Sunday, September 25, 2011

A much needed change of scenery

This morning was a big day for me, my first trip to the city. Holy shit did I need this trip. Turns out my good friend Spank from SLO was i town this weekend for a family wedding in NY and luckily had free time sunday morning to meet with me before I had to be back in Yonkers for rehearsal.

And so my adventure began...





I took the Metro North Harlem line into grand Central station where I waited at the info booth for the much needed dose of home. 



I acted like a tourist while I waited




After we met we started walking down 42nd street and ran into a big market on 5th Ave, so we walked down it. (side note on the way some random lady asked us where the subway was! haha) 



It was so nice to be with Spank and have a little piece of home here, I also like talking to Spank and being silly. He couldn't have come at a more necessary time. 



more after the break

Back to the grind

This last week has been NUTS, three 11 hr days in a row capped by 8 hr days and my "free time" spent studying and working on my research paper.

Tuesday was the real shit show of a day, I had grad sem II then composition which I left early for a training conference with Liz Rogers which was so amazing and beyond valuable. From there I went straight to dance meeting for the whole department and met the tech staff. After dance meeting I had rehearsal time that I spent working on my homework and reading for grad sem I, then at 5:30 I had my first showing... which was terrifying.

How it works is, every other week we show during a class called dance making. We are each alloted 15 minutes to show everything we have created and or rehearsed with our dancers so far. Then we ask a question of the other students (ie. what images did you see?). The same week we go to a conference with Dan Hurlin and Sara Rudner to watch the video from the showing and discuss the work, how rehearsals are going, etc.

Wednesday I started rehearsals with Dawn, where we talked a lot about translation and what that means. I'm really excited about her piece!

Thursday and friday I had my own rehearsals along with class which was good, I'm really liking the direction I'm going and simply experimenting. During the week it has been working out that most of the dance grads have been eating lunch together which is my favorite part of the day. I love hearing what they have to say and just talking about things. It has been VERY helpful. 

Saturday I was in SUPER productive mode. In the morning it wasn't raining so I ran to the grocery store, when I returned I went to the Laundromat with Heather and much needed laudnry. Then I cam home and began work a curry recipe I had found here. This was crazy easy to make and for $11 total it'll give me 5 big meals (=$2.20/meal). 



After I made the curry I went to Heather's house to make cupcakes and hang out. They ended up being marshmallow cupcakes with vanilla frosting. However we started to run out of frosting half way through so we out just a little on top and the looked kind of like nipples so we added the extra marshmallow as a joke. 



I went home early that night to gear up and get ready for my big NYC adventure the next morning... to meet with a man named Spank. 



Sunday, September 18, 2011

a river of tears... and a lot of cookies


So this weekend I was pretty sure it was going to be a solitary weekend and quite lonely. Saturday I watched ridiculous sad movies and while I hate to admit it, cried most of the day (let's not bring it up again shall we). Mainly I was sad because I feel very out of place here, I've mentioned this before but it's worse. I am in a totally new, unfamiliar place where people are less than friendly. In our program most of the grad students are either married and/or live in the city. So hanging out is a little tough. Then the few that do live near by and aren't married I see all day every day, 5-6 days a week. Its not that I don't like them. Its quite the opposite! I really like them, so I don't wan them to end up disliking me because I'm usually not in the mood to hangout or be around people after such long days. I also fear that if we do spend too much time together they may end up realizing they don't think I'm cool or interesting or whatever. 

Girls are hard for me, I have a hard time spending massive amounts of time with just girls. I'm much more used to being around boys. Here I don't really have any contact with boys.

I miss hanging out with my nerdy engineer boys talking about helicopters, video games, and the best way to build a projector tv theater at home. I grew up in a neighborhood of all boys, Most of my friends are boys, except the exceptional few females who are the most amazing women ever. 

I also miss Ross and I try really hard not to annoy him or complain or pester him on a daily basis. But I realized he is my only male contact that I have and I miss it. I worry sometimes that I get overly emotional about things and end up annoying him with my texts. But I can't help the way I feel and sometimes I just have to cry myself to sleep if I'm going to sleep at all. (yes saying that makes me feel stupid... oh well).

The other night there were a few songs that seemed to match my mood:




new wheels, old pillow, future wings and some spacewalks

Last Saturday night I bought a bicycle!!!! It's a diamondback luster 1 hybrid bicycle. Riding around here is terrifying though. The NY drivers are psycho and there are no bike lanes and the sidewalks are super uneven and tiny. However it is nice biking to and from school, though I have to carry my bicycle up and down from the 3rd floor. Let's just say I'm going to be super uber fit by the end of the month.




Saturday afternoon we also had our internet hooked up in the apartment which is FANTASTIC! I get to utilize netflix again.  While the man was hooking it up I started on my newest baking project.

Every weekend I plan to bake a batch of something to take to school everyday for my mid morning break.

