a potential performing opportunity...she has a play in some Amazing Plays of New York something or other festival in May and is looking for dancers. Just confirming details, but if all goes well that will be another thing on the to-do list...and I'll get to perform :)

Anyways...the rest of my day is for sewing pointe shoes and catching up on work...tomorrow before rehearsal we have a master class with a teacher from Paris Opera Ballet who watched rehearsal last week. That should be interesting. Then rehearsal, and then running uptown to teach and rehearse my piece for the high school kids. Busy busy! New Yorker all day Thursday and Friday...and Friday I have the first of a few interviews to do for my next movmnt articles...should be fun. Then going home for the weekend for Easter. So much going on...love it!

unexpected rehearsal

My original rehearsal for today was cancelled, so instead of being a good student like I should have been and catching up on my school work, I decided to take pointe class so I could work on all the details we touched on yesterday in my private. First of all, it was a bad idea to decide this last minute because I took a cab to get there, totally forgetting that it's St. Patrick's Day and the stupid parade makes it impossible to get from east side to west side in a timely manner. My cabbie was nice though, haha, and we had a conversation about writing. He said he had a goal of reading 1,000 books in 10 years. Wow!

Anyway, pointe class was good. I'm definitely sore way deep in my muscles from yesterday and felt it all coming togehter in class, which was reassuring.

THEN afterwards I'm getting ready to leave and go about the rest of my afternoon of papers and work and stuff and I'm called in unexpectedly to do this rehearsal thing we weren't supposed to start until next week, but they happened to have studio space today.

This choreographer needs to do a demo reel to showing Ailey II and asked my teacher to help choreograph and work with a more balletic dancer rather than the modern dances he's used to, apparently. So she suggested me, and he's choreographing on me for that and for our next little student showcase. I knew all of this, but was SO not prepared to start today.

It went okay, but definitely could have been better. The choreography is nice, but it's kind of uncomfortable the first time around. I guess that's like with anything...time will help it all to sink in. It's also hard because...and I don't mean this in a bad way or anything...but the steps given are difficult to execute on pointe because they are choreographed more for flat shoes since he is a male choreographer not on pointe. It was a challenge...for instance, moving around on pointe on forced arch, like walking around but not in the foot position you would do hops on pointe in, but in FORCED arch. No can do. Luckily my teacher was there to help explain that both to him and to me to make it work better, but I got a bit frustrated. I'm thrilled about the opportunity though and hoping it will come along with time. We have until June, thank goodness.

Anyway that took up a good hour and 15 minutes or so, so now I'm a bit thrown off...gotta try to get some work done before going back there for lots of class tonight. Sheesh! The good news is that my foot isn't hurting so bad this week, after taking a few days off while I was away last week.

back to the movmnt

Tonight I went to a meeting at movmnt magazine to prepare for the next issue. I'm super excited to say I have 3 article assignments this time! Should be fun even though it's lots of work with a pretty quick deadline (few weeks anyway). If you haven't already purchased your copy of the most recent issue (see cover above) YOU SHOULD GO GET IT. Haha.

That was just one highlight of my busy day...I literally was nonstop going all around the city today and finally got home at 10pm - my first breather all day. Rehearsal this morning went well. There was a guest watching from Paris Opera Ballet, who might teach a master class before rehearsal someday next week. That should be interesting.

Right from there I went to the New Yorker again. Pretty much a typical afternoon there...

Then had to stop by school to take care of some little errands (applying for 2 senior awards I was nominated for...hah) before heading downtown to movmnt.

After the meeting I met a friend nearby...the one who shot video footage of me in class last week so that I can put together an audition video. He helped me download all of the video to my ipod so I can look it over and see what else I need (and if I like it or not...). Thankfully, after a week off to free my mind from seeing it, it looked better than I was expecting. I absolutely despise watching myself dance, haha. Or do anything on film, for that matter. But it wasn't QUITE as bad as I had pictured in my mind. We watched a bit of it together, but I have to sit down and go through the whole hour long clip and see. Ugh. I'm glad I'm finally getting this done though.

Anyway, I'm exhausted from a nonstop day. Even though it's only been a 4 day week for me thanks to my travel back from Salt Lake City, I feel like this week was busier than all of last month combined. Crazy. But good!

new class and more

Today was another super busy day.

I had rehearsal again this morning, and it was fine. Two of the dancers are going to be out next week, so I'm going to have to fill in for one or the other most days next week - so I had to really watch close today and try to learn everyone's choreography and traffic patterns. It's kind of hard with this piece becauase a lot of the phrases are similar with just minor changes in order and spacing for each person, so remembering who does what, when, and where is a challenge. Hopefully I'll get it all straight by next week, although all of them are still in the learning phase as well so I don't feel too bad.

