my body is schizo

I discovered today that my body works differently when it takes ballet class than it does when it performs or even rehearses. Rico Labayen taught company class today and I was a bit out of sorts with that experience. There's a lot of breathing and emotional expressiveness in his classes that I normally don't do when I take class because for me class is the basics - fixing my placement, working on technique. That sort of stuff. I don't emote in class. Well, I emote a little, but not the amount that Rico requires. Also he wants us to dance, meanwhile, I'm working on my technique. Tsk tsk, little robot.

Then, I rehearse a piece or I perform it onstage and then, I dance. Figured this out because we learned a little of his choreography after class and everything was 100% better.

Anyway, I was just really amused by that little discovery. And I'm itching to do triple pirouettes and grand jetes again.

--

Note to new readers:

From this point backward, this blog mainly functioned as a personal blog, so the archives are mainly personal thoughts. Some entries however are still about dance, because I was dancing full time back then, so if you think those might be interesting, feel free to keep reading the archives. This is just to explain the change in tone. Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Joelle
August 31, 2009

au contraire, mon frere

Lucas saw The Pacifier yesterday and enjoyed himself. He says, magaling daw si Vin Diesel. I reply, magaling talaga yon, I cried when he died in Saving Private Ryan. And ooops, Lucas hasn't seen Saving Private Ryan yet, because he hates watching war movies (I swear, mein bruder ist viel gay) and I assured him to go see Saving Private Ryan just to see Vin Diesel die because he dies within the first hour of the movie and (except for the horribly vivid D-Day opening sequence) there's not much war going on there yet.

And I'm glad he's just watching the movie for Vin Diesel because wouldn't he be pissed if he was really planning to see the movie in its entirety and I already told him that not only does Vin Diesel die, he's the first one to do so? Ooops... have you not seen Saving Private Ryan yet and were planning to? :|

i wish i had brilliance today

So that I can write an interesting blog entry. When I think of interesting blog entries, I'm miles away from a pc and when I'm in front of one and connected to the internet, nada.

So I'll focus on how I feel at the moment. I'm hungry. Someone says he's only finishing up. My ass. I hope he hurries, I haven't eaten since lunch. Well, I did eat a few slices of cheese this afternoon while learning Kundiman from video, but those don't count.

My legs are tired. Because I taught modern class this morning and took class with Anatoli at 1pm and learned the Muslim dance from Thatness, Thereness even if I didn't have to. Well, we thought I had to but mid-rehearsal, Anatoli announces that we're only dancing Vinta at the International Dance Day in Koronadal at the end of the month. So I don't have to learn Muslim, yay. Then, I watched Kundiman from video and taught the first part to the girls available and the pas de quatre to myself, Kit, Nino and Alvin. The pas de quatre is actually two love pas de deuxs to "Hindi Kita Malimot" and it is so damn easy. My part is only a lot of running around and reaching for Alvin. Well, I think I overdid my fan kicks because now my left inner thigh is sore. It wasn't sore before today.

I do love partnering Alvin. We've been running Tzigane together the past week because Kit and Nino are performing it on Saturday, but we rejects have decided to keep fighting the good fight. He's so super strong, and I can't finish this sentence because someone is finally finished and is doing things to me, distracting, confounding, dizzying things...

I gotta go. We can eat now. Yay!!!

happier news

My parents, sister and I went to Southmall to buy my sister a phone. She decided she wanted a phone after all, just not the one she gave me that mom gave her when her 3310 disappeared mysteriously (she lost her phone long before I did, and she's been anti-phone ever since). I think she decided to buy a phone because she thinks the new Nokia 7200 looks, as the tv ad says, "ah, it's luhv-leh." So we went to hunt it down but couldn't find it, probably because there's a newer model, the 7220, and they're trying to sell that instead.

I'm thinking, whoa, all this hullabaloo for a phone? And then I patted myself on the back for how much I've matured.

I'm really trying to keep a close watch on where my money goes since I plan to stop freelancing. In fact, I will no longer accept writing assignments from today on (I finally got to submit that article that put me in hell, sigh). Today though, I bought a book on Dance as a Ritual (it looks like somebody's thesis got published, cool...) worth P248 and I had to tell myself after to stop going to Books for Less to check out Dance books.

But besides all that, I'm pretty good. This week, I felt more in shape than ever, and I'm dancing a lot better than the weeks before vacation. I have my turns back, and my form is really nice. I'm also able to hold any aches and pains at bay thanks to conditioning with the theraband (though I have to remember to do those exercises, hay). It's good then that if I were to quit everything for the dance, at least the dance loves me back.

And I started teaching workshop classes at our (family) studio last week. Besides the children's ballet classes that I teach on the weekends, I have two compound classes: Modern and Improv/Creative Movement on Wednesdays and Character and Acting class on Fridays. I'm really getting into it - planning the syllabus and the class, picking out music (thank you liebie!!!), actual teaching. If the plans for my new job in June fall through, I do believe I'm going to apply to lecture elsewhere, something I've been trying to get out of for the longest time. I think I'd rather teach dance studies or similar courses than writing articles about, well, other stuff.

And, to round out the full dance experience, I'm choreographing a piece for the PBT school workshop at the end of summer. There's four of us doing a piece each, set on the company members, not on the students. I started trying out a few steps on Mitzi and Erica and it looks promising. I hope.

I've never been this much immersed in dance - dancing, writing, teaching, choreographing - since college. It's strange. But a welcome strange.

When I left Dance for an entirely different life, I didn't think I was ever going to return and was content in my corporate job and my rock n' roll lifestyle. Now, I feel like the universe had actively taken this prodigal child and plunked me where I really belong.

(Hey, maybe I can go to Germany on a choreography program or something? Though, out of all the things I do well with regards to Dance, choreography would be my weakest point. Eeee, what am I planning, stop planning, stop it, stop it, stop it!!!)