Nutmeg is a Siamese. I know we're all a bit scarred by the evil duo of Lady and the Tramp (try, if you can, to suppress the accompanying song!) but he's a really nice cat.
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| Here he is trying to take a nap |
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| "Curling into tight ball maybe humans and camera will go away..." |
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| Well, what do you know! Look who found my pillow... |
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| The Pillow - after two cats found it |
Well, a little bit on my day: Got up at 5... though it didn't "hurt" I would have much rather had gone back to sleep, but oh well. My day otherwise was really good, really productive. I had a teacher (Russian!) for a class today - he taught during the first 4 weeks of the summer intensive. Good to know that he's still around as a teacher though we are at different studios and he wasn't mentioned on their faculty list. His wife is an amazing teacher and has been on the school's faculty for some time - she was a principle with the NJ Ballet but retired because she loves teaching - and that's just what she wanted to do! Unfortunately, I believe someone stole her purse today in the faculty lounge - a surprisingly common occurrence, sad as it is...
But classes were good today though I was a bit tired - lots of pirouette exercises... Character wore me out more than pointe class. I have a love/hate relationship with Character - more love than hate though - and not hate, just maybe a bit of laziness/dislike for really physically challenging - the natural human tendency. But though today's Character class was only my 4th, I do like it when I'm not overwhelmed. (I really do love the challenge of my studies - once you can get past the up-down of emotions - self doubt, "am I good enough", "am I mediocre", etc - it's very rewarding and emotionally rich - occupation, I guess you could call it. Hard to explain, but these little flashes, glimpses of the big picture - it's what really keeps you going with a passion - not just keeping you going to avoid burnout, but really shows you why.) Our thoroughly Russian teacher is very funny but also demanding and matter of fact - no room for mediocrity/not remembering exercises (or open 5th position) - "you've only got one chance" i.e., going out and auditioning - you only have a few seconds for someone to look at you and move on with a good or bad impression. But anyway, Character was hard - or should I say challenging - today. (Time to toughen up.) But truly, the curriculum/program is amazing and so positively productive.
Gelsey Kirkland taught a "coaching" class today. She laughed when everyone got out their notebooks. Instead it was very hands on with her - all upper body movements and exercises. (There's a real element of starting from scratch - it is, after all, "classical ballet", a very purist technique that has been muddled up - it's not neo-classical as most everyone thinks ballet is.) It was very good - and wow, to have a class right there with her. I never imagined the opportunity of learning from her. She's very powerful in her person, I will say that.
I could write more but need to shower and make sure all is ready for tomorrow. I'll probably be getting up at 5:30 or so in the morning...
Goodnight,
Bunhead
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