tech

it's tech week so the five year olds' class was held in the same building as the theatre, which made it easy for me to pop into chanda's rehearsal.

 
receiving notes for a group piece she's dancing in . . 

(her friend amelia's piece titled, in the presence of . . )

waiting for the lighting designer (serena) to be ready . . 

morningtide, (music by toru takemitsu - toward the sea ii, cape cod)

discussion afterwards with ellen and serena . . 

studio time and victoria arrives

i had fun accompanying chanda to her dance rehearsal this afternoon. she is working on a piece for ellen's alumni show next saturday. morgan is working on a piece also - actually two pieces - one with deychen and one with krista . . and then helping with two pieces by the younger dancers from two other classes.

i turned the music on for each run through and filmed it three times . . i was very helpful! 

we were at a new studio i had never been too. it's a nice space.

the sky was beautiful on the walk home and thankfully it wasn't raining as i hadn't brought my umbrella (it rained while i was doing laundry earlier).

greg moved his dresser into the living room as our neighbor victoria is coming for a week's visit. she had her wallet stolen in paris while at the green market and had a lot of trouble re-establishing her bank cards so flew back to straighten everything out.

were the cats being helpful? no, i don't think so, but they were very cute while being annoying and trying to crawl into the empty dresser.

victoria arrived at 9:30 pm and we caught up with her christmas adventures, which were a bit stressful. hopefully, all will get sorted out this week. she brought back the most delicious licorice from finland . . i almost ate the whole bag while we sipped tea. (oh! and victoria enjoyed seeing the tree!)

campaigning . .

i've been watching the democratic convention (it goes on for four nights! tonight was number three). i've actually never bothered to watch one in past years, but i'm intent on voting the current adminstration out of office and, so, am very interested in how the democrats are framing their fight. bruce springsteen lent his song the rising to the campaign - it's such a beautiful tune - and i like the video that was made to promote biden and harris.

one of my favorite images in it is of the dancer silhouetted against a large window - it reminded me of so many rehearsals the girls had at dance theatre workshop with ellen:

 from march 16, 2012 (i didn't think i'd have to go back eight years for this particular memory!)

poetry and a studio rehearsal on a cold day

salutation to the dawn

look to this day:
for it is life, the very life of life.
in its brief course
lie all the verities and realities of your existence.
the bliss of growth,
the glory of action,
the splendor of acievement
are but experiences of time.

for yesterday is but a dream
and tomorrow is only a vision;
and today well-lived, makes
yesterday a dream of happiness
and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
look well therefore to this day;
such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn!

----

 i went with chanda to her studio rehearsal this morning, and had a chobani yogurt breakfast.

i mostly knitted while she worked and tried to get "unstuck" in her choreography . . 

 after two hours of trying to get unstuck . . 

 you can see what a grey day it was . . 

 everyone was in hats and coats again, after such a warm and sunny saturday.

 but everything still keeps blooming . . 

 here are the callery pear trees on west 11th street . . 

 daffodils shining for us instead of the sun . .

and now it's raining as i post this. i was supposed to meet greg for dinner with a hs school teacher friend of his, who is in town for an education conference (she's been a college academic for the past 30 years), but i stayed home instead . .

sunday . . reading, cooking and rehearsing

i like to see it lap the miles

i like to see it lap the miles -

and lick the valleys up -

and stop to feed itself at tanks -

and then - prodigious step

around a pile of mountains -

and supercilious peer

in shanties - by the sides of roads -

and then a quarry pare

to fit its ribs

and crawl between

complaining all the while

in horrid - hooting stanza -

then chase itself down hill -

and neigh like boanerges -

then - punctual as a star

stop - docile and omnipotent

at its own stable door.

emily dickinson, c. 1862

 chanda picked the poem and greg made the omelettes for breakfast this morning.

after working on her coursera logic class, and reviewing her italian, chanda and i went looking for a bathing suit and sneakers for her before getting to the studio for a dance rehearsal.

 coming home we passed a grove of forsythia along houston street at the i. m. pei apartment buildings.

 before leaving the house this afternoon, i had prepared a cauliflower casserole that eva had shared with me. greg put it in the oven so it was ready when we came home. thanks so much eva, it was delicious.

dance studies and the olympics

ellen has asked chanda to dance the vermeer role for her monday class, so she's been studying korrina's dvd to learn it (korrina was about 14 when she did this).

(it was my sister with my mom on the phone call.)

we've also been watching the olympics and really enjoyed seeing red gerard's winning slopestyle run:

and chloe kim's two amazing runs on the halfpipe. you should be able to see a video of it here from digg. i get shivers down my spine watching her do this.

dress rehearsal photos

pics from chanda's dance titled november . . 

 pics from morgana's dance titled breach . . 

 pics from their friend amelia's dance which chanda was in . . 

i can't believe i didn't take any video!