Summer intensive time!

Summer is here! (with searing temperatures and hot sun, hope you're heading for the pool or air conditioning...) 

I am excited to say that I am spending my main part of summer at the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet's summer intensive 2011.  So far it is amazing!  I started on the 18th - earlier this week.  I'm staying in Manhattan at a friend's apartment.  It's really nice - I have a great little room that is graciously being shared by another friend that is not come back to use it until September.  The friends I'm staying with have 3 cats - Clare, Patty and Emma - very sweet, well-behaved cats.  Emma is much like a dog, eager for affection, always around with a ton of energy, and breaks stuff!  (Her nickname is "the imp".)  Her fur is very, very, very soft.  She is a pale orange with slightly darker stripes.  The other two are tabbies and a bit older (Emma is 4). 

I have a really fantastic view from my room - and I am enjoying it during the short (ish) time I am there.  (Photos to come shortly!) 

As per the hot weather...  it's been pretty hot in the city.  There was one day in particular that was pretty miserable underground.  It seemed as thought the air conditioning was not running in the subways at all!  One station especially was SO hot that when I stepped out across the platform it felt literally, like an oven.  I really wondered how everyone standing there was not keeled over flat on the ground.  Yikes.  And then, when I walked from the subway out in the open air, I realized that it was actually a nice and breezy day outside!  Why so hot underground!?  A mystery... 

The program has been amazing and super intense at the same time.  The people and fellow students are so warm and friendly.  The work ethic of my fellow students is inspiring, and it is really wonderful to be around individuals that work hard and most importantly, really care.  Our class the first 3 days or so were all friends and really bonded until leveling on the 4th day when we all mixed around again.  It was hard to separate but we all got together during lunchtime anyway! 

I'm so grateful to be able to go to this intensive.  It's absolutely wonderful -- the first 2 days I was sure that I must be in heaven.  I can feel the improvement by the day.  It is a pretty sublime feeling to realize that one has never felt so happy - with their environment, personal progress (a dancer, actually happy with/recognizing their progress!?!), and really, just everything.  It is extremely rewarding to work very hard and actually see the results and feel fulfilled in that work...  coming home at the end of the day exhausted but ready to do it all over again in the morning...  I'm looking forward to going back on Monday to another exciting week of putting out everything to utter exhaustion and complete soreness at the end of the day!

It's surreal, too, to be back in the city, but also really great - especially in the summer.  There's a special magic about summertime in NYC.  Hence, one of my favorites: 

Off! (for now)

So I'm enjoying the first days of my break after school.  Yes, school is officially over after some teary goodbyes.  Onto a well-needed break!  I'm pretty sore, actually.  I had a good last class on Saturday, and came home afterward.  I had a really enjoyable and progressive week. I learned so much and was actually really happy with my progress!!  The week ended really quickly it seemed, maybe because we didn't have anymore pre-performance stress!  We did have a really great performance, and the directors were so happy.  Photos to come when I upload them, probably later today...

So more to come, until then, share your plans for the summer!

Cookies and cupcakes

So it's been a long time since I have posted, I know!  And I have felt guilty at the lack of posting.  It's just that I've been quite busy lately.  Late last week I performed with my little home company - "Carnival of the Animals" - and it went very well!  I really love being at a theater - backstage, warming up with fellow performers, running through a show, and then the nerves as you do hair and makeup and finally go onstage for the real thing.  This performance reminded me that I really enjoy performing - the connection to the audience while being connected inside with oneself.  I actually didn't feel nervous, and really had too much fun.  I'm looking forward to the end of the year performance that we will be having within the next few months (date TBD/TBA). 

I was surprised to feel exhausted Sunday evening, as the performance hadn't felt like too terribly much to me.  (I have full days as it is!)  I would have loved to go to bed at a crazy early hour, but didn't.  I was in bed, however, before 10.  Then I got up at 5 the next morning for a 6:06 AM train to NYC!  Luckily going to bed early paid off and I wasn't crazily tired the next day.  I'm feeling it a bit now, though... 

