So it's been two weeks with no classes due to winter break for the kids classes and I am soooo ready to get back into class. Been using my NYC Ballet exercise CD and some of the wife's Pilates exercise CD's to try and help stay in shape but it's just not the same. Like a fellow member on a Web Form that I read said "The inactivity is driving me crazy, like an addict deprived of his drug."

Something a little funny

Holidays are near so attendance in the adult classes is dropping and not much going on. Got a chuckle from Alexi in Monday night's class when he wanted to someone (me) to demonstrate for the class, "We need to review Fourth Arabesque", wiggling finger to me "Come here, I need a demonstration dummy" I know what he meant but I know what I and the rest of the class heard. Cracked up.

Done and done

Did our Nutcracker performance last night and it went well especially considering the horrid dress rehearsal earlier in the day. Theater sound system didn’t like the cd with half of the music and quit partway through the show and the back up disk was at the studio. The Mother Ginger platform broke the day before and had to be partially rebuilt in the dock area of the theater. And what I found really disappointing is the professional dancers hired in to do the character parts, cavalier and prince rarely made rehearsals and when they did were usually late and generally very rude. The younger kids were told early on to look to them for examples of how to rehearse and behave in the theater, the amateur adult dancers carried themselves much better. I’ve done two Nutcrackers in the last two years and while fun I think I would like to be back in the audience watching, something odd about being on the stage after the years of watching my youngest daughter perform. Have to be honest with myself as I would really like to do something else besides the party scene, like maybe mouse king or another costumed part where it’s not apparent that I’m an older male. It’s time to return back to being strictly a student, anonymity sometimes has it perks.

A week to go

Don't know whether to be happy or sad that Nutcracker is next weekend. My partner and I are working well together and know our parts and the musical ques so it's easier to polish the little things to make ourselves look better. And the story being told is rich with more detail that I seen in other Nutcrackers. Guess that's the part to be happy about. The sad part is that it looks like none of my family or friends will be coming to the performance. Mother in law has Alzheimer's and is taking up more and more of my wife's time, church potluck is the same night as the performance and mother in law is instant that she and Cathy go. Looks like my daughters won't be there either, one used to be a dancer but go hurt and now won't watch anything, says it hurts too much to watch. Other daughter and her husband don't have any interest and friends from last year made empty promises about going so I haven't said anything about this years performance. Makes me feel pretty down right now.

I'm baaaaak

Been missing a lot of classes and so far only one Nutcracker rehearsal due to a cold, flu, mystery virus that has been plaguing me the last two weeks with headaches, exhaustion and general feeling of weakness. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon. Nice thing happened with Pas De Deux classes last weekend, the young ladies assigned to work with me the last class were extremely keen on working and made for a very enjoyable class. Both were from the studio that my youngest daughter used to take classes at and I was amazed that I could tell the difference on who has been training them. While all of the lifts we did while simple (over head, fish) I could tell by feel when they were coming out of the plie and time the lift almost perfectly every time with little effort. Have to let Miss Sue (Sue Knaak) know her that her former students are strong and have really good work ethic when it comes to this kind of work. David let them know in class that he is pleased with the progress being made in working with partners as it is difficult and you have to learn to adjust your comfort level. Speaking of such, the reverence he gave last week involved the men wrapping our arms around our partners shoulders in an embrace as the final pose. Talk about uncomfortable! I even whispered that comment to my first partner. I’m sure she felt the same way I did. ;)

Say what?

My Thursday night teacher made some half joking comments about the adults doing a performance during DBT’s spring show after we finished out center floor work. Have to admit that startled me a little bit, have always assumed that the spring shows are for the parents to see the progress their kids have made rather than seeing the adult students. If it actually happens wonder if I could get him to choreograph a little humor in.

The Good, The Bad and the Complement

Almost finished with the first Act in Nutcracker, just the exit scene to finish. That and lots and lots or practice. I’ve found the mental block I need to get past…I’m waiting too long when I bow and present my partner so that I can’t get back in time to find her hand and waist and do the next step. Wish I could say that the Pas De Duex classes are going as well. Finding that some of the teens would prefer not to work with me (imagine it has something to do with me being 40 years older than them) so they mark a variation or exercise with each other and only come to me when the instructor tells everyone to get with their partner. So we both end up with less confidence with each other and mess up turns, lifts and poses and I end up getting hit with elbows and hands as they don’t know where I’m supposed to be in relation to them. That gets a little discouraging, dunno if I’ll continue with this class after Nutcracker is finished or not. On the flip side one of my instructors (David Taylor) gave me a great complement after class the other evening by telling me that he has seen marvelous improvement in my work (his words not mine), that really made my day.