What’s up my loyal 2 readers? It’s been a minute, I know. Hard to write when you barely have time to sit down during the week. Not that I’m doing much better these days. I’m currently house-sitting for a friend in town, so while I watch the dogs sleep I figured I would catch up and write about my latest week of dance.
This last Saturday was the date of my latest show from the wonderful Santa Fe College. It’s the equivalent of a Spring semester dance recital for the department. We showcased everything that we have been working on for the current semester as well as a few pieces from our show in the Fall. Just a few pieces to make notable mention of:
Kashira- a fierce little contemporary ballet piece from the mind of the amazing Alora Haynes. Google her, she’s my hero ballerina.
For House & The Birds- two pieces from the Brown Dance Project www.browndanceproject.org/ . The first features some slick house dance with elements of modern and jazz thrown into the mix. The second is a dance embodiment of birds; really heart felt and performed with a live pianist too.
Impressions- Classical ballet partnering done en pointe. also choreographed by the amazing Alora Haynes. Not much more needs to be said about that.
I myself danced in the same two pieces that we took to ACDFA just two weeks before: Regaining Breath and Summertime. It was a great weekend and a very successful show- both for the dancers and for the audience. It should have been a pretty relaxing performance weekend for me. But wait- what kind of fun what that be? While we only performed the show one time on Saturday night, we sure as hell rehearsed the crap out of that show. It was this weekend that I truly found meaning in the idea of over-rehearsing. Keep in mind that I only speak for myself on this issue and for this show. I have performed Summertime and Regaining Breath on countless occasions, so I really did not feel the need to have night run thrus on Tuesday and Thursday and then twice more on Friday and once more on Saturday before the show. It had gotten to the point where I would go home and have nightmares about the choreography. I will always understand the need for tech and dress rehearsals but after a while it just becomes to much of a burden on the body. Other pieces were not as lucky to have as much rehearsal time and they were really the reason why we needed to have so many rehearsals. They were also the reasons why some of our professors were pulling their hair out and losing sleep on the nights before the show. Some professors still havent fully recovered from the ordeal. I’ve only had one tough class this week and its Wednesday. I’m usually in a lot of physical pain and recovery this late in the week from class. Although, don’t get me wrong, I am definitely appreciating the time off that I am having now. During the extreme over rehearsing that was happening this last weekend, I gave myself a nasty little injury on my left shoulder. A relatively new injury for me but no less painful than other leg injuries I have had in the past. As usual, the injury was my own fault. I was doing some routine dive rolls that I have done a million times in Summertime when my hand slipped out from under me and I came crashing down on my left shoulder much harder than I usually do. CRUNCH- CRACK CRICKLE. No broken bones, but definitely some kind of muscle strain that I had to fight through to perform at my best in the show. When it happened, I took the injury as an immediate challenge. I promised myself a perfect performance on Saturday night with the bum shoulder. Thankfully, I kept my promise for the show and everyone that I talked to had no idea that I was in excruciating pain on stage.
Next up: Starbound Dance competition in Daytona Beach this weekend. I’m hoping to have my shoulder healed up enough for me to do some serious partner lifting for Cameron’s. I just have to find the right balance of good dancing and taking it easy on my injury to get me through the week 4- Wish me luck!