How the Rain Soothes my Soul

It's been raining here in SLO for a couple days now and it makes me so happy. I know that sounds weird, but I love the rain it has always comforted me. I like to say the rain can wash away any problems or pain in my life. I've always loved the solace it brings, like a big fuzzy blanket from childhood.

I've been a little out of sorts and crazy in the head the last 2-3 weeks and I've had very little dance in my life to center me and make me feel better. So I've just been getting crabbier, antsier, and more agitated. I found myself snapping at people when I finally got to dance after my classes were over because I didn't know what was going on, and I felt out of the loop and stupid. I hate feeling stupid more than anything in the world.

Saturday morning before leaving for Berkeley I had a good, long, solid rehearsal for a piece that I was SO lost in. I learned the piece and began to feel the undercurrent of the piece not just "oh shit what comes next!" It was so nice not to feel lost in a sea of unknown movement and to settle into it a little.

Last night we rehearsed the piece a little more and when I arrived I could quickly grasp what they had already been working on, learned a bunch of new material and felt immediately good in it (except the beginning of that damned coat phrase! haha). I was laughing and making jokes again... it felt natural and I was reminded of why I love dance so much.

This morning I'm attempting to finish up some reading for my meetings and classes today, however I am more focused on the sound of the soothing rain mixed with Arcade Fire's The Suburbs swirling in the air around my head and I keep getting lost in the movement in my head. I'm dancing away to a far away place that is so joyful, that I have a hard time returning to the world of financial decisions and simulation guidelines.

Can I just graduate now? I'm ready to go to grad school and eat, sleep and breathe dance...

I found this video from the show at Berkeley, just to think I was right there in the pit right in front of the guitarist on stage right (left side of the screen)

Observe and Report

Wednesday August 25th I went to Nipomo High School and observed Chrissy's dance classes for the day (well from 10am on it is summer!)

Out of the blue I had the idea that it would be really cool if I could observe Chrissy's classes and look at her dancers and really see them in an environment other than the audition back in May.

I wanted to observe the company class for the purpose of, almost a pre audition, viewing. I care more about my dancers' attitudes than ability. They made it to the company because they can dance, but I am a tough choreographer and I want to push the dancers to their limits. I'm not going to give them elementary material like I did in the audition. So I need dancers willing to risk a little more in performance and really commit to the work.

I also REALLY hate a bad attitude and lazy behavior. I don't appreciate it. In the past I have stopped rehearsals and sent dancers home because they were physically present but mentally absent.

The actual day of observing was interesting, the first class was the company.

of course all the girls and a couple of the guys recognized me and I watched them rehearse a piece they are performing at the football game in a couple weeks. It seemed like at least half the dancers weren't feeling well (I guess a flu outbreak or something) so many were marking it. You can tell a lot about a dancer by the way they mark a piece.

I simply observed and in general kept my mouth shut, which is hard sometimes.

Next was Dance 2 with a ballet routine... most of the dancers were far from dance 2 level but according to Chrissy she can't do much about it.

The final 2 classes I observed was Dance 1 in hip hop. This was a lot of fun to watch... let me just say Chrissy's got swagger!

After observing I chatted a bit with Chrissy about random dance chit chat and headed on my way.

The next 3 weeks I'm teaching beginning modern for Variable and I think I'm going to work on material for Nipomo and teach an audition class in a couple of weeks.

More to come!!!