pics from the swarthmore trip

pulling out of penn station friday morning . . probably beneath the hudson yards!

 i was so glad that i didn't drive. it was nice to admire the snow from the warm train car.

 when i heard that the competition was in swarthmore, i immediately called my friend kendall as she had gone to school there. she confirmed that taking the train was easy. we transferred from amtrak to the pennsylvania's "septa" system: the "media/elwyn" line. when we got in, we looked for a coffee shop and instead found the swarthmore food coop. we had soup and tea and sushi. 

 the sun felt so nice and warm!

 my sister's friends were returning from a trip to florida and said we could stay with them, but they wouldn't be in until evening, so we walked to the lang performing arts center on campus where the competition was being held.

 swarthmore campus is an arboretum and is incredibly beautiful.

 however, it was very cold!! we were especially cold after having seventy degree weather just a few days ago (ahem, let me rephrase that to: just a day ago!!!).

 

waiting for 5 pm to roll around . . 

 the lang theatre center is just a year old and was very cozy to wait in!

 in legwarmers and costume . . joan, my sister's friend, arrived just in time to see her perform at 6:15 pm. it was fun sharing that with her and she said she really enjoyed it.

 joan, and her husband dan, treated us to breakfast the next morning at their favorite coffee shop where they are practically family. we had delicious omelettes and hot cups of coffee.

 in her lilac fairy costume at noon on saturday.

 she danced very well and felt good about the day.

 leaving the theatre for a rest before the awards ceremony.

i'm not sure what this building is used for! joan said it once had a fire but they saved it as the fire chief knew that water couldn't be turned on the stone, or it would crumble, so they let the wood interior burn and then rebuilt it. they must have lost some beautiful old wood, though.

 chanda and i treated ourselves to a very delicious lunch at the fancy new inn swarthmore has.

 morgana called from paris while we were there.

 applauding all the performers at the awards ceremony . .

 philadelphia's 30th street station . .

 back home again in cramped penn station!

 rose hot chocolates at grounded before walking the last few blocks home . . 

 we had a delicious roast chicken dinner before chanda leaves for paris tomorrow night.

she'll visit morgana for a few days, and then they take a plane to london where they will visit their cousin and chanda will audition for the english national ballet school.

the classic competition and the franklin museum

we started out with oatmeal in the hotel's restaurant at 7:45 am in the morning. of course greg didn't want to do this as hotels are notorious for being overly priced and not having good service. but, hey, it's just one morning and she had to be at the theatre before 9 am. this was probably one of the highlights of the weekend for her. take note of the jelly fish chandelier in the background. it was continuously, slowly, changing color (red to purple to blue to white . . something like that).

 the competition has been held at temple university in a beautiful old church building renovated into a theatre. they redid their rose window and the colors of the stained glass are beautiful.

 doing a full bar upstairs where the only long bar could be found . . 

 and then back downstairs to get into costume. take note of the old columns and wooden beams on the ceiling. 

 sewing on the ribbons to ensure that nothing loosens during the dance.

 ready to go . .

 so they had a half hour to mark their piece in the space . . 

 after the warm-up she was thirteenth to go . . and it went really well for her. she danced with a bright smile and lots of presence. her turns and arabesques were all strong, though she said some could have been better than others. 

 texting her teacher afterwards . .

 and getting ready to leave . . feeling very relieved that it was all over.

 she was done by eleven am . . what do you do afterwards? eat of course . . after a shower and change  of clothes at the hotel. we went to the olive garden which we didn't like as much as the other two restaurants we visited . . though greg did. this lion was one she had posed with five years before with morgana when we visited philadelphia with friends.

(from april, 2010!)

 and then we were going to visit independence hall, but the line was very long!

 we visited the benjamin franklin museum instead, where they were celebrating his 309th birthday.

 the national park ranger above is demonstrating how to play a glass armonica, invented by franklin in 1761, based on the simple concept of sound produced by running a wet finger around the rim of a glass.

the original armonica owned by franklin.

 facetiming with morgana in the middle of the museum visit . . very strange 21st century goings-on.

 one of franklin's quotes . . which we thought greg would appreciate.

 we walked through the courtyard of the museum to the building franklin lived in when in philadelphia (he spent a significant amount of time in london up to the time of the revolution).

 he came to philadelphia in his teens and worked for several printing houses, and then went to london to see about acquiring equipment to set up his own newspaper, but ended up working in london as a typesetter. eventually, he did make it back to philie and started a newspaper called the pennsylvania gazette. he became involved with local politics and in 1749 became a justice of the peace, then in 1751 a member of the pennsylvania assembly. throughout this time he wrote, helped found a philosophical society and a college, read and studied electricity, ocean currents, and chess, just to name a few things!

 well, just fragments of his house i guess . .  

a very important part of life . .  the privy pit . . 

 looking into the courtyard from market street.

 market street during franklin's time would have been busy with shops housing saddle-makers, tailors, joiners, innkeepers, wig-makers, and printers.

 ready to walk home to the hotel . .

 i love all the murals in philadelphia.

in the evening we were back at temple university for the awards ceremony. chanda got to hear her name called out as part of the top 24 competitors for her age group (15 to 18 years old) out of over a hundred contestants, but it depends on her score if she makes the finals. scores aren't handed out until sunday morning at a local ballet school.