I'm bacckkk!! Back from Cuba that is. I was gone from the 18th to the 25th (yes I spent my Xmas day travelling on a bus, plane and taxi cab) and just finished celebrating my belated Xmas with family. These past 2 weeks seemed to just fly by, but while I was in Cuba, time seemed to be moving slower than usual. I believe it's because I did not have access to my blackberry, so I felt like I had no sense of time or responsibility, it actually made me feel more anxious than anything, which is terrible! How sad is it that I can't even relax without clutching to my blackberry and checking my messages every 5 minutes? Something is definately wrong with that picture, and I am positive it's not just me that feels this way.Our whole society in general is hooked on these technological mind-numbing gadgets, but this isn't new, this was just the first time I was able to see firsthand how much of an addict I am. Thanks Cuba!
But besides my withdrawls from the outside world, I would say overall I had a good time. The beach and poolside were beautiful. The resort staff was just lovely and I got to really bond with my family. It made me sad to see the poor Cuban people working so hard for us, cleaning, cooking, entertaining, yet they never expected a tip. I felt so uncomfortable being waited on and treated like a queen. While we were on the beach, we overheard that lifeguards make 10 pesos per week!! Per week people!! That is probably equivalent to 15 dollars a week. I couldn't believe it, but then I looked at how much they love life and seem so happy. At first I didn't understand how they could make so little and be so content, but then I figured they probably don't even realize what they are missing because they don't have luxuries like we do in North America. These people probably don't care about facebook updates, or obtaining the latest Iphone, because their culture doesn't care for it. I wonder how much happier our society would be if we made life a bit simpler by toning down technology use, limiting our beauty and spa appointments, owning less "stuff". Could simplicity be the answer to finding true happiness? I am starting to believe it to be true.
Speaking of simple living, I have decided to spend the rest of my holidays at home with my parents in the country. There's nothing better han coming home to family, my dog, and curling up on the couch by the fire and reading a nice book. I will have to wake up a little earlier the next few days to take the GO train into Toronto, but it's worth it.
New Year's Eve is on Friday and I still have no plans. I don't care much for NYE, I find it overrated, crowded and a rip off. I would rather stay in with my loved one and go out for a nice dinner instead. Crowded clubs? No thanks! But to each his own, and I wish everyone the best in 2011!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Let it Snow for the Show!
Well I've come to my final post for the 2010 Christmas Dance at the Eaton Centre. If I could describe the performance in one word I would say it was magical!
Before the show, I had a few hours to kill so I roamed around the mall and checking out the scene. And as I predicted on Monday, the place was packed. Christmas shoppers scattered everywhere rushing to all the sales, promotions and giveaways going on. I must admit I was getting pretty nervous.
To relax a bit, I ate some dinner and sat on the bench going through the dance in my head. It was going to be a straight shooter...no practice run or anything, so I wanted to visualize everything in my mind beforehand.
About 20 minutes before showtime everyone met up to change and grab the flowers (I picked a nice purple one) and we headed down to our "stage" area. Once we got downstairs, a huge sea of shoppers were planted around the tree. I quickly panicked wondering how on earth we were going to dance through all of the people, but thankfully security helped clear the crowd our of our dance space. And then the tree lights lit up, the hall dimmed and we were on!
It was amazing to see the huge crowd wathching. I love having a big audience! Surprisingly, I get less nervous with a big crowd, this way I don't really notice individual eyeballs staring directly at me.
Once the music started, I felt good. We had done this dance so many times, I knew we were going to rock it! That's when I noticed snow falling from the ceiling! It was so beautiful and gave such an elegant and picturesque look to the whole dance. I couldn't help but smile. As we danced, I noticed the crowd watching intently and smiling with us. There were lots of people which kind of cramped our space a little bit, but we all managed to work around it, taking smaller steps here and there. Overall we danced through it gracefully. For some reason it felt like I had been dancing for 20 minutes instead of 5! I think I got a little anxious once I spoted my friends in the corner watching and taking pictures.
