Week One is Complete!

So first of all sorry about skipping a few days with the blogging.... When in after dancing I am too tired to think! But now that it is the weekend, and I have had more than 24 hours that my brain can just relax I can give you an update.

The last couple of days have been quite good! Each day I feel like I am learning so much  more and really beginning to execute movement in the way that the teachers wish. My favourite class has been Horton with Michael... he is quite nice and listens very well to his students... not just when they seek but he can tell when we are tired or when we can go longer etc. So being in his class I really feel like I am really being pushed to my highest and most efficient ability. (if that makes any sense). I havent done Horton in quite some time now and now I dont know how I was living without it! LOL

Rehearsals have also been going very well. I thought I was going to be a disaster in the Balanchine piece but as long as I just calm down and break down the movement in my head I can get it done. I think that is my biggest thing... being able to stay calm so that I can really think about what I am doing. Before, I would just see the movement but not take the time to see how it is all connected.... what is the cause of the movement- or as Eva says: "Think about the motor!" Eva is teaching us the Nacho Duato piece that is quite earthy and fluid and yet has such a powerful impact on the audience, and I also believe on the dancer.  Since working on this piece for 4 days I have found a peace in my dance (that calmness I was talking about) that allows me to try anything that is thrown at me. Eva keeps saying: "Not anxious! Not anxious!" and at first I was confused... but as I watched her move I began to understand what she meant. This piece is not just a dance but a lesson of life... that sometimes we are tired but we still have to go on. And the way we do that is to find serenity so that we can breathe a little easier, move a little easier, and be anxious for nothing. Both the Balanchine and Nacho piece have an element of 'tiredness' or serenity in the movement. I have worked this year on being stronger, and more 'hard hitting" with movement and now I am doing just the opposite. It is funny how things can come full circle!

Its the weekend and I am just too tired to really do anything. Yesterday I slept in until about 12 or so and then spent some time later in the day just walking around. I ended up in a shopping area where I got some good candy! Gummies!!! :) and then made my way back to the Hostel. And today I was going to go to the museum but my eyes are heavy and I know I have another long week ahead of me so I just grabbed some lunch at a little pizza place around the corner... and the owner was from Cuba! "We are neighbours!" he said! LOL. And he spoke passionately about the Cubana Airlines crash in 1976 and that he was grateful for the monument that was erected in memory of all the passengers but he was quite angry that the person responsible is still walking free in Miami. (Of course that convo was all in English!)

Meeting him just made me think how small the world really is... that we maybe be born in one part of the world but can go on to live lives in another part! I think it is quite cool!