Halfway already?!?!?

Helloooooo everyone! So, um, where has the summer gone? Just throwin that out there, because this is rather insane. I don't understand how it is already July 16 and I'm more than halfway through my program now! In a couple days week 5 will be completed and that means there are only 3 WEEKS LEFT!!! The other interns and I keep talking about this and how it just doesn't seem possible. There is still so much I feel I haven't done/seen/experienced so I'm going to try to fit in as much as I can before I leave. I also don't know what I'm going to do with myself when I get home and can't dance everyday...I may have a sliiiight freak out. Not to mention that the summer itself is more than halfway over. This seems ridiculous and like summer hasn't even really happened. I think it's mainly because the weather has been so awful that it hasn't felt like summer until recently. AND I'm slightly freaked out by the fact that when I get home I only have 3 weeks until I move back in to Wheaton...as a SENIOR! Crazycrazycrazycrazyyyyyyy.

Anyways, updates!
So last Saturday was the modern master class with Lisa Viola. It was a lot of fun and very informative. She walked us through what is a typical Paul Taylor audition process which was interesting and challenging. The first thing she told us to do was walk from one corner to the other, one after another, every 8 counts. That was all the instruction we got and then she put the music on. Sounds simple huh? But then you start freaking out in your mind: "how does she want us to walk? dance walk? street walk? heel to toe? toe to heel? slowly? quickly? are we supposed to get creative? what if we aren't supposed to get creative and then just look foolish or she thinks we're trying to hard?" yeaaaah. haha. Needless to say such a simple activity made the distance seem sooooo far and you felt every eye on you! Apparently this is how Paul Taylor starts his auditions. Simple, yet nerve racking! She did a Taylor based warm up with us, too, which I enjoyed and some across the floor work. Then she taught us a combination to do in groups as if we were at the audition again. Then she did something else that's usually done at Paul's auditions: she did this crazy combination that was very very different and cannot really be put in to words and we were supposed to watch her do it and try to follow along and pick up as much as we could. There was no break down and really no instruction given. It was just to see how you move personally and how much you could retain in a very short amount of time. SO HARD! haha. She also talked to us about company life and her journey to get there. She gave many of us in the room a hope because she didn't get into Paul's company until she was much older.

After the master class I just relaxed and then took class 4.30-6 and then had choir 6-7.30. We still have soooo far to go if we are going to pull off these songs for the showcase, and we only have like 3 more rehearsals! Eeeek! I'm sure it will come together, and hopefully it sounds somewhat good...haha. Also recently found out that for our closing mock audition (where real agents will be present) there will be three rounds with cuts after each round. A ballet cut first (ok), then a jazz/Latin jazz cut (eh), and then finally a singing cut (WHYYYY???). Of course I'd love to get as far as I can, but I'm secretly hoping I don't have to sing. I'd be happy making it to both dance rounds. Singing by myself in the studio, in front of professionals, kind of makes me want to die (and makes me think of Chorus Line auditions sophomore year which was possibly the scariest/most embarrassing experience ever!). But we are supposed to be prepared with a song or two from the list they provided us with. Which means we are supposed to attend a voice lesson or two before the closing audition. Ugh. Again, whyyyyyy?

Anyways, after choir Saturday night I went out to dinner at John's Pizzeria with about 6 other dancers. Lots of fun! There was talk about a birthday party one of the interns was having at some club later that night so Amanda and I decided to go check it out. Ended up being a lot of fun! So great to go out and have fun with some of the dancers! (Getting up at 7 am for a rehearsal Sunday morning not so fun...but oh well haha) I took a long nap Sunday after rehearsal and then Amanda and I walked around from about 2.30-7! We tried to find the Flower District but to our dismay, it only really happens during work days. Boo. But we walked a lot, hung out at Madison Square Park, and found our way to the 6th Ave shops! Had a lot of fun there! I was still searching for a dress for my birthday (have since bought one, a tad expensive so I still have my eye out, but I love it!) and we found a TJ Max which was lovely. haha. I also experience Red Mango for the first time; they sell soft serve frozen yogurt and it was soooo good. I had pomegranate flavored frozen yogurt with lots of fresh kiwi on top...amazing! mmmmmm. It was a very packed and fun weekend, so I was exhausted by Sunday night!

This week has once again been flying by! I've been enjoying my classes. Actually had a lot of fun in street jazz on Monday and I'm really liking theatre classes which is a new style to me. For the past 2 weeks we worked on a dance to "Breathe Me" in Derek Mitchell's lyical class which I absolutely loved (one of my favorite songs toooo! you can see that dance on his youtube site soon and the one we did last week- "Don't cry")! Tuesday night I went to a 12.31 am showing of Harry Potter with Amanda and Kendall! So exciting! I thought the movie was okay but not the best. It was fun to be there for opening night though, the audience was hilarious to be a part of. Didn't get to bed until around 3:30 am so once again getting up at 7 am for rehearsal was difficult. Luckily I was able to come back and sleep in the afternoon though before my night classes. Today I had a pretty "easy" schedule; planned it so I only had ballet from 9-10.30. Then I went to see a little bit of Broadway in the Park with Amanda (snippets from The Little Mermaid, and 9-5!) and then we met up with one of our theatre teachers who was taking us over to the part of the NYC library near the Lincoln Center that deals with the arts so he could teach us how to find sheet music and make copies and such. So that took a while and we were gone for most of the day. Came back and hung out on the roof reading and getting some sun for a couple hours! So nice! :) Don't know what my plans are for the weekend yet, but I'll definitely find things to do. Saturday is jam packed with intern stuff (master class on improv partnering with Ginger Cox 9-10.30, make up seminar at the M.A.C. Pro Studios 1-2.30, class 4.30-6, choir 6-7.30...) but no real plans otherwise. Saving up my energy for next weekend...my 21st birthday bash!!!!! :) I'm so excited and canNOT wait! Lots of friends coming in to the city to celebrate with me and I'm so stoked to see everyone! It's going to be so much fun and I've still got the plans in the making, but we'll be going out to dinner and then to a club or two. Woo woo! I'm so excited to get dressed up and go all out with my loves!!

I'll try to write again soon. Enjoy the weekend! :)