Bolero

**We're having internet issues in the dorms, so I'm a little behind.  Here's me trying to catch up with the crappy internet at Starbucks**

Today started out with another rousing class of movement, with Mr. Russian Sunshine – Vladimir!  I still think he’s taking it kind of easy on us compared to past years, but it’s still plenty hard.  My claim to fame remains intact though: Russian Dumpling (both feet behind my head) – 4 years and counting!  That’s one point for the little old lady!

After class I headed off in search of tickets for The Cherry Orchard for next week – and met with no resistance.  So that’s all taken care of. 

Acting class involved what Ilja called “a very American etude” which involved interrupting a wedding.  It was a little bit hilarious.   And then the individual etudes involved a penguin, a beaver, a pigeon, a raccoon, a scorpion, a kangaroo, a bear, and a turtle… it was quite the menagerie

After class and a quick dinner, we headed over to the Meyerhold center to watch the fourth year students perform their expressive movement piece titled Mp3 Ravel.  It was an hour and a half of dance-type movement set to variations of Bolero.  All of the movement was very sultry, passionate and sexually charged.  The endurance and attention of the students was really impressive (though a lot of the choreography involved sexual violence, which isn’t my favorite… but whatcha gonna do?)  Now… the music got more than a little repetitive (one of our administrator’s friends remarked that he’s worried that the next time he has sex, he will hear Bolero in his head), and it was probably a little longer than it needed to be, but the stamina and commitment and strength of the students was really impressive, and the Wayne State students really made great connections between the work they saw, and the work they are doing in class.  We’re getting the seeds that, after the intensive work the students here do, can blossom into so much more!  It was very cool.

15642 Steps
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