Well! It's HOT! (Thus the red text color, obviously!) I, for one, wasn't expecting temperatures to go up so high until later in the afternoon so you'd better believe I was some kind of thankful when I walked out my door at 9 A.M. headed to rehearsal in comfy dance clothes instead of the skinny jeans I was contemplating putting on up until I decided I didn't feel like hauling a ton of clothes around all day. Wow!! But it's summertime, so I'm not going to complain about it! (Nah, yes I will. Just ignore me when I do or tell me to cut it out! Haha! :) But I will say this...Thanks to all this nasty sweating--I mean, nasty heat sweat--I. smell. terrible. Yiiiikes!)
Today has been a right wonderful day of dance, and it's not over yet! This morning started off creatively at DANY studios with Calen and Kathy, and it felt really great to be back in the studio for the purposes of the creative process. As you may know by now, I love taking dance classes. If it was an option to be a professional dance class taker, I may opt to be just that. But besides a really great dance class, there's nothing I love more than being in a studio creating, whether it be starting a new work from the very first conceptual idea or learning choreography and staging that's been previously known to the world. This morning was Calen's, who is a finalist for the 2012 Capezio A.C.E. awards (!!!!!), first rehearsal to start getting out movement and ideas for his new piece that will be showcased in July. Ahhhh, how refreshing it was to be in the studio dancing and thinking and sweating and moving! But mostly thinking, and thinking with such incredible artists (who I'm also grateful to have as teachers, mentors and friends as well). Rehearsal began on a good note and ended on a good note. There was really great energy, there were great dance moves happening, and a true joy for this day and that time and all things that would follow those couple of hours was very, very present. And THAT, my friends, is how to start off a Wednesday morning!
Rehearsal was followed by ballet class, a personal necessity for me both physically and emotionally. Ballet class is where the technique comes from, so for someone like me, it's not something that I can let slip by the wayside. Nor do I want to! Jack Hertzog's ballet class at Broadway Dance Center is my very favorite. (1:30-3 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and he teaches a few nights at City Center as well!) He's a wonderful person, very sweet and happy with a calmness about him that I really appreciate when I'm trying to accomplish his doozie of a pirouette combination, and his class is challenging, yet I never leave defeated. Some days, like yesterday for instance, I left class saying to myself, "Huh! He pulled out all the tricks today!" It was like just a string of difficulties! It was one of those classes that I knew would be at least a little off from the very beginning of class. (To some of you this will make sense, to some of you it may not, but here's the dancer-talk coming out for a minute.) I have a tendency to sit really far back--shoulders and scapula sitting so far behind my centerline I can practically see it halfway across the room. This makes for some tricky times and I have to keep a constant awareness and keep physically stacking the bones of my spine so I don't fall backwards, and it's basically just a battle that I could definitely do without but I guess it is what it is! So yesterday I knew very early on that my center was off. Barre went on and it didn't improve and then center came and I was falling all over the place because I just couldn't hold myself vertical in one piece! Discombobulation at its finest, folks! Turning is usually something I really enjoy, but yesterday I was trying too hard, working too non-vertically, and not one turn really worked in my favor. Jack, who is so great about getting to know students even in such a big drop-in studio such as BDC, recognized that I was off, he knew that I knew that I was off, and he had to make the correction because he's the teacher and that's his job, but because he knew that I was well aware, he smiled at me after my group finished one go of it and simply said, "You're throwing yourself a little off...Sitting a little far back..." to which one could only reply, "Yes! All day!!" And with that, he laughed a little, I went off to the side to keep trying to get myself on my blasted leg (with no success, unfortunately) and that was that! (But keep in mind, none of the center combinations were easy yesterday...Lots of surprises, as he seemed to be in a particularly showy mood for our class!) That's what I love about him and his class--he gives great exercises that require accurate technique, a presence of mind, and a love for movement because, yes, you're going to be moving a ton! He gives great corrections but never in a judgmental or condescending way and works with you if something isn't sitting right. Never once have I left a Jack Hertzog ballet class feeling discouraged, even if the class was THE worst thing I've ever taken in my life. And for that reason I am there as much as I possibly can be!
Here's another thing I discovered about myself today. (Please forgive me, as I'm copying and pasting the following sentences from my Facebook status. It's just too relevant!) I realized today that while I absolutely love ballet and get so much enjoyment out of taking ballet classes for the dance aspect, the fact that we get to share space and energy with such incredible musicians during our class time is what allows me to love it the most. Nothing beats taking class to live music. It's amazing and quite an honor to be able to be in such collaboration with such incredible, skilled professionals all the time who love their own art equally as much as you do. Seriously though, there's nothing like taking ballet class and being able to feed off of the dynamics of the music that the pianist is providing us. Sometimes if the pianist and the teacher are well-acquainted or it's a regular class where we all know each other well (like at Tisch, for example), fun things happen and it's almost just like a bunch of friends getting together and hanging out with a little music and a little dancing...Suddenly the set list for class becomes mixes of the classical staples with Top 40 hits with old Broadway scores with Disney songs...I've heard it all, and no matter what is coming from the hands of the pianist over in the front corner of the room, the fact that they're sharing it with us to be used as a tool to further our own artistic development is a gift.
And that's the more "profound" (<--not even) reason as to why live music can't be matched.
The other reason? Because the second you recognize that you're doing grand battements to "Dancing Queen" or the dreaded adagio combination to something from "The Sound of Music," all of a sudden class gets even more fun :)
And then bring on the task of the ballet barre-karaoke duo, though I have been known to take on the challenge MANY a time ;)
Basically, all I've got today is this: I love dance. I love this city. I love dancing in this city. And no matter how fantastic or how insanely hard those hours are that are spent working in the studio, time was spent working in the studio. That is what makes my heart so dang happy :)
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