Dissolved into a blur

Some how the last several days dissolved into a blur of activity. Between the opera performances, manic tutoring engagements, classes, and mandatory friend time of the past month, it seems like it's been a while since I took a moment to breathe.

In the past week, I've been surprised by flowers at the stage door (thanks mom and dad), impressed by my students' progress in tutoring sessions, amused by the tenacity of a particular fart-loving twelve year old, frustrated by a relationship that just won't work, made to feel like I don't do much of value, swallowed momentarily by annoyingly oppressive waves of insecurity, and stunned by the most romantic, passionate, incredibly flattering love letter ever written. In aggregate, I'm reminded of all I have to be thankful for.

New York City can be a judgmental, status driven place. It's easy to lose sight of your happy when it seems as though everyone around you wants to know what you do, where you do it, how much you make, who your friends are, what/who you're wearing, what you can do for them, where you're going, etc.. Even though I was in East Africa for only a month, I forgot how this particular Northeast clime has a tendency toward inducing panic if you're not careful to make time to take care of yourself.

I have a butter yellow dining room. There are three bouquets of roses and or wild flowers gracing my apartment. I have enough expendable income to buy some new sparkly clothes when I'm missing my audacious grandmother. I have incredible friends and parents who are as close to perfect as parents can get and my kids are alright.

There are cul-de-sacs on the road of life. Sometimes you have to go backwards to find your way back to your path. There is no shame in turning around and going back the way you came if that is what you need to do.

One day more!

I know I'm mixing my performing art references, but ONE DAY MORE.... Until Turandot opens.... eeek so excited and a wee bit nervous. (Incidentally if you haven't seen the trailer for the new film rendition of Les Miserables, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cDVdg7gVdg )

It's not easy undressing and redressing a principal singer WHILE he's still singing.... so cross your fingers for me around this time tomorrow night, when I'll be scurrying around in Act II, trying to do just that!

Check out my view for tomorrow night:

P.S.

How adorable is it that the gchat status of one of my twelve year old tutoring students says:

Do not dwell in the past
Do not dream of the future
Concentrate the mind on the present moment.
-Buddha

Well sign me up, I'm into it!!


Love,
A Broadway Baby

Excited to get my cower on!

Just two more days until Puccini's Turandot opens for its season premiere at the Metropolitan Opera this Wednesday! I can't WAIT, and I'm obsessed with the fact that for a good amount of the time I get to crouch on stage to listen to the gorgeousness created by the principal singers.

(Note the cowering folk on the bamboo stairs in the image below. Yours truly will be in the huddle either stage left or house right).

Making magic here, people!!! This is art, performing diamonds of the first water.

Mondays and Wednesdays I tutor some of my students in the lobby of Avery Fischer Hall, which is adjacent to the Met Opera House.  Tonight, we had the pleasure of viewing some of the most elaborate and ridiculously garbed New Yorkers (and that's saying something, considering NY fashion week was only a few weeks ago) on their way to the opening night of the 2012-2013 season. My kid remarked that one lady must not have changed her fashion sense from the age of four years old (she literally looked like a hot pink cake with pink frosting wrapped around her... there was a hat too, a hideous thing with a white veil and GOLD CHROME HEELS I kid you not... oh and she was a grandma at least)/

Debut night for my Elisir chums! I know it's going to be stunning and gorgeous and can't wait to see it live!

Opening night from the terrace:

All About the Journey... What a Week!

Since coming back from Tanzania, I have been tutoring like a lean, green, educating machine to make up for the month that I took a hiatus from my life and my regular income. As a result of the epic tutoring schedule and relentless rehearsals, auditions have by necessity taken a back seat. I decided today they really ought to be out of the picture until October, when several of my test prep students take the SAT and I can finally breathe a wee bit.

But hey, Turandot opens NEXT WEEK! I can't believe it!  (Here's a rehearsal shot below, courtesy of the Met Opera facebook page. I'm the munchkin center left in dark green, reaching dramatically toward the sexy Prince of Persia, who's about to lose his head. Welcome to Met Opera Ballet Studio C!)

After the madness of last week, which involved rehearsals every day from 7-9:30am and from 10am - 5pm (followed by tutoring from 5-10pm ish), this week has been a much welcome respite. I'm back to sleeping at least six hours a night, and not a moment too soon!

I was just telling one of my favorite people that today could not have been more perfect. After having my priorities readjusted by an eye opening, calming sojourn in East Africa, I've ceased worrying about the immediate end result  and putting undue stress on myself. Now, it's all about the journey. This morning, I took Acting for Dancers at BDC. The teacher Bronwen Carson was on POINTE (pun intended, because she's a kick ass ballerina) with the wisdom she imparted, and it was my first time pretending to be different animals to get a different perspective on creating character. So cool!

Then I took ballet and was reminded that I actually kinda sorta am a good dancer... and that as one improves at dancing, things only get harder, but that's awesome because the harder I work, the more diverse visual and performing art potential I can tap into. Exciting things ahead!!

You're sure to do impossible things

Following a dream is like falling in love or starting a business. There's really no good or bad time to do it. There's no treasure map to follow, no straight exponential incline of a success slope, no easy answers.

There's always some crap going on that is out of your control and even the benefit of hindsight is illusory at best.

So go for it! Be smart about it, but remember: no matter what happens in life, we never have ALL the information or best conditions in which we have to make decisions.

