First dancing week

I've just finished my first week!  Sorry for the bit of hiatus...  where I am staying has WiFi and internet, but my computer won't connect - and so I am currently borrowing some time on another computer.  Hopefully the problem will be figured out soon.  But anyway, that's why before now I have been unable to blog.  I didn't forget about you, and it was irksome to be deprived of the blog.  But, now I'm back, so I can tell you about my first week dancing in NYC! 

So on Monday I did a dry run with my commute to see how it would go - coming from NJ - bus to light rail to PATH.  At Penn Station we tried to figure out tickets and passes and what ever else you need to travel by way of mass transit.  It was all very confusing, and I'm unsure how anyone could ever sanely keep track of it all.  It took awhile, but everything was worked out (though I can't take credit for it!).  Most of my day Monday was just trying to understand the whole commute - where I was going, how I would get to the proper train, track, and where to go from there.  I took a lot of notes, all the while wondering how I was every going to memorize the route the next day all by myself!! 

The next day, Tuesday, it worked out so that I could be driven into the PATH.  I went to the studios where I spent most of my summer and registered and then waited for orientation to begin.  I got to see a few people that I recognized from summer that had come back for the trainee program.  There are 3 tracks - Classical Ballet, Contemporary Ballet, and Jazz & Contemporary.  I'd say that most people are in Contemporary Ballet, and a probably equally smaller percentage in Jazz & Contem. and Ballet.  Both Gelsey Kirkland and her husband Michael Chernov were at the orientation because they are directors of the Classical Ballet track and program.  They are both wonderful people, and you can see when they are together the bond they share.  They are most definitely a cohesive team.  M. Chernov is really funny and charismatic, as is his wife.  They evaluated the Classical track in the placement class - which was a great class technically, but we were all so nervous and many hadn't danced in up to 3 months.  That doesn't mean, of course, that anyone danced badly - just comes down to the level of personal ease and comfort.  There wasn't time for lunch, because we came directly from a dance history lecture class and had half an hour to warm up.  Some people were eating a bit in the short amount of time there was, but a) there was no way I was ever going to be able to eat (I had told myself there was nothing to be nervous about - Ha ha ha!  So much for psychology), and b) there just wasn't enough time.  So physically I felt like junk, but once I got moving it got better.  After the placement class (1-3PM) we all headed home.  I had a seamless commute - no problems remembering where to go and what to do.  It was actually a pretty stressful day though, and I was glad it was over when it was over. 

The next day I commuted from the Path into Tribeca where the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet studios are.  Our school is in residence there, and the Classical Ballet track is training there and sharing in their program.  Both Gelsey Kirkland and her husband welcomed us to the studios.  M. Chernov explained the renovation (or more, creation) of the studios.  They've done a ton of work and spent a lot of money, and still have a long way to go, but it's a "slowly but surely" process that requires patience.  The studios are really lovely and spacious, and have a really nice, old charm about them - without being old and musty - it's more just established.  I feel very comfortable and at home there.  He joked that the bathroom is a bit like the wild west... two stalls divided by plywood and fabric!  Mirrors are coming on Monday.  There was a missing window in a studio that had to be repaired - during a ballet class that I was taking, on Thursday, I think.  The one workman popped his head in the door as we were starting barre and said "Wow".  I can only imagine his thoughts as he saw a full class of us all in there.  But they dragged in a ladder and all of their tools, and we were able to concentrate on class very well despite the noise!  That one workman of the two was definitely intrigued by our class though, and when he wasn't helping the other workman was watching us.  He stood on a ladder and watched our grand allegro while waiting for the other workman to come back with something.  It was funny, but great experience for him.  Maybe he'll go to see the ballet!  ;-)

So, just a little bit about my first week:  we start off with something called core dynamics - aligning and stretching exercises that help to keep the body centered, aligned, strengthened and coordinated.  It's a good class, and almost addicting.  Then we have ballet class, then a pointe/variation class, lunch, then either Repertory Workshop, mime, drama, music, or Character.  M. Chernov and GK explained that they consider us actors, not dancers - we're telling a story and they don't want the "bunhead mentality".  They are trying to grow the entire artist with their program - and they told us that the drama and mime are very important, and that they would help us in many more ways imaginable.  They also told us not to fight against opening up - to grow you must be in an uncomfortable place, and the drama classes would be uncomfortable (and they have been!).  To connect with others onstage there must be a vulnerability.  You can impress someone in the moment by doing a million turns - and have a physical and emotional bravado - but you won't move them to really remember you. 

I'm not dancing as much as the summer, per se, but am doing so much more.  I agree with them that several ballet classes a day can be detrimental to progress and correcting mistakes, and also that many teachers can also be a confusing detriment, (when one tells you to hold your arms this way, and the other another way).  I'm definitely tired at the end of the day, physically and mentally, but not in the way that I was in the summer.  This is a positively progressive experience, and is really building up and going somewhere. 

In Rep Workshop this week we learned a main corps portion of Paquita - very challenging, but fun!  You must be so particular to every incline of the head, arms, fingers, the placement of the face, eyes, shoulders - the whole presentation.  In pose, for example, one hand always rests on the hip while the other extends out in a very opening and inviting way, but to properly execute this pleasant pose, the shoulders remain slanted down towards to the presented arm/hand, the head is tilted up to the opposing corner, the other arm/hand rest on the hip with the elbow forward.  The sternum/chest remain lifted up, but the ribs stay down.  Smile! 

I remember the girls in the level below us this summer who did Paquita for the summer intensive student performance saying how the choreography was deceptively easy in appearance but was really difficult to master - I know what they mean now.  But it is a lot of fun, and the instructor is so knowledgeable, sweet, and precise - she sees and corrects everything but doesn't stagnate there - we learned everything there in the allotted amount of time very well.  Drama and mime are very interesting and uniquely challenging as well, but more on them later - there's too much to talk about for this post!  So far the program has been amazingly wonderful and I am so grateful to have this fantastic opportunity.  The directors are so conscientious, nurturing and caring, and the resulting atmosphere and program are just wonderful. 
More to come!
Bunhead