After rehearsal I ran up to work with my high school kids. Since I was late from rehearsal their usual teacher gave them the warmup, so I just jumped into my choreography. We decided this week would be a review week, to go over everything we had done so far. They definitely needed it, and it seemed to be a productive rehearsal. I'm looking forward to moving on with the rest of the dance. The school is having trouble finding space for their performance in May, however, because they have basically no budget to rent anywhere (their usual place is being renovated). So if anyone knows of affordable performance space to rent for a night in May, let me know!

After that I came home to answer numerous emails and calls, etc. Sometimes I sit at the computer for hours and I have nothing to show for it really, but I am so busy as I sit there writing email after email about various projects. It doesn't help that my computer is super slow and keeps dying on me :( ugh.

Then later tonight I tried a new open class that I've never been to before. Since the usual teacher I take with (obsessively) is away this week, it was time for me to branch out. I am really glad I did tonight, because I found a great teacher! She is super Balanchine, which I haven't experienced in a few months now. It was SUCH a good class. Minus the fact that I'm still slightly out of shape, it went really well. I can already feel my inner thighs burning thanks to the strict Balanchine barre of a zillion tendus. As much as it is kind of a pain (literally and figuratively) I realized tonight that I kind of do miss that work. There aren't many other true Balanchine open classes in the city, and as much as I love my usual teacher (and the extensive benefits of her class) I feel like I need to have a little kick once and a while to push me in the way that tonight's class did. I'll definitely be going back later this week and whenever else I get a chance. Not only was the class good (and small...10 people or so! nice...with BIG studio) but she herself was nice and energetic. She asked me where I trained and told me to come back again. I'm glad I took a chance tonight, and I most definitely will be returning.

After my long day I came home to still more emails and calls. No complaining though :) Tomorrow is another crazy busy day, but luckily the weekend is pretty quiet.

back to busy-ness

Upon my return from my weekend away in Salt Lake City (see details in post below), I had a VERY busy day today. The kind of busy I've been missing, ironically haha.

I had my first day of rehearsals with Rebeca Kelly Balle.t today after a few months away from working with her. I'm officially an apprentice/understudy this time around, so basically today I had to start learning everyone's parts in case someone (as one already did) gets injured or anything. Though it can appear as a blase position since I don't actually dance full out the whole time like those in the pieces, it is really a daunting yet exciting task to be the low man on the totem pole because I DO get the opportunity to learn everyone's part and be prepared on a moment's notice.

You know, I may not have the best feet or the best ballet body, BUT I can learn choreography and learn quick.

I think that's why they called me in, and even though I'm just in the back I'm really glad that I'm there. The whole process of creating the work that she's doing is soooo intriguing and I love the choreography itself. She speaks of how the ideas behind the movement should trump the technique no matter what, and how often times we get caught up the smallest, unimportant details and ignore the motivation behind movement. I couldn't agree more.

We have rehearsal all this week and most of next to prepare for a guest performance coming up, and then all through April we rehearse for her season at the end of the month. I'm excited to be involved.

More of my busy day...right from rehearsal I had to head up to the New Yorker to work. It's getting interesting there because next week my boss is away, so I'm kind of filling in for him. The past few weeks I've been learning the ropes more than I may have as an intern otherwise, since I have to take all of his responsibilities for a few days. Good opportunity.

They let me go a bit early, so I went to take class with a teacher I've never taken from before (since my teacher is away all this week, sadly). I hadn't taken class since last Wednesday (in a brief attempt to rest my burisitis-plagued foot, which at the moment isn't doing too bad) so I was a bit out of shape, but it could have been worse. I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow though, as I always do when I take time off. Class itself wasn't my favorite either...I guess I'm just used to working differently...

After all that I went to the library at school to do some work. On top of everything, this week I have midterms for grad school, which equals lots of essays and papers.

As much as I needed to get away, I am glad I'm back to my busy schedule. Things were kind of blah in February, but thankfully they're picking up back to my tiring pace that I thrive off of. It's good to get away to get a fresh perspective...

irony of life

So very last minute a few days ago, I made plans to go visit two of my best friends whom I haven't seen in months, in Salt Lake City. Next weekend happens to be completely free of plans, which is rare, so I decided to take the opportunity while it's here and book my flight. It also happens to be one of said friend's birthday on Monday, so I thought it would be perfect.

Then today I get an email from the director of the contemporary company I was working with a bit back in January, saying that she needs an understudy immediately because a dancer got a stress fracture in her foot and needs to be replaced. She asked if I would come, and rehearsals start next Monday.

I am THRILLED - but of course it comes during my first "vacation" in like 8 years, haha. Luckily she said I can come starting Tuesday, so it all works out. I just find the irony of life amusing sometimes.