Last week I made sweet potato scones, this weekend I made a version of Black Horse's savory scone (my favorite) cheddar, leek and tomato scones. I have to admit though... they may not make it through the week. I just had one and I kind of want to eat them all right now.






Next week... either peanut butter muffins filled with strawberry jam in the middle or lemon yogurt cupcakes... haven't decided yet

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

buckling down, settling in and a search for a cure

Well, I have completed my first week of school, and it was completely overwhelming, terrifying, and fantastic. Week 2 has now begun.

my schedule is a lot crazy to say the least... I basically dance from 9am-8pm every day with maybe an hour for lunch or so. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to handle all of this physicality and I am concerned for the stress on my body. Every night I elevate my legs and feet for 10mins, I use my back roller and tennis balls for minimum 30 mins, I drink 1-2 liters of water a day, taking a daily vitamin, and eating as healthy as possible. So far so good, but this air mattress is taking a toll on my body for sure.

Before I go into that story I'll just give you an overview of my first week and give you a peek into the life of a graduate student dancer here at Sarah Lawrence (SLC).



I have class every day day starting at 9am, Most days I start with contemporary class with Gwen Welliver, who is beyond amazing! The class is so relaxing and invigorating, I learn so much from her and the other students. Gwen was a Doug Verone dancer for 10 years and also was the rehearsal director for Trisha Brown for many years. She is possibly one of the kindest, most supportive people I have ever met. She is very different from any technique I have encountered before, but she allows us to utilize other techniques while giving us new suggestions as well. I love that there is no right or wrong in her class (as long as you're not hurting yourself) just a sense of exploration on how to solve the problem presented to us and self learning from how each of us approach it with our own solution. 

I have 3 graduate seminars, which are the only classes with only grad students in them. Graduate Seminar 1 is our research/writing course where this semester we are discussing world dance. Graduate Seminar 2 is our choreography seminar where we can try out ideas and concepts on each other. Graduate Seminar 3 is a mix of anatomy and dance together.

As a first year student I also have to take Lighting design, Dance History, and Anatomy on top of dance making (choreography showcase), music seminar, composition, improv (I chose contact improv). Then I also decided to take teaching conference (might have been a stupid idea, possibly should have taken next year... oh well)

On top of all of my classes I also have 4 hours of personal studio time to work for myself, 4 hours of rehearsal for my own dance piece, 4 hours for Dawn's piece, and 3 hrs for Heather's piece. As well as a bi weekly meeting with the program director, bi weekly meeting with my music advisor, monthly dance  department meeting, and weekly classroom time for teaching conference (starting in Oct), and reading assignments and homework.

Basically my entire life for the next year is completely booked...

So my classes went well and I love all of my teachers, the grad students are so different and amazing.

Over the weekend I finally broke down and bought a bike so I don't have to rely on getting a ride or walking everyday. Which to me was a great relief. I even realized while riding the bike home that I kind of enjoyed it (yes that's right I will eat my words, bikes are not stupid but they are uncomfortable).


Next post will be on my bike day mattress debacle and a surprise...

Saturday, September 3, 2011

one of those restless days

I don't know if it's just me or if everyone has them... those restless days where you can't figure out what to do, where to go, what music to listen to, etc. Today is one of those days...

I was maybe going to go to the city on a tour, but it is supposed to be stormy this afternoon/evening and for some reason I don't want to go on their tour... I want to go on my own kind of tour. That, and it's expensive and I am a crazy penny pincher right now.

I feel like I need an artistic outlet, or organizing frenzy, or cooking day, BAH I can't figure it out...

It's really weird being here some days, I feel so isolated even though I'm gaining friends and a knowledge of the area. I still feel alone and out of place here.

This last week was orientation and classes start Monday which is really scary and exciting. Orientation was awesome and I took full advantage of it. Turns out I am 1 of 4 incoming grad students instead of 6 which is how many there have been the last few years. 3 of us are from the first audition and 1 from the second audition (which was twice as large). All the ladies seem really cool and we've kind of stuck together this first week to figure everything out.

All 4 of us are VERY different, which is important and cool: Heather is from South Carolina, Sabrina from Miami, and Marisa from Brooklyn. I am the only west coaster in the graduate dance program, I believe. So I will definitely be different.

My roommate Emily is also super awesome and is an incoming grad student in Poetry which is perfect.

All in all I am really happy about school so far and my class schedule is finalized and a lot crazy. Well finalized is also relative since we still have to figure out our own studio time, 2 personal rehearsals, and a meeting once a week with the program director on top of that


Basically I am taking a full load of 4 lecture courses, then 9 dance classes on top of that, then studio time, rehearsals and meetings as well.

I guess today I will start on my readings for the grad seminar 1 and maybe work on my memory book or read or work on an art project... who knows. But if you have suggestions please let me know.


update... apparently it was a case of the "mean reds" and Breakfast at Tiffany's was the cure needed