Day 8

Today was ROUGH! It was the first day back and boy did it kill me! I woke up bright and early at 7:15 AM and get ready. I got my stuff together had breakfast and left for the studio around 8:00. I arrived at the studio around 8:25 and stretched before class. I then had Yoga with Nicole again. She is a great yoga instructor! She really mixed up the practice and incorporated a lot of new poses that have not tried before. She also talked about the fifth and second chakras and how they should relate to our practice for the day. I really focused on the aspect that came from the fifth chakra which is called "Vishuddha" and is what represents truth and purity. This chakra is located on the neck, thyroid, or throat. Here is a description taken from a website aboiut the chakras:

" The emotion for the 5th chakra is faith and understanding. Because the 5th chakra is located in the throat and governs higher communication, speaking, hearing and listening, it helps us to understand our inner truth and convey it with our voice to the outside world. The sense for the 5th chakra is hearing. Chanting, singing, speaking, reading aloud are all good for the 5th chakra. The vibrations of all these things affect the body down to the cellular level. "

The funny thing is today was all about finding my inner truth and conveying it to others. During ballet today I spent the barre work being very confused and was on the surface of the steps as opposed to being deeply grounded in the steps. Then come the center work I was finding more of myself and my inner truth to come out in my work. I felt as though overall I was expressing myself better. Even in my repertory class today I found myself constantly looking into my inner perspective and inner guide, trying my best to utilize my personality in my intention for the movements. This posed to be quite difficult but on the very last time we performed the repertoire, it became far easier.

Then we had a lec/dem right after where the company members performed North Star to us. It was brilliant of course, and gave me chills. Especially watching Jojo, Chris, Brian, and Nicole I found myself relating to the organization of the dance in a way that became quite emotional. Then we had our lecture where Lar talked for quite awhile! I took so many notes! I will share some that I took in a few. The funny thing is Lar told us beforehand to write down some questions we had for him so that when they ask us we can have something different for them to talk about. Right before he went down the list of names to call people he was talking about fear in taking a risk and fear in dancing. It was so odd, because new questions kept developing in my head during this conversation even though I already had written four or five down and of course the first name he called on was me! I don't know if that was pure coincidence, but I had a feeling I would be called at that moment. And I'm glad he did call me at that time, because I had such a relevant and pertinent questions regarding the topic of fear. I asked the dancers how they overcome the fear that holds when in an audition or when being judged by others, how they eliminate the negative energy and push forward. The first person to jump to the question was Jenna, and the thing that she said was "Trust yourself." This was very ironic considering this topic had been coming up all day! Learn to trust that you have what it takes and everything will fall in place. It was funny because almost every dancer commented on this question, which means they all experience fear all the time. Sometimes I feel like because some people have reached their goals and made it into a company and have successfully achieved some of their dreams, we look up to them like they are Gods and Goddesses and forget that they are people too and they are or have before experienced the same feelings in some dosage or another. This question really did help me however, because it made me feel as though there is hope for me in some way. If I can learn to trust myself and be honest in my intention and integrity of dance, I will find a way to make it far.

Then, after a short dinner, back to rehearsal I went. I am in Jojo's piece, and the first thing he told me prior to entering the rehearsal was to bring an apple..and boy did we use those apples. I am interested to see where this piece will go tomorrow in rehearsal. But after a long day of dance, it is time for bed. Tootles. <3



"Good dancing is thousands of details strung together and it takes a lot of time and paitience."- Jeanne Solan

"Technique is where we begin, artistry is where we end."- Lar

"...This is a study of humanity." - Lar about Dance