Classes have been going well, of late.  I'm always pushing myself and so desperately crave perfection.  Things take time, and I'm really seeing improvement physically from even a few weeks ago, but I want so much more!  It's hard to stay patient...  I'm rather sore in weird places today too... one definitely gets a lot of general aches and pains, and it's interesting in the morning as one copes with the stiffness!  But things have been good - I just wish time didn't pass so quickly.  Hard to believe that it is already MARCH! 

I got a cupcake today as it is "Shrove Tuesday", otherwise known as "Mardi Gras", or "Fat Tuesday".  Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, and as my schedule has it working out well for me to get ashes in the morning, I will be doing so.  It will require an early wake up, but I do that anyway!  I'm looking forward to Lent and a time of mortification and self-sacrifice.  It's important to keep one's priorities and beliefs straight and everything else in check and under control.  It's disheartening to see so many people off the other way... 

Well, off to enjoy my cupcake before I sign off of those items for the next 40-ish days.  More to come soon...

Quick update

So very sore as I write this. And tired. I'd say I am getting sick but I don't really feel sick. Just really sore!!

Classes have been great - I have felt an enormous amount of progress over the past two weeks - exciting!  

And now I'm staying at an apartment in Brooklyn (thanks to the intercession of a friend of a friend of a friend)!  It's really amazing and has changed my life.  No more crazy early & late commute hours and fighting exhaustion.  It takes me half an hour to commute - instead of often 3 times that!  

More to come soon, just wanted to give a quick update.  I'll share more on the weekend when I won't be so busy!

Countdown to the Nutcracker

It's December already!  There are 16 days until the Nutcracker.  Rather hard to believe... the months have really flown by here.

Today was a pretty crazy busy day... just one of those days.  (Yesterday was too!  I've been on my feet constantly, I'm reflecting... rode the subway 8 times yesterday - lucky my unlimited subway pass expired after yesterday!)  It was raining very hard this morning when I left (a bit before 6:30).  I was rather proud of myself this morning, as I got ready in record time!  Last night I went to the Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting.  I was a bit off of the side of the stage and could only watch via a large tv screen that only broadcasted select things from the show.  The artists were all very talented.  I could see lights flashing around, and hear everything, but we were just a little too far off on the side.  Next year, I'm going earlier!

I only stayed until about a little after 8pm or so.  I had been doing work-study all afternoon (no rehearsals, so I was free) and it had been a bit hectic at the office, and as NYC is known for pumping the heat without mercy, very hot as well.  So yeah, I was a bit stressed out, though really excited for the night ahead.  It was chaotic when we got there, however, and we spent about 1/2 an hour trying to figure out exactly where to go amid more people than I cared to be bumping into.  I almost felt like a claustrophobic, which I'm not!  It was strange.  There were some points where you could not, if your life depended upon it, move.  But we finally got to a fair area and hung out there.  It was nice, but I had sort of a migraine and was super tired and dehydrated.  (And couldn't see!)  I had to catch a bus at 9:30 anyway, so decided to leave.  I met a friend of mine who is going to college in NYC right by Radio City... we had tried to meet but it was too crowded.  It was fun to be able to hang out a bit once we got away from the 1/2 million people (literally, no joke!) that were surrounding Rockefeller Center.  We stopped by Lincoln Center and it was lovely.  The fountain is gorgeous.  Carmen was playing at the Met.

So it was a nice finish to my day, albeit the headache.  I got home at 10:20 after a 10 minute walk home, and then had battle royal with myself: "to shower or not to shower, that is the question".  I finally convinced myself after much backpedaling that I could only shower then, and did so, and felt a lot better.  I then decided that I couldn't possibly wake up at my normal time and decided also to try to catch a later bus.

But pleasantly, this morning, I woke up refreshed and full of energy!  I got ready in 1/2 an hour and caught my normal bus.  Amazing, right?  I think it was because phycologically I gave myself a way out.  But these things just don't happen twice.  And you certainly can't plan it.

So that was fun.

And then, the walk to the bus in the pouring rain.

"What did I do to deserve this?" laughed a passenger boarding from the pelting rain.

"Nice day for a bus ride," replied our ever-accommodating and pleasant driver...

Good thing I took that bus, too.  It rained the whole trip and we got in 10 minutes later than usual, which got me in later than I usually do (though I wasn't late).

