Goodbye Moscow.

Well, tonight I had the perfect goodbye to Moscow. Kennikki, Beth, Mo, Dave, and I went to my pond. We sat there and listened to music, looked at the stars, the water, and had a half an hour before the dorm closed. It was beautiful and amazing. We each then stood at the water's edge and said our last words to Moscow and did a curtain call. It was such an amazing moment, and one I think I'll hold dear forever. The look of my friends, the water, the moon, the stars, the clouds, the buildings, the trees. Such a vivid picture emblazened in my mind. Perfect.

This morning we went to the most beautiful cemetary I've ever been to. We saw Anton Chekhov's grave, Nemirovich-Dachenko's, and Stanislavsky's. It was definitely really cool and I'm glad we were able to go. Afterward, Beth, Ted, Mo, and I went to eat. We went to this place called Temple Bar, which I think is amazing because that is the name of the hole in the wall bar in Detroit by the Masonic Temple that we go to. It's cool that we went to it, but a lot nicer of a version, in Moscow. P.S. When you order a salad, it's like shredded beets, not the green lettuce we get home. FYI. I got a salad and chicken in marinara. Chicken = good. Salad = disgusting.

Matt, Beth, Mo, and I went to the Banya after. The Banya is like a spa. Apparently, it's the thing you do in Moscow. There's this sauna, which is sooooo hot and wonderful. In it, you take these birch sticks/leaves and whack yourself with them. It doesn't hurt, it's actually very relaxing. You soak them in water and they wrap around you and loosen up. It feels so good on your muscles in the sauna. Then you go outside of it and there's a cord you can pull for a bucket of water to dump on you to cool you off, or you can go into a tub of cold water. There's also a pool there to swim in and cool off in which was so cool. I felt like I was an Emporer or something because of how magnificent this place was. In the pool there were white columns surrounding it, a fountain which squirted into the pool, a skylight which was all stained glass, and black and reddish marble on the walls. I felt like I was royalty. Matt and I repeated this maybe four times. So worth it, and a nice reward for ourselves after a crazy month. I seriousl felt high afterward. The girls had a good time, too. They ended up getting body mud masks, though, which they enjoyed.

Afterward, I headed over to Red Square and got my last looks at Red Square, the Kremlin, St. Basil's Cathedral. I saw a park to the side of it and went in. There was this really cool horse fountain, and a little canal with statues in it of fairytales. I'm so glad I was able to go here one last time and while the sun was setting. I got some great pictures. I really wish you could be here to enjoy it with me.

In Russia, it's custom to give gifts. Well, as I had said earlier, I gave the Wayne State bracelets to our favorite Russians - Polina and Sasha. Today, they gave me this little tiny book with dolphins on the front and seashells and it's in Russian. On the front of it, it says Good Luck. It was just really cool that they thought to give it to me. Also, that they saw this and thought of me because dolphins are my favorite animals and I obviously love the beach. I'm going to miss them.

So, in a couple hours we leave for Paris. Moscow was great, but it's time to move on. Thank you for everything. Bonjour Paris.

Well, I need to finish packing. Have a good night. Love you all.

Speciba Moscow.

Speciba = Thank you in Russian. That's the only word I can really think of saying right now in response to us leaving late late this evening (3:30am). Moscow has given me so much, I wish I could give something back. But, maybe I have and I just haven't realized it. I'm sure I've affected or made an impact on someone's life here. It's a beautiful thing. I feel like I've become a different person...well, maybe not different, but definitely more mature, more grown up, more intelligent, more independent, more artistic, more creative, more me. And I love that. Something about this place sparks every sense in you and makes you completely aware of every emotion, every detail, every smell, touch, and sight. Everything. I'ver said this before, but experience has been more than I could have ever hoped for.