I'm excited to cover the part though...it's for a performance in April, and she may have one of the company members available to actually do it, but I'm glad at least I can go learn and everything.

Anyway, that's today's news. I'm looking forward to my little getaway...I leave Friday, so there may be a lack of posts over the weekend. But forgive me, I REALLY need a break, haha. And it's only a short time.

Choreographing tomorrow for those high school kids...better get prepared...

play it cool at nycb

Just got home from seeing NYCB's American Songs and Dances program, which concluded with West Side Story Suite and Robbie Fairchild *singing* Cool from the famous West Side story score. As I've always been a fan of the film version and was reinspired by the stage version when I saw Chita Rivera do an excerpt in her brief Broadway engagement 2 years ago, I was so excited when I saw it on NYCB's program...and it made me want to dance!

Formal review to come on ExploreDance, but this and the rest of tonight's works were really different from the traditional evening at the ballet. It was all very Broadway-esque. Of course all the dancing was great.

I ran into Evan and Philip sitting a few rows in front of me in the orchestra, and we chatted and people watched during both intermissions.

As we walked out late (3 hour long program...sheesh) Evan and I ran into a huge crowd staring up to the sky over Broadway. At first we could only see them looking up, but the sky and everything was blocked by State Theater. When we finally got out by the (boarded up) fountain we saw what was going on...the lunar eclipse! Haha cool. But it was definitely a funny sight to see a huge pack of ballet-goers staring up...it was like what, is there a fire, or someone jumping off a building, or what? It actually reminded me of when I was in this press picture thing for Dancing with the Stars where we all had to look up to the photographer atop Avery Fisher Hall. haha

It was a nice night.

Right before running to Lincoln Center I rehearsed with my friend to embark on the process of making audition videos, as I mentioned earlier. She had found a ballet coach to work with but neither of us knew exactly who it was, and when we met tonight it turned out to be a teacher I had a few days back in my early Boston days! Small world! It was nice to have a different pair of eyes on my variation (gamzatti from la bayadere...performance this sunday :) but I'm finding some contradictions between different versions I've learned and what I should be doing. I guess it's all in the interpretation of the choreography...I like working in depth on this thing though, as I don't really get the time or chance to do that much nowadays.

Okay, it's definitely almost bed time...busy day at The New Yorker tomorrow. Keep a lookout for my NYCB review on ExploreDance.

busy day

Today has been a day similar to the many I had last semester where I have a million places to be at the same time and everything seems to be happening at once. Luckily I thrive of this, but it's been a little stressful.

Earlier a friend and I rented a studio to rehearse our variations for this weekend's little performance since our normal teacher/coach has been away the past few days. I'm glad we did it, but it's kind of hard to get stuff done when you don't have someone there yelling at you, haha. My teacher yells a lot...but in a good way :)

After that I had an interview for a paid internship at this one magazine...it sounds like a great opportunity, but it's full time which is a little daunting to me at this point. We'll see what happens.

Tonight I'm rehearsing with ANOTHER friend because we're trying to get it together to make audition videos to send to companies. I haven't made time to do this the past 3 audition seasons, haha, so I definitely have to now. We're working on it...

Then I'm going to see New York City Ballet tonight for the last time this season. I'm excited to see their West Side Story Suite...they sing! Review to come on ExploreDance later this week.

That's all for now...

blast from the past, and super tired

Today was extreeeemely ballet heavy. Unexpectedly, I ended up having an hour and a half of private lesson after class to work on my variation for a little student showcase coming up at the end of the month. I hadn't been planning these rehearsals but there happened to be empty studios after both morning and night classes today, so we worked a LOT even though I was super exhausted from class (and my foot is bothering me again...).

I'm excited for our little showcase though. It's going to be February 24 at 5:30pm if anyone is interested. Pop me an email and I'll give you the location...all are welcome! It's only $5 at the door and should be a quick but fun program.

Besides that, the highlight of my night was just getting delayed email notifications of some comments on The Winger. For whatever reason, the WordPress software didn't email me when people left comments on my posts weeks ago, and only tonight did they bother to come through my inbox.

Well, I was greatly surprised and excited to find a congratulatory comment from an old teacher I had a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time ago in Boston. Years and years ago, and she was never actually one of my main teachers but rather a head of the studio kind of thing. But apparently she had been keeping up with my posts on the Winger and wished me congratulations for graduating, etc. How wonderful it was to hear from her and to see that people really do read this stuff we post about!

I know usually I'm complaining about it, but I really do love the fact that the dance world is so small.

If anyone else out there from the past is reading this feel free to comment and keep in touch! I love love love hearing from people I miss and often times feel like they've forgotten who I am haha.

