Time flies...

...When you're:
having fun?
working hard?

Yet another week has quickly passed by!  I'm sorry to have to admit that October will soon be over.  I really, really, love this month, and wish that it could last just a little longer.  However, I suppose that time passing is better than it dragging along.  We're enjoying our 1st semester and having fun, working hard, and loving what we're doing every day, and I guess  that sneakily enables one to lose track of time.  I always get a bit more tired as the week goes one, but this week was good.  I: got up at 6:00 every morning, (sometimes having to mumble what day it was to get it into my head) took the bus at around 7, got in at about 7:30, got to school around or between 7:45 and 8:00AM, and then warmed up until we started at 9.  I like to have time to stretch, roll out my muscles with a foam roller, and get grounded and prepared for the day ahead.  (It never does anyone any good to rush in 10 or 5 minutes before and try to start our core dynamics conditioning warm-up.)

So this week was good, nothing extra-ordinary to tell... on Friday we had a large rehearsal for an excerpt from La Bayadere - it was sort of a pre-rehearsal - getting to know the choreography, organizing people, etc.  But as to who will be performing that selection, I do not know.  I'm looking forward to hearing what we are going to be working on and performing - more on that to come soon!  Overall, it was a nice week, and I feel that I'm improving and progressing all the time.  Exciting!  But now, to enjoy the rest of the weekend - before I know it, I'll be back in class...

Theme & Variations

The (dance world) web is buzzing over this recently uploaded video to YouTube - Theme and Variations at American Ballet Theatre, with renowned principal dancers Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland, from 1978!  Ms. Kirkland's performance is absolutely stunning - the performance is a must see!  I really love the special end to the video (but won't you please watch all of it).
Enjoy!

Mondays - the good kind

Today was a surprisingly good day!  I woke up at 6:00AM like I usually do, after going to bed at about 10.  I slept well and felt refreshed when I got up, which was nice.  I had a really good morning class for a Monday - (shocker!) because as we all know, Mondays will always be Mondays!  But luckily for me, things felt great and I actually had a really good day.  It's days like this that I just love and feel fulfilled in what I do.  I went and got groceries at Trader Joe's after classes, which is always an enjoyable experience.  I finally figured out how to get there from the subway (it's the only place that I go that I get lost trying to find it!).  I got home a bit before 7 PM, and it was an absolutely lovely evening.  Not too hot, not too cold - a bit of a breeze blowing, the setting sun leaving behind a dark, clear blue sky...  It reminded me of an evening at the ocean.  It was very peaceful.  I wish that October could last longer!
So that's a quick summary of my good day.  I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep and a better day tomorrow!

Save the date - Gelsey Kirkland Academy performance!

Save the date for my upcoming performance!  

Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet Student Performance

Friday, December 16th, 2011   

7:30 PM

Peter Jay Sharp Theater 

at 

Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th Street, New York, NY

This performance will consist of mixed repertory including excerpts from such ballets as Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadere.  

       

Our goal: a sold-out performance  

How you can help: Save the date, spread the word to your friends and family who might be interested in seeing a fantastic evening of beautiful Classical Ballet! 

Tickets:  http://www.symphonyspace.org/event/7222-gelsey-kirkland-academy-presents

Why I Dance: Candace Bouchard

When I read this article, I couldn't believe how many of the similar feelings and emotions I have experienced, like Candace, in the joys and fulfillment of dance!  She so beautifully expresses the complexities of what we experience as artists...  

-Bunhead

Oregon Ballet Theatre soloist Candace Bouchard as Dewdrop in Balanchine's Nutcracker  Photo by Blaine Truitt Covert, Courtesy OBT ©Balanchine Trust

"Oregon Ballet Theatre soloist Candace Bouchard is an elegant, meticulous, and versatile dancer. She savors the challenge of highly technical roles, such as Dewdrop in Balanchine’s Nutcracker, while also welcoming the experimentation of more contemporary works—it’s a process she calls “sacred.”

Bouchard grew up in St. Louis, MO, where she received her early ballet training with St. Louis Ballet. At 16, she continued her training at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and eventually went on to study at Ballet Academy East in Manhattan. In 2003 she joined OBT as an apprentice, and she entered the corps in 2004. There she has danced a broad range of the repertoire, from Balanchine’s Apollo to Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude. She has also founded and choreographed for OBT’s Uprising series, a collaborative effort among OBT dancers and local musicians that brings classical ballet to intimate, nontraditional venues.