Today is my final day in Moscow as I've said. Last night we had our last group meeting/pot luck. We ate gorsche (sp?), drank some chamaigne, made some toasts to each other, and hung out all night. Polina and Sasha (our favorite Russians from the MXAT) came downstairs and hung out with us. I gave them each a Wayne State Green Bracelet (I've been giving those out to my Russians, Nicole. Thank you.) and they absolutely loved it. It's so nice how a simple gift can really make someone feel. In Russia, it's their culture to give small gifts or tokens or whatever. Nice. I got Mariana a necklace from the market we were at yesterday that she absolutely loves. it was to thank her for being such an amazing second mother to us all this month.

Yesterday we went to Stanislavsky's old apartment which is now a museum. Beautiful apartment which was built in thr 1700's with painting on the ceiling and everything. Aunt Jenny - you and my dad will really appreciate the architecture and old historic buildings I've been taking pictures of. Oh, and the paintings that I've taken pictures of too. Amazing. Anyway, so we were there and it was really fascinating to see where he first put on performances, where he wrote "To the Actor." Really cool.

We went to this market afterward where you bargain them for prices and everything. I was really good at it because I was serious and wouldn't budge and would begin to walk away and they'd bring it down more...I got one guy to go from 2000 rubles to 800 rubles for something. ha ha. So cool. That was fun and I got some really cool stuff.

After that we went and saw this horrible play. It was so bad. Most of us left at intermission and everyone else trickled out during the second act. Out of 24 people in our group, by the end of the show there was only 4. ha ha. It was that bad. They had no connection to what they were saying, no understanding, no energy, they were just saying lines, no feeling, inner motivation, no radiation with each other. It was very superficial. Oh well.

Anyway, sorry this is kind of short, but we have to head out. We're going to a cemetary to see Stanislavsky's grave. Then Beth, Kennikki, Mo, and I are going to head over to Red Square and try to get into the Kremlin and Lenin's tomb possibly. Then we want to head over to our favorite pond. Love it.

Have a good day! Maybe I'll update again today, maybe IO'll update in Paris. Love you all!

Last Day Part 2

Well, as I said previously, today was the last day. Beth and I started off by going to our favorite park on the way to school and sitting by the fountain, just relaxing. We listened to couple of songs that were kind of meaningful for the moment and Russia also. We then continued onto our last walk to school down Traveskya.

Our first class today was movement. We did a new exercise called the sheep. One person is laying on their back on the floor. The other crouches over them on all fours, hands in between legs. The person on the floor wraps around the person that's crouching and then person that's crouching lifts knees and starts walking. An extension of this is the flying sheep where you stand and the perosn on the floor ends up arching their back and looking their flying and the other walking with them like this. We had evaluations also. Vladimir said I had good flexibility, hard worker, I can push myself even further. Also, I'm great with balancing weight and being a good partner. rock on.

Acting. My evaulation was that I'm always in a good mood. lol. First thing he said. Then he asked if I'm from the South because I have this Mediterranean/Carribean feel to me. The temperment I have is free going and relaxing. Everyone laughed at that because, as you know, i'm obsesses with the beach. So, it's funny that I give off those feelings. I just need to work on my specificity and detail, which I knew. Sweet.

We had the farewell party afterward and had champaigne, crackers, cheese, and grapes. We also gave the gifts to the instructors. We recieved a certificate saying we completed our work there and everything. We had some music on and Marianna (our mother for the month) grabbed me to dance with me. Back story: She's very honest and blunt...because she's Russian. Anyway, she whispers in my ear "Thank you. Thank you. You're perfect. You're great with movement, with dance, with talent. You have it all. Don't stop yourself. Don't ever stop. Keep going. You're going places. You have everything you need. You're perfect." That meant a lot to me because she doesn't say something if she doesn't mean it, or she won't say it all or will knock you for it. ha. It really touched me.

It's so crazy that today was our last day of classes. Time really flew by. Can't even tell you where this past month went, but man am I a different person. First off, I eat scrambld eggs for breakfast every morning. ha ha. I need to start the day off wioth a good breakfast since it's such a long day.

Anyway, we're all going to a club I guess soon so I'm peacing out. Tomorrow, we're going to the Stanislavski museum, the market, and then a show. whoo. Have a good night!

