It started this morning when i woke up with a sore back, and when I mean sore I mean I couldn't really move sore. I really think it was mostly because this mattress is TERRIBLE, but also could be because there was a lot of movement dealing with the upper back in day one. I had breakfast, which was delicious today, and then walked with a bunch of people to the studio. The first class of the day was Pilates with Laura Rutledge. This class was INTENSE. I am not a huge fan of Pilates to begin with, so taking this class was already a stretch for me, but on top of that, Laura made each and every combination ten times harder then its actually supposed to be. I took Pilates for two years and I do not remember having such a struggle with it, and I am stronger now I'm assuming. That, or Amanda did not teach me how to practice Pilates correctly... Anyways, it was a workout as my yoga mat was basically a swimming pool of sweat by the end of it.
Then was ballet. I know what you're thinking...typical ballet class.
By far, one of the best ballet barres I have ever done! This class was taught by guest artist ,Rebecca Rigert. She was great! She gave us simple, yet effective combinations that warmed up my body perfectly for the center combinations. Not to mention she made us do a swing exercise in between every two combinations because she was " a firm believer in the swings." She said she thinks its important to swing out your body after a few barre combinations, just so you can get the blood flowing in the body more. The center combinations were fabulous! They were so fun to perform! You know when you find that one combination in ballet that you can perform really well, you just want to keep performing it over and over again. I did a perfect triple turn into an arabesque also! It feels good to know that after YEARS of trying to do just one nice double turn that I can finally now do triples naturally.
After our lunch break, I found my way to the school store, and honestly was not impressed! It looked so much nicer on the outside! Towson: 1, Skidmore: 1. I think I should honestly keep score on the pros and cons of Towson versus Skidmore. We will see.
Our Repertory was also taught by Rebecca today, and it wasn't in the Dance Theatre, which was a huge relief considering yesterday I was struggling to pick up the choreography because of the lack of the mirror. However, today Rebecca got mad at all of us for looking in the mirror all the time. I didn't feel as though this was true, but I suppose it was considering I forgot a lot of steps when she turned us around. Oops. Anywho! The choreography was from a piece that Lar did called "Smoke Rings" from Les Paul and Mary Ford's "Smoke Rings." This piece was featured out of Lar's piece, Waiting for the Sunrise. This piece really moved me. I really enjoyed animating myself as a smoke ring, and utilizing the character of a "cool person who smoked" into the movement vocabulary. I wrote down the choreography and videotaped myself outside of the gym ( because the studios were not open after class...awkward). This solo was so fun to dance and although it was made on a male dancer, has a smooth flirty feel to it. I felt myself pushing hard in this combination to try to connect the movements, give them character, but also keep it dynamically interesting. Rebecca in the beginning thought everyone was putting too much attack into the piece, because it is known as fluid choreography and told us to tone it down a bit. By the end I felt a lot more connected to the movement and was told by her that my movement dynamics were very soft and beautiful. Win for Olivia!
Then, Lar gave us a Lecture and Demonstration, basically having the company perform for us and then have a discussion about the work and our work. The piece the company performed was a piece called "Coltrane's Favorite Things" from John Coltrane ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQsvMf8X0FY ). Lar explained the reasoning behind his piece and his inspiration behind the work. He said that his theme for the dance was "to paint the portrait of music through dance." The piece was exquisite. Not just because the dancers themselves are phenomenal technically and emotionally, but because the piece was a moving portrait. This piece was crafted in a way to have Lar's ideas of bringing shape into the space to give the expression of the music. He said he based the dance off of John Coltrane's theory about expression through a simple phrase. In his selection "Favorite Things" he mainly utilizes the same type of measures stylistically. Also, at the same time he composed "Favorite Things", Jackson Polluck, an American abstract artist was exploring the idea of his abstract art and the "field of action" coming from the entire canvas as opposed to one focal point. The ideas these artists were trying to create were about creating an image through variety of different sounds or shapes, but not put a lot more emphasis over one or another. Another interesting thing I learned while watching this piece was that Lar utilizes Balanchine's ways of choreographing. The entire piece was focused on the subtleties of the music by focusing on the structure of the music through music visualization. I knew COMP 3 would come in handy someday!! Haha...
Then Lar talked about what he noticed while watching all of us during classes constantly. He talked about having the ability to see dance and to really "see" what is happening in the movement of dance. He talked about focusing on the entire picture as opposed to just arms and legs. He said that successful dancers learn how to speak the language of dance as opposed to learning vocabulary. We then talked about his choreographic process and how dancers learn dance, but that could go on forever.. I might do a notes blog about all the notes I took in my handy dandy notebook!
Then I ended my day with a long dinner, followed by a walk to the gym, with no open dance studio, dancing outside looking strange recording "Smoke Rings" and then taking a bus to downtown Saratoga. Then walking arounf Saratoga buying a Starbucks coffee, talking to Lissa on the phone, discovering a park, and walking a mile back while taking pictures of big houses and getting lost in campus.
Of course as soon as I get back, the fire alarm goes off....My life!
But a good end to a pretty good day. I am feeling a little uncomfortable today emotionally, but hopefully it will pass and I can get my confidence back. A nice note that I saw today however was something that was on a T-shirt of a company member's back, it read:
"Why be extraordinary when you can be yourself?"
I need to live by that.
I also saw one from Lady GaGa that read:
"Don't be insecure if your heart is pure."
That too.
What a long post!
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