Yay for blogging, I guess, is my point tonight.

lecture demo

This morning with Rebecca Kelly ballet we did a little class/rehearsal thing for a group of middle school students...kind of a lecture demonstration type thing. It was fun...

The first hour one of the other dancers taught a basic jazz/modern class for the kids, which we all took to warm up. I was impressed that the teacher from the visiting school even took class! They were into it :)

Then we went through all the choreography we learned in the workshop last week while the kids watched to see the process of creating a dance. The rehearsal itself was quite good now that all the choreography is in my body and I can play with it more rather than being focused on remembering what comes next, like when we learned it all at super speed last week.

It was a nice morning, and being with young people not familiar with dance always makes me appreciate it more...it's like fresh eyes, fresh take on art.

Anyways...so much writing to get done today...I'm behind and on major deadline for 2 articles (NYCB review from the other day and one for Dancer Magazine) so I better get cracking...

workshop's done

Today was the last day of the workshop I was doing with that contemporary company. We put together a whole 8-minute dance we learned bits and pieces of over the last week and ran it in groups...3 times in a row, back to back! Talk about stamina. It felt oddly wonderful after the last run, like I had pushed so hard and almost "felt something" as was encouraged a few days ago. Quite tiring though, needless to say.

This was such a great opportunity and I'll try to post more about it when I get the energy. I don't know if/when I'll get to work with them again, but I'm so grateful to have been able to do so the past few weeks. I need to start doing more of that kind of work...

Anyways...tonight I'm planning on taking open class at my old studio, which I have been....dreading doing for unexplainable reasons. But I think I need to suck it up and go, so I'm on my way.

Countdown: 48 hours til I finish college.

is age only a state of mind?

Warning: this post kind of goes on and on about nothing really, but it's just me thinking out loud...you can ignore me :)

For the past 2 days I've been doing a workshop with the company I was understudying with last week, and instead of standing in the back trying to learn choreography by staying out of the way, this week I actually get to dance. A LOT.

We've had a short contemporary barre/center before learning repertoire, and I really like the alternative way of taking class. It's very different from a traditional ballet barre (specifically in the music, which is WAY more fun than the overly-familiar melodies of the classics). She has a lot of emphasis on moving really big and feeling the movement through your body.

Class itself is defintely a challenege because after years of doing tendus, your brain goes a bit on auto pilot...even though I constantly feel a struggle in turning out and pointing my feet in an easy tendu combination, there's still a level of monotony. With this kind of class the combinations of familiar exercises are different, and different parts of the body are used (the head, deep in the lower back).

Moving on to the rehearsal aspect of the workshop, we've learned a long exercept from a piece her company has done and it's all taught really really fast. Then we put it all together and do it in different small groups a few times before learning more. Again since some of the movement and style is foreign to my ballet brainwashed body it's tough to pick up all the nuances of the choreography. It's great though! And since there's only 9 of us in the workshop (3 are in the company, the rest are other dances from various places in the city...all of whom are at least 4 or 5 years older than me...) the teacher can really see us...

After we put together 3 or 4 sections of the long work, the teacher (who is wonderful, by the way) stopped after me and another girl did it as a group and said she wanted us to go deeper inside to feel it. She proceeded to give me an excellent, lengthy "lecture" (it wasn't really a lecture but...) on how it's important to FEEL the movement and show it, especially through your face. She complimented me a bit but said that I AM young, and I haven't really 'suffered' (which got a laugh from the others) but that that comes with age.

It was a very inspiring speech because to this point being drilled into ballet land nobody has asked me to actually FEEL anything while dancing. Besides 1 teacher in particular, they demand turnout, feet, etc etc, but not that you really reach inside and express it through your face. Isn't expressing emotion through movement was dance is really all about? I was really thankful she took the time to say this all during the middle of rehearsal because it made me think.

Isn't it ironic that one of the major values of ballet, youth, is the same thing that causes a disadvantage in modern/contemporary dance?

In recent years I have been reminded time and time again that "a ballet career is short" and if "you're not in a company by the time you're 18 then it's not worth it" and, particularly in my last year of real pre-pro training, being made to feel as if I'm too old for a career since my body won't allow for the level of technique necessary or whatever. And now, not just in this one instance, but a few times recently, my 'young' age has cropped up as a (minor) issue.

Is age really a state of mind or a number or a level of experience or what?

All of this comes just a week before I graduate from college at age 19. I'm starting to think that I've overcompensated in my real-world life for not being a ballet prodigy child, and now it's coming back to bite me. Or confuse me.

Anyway, all in good spirits. I'm exhausted from rehearsal, but I'm off to class tonight as always, followed by our Friday night rehearsal thing. Hopefully tonight we're going to start the Rose Adagio for the student showcase thing. If I can muster the energy ;)