And then it rained all day.  I had no other rehearsals and had to make up on work study.  Heading over 3 blocks from the subway, I had to stop using my umbrella, as in every trash receptacle there were broken umbrellas, owing to the fierce wind speeds.  I had to stop and put my back to one horrible wind gust - so furious and full of pelting rain that I couldn't see.  And then I almost got knocked over - twice, by tremendous wind gusts.  It was certainly an adventure walking 2 1/2 blocks!

But the rain eventually stopped - by late afternoon.  And it got really cold.  So, now I need to check the weather and lay out clothes for tomorrow.  Tired and sore!!! 
We have off on Friday but have full schedules and rehearsals on the weekend, so I'm probably going home for Fri and then bracing for a looong weekend!

More soon...  pictures to follow!

End of the day

Sore.  Very sore.  It's from all of the intense stuff I've been doing.  Surprisingly most of it is in my arms and upper back.  And lower back.  And hip flexors.  And lowest part of the hamstring.  Haha.  Yeah, I'm sore.  And tired - getting up 2 mornings in a row at 5 and 5:30AM, respectively, isn't the greatest for keeping clarity of mind.  Mine felt like mush most of the day.  However, I am willing to wake up to be driven early into the Path if I can, because taking the bus and everything else into the city could take a long time - I'm not exactly sure how long, but probably about an hour and a half or slightly more.  Either way, I have to get up early! 

Anyway, other than battling brain turning to mush (ugg!), my day was good.  Ms. Kirkland gave us a class this morning - it's called Core Dynamics and we have it every morning.  It focuses on alignment, correct positioning, strength, control, flexibility - all of the required components.  It's definitely tough but good.  Later we had a Rep class reviewing what we had learned for Paquita - both corps and soloist roles.  The instructor had just finished teaching us the Mazurka portion when GK and Misha (her husband) came in.  We all had to laugh as the teacher explained that we JUST all learned the very difficult choreography - basically, don't expect too much!  They said that it was okay and that they'd be doing the observing thing a lot.  GK couldn't resist tweaking some things and soon we found ourselves relearning the correct way of timing the steps to the music.  (She's so light on her feet!)  It is wonderful that she gives her time to stop by and demonstrate and generally correct something - both she and Misha are involved in everything - and the resulting atmosphere is a cohesive and comfortable (and productive) one. 

And we had a dance history class - different from the ones that I've had.  We started with Baroque (period) court dancing from a teacher who is an instructor of the style at the Julliard school's dance division.  Everything he teachers he told us comes from original sources that he has researched - he doesn't make it up.  He told us some interesting factoids of the 18th century and dance.  Dance was extremely important - dances were published every year and your dancemaster would teach it to you.  Classes were private and had an accompanying musician.  Unlike a Hollywood movie portrayal, for example, when there were public dances there would be only one couple at a time - and everyone would watch.  Therefore, it was really important to know your dancing in the day of court dance!  (He told a story of a man who unsuccessfully danced at a court dance - it was recorded that he wasn't physically together, off the music, etc.  He apologized and said he would come back the next day better, but nothing changed the next day, and he wasn't seen again at the event.)  So it was very interesting to broaden horizons today in this class and try something similar to, and yet very different from ballet. 

Not much else, I suppose... oh yes, the ballet teacher's purse was indeed stolen, and she has to spend two hours of her day tomorrow getting her drivers' license - when she should be teaching.  Isn't it terrible?! "The wages of sin, Watson - the wages of sin!"  - Sherlock Holmes  

Well, time to go make sure my bag is ready for tomorrow, that I have my lunch, and that I can be fairly early to bed for the long day ahead.  I find it amazing how my days go so fast.  I am awakened by an alarm clock at somewhat ungodly early morning hours (though I admit, totally voluntarily!), do hair, makeup and breakfast in a semi-zombie fashion, get to public transportation and then dance.  All of a sudden I'm walking home, have dinner shower, read emails/blog, and too soon, go to bed.  Then it happens all over again.  Strange, when you think about it all.  Better than counting the hours and minutes, I guess!  But anyway, more soon - especially on my daily schedule and interesting things like that!  
5:30AM, here I come!  (Well, dragging my feet...!) 
Bunhead