"One of my first memories is running around the garage while my dad was doing something useful—fixing a car, building shelves, organizing his tools. I was jumping off the garbage can, yelling, “I’m a dancing butterfly! I’m a dancing butterfly!” I don’t know where the desire to dance originated. As long as I can remember, I’ve loved moving to music.

After much begging, my parents put me in ballet before they knew what that would eventually entail. For years, I took tap and jazz as well, mostly just to be dancing as much as possible. I don’t know why it was always ballet for me. Somehow, the long lines and lush music gave me both the structure and the space to put all my emotions. I was a quiet child, but when I danced, be it in the studio or in my bedroom, everything that mattered in my world came to the surface, floating out of and around me like a pulsing, color-rich mist.  

I think my first pair of pointe shoes came at age 11. For me, they were just another tool toward building a life full of dance. I knew that to continue in ballet, I needed to dance on pointe, so I did. It wasn’t about the magic of the pretty pink shoes that the other girls were wrapped up in—sleeping with them under the pillow and such. But I wanted them badly because it meant I was one step closer to being a professional dancer. As soon as I learned that was a job you could have, it was the only option for me. I enjoyed school, I enjoyed learning, I enjoyed challenges wherever they presented themselves. Nothing, however, could compare to the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual fulfillment of ballet class or the pure elation of performance.  

Today, the reasons I dance remain the same, but I understand the drive a little more. I see beauty around me all the time. In a perfect sunny day or in the expression of immense grief, I know there are incredible, universal rhythms presenting themselves to us all, binding us to each other and to all that we don’t yet understand. Often, they flit by without being observed. There is a need in me to take those moments in, let them saturate me, and then meticulously squeeze them out into the world. So many people have to spend their work weeks taking care of the necessary tasks that keep our lives running. I don’t want them to feel they have to give up on the magical for the sake of security, success, or sanity.

In performance, there is a chance to stand up in front of my community and share the most full parts of life with whoever is willing to watch. Everyone deserves to feel these extremes of emotion—these perfect, elegant dimensions and proportions that resonate in all of us. However I can bring that to people, I will. Yes, we struggle to live the life of an artist, but through that struggle, we experience something so rare, delicate, and powerful that there is no question of having it any other way.

Dancing allows me into the sacred space inhabited by the infinite, the glorious, the profound. The space that no superlatives can adequately describe. The opportunity to occupy that place both drives me and leaves me feeling that I owe a debt to the rest of the world. Performing is an attempt to repay that debt. Dance is both my blissful struggle and my elusive solution."

From Dance Magazine:   http://dancemagazine.com/issues/October-2011/Why-I-Dance-Candace-Bouchard

October!

It's really been a while here on the blog! My apologies for the lack of posts in basically what adds up to be a month of time with no Bunhead! I've been busy but good. Today is Columbus Day, and I actually have off. (Surprise!) Right now I'm sitting on my deck at home in this glorious October afternoon warm weather, enjoying doing nothing. I get rather lazy in my short time off. Actually, I spent this morning organizing clothes and doing laundry for this coming week, so it's not all leisure. So what have I been up to lately? My program started on September 12th. I had a really good first week, commuting in by bus, and staying with friends in NJ. These past 3 weeks I have been staying with wonderful friends in NJ. I am so grateful to them for helping me out! I don't mind commuting, actually - it's just expenses that can weigh you down. I am excited because I am very close to getting a place to stay in Manhattan ( I just need to interview this week) and then I will be settled for the rest of the year! So this of course is great news and I can't wait to finalize it. I absolutely love my school, instructors, classmates and the entire environment in which I am studying! It is amazing hard work and I am humbled by so many people that have helped to get me here and those that I am surrounded by everyday. The program is fantastic, really, but it doesn't mean you won't be exhausted by the end of the day. I have improved so much just from the summer intensive, which is such a great feeling and really makes one see the truth in the curriculum they have to offer.

A rough example of daily schedule, often shifting depending on the day or how the schedule has been organized for the week will look something like this:
Core Dynamics 9:00am (minimum a half hour class, usually 45 minutes or longer)
15 minute break
Technique class - usually 10:30am or so - 11:45
15 minute break    (All classes usually have a 15 minute break in between unless it's the "lunch break" which often isn't that long! Mostly, the 15 minutes will just get you enough time to re-fill your water bottle, go to the bathroom, and grab whatever you need out of your locker (i.e. tutu, character shoes, etc).) 
Noon-ish Pointe/Variations, Pas de Duex, or Stretch class, depending on the day/schedule
Half hour or 45 minute break for lunch
Afternoon classes, either 2 or 3 - Repertoire, Stretch, Pointe/Variations, Drama/Mime, Bournonville Enchainment, Character, or Music, as well as optional classes such as stretch or upper bodywork.  Usually the day will finish at 4:30 or by 4:45; if there are optional classes and people stay to take them, the day will finish at 5:45.  It really isn't bad at all, but you definitely will have the potential to feel tired, sore and achy.  Woe to you after a long day if you can't get a seat on the subway... AND the bus...

So that's what I've been doing for these past 3 weeks...  I've been commuting by bus daily, which I actually don't mind.  The past two weeks, where I was staying, I had a very fast commute that usually took a half hour, which was really nice.  Everything was going pretty seamlessly until I got sick this past week.  It was really weird - it started with a nasty allergy attack and gradually morphed over the next day and a half until I found myself with fever and chills.  The next morning, after a truly horrible night, I definitely had a fever, but went in to classes anyway.  What was I going to do, stay home and do nothing?  I could not miss classes, really - I've seen too many people take off for just a little cold or something.  People at school thought I was crazy and told me to "go home!".  I took core and tech ( I felt pretty much fine, just really hot) and then sat out for two classes.  My fever went down and I was okay to finish rest of the day.  The next morning I felt so much better, it was amazing.  That feeling kind of went away as the day went on, but I was feeling good about not having missed a day through everything.  It's one thing to be really, really sick - i.e., vomiting, unable to get out of bed, pounding headache - but if you're just feeling "off" you should really make the effort.  If I had had a migraine I wouldn't have gone, but a sore neck, scratchy throat and fever isn't, in my book at least, an excuse to not be there.  Ironically, my class had perfect attendance the day I had the fever!

So, bad that it may be for me to justify going in "sick", I stuck it out, eventually working through what morphed into a cough/cold.  What can I say, I'm hardcore.  I definitely took care of myself and took a lot of medicine, and I'm pretty much fine now - just a bit of a cough and funny sounding voice (okay, I sound too much like a frog for my tastes!).  But I'm pretty sure that most everything will be cleared up for going back to classes tomorrow!  (At least, there's no talking in Ballet...)  The interesting thing is that I never get sick, and I mean, NEVER.  It was eye opening to go to Church yesterday and see how many people had serious sick coughs.  Something happened this week to make a lot of people at least under the weather - maybe the high pollen/ragweed count?  It seems that's what did me in.

But enough about that, I did get some time to enjoy this lovely weather we've been having - yesterday, at an amusement park in Elysburg, PA.  I have a relative who's a vendor at an Autumn craft and food festival they have there, so I was able to ride some rides with my family and visit with a few relatives and friends as well.  It was a picturesque day, even nicer than Saturday - not a cloud in the sky the entire day!  The weather was lovely - that great October/fall warm weather feeling that is different from the heat of summer and almost nicer because you have the smell of the leaves.  (Yes, I really love Autumn weather.)  So that was a nice getaway.  Yet I always think to myself out and about among others, how people have no idea what I do.  They don't know who I am - a dancer, an artist, an athlete.  I have a sort of secret and secluded part of my life!  I do amazing and even painful things with my body to create and tell a story, convey an emotion, express an idea.  I discipline myself all day long.  I many evenings go home exhausted - tired, sore, sometimes even depressed or downtrodden after a hard day, and then get up early every morning eager and ready to do it all over again.  Many days I will feel extremely fulfilled after a day of successful and satisfying work, but this isn't always how it is.  There are many sacrifices to make, but these sacrifices are made freely and even happily, because they are made out of love.  We love what we do, and we do it for you:  the audience. 

So, it feels good to take a break, to have a long weekend, but at the end of the day I always find myself yearning to go back and dance.  Even if you're tired and low on energy you will still find the magic and the passion of classical Ballet.  I'm looking forward to starting a new week tomorrow and getting back in the groove of things.  I'm really excited that I will be soon housing in Manhattan (yes!) and can't wait to settle down after really being a nomad for the past year.  Maybe I'll finally be able to explore some areas of the city that I've had suggestions to check out, (instead of hurrying back to NJ!) or stop by museums, performances, and other things the city has to offer.  (Even stop by a library somewhere - I have a library card but never time to use it!)  I can't believe it's already October - a busy month with some leftover summer (at least this year), birthdays (including mine... this week...) and beginnings of preparation for soon upcoming performance in December, which of course will be well-advertised in advance.

Time to enjoy the rest of the afternoon!
Au Revoir,
Bunhead

P.S. Hope you like the new blog template/color scheme - inspired by Pennsylvania's Autumn folliage!