Day 2
Day two was not as glorious as day 1, I found that the soreness that follows a day of dancing within my means bites worse than that after the first day of African or Robert Battle. My insides are sore, my fingers are sore, and the backs of my knees hurt. My hips, hammies, shoulders are all fine, but it’s the minutiae of me that took a beating yesterday. I still danced well. Using my soreness as a guide to where my body was in space. I remember from school the days when I was best on my leg were the days after a hard abdominal workout or with sore hamstrings. Soreness was my way of channeling awareness. If tensions in my muscles manifest soreness then a self-realization was first evident. Ballet this morning was tough, the instructor put us through the ropes of a Fosse-like class, I lost count of the times we had to do the tendú combination as I sensed them trying to reach our breaking point as a group. Like pieces of aluminum being stress tested, we were watched for consistency, what comparisons could you draw from my 12th plié to me 86th? Hopefully there was none, that the first was as juicy and released as the last, but knowing my body, I am in good physical shape, but my dance shape has been lacking. I feel that ballet might have worked against me today, not taking consistent class since graduation left those small muscles tuned for consistency a bit lazy.
After a quick lunch with some of the dancers where we ducked into a cute little bistro for a simple baguette and salami to fuel the afternoon, a requisite espresso was also in order. Following lunch we had a partnering class. Luckily we were supplemented with 4 of the corps dancers from the company, because the 3 of us demonstrating partnering on 25 girls would have left the girls at a severe disadvantage. Aware of the trust that must be formed between a partner and his lady placed a lot of responsibility on my part. If my partnering skills were not up to par, my girl could be blamed. Justifiably there are some situations where poor partnering chemistry is not the boy’s fault. A girl has to be strong, and self aware of where her leg is. In a finger-turn my job is to maintain her motion, and not pull her off of her leg, in the event that she overcorrects or finds herself off her leg. But not being there in the first place and assuming that it is my job to put her on her leg is only my responsibility if I am in control of the preparation. I found that I did well in the partnering class. I was consistent and lucky to not to have to work with the smallest of the girls. I think that there is a common assumption that smaller dancers make for easier partnering, but often it is not the case, I tend to prefer a dancer that is strong enough to give me honest resistance and to provide counter-balance and counter-pressure to my movements. This is something that I have to work on, but I have yet to develop finesse to my partnering, perhaps I rely too much on my partner’s ability to correct my own judgment. Heh, my newfound self-awareness should help in my understanding of what is to come.
Following our partnering excursion we head into learning variations. I feel that this is one of the areas where my formal education was lacking. Classical ballets have set scores and set choreographies. Like an actor’s monologues, or a jazz musician’s standards, dancers have variations that are common and should be known in personal rep. For those of us unlucky to not know “bluebird” we were given a 10-minute review of the choreography and the coaching began. I was in this group. Luckily at the bare minimum I was familiar with the music so my expression and interpretation of the score had a depth. The choreography came quickly, Forsythe and Meyers made sure that my ability to pick up and reverse choreography was at a tuned level. Like riding a bike, I definitely came to rely on my old tricks for re-memory and perception. Still, of the men, I was the one not familiar with the choreography and found myself first at advantage. The name of the drill this was to see how well we took coaching, picked up nuance ad adapted to what was thrown at us. If the exercise was to find out who grew the most through the coaching, then I did well, if they were looking for who presented the best final product I am not so confident in my showing. I guess my end perceptions of the day leave me somewhere in the middle. Not sure of what exactly they were looking for (assuredly a combination of the two) I say that my day’s performance places me in the middle of the pack.
I am excited for tomorrow. In lieu of ballet, we are starting with a modern class, which should play into some of my strengths followed in the afternoon with modern partnering. Luckily these are two things that I am versed in. I just hope to channel some of Kevin Wynn’s bombastic energy and size 14 feet.
I think at this point I am thoroughly infatuated with Seattle proper; it rained this afternoon and was gorgeous as the studio we were in for variations overlooked the bay. At this point in my juncture, without this apprenticeship I could still find myself in the city, happy and alone. Coming to this conclusion and my evaluation of life here at a cursory level and my own assessment of my personal qualities/strengths/weaknesses has left me with this realization. Through Christmas my perceptions of the city were left colored a shade rose, the benefits seemed a little more grand, and the detriments a bit trite. Events forced me to re-evaluate my perceptions. Benefits lost some luster, and the detriments gained a bit of a bite. I hope to have dinner again in the Capital Hill district after my dinner Downtown left my wallet a bit lighter. My first night here I ventured to Capital Hill and enjoyed the eclectic nature of the district, it’s a bit Brooklyn meets West Village. Not everyone is a scenester, but the mix of people who may maintain an apartment on the UES living next door with a TVestite punk-rocker reminds me of a place where I could live, be myself, and people watch without becoming bored. I want to have dinner there again.
After a quick lunch with some of the dancers where we ducked into a cute little bistro for a simple baguette and salami to fuel the afternoon, a requisite espresso was also in order. Following lunch we had a partnering class. Luckily we were supplemented with 4 of the corps dancers from the company, because the 3 of us demonstrating partnering on 25 girls would have left the girls at a severe disadvantage. Aware of the trust that must be formed between a partner and his lady placed a lot of responsibility on my part. If my partnering skills were not up to par, my girl could be blamed. Justifiably there are some situations where poor partnering chemistry is not the boy’s fault. A girl has to be strong, and self aware of where her leg is. In a finger-turn my job is to maintain her motion, and not pull her off of her leg, in the event that she overcorrects or finds herself off her leg. But not being there in the first place and assuming that it is my job to put her on her leg is only my responsibility if I am in control of the preparation. I found that I did well in the partnering class. I was consistent and lucky to not to have to work with the smallest of the girls. I think that there is a common assumption that smaller dancers make for easier partnering, but often it is not the case, I tend to prefer a dancer that is strong enough to give me honest resistance and to provide counter-balance and counter-pressure to my movements. This is something that I have to work on, but I have yet to develop finesse to my partnering, perhaps I rely too much on my partner’s ability to correct my own judgment. Heh, my newfound self-awareness should help in my understanding of what is to come.
Following our partnering excursion we head into learning variations. I feel that this is one of the areas where my formal education was lacking. Classical ballets have set scores and set choreographies. Like an actor’s monologues, or a jazz musician’s standards, dancers have variations that are common and should be known in personal rep. For those of us unlucky to not know “bluebird” we were given a 10-minute review of the choreography and the coaching began. I was in this group. Luckily at the bare minimum I was familiar with the music so my expression and interpretation of the score had a depth. The choreography came quickly, Forsythe and Meyers made sure that my ability to pick up and reverse choreography was at a tuned level. Like riding a bike, I definitely came to rely on my old tricks for re-memory and perception. Still, of the men, I was the one not familiar with the choreography and found myself first at advantage. The name of the drill this was to see how well we took coaching, picked up nuance ad adapted to what was thrown at us. If the exercise was to find out who grew the most through the coaching, then I did well, if they were looking for who presented the best final product I am not so confident in my showing. I guess my end perceptions of the day leave me somewhere in the middle. Not sure of what exactly they were looking for (assuredly a combination of the two) I say that my day’s performance places me in the middle of the pack.
I am excited for tomorrow. In lieu of ballet, we are starting with a modern class, which should play into some of my strengths followed in the afternoon with modern partnering. Luckily these are two things that I am versed in. I just hope to channel some of Kevin Wynn’s bombastic energy and size 14 feet.
I think at this point I am thoroughly infatuated with Seattle proper; it rained this afternoon and was gorgeous as the studio we were in for variations overlooked the bay. At this point in my juncture, without this apprenticeship I could still find myself in the city, happy and alone. Coming to this conclusion and my evaluation of life here at a cursory level and my own assessment of my personal qualities/strengths/weaknesses has left me with this realization. Through Christmas my perceptions of the city were left colored a shade rose, the benefits seemed a little more grand, and the detriments a bit trite. Events forced me to re-evaluate my perceptions. Benefits lost some luster, and the detriments gained a bit of a bite. I hope to have dinner again in the Capital Hill district after my dinner Downtown left my wallet a bit lighter. My first night here I ventured to Capital Hill and enjoyed the eclectic nature of the district, it’s a bit Brooklyn meets West Village. Not everyone is a scenester, but the mix of people who may maintain an apartment on the UES living next door with a TVestite punk-rocker reminds me of a place where I could live, be myself, and people watch without becoming bored. I want to have dinner there again.
Labels: Audition
posted by Godot at 4:32 PM
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