Every choice we make in life is a gamble, and the best thing we can do for ourselves is to make sure we have a little fun along the way.

Stage rehearsals!

Of course I'm not visible, but if you look somewhere center stage listing slightly toward house right, I'm scampering around in front of Maria Guleghina as she intimidates us with her Icy Turandot arias. It's incredible to watch the principal singers work, especially from the vantage points that we have on the stage apron for most of Act II and Act III. Maria's come a long way, and her voice is just wonderfully powerful. The Liu, in her Met Opera debut, has such clear lilting tone to her voice, different from Maria's in that its more pure, less about gusto. and the MUSIC!

Exhausted bliss

I love me some dance, but rehearsing for two productions at once is more grueling than I had anticipated. For the past two weeks, I've been waking up every day at around 6am to get a work out in before rehearsal for a musical theater showcase from 8am-10am, then rushing to the Met for rehearsal from 10:30am till whenever the directors are ready to stop. Not to mention the fact that I've felt the need to hustle since returning from East Africa, ergo I've revamped my tutoring schedule for the next academic year and have multiple clients every day of the week after rehearsals are over.

I think the last time I was this tired, it was during the two weeks I didn't sleep while writing my honors undergrad thesis at Columbia.

But just as I think I'm too tired to go on, I walk past rows of stage lights and a taxidermy bull from the new Carmen production, or one of the dancer boys makes me laugh mid chaos scene in Act I, or one of the choristers ferrets me some candy, or one of the principal singers strikes a note so glorious that everything else in my world stops. Then I remember, good HEAVENS I am lucky for these opportunities.

My muscles are screaming after spending essentially five hours in a crouch today, so I'm much looking forward to the slightly more languid quality of movement in Acts II and III, which are on the docket for tomorrow. Better go to sleep soon, long day ahead!

Hopefully love manages to conquer Turandot's icy heart tomorrow, because I need a good rest!!



Lots of love,

A Broadway Baby

Turandot Rehearsals, cont!

Rehearsals for Turandot are consistently more stunning to behold. Every time a new component is added - the dance sequences with the actual Chinese dragon puppet, the principals singing on full voice as opposed to marking, the first stage rehearsal with piano - I get more and more excited to be a part of what is my favorite production at the Met Opera so far.

I cannot wait for the impending dress rehearsals this Thursday and Friday! Until then, more peace of mind, more tutoring, more dancing.

Hugs and love!

Ever since Africa

Ouch

Rehearsals are back with a vengeance! My little quads feel like rocks! Staging for Turandot has been so much fun (and much more physical than I was expecting). Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds!

Hugs,
A Broadway Baby

Africa Updates

I'm reminded by my fellow travelers that I left some lessons out, so for the win:

• Alcohol 100 mL and 50 mL sachets, to be appropriately Tanzo-British with my vernacular
• Riding in the bottom of ferries is significantly more nausea inducing than riding in the top
• Sometimes people have no idea how large they are until you kindly remind them that their ample rear ends are consuming half your body
• If traveling without the company of multiple male consorts, expect occasional marriage proposals. Heck, even if you do have a male travel companion, expect marriage proposals!

I've been feeling a bit foggy since taking my malaria medicine while back in the States, but since my return I've managed to work in three spin classes and a Pilates workout class. Now all that remains is to get my work study position back at Broadway Dance Center and get my dance class schedule in order!

Back from Africa - Broadway or Bust

After nearly a month's respite in East Africa, I've come back to New York City refreshed and grateful for a host of perspective that the people of Tanzania, Kenya, and Zanzibar bestowed on me.

Some important lessons I learned:

• When I think too much or too deeply about something or someone, I miss all the delights of the actual experience. Ergo from now on I will relish the journey of my life and bugger worrying about the end result.
• When ignorant people try my patience, it's a challenge to reign in my sarcasm.
• Sometimes I am a jerk when I don't get my way.
• Waking up to watch the sunrise is an easy and sometimes imperative method of reminding oneself of the natural beauty the world has to offer in the midst of all the chaos, hatred, and fear.

(Sunrise, Kilimanjaro)

• Life is more simple than those of us born in Western civilizations are inclined to make it. Strong interpersonal relationships and the bare minimum of food, clothes, and possessions are all that is necessary to support a fulfilling life.
• Concordantly, western civilizations, despite all our advancements, have not necessarily figured out the best path to happiness.
• Alcohol in Tanzania comes in plastic sacs per 100mL
• If you decide to obtain a skill and commit to regular practice of said skill, you WILL improve, no matter how challenging or obscure your goal may seem.
• Sea Urchin quills are NOT to be aggressively removed once they're lodged in your pinky finger. They are barbed and will just retreat further into your flesh. Wait the little buggers out.
• Stereotypically, Italian tourists are raucous, German tourists are wonderfully detail oriented travel companions, Japanese tourists are badass when it comes to hiking Kilimanjaro at the fastest pace feasible, and British couples who taught for Teach First (England's equivalent to Teach For America) make delightful beach company. 
• Every young person vacillating around in their mid twenties ought to read Herman Hesse's Siddhartha at least once.

With my recently zenned out state, I have arrived at the clarity of new goals for the rest of 2012:

1. Set up Actor's Access account
2. Take spin class four times a week
3. Take ballet class (eep!) three times a week
4. Take the month of September off of auditions to work on my technique 
5. Enjoy the experience without worrying about the end result

Just finished updating my website for anyone who wants to check it out:

www.lauradelaterre.com