Once the performance was over, we got a great big round of applause as we did our bows and scurried off stage. The shoppers seemed really delighted and that's what made me the most happy. One man even thanked me which was really sweet. I love how dance can provoke all sorts of emotions and can captivate almost anyone.
And so folks, that is the end. This was yet another wonderful experience with the National Ballet School Adult Class. Hopefully there will be more to come in the spring time.
Happy Holidays!
Before the show, I had a few hours to kill so I roamed around the mall and checking out the scene. And as I predicted on Monday, the place was packed. Christmas shoppers scattered everywhere rushing to all the sales, promotions and giveaways going on. I must admit I was getting pretty nervous.
To relax a bit, I ate some dinner and sat on the bench going through the dance in my head. It was going to be a straight shooter...no practice run or anything, so I wanted to visualize everything in my mind beforehand.
About 20 minutes before showtime everyone met up to change and grab the flowers (I picked a nice purple one) and we headed down to our "stage" area. Once we got downstairs, a huge sea of shoppers were planted around the tree. I quickly panicked wondering how on earth we were going to dance through all of the people, but thankfully security helped clear the crowd our of our dance space. And then the tree lights lit up, the hall dimmed and we were on!
It was amazing to see the huge crowd wathching. I love having a big audience! Surprisingly, I get less nervous with a big crowd, this way I don't really notice individual eyeballs staring directly at me.
Once the music started, I felt good. We had done this dance so many times, I knew we were going to rock it! That's when I noticed snow falling from the ceiling! It was so beautiful and gave such an elegant and picturesque look to the whole dance. I couldn't help but smile. As we danced, I noticed the crowd watching intently and smiling with us. There were lots of people which kind of cramped our space a little bit, but we all managed to work around it, taking smaller steps here and there. Overall we danced through it gracefully. For some reason it felt like I had been dancing for 20 minutes instead of 5! I think I got a little anxious once I spoted my friends in the corner watching and taking pictures.
Once the performance was over, we got a great big round of applause as we did our bows and scurried off stage. The shoppers seemed really delighted and that's what made me the most happy. One man even thanked me which was really sweet. I love how dance can provoke all sorts of emotions and can captivate almost anyone.
And so folks, that is the end. This was yet another wonderful experience with the National Ballet School Adult Class. Hopefully there will be more to come in the spring time.
Happy Holidays!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Dress Rehearsal: Almost Show Time!
Why is it that on night's I go to dance, I have a tough time falling asleep!? I just got in from the group's dress rehearsal for Thursday night's performance and I am giddy with excitment! Everything ran pretty smooth this evening and we are pretty pumped to perform. It turns out there isn't as much scaffolding and pillars that we were anticipating, so there is more room for us to dance. Since we rehearsed after mall hours, the space was pretty open but I guarantee it will be filled with mad dashing Christmas shoppers on performance day. It will be a bit of a challenge dancing through the crowd, but as long as we stay in a close knit group we should be fine.
We did some last minute formation and spacing changes in order to keep us close together. At one point in the dance when we do our diagnol walks, I felt as though I was going to walk into a store, so I have to make sure to keep tight with the rest of the group.
As we were dancing, we had some audience members of people walking through the mall. It was nice to have them appreciate our dance. They even smiled and clapped which was nice. There were also people who walked right through our "stage" area which was a bit of a challenge, but we must be prepared for that to happen on Thursday. It willl be interesting to see how it all folds out. So far it looks great and we are all well rehearsed. The flowers that we get to hold throughout the dance gives the piece a splash of refreshing colour too!
Come check it out, this Thursday at 7pm at the Eaton Centre right in front of the Swarovski Christmas tree.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Rehearsal Day 2: Keeping it together!
Well there wasn't much more of a turn out today as we had expected for the 2nd rehearsal for the Waltz of the Flowers Christmas dance. I guess this time of year everyone is busy with holiday plans, so the original group of 60 dancers has shrunken to a sweet set of 16. Not that I mind as there are pros and cons to dancing in both larger groups and smaller groups. A plus for dancing in larger groups is that you blend in with the crowd more and no one can really notice if you make a mistake, but I guess this could be a con as well if you enjoy the spotlight. I also like the look of a big group dancing in sync, but seeing a smaller group sometimes looks more neat and compact. So it will be exciting to dance in a smaller sized group this time around. (No mistakes allowed!) :P
Today's rehearsal went by surprisingly fast, we picked up exactly where we left off on Wednesday and cleaned up some of the choreography. Now, working in a smaller group means we had to change some of the spacing and lines. We also practiced working in tight clusters to avoid the look of empty space. Throughout the piece there are 5 small groups of 2-4 people all while taking turns coming on and off the stage, breaking up the piece nicely and giving it a nice flow.
Of course we won't be able to figure out the actual dimensions of the area we will be dancing in until next Monday at our dress rehearsal, but we figure that we will have a lot time to draw out and sustain our movements with less people.
For those of you interested in coming to check it out, it will be happening on Thursday December 16th at 7pm at the Eaton Centre, right in front of the Swarovski Christmas tree. A diamond tree AND a ballet performance? What could be sweeter?! Hope to see you there!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Back on My Toes
Well it's been a while since I have performed in any type of dance recital...probably since high school. It's hard being an adult dancer and getting the opportunity to perform, so I was ecstatic when back in September my friend Jackie invited me to dance with the National Ballet School's adult ballet class for their Nuit Blanche performance in October.
The piece for Nuit Blanche was a Waltz of the Flowers with about 60 of us adult dancers, it was a really interesting experience to have so many of us perform a 5 minute piece in a month's worth of practice. It was exciting to have an audience come watch me dance again, because it has for sure been a while.
And now, 2 months later, we are back again rehearsing the piece for one of the Eaton Center's Christmas shows happening on December 16th. Tonight was the first of 5 rehearsals we have for the show. I arrived extra early, slapped on my slippers and hit the floor.There weren't as many people at the first practice, maybe around 12 of us (hopefully more will be joining us on Sunday). It was amazing to see how much we could remember of the dance after 2 months. In the hour and half we had gotten through the whole piece. I guess it's true what they say that muscles do have memory!
This time around is going to be a bit of a challenge choreographically as we will be performing in the middle of the mall where there is currently renovations happening! We will have to make sure not to waltz into some drywall. :) Once we figure out spacing I think it will look great and give a sort of flash mob kind of effect to the shoppers!
I think they will like it...who doesn't love a little Nutcracker ballet while Christmas shopping? :)
I will update more on Sunday after rehearsal and hopefully get some pics up! Stay tuned!
The piece for Nuit Blanche was a Waltz of the Flowers with about 60 of us adult dancers, it was a really interesting experience to have so many of us perform a 5 minute piece in a month's worth of practice. It was exciting to have an audience come watch me dance again, because it has for sure been a while.
And now, 2 months later, we are back again rehearsing the piece for one of the Eaton Center's Christmas shows happening on December 16th. Tonight was the first of 5 rehearsals we have for the show. I arrived extra early, slapped on my slippers and hit the floor.There weren't as many people at the first practice, maybe around 12 of us (hopefully more will be joining us on Sunday). It was amazing to see how much we could remember of the dance after 2 months. In the hour and half we had gotten through the whole piece. I guess it's true what they say that muscles do have memory!
This time around is going to be a bit of a challenge choreographically as we will be performing in the middle of the mall where there is currently renovations happening! We will have to make sure not to waltz into some drywall. :) Once we figure out spacing I think it will look great and give a sort of flash mob kind of effect to the shoppers!
I think they will like it...who doesn't love a little Nutcracker ballet while Christmas shopping? :)
I will update more on Sunday after rehearsal and hopefully get some pics up! Stay tuned!
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