Week Off.

This weekend was an interesting one as far as rehearsals go. 

We had our first 8 hour rehearsal on Saturday, mostly for swans, but the other bit being for Act III. We had I think three or four girls out for rehearsal, which really wasn’t bad considering it was the first day of spring break for most of the school kids. The girls that were gone the week before were almost all there, so they were able to learn what was missed and we were also able to finish swans altogether. 

The girl who has missed almost all of the rehearsals wasn’t there again (she was the almost from the sentence before this) and Ms Munro switched me with the girl who was covering her. Neither of us had ever done the role we were now assigned to, so we gave each other a crash course and did the best we could. I made a hot mess of myself the first run through, trying to figure out where she was in order, but thankfully the girls near were very helpful and I was better the second run through. My ankle is still a bit tender, and I wish I knew what to do to help it, but I made it through rehearsal alright, just stayed off pointe for the day since I knew we’d have this week off of classes. 

All in all rehearsal went well. If they expect to teach the girl whose always missing everything she doesn’t know, I don’t know how they’ll do it because it is a lot to learn. I tried going over what the girl I had been covering for two weeks before rehearsal and hardly got halfway through. Even then, she was very confused. It’s more than just doing some moves. It’s the beat of the movement, it’s the accent, it’s the head placement, it’s the arm specifications, it’s the specific blocking of the movement. It’s all these things and more, not to mention working with the other girls around you. How do you expect to be part of a corps if you’re not there to know how the rest of the corps moves? 

That whole situation is out of my hands, so I try not to think about it too much. 

For Act III, I’m a Court Lady. We have these giant hoop skirts that don’t allow much movement, so it’s more of a mime sort of role. We stand there and look pretty and give expression. So that rehearsal was fine. Actually, I found the hardest part to be the standing. Since my right leg is longer, just standing there hurts my right side. It’s easier when we’re moving because the weight is typically on one leg or the other. 

Sunday we got more progress on Act I, where I am a Hunts Woman. This is the role I was given that has some sort of dancing in it. It’s not complex, though simple things are what I seem to mess up the most. There are just a ton of people involved in the Act, since it has all the villagers in it as well. I wrote down as much as I could of the blocking and choreography, so hopefully I remember it all come this next Sunday. I get gotten after more for this role than I do in swans, and I get gotten after in swans. Haha! 

We haven’t had classes this week since most of the schools are on break, and I took advantage of the last two days to not dance. 

Which sucked. 

And was hard. 

And I should probably take the rest of the week, but my body is angry for doing nothing. My back started hurting, and my stomach has been getting sick. Not to mention how sore my muscles all are. I’m dog sitting today, so I decided to do a bit of my own barre, just to do something. Also to sort of ease my ankle back into movement, since Sunday I have to go full out again. The dog decided this was prime time to mosey around, walking–and then stalling–between my legs so I couldn’t move, then parking it right by my face when I was doing crunches. 

Usually I hate crunches, but they have this rug that I swear is a slice of the fluffiest whatever you’ve ever felt. 

  
This house also has a really deep bath tub, so I’m finally able to soak my ankle. I’m hoping it helps, though I don’t really know what soaking actually does. But whatever. I’ll go with the professional recommendation. 

Here’s a time lapse of the barre I did. Please excuse the beginning. I don’t have iMovie on my phone yet and it won’t let me download it without wifi. Haha, the struggle. 

  And for kicks, here’s a terrible quality picture of Annabelle, the dog I’m watching. She’s a hoot. And currently snoring 😀