Photo Credit: Phil Wayes

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Oh, for the love.

We open in eight days. Count'em. Eight. That is one more than seven. That is a week from tomorrow.

It is going to be great.

It hasn't been an easy process for me. The movement doesn't come naturally to me-- I am classically trained as all get-out, and this movement is definitely contemporary (Quick aside: You know, I wanted to be a contemporary ballet dancer because I love ballet/don't have a classical ballet body-- but it turns out that it's a huge brain block for me. Ballet? Fine. Modern? Fine. Mix them together in a way where the balance between the classical and the contemporary is quite delicate? My brain explodes and my body refuses to cooperate). So, no, has not been easy. But it's getter better, getting easier, my body is finally responding to what the choreography asks for (my brain is still AWOL, but that's old news).

You know, during times like that it's really easy to let the frustration take over and forget why you do this in the first place-- you know, for the love and joy of dancing. But there are moments where it still sneaks in, and it makes you realize that it's all worth it, no matter how difficult the process can be. For instance, the final section of a ballet that I like to call "Zappy," (not the real title) where everyones comes on in a canon, and it's fast, swirling movement, nothing but energy and momentum and the power of the entire group working together-- even during my toughest rehearsals, that always gave me such pleasure to dance. Or in our other full-company piece--the one that will close the show-- where the music is just so uplifting and light, and the movement comes naturally (even though it's contemporary), and it's just so fun that you just can't but grin the whole time. Those times-- even on the worst days, remind me that I am doing this for A Reason. I've said it before, I'll say it again-- being a dancer ain't easy. But we do it because we love it.

And now-- on a lighter note!--Here's your moment of Zen:

"Alternate versions of The Little Engine that Could: The little engine that did and then found out it was overrated and then got disillusioned with life and stopped showering."
~ From this post over at The Bloggess. There's a whole list of them and her blog is great, so check it out (Thanks for not suing me, Jenny The Bloggess!).

1 comment:

Amy Arnaz said...

Very fun blog, M. Butterfly! And yes, dancing ain't easy but we do it because we love it (even us older gals still love it!) Found you thru The Royal Ballet blog and glad I did. Amy Arnaz