Last Day

Well, today is the last day of classes. It's crazy to think a month went by so fast. Every acting class we start off by sharing observations, impressions of being here wither it's theatre, cultural, people we see, events that occur, things we do after class, whatever. Yesterday, I really looked at everyone around the room. We've grown into one emsemble, one company. Oleay was saying that what we have is rare - to take two completely seperate groups (Wayne State and Univ. of Windsor) and throw them together without knowing each other, and in the end, not know the different between the two because it's so interconnected and one. I thought that was really cool. Everyone talked about how much they've changed and grown up as individuals and artists.

Yesterday we had our last chekhov class. It was so sad. We leared a Russian melody that is supposed to give us good luck, I'll sing it to you when I get home, it's pretty - like a lullaby. Mischa commended us on our hard work and said that our teachers have taught us well because we've opened ourselves, used our imagination, and were free and willing to try new things. What an amazing class. I'me so luck to have had Mischa, as well as James Luse, teach me.

In acting, our etude was kind of sprung off of my individual one from the day before. We were at Konstantin's funeral, and we had told the priest it was an accident, not a suicide. Medvedenko comes out and says that it was not an accident, but instead a suicide and we were hiding it. The priest says he will not conitnue the service because it is against the religion to hold a service for a man who committed suicide. Holy change of atmosphere! ha. The comments afterward was that it was so compelling and real when we were standing around the dead body and going up to it and touching it (it's under a sheet), that they completely forgot that there was supposed to be an event. Our imagination was being used so well, and we were completely invested in every moment, so when the event happened, it through everyone for a loop because they forgot that there was supposed to be one. Oleeay commended us on that also, that we were able to have the audience live with us at the moment so well they weren't thinking about anything else. It was a great etude. Awesome.

We saw The Seagull last night. It was alright. First show I think I can say that for while being here, everything, as you know, has been described as amazing or incredible or whatever. This show was just very slow in pace and didn't keep mine, or many of the people in my group's, attention. Some of the roles were cast too old, I think also. Oh well. I'm glad I saw it. Maybe I built myself up too much for it because I was excited to see it. Meh.

Funny story, today I went to change and put my belt on. When I got here, I was on the first notch. Today, I'm able to do the fourth notch. If I was still in the weight loss competition right now, I think I could be in the lead. ha ha. I don't know, we don't have a scale. And who knows, I may gain it all back in Paris with wine and croissants. ha ha :)

Anyway, I'm off to my last walk to school with Beth and Kennikki, last movement class, last acting class, and our graduation/final party. It's so surreal, I don't even know how to grasp onto it. Incredible.

Oh! Two nights ago, we were in really good moods, kinda hyper, so Beth, Mo, Alex, and I got dressed in disguise and went to the other side of the third floor (the canadian wing as we call it) and pranked them. ha ha. We were all stealthy and put a garbage can in front of one of the rooms, and then saranwrapped the fridge. HILARIOUS. nothing harmful, just funny. I mean, who saran wraps a fridge? Mo and tiff are from the canadian side, but they were all about it too. In the morning, the canadians thought it was hilarious and were just a little confused. so funny. they enjoyed it. Thought you'd find that funny too. :)

Love you all. Off to class!

Oh, Moscow.

First off, thank you to whoever reads these. I was looking back at posts, and I write a lot. I hope it's intereting.

This morning we had a joint movement class with the other group. We did all of the same exercise, but with 24 people instead of 12, and in an hour and a half. Everything was compacted. It's so exciting to see the results I am getting everytime I go into class. We go every other day, but I'm still improving so much within that day off, without consciously doing anything. It's crazy, but so cool and exciting. You're going to freak when you see me do some of this stuff. Movement went really well. Our final exam/final class is Saturday.

Next, we had the final singing class with both groups combined. We began with a warm up and then jumped right into the showcase. Everyone performed the song they have been working on throughout the month. Some songs were divided into three people to work on, or two people. The would split the verses and make it a duet or whatever, and some had solos. I sang the song "For You, For Me, Forever More." It was definitely the best I had sang it thus far. At one point I grabbed Marina, the vocal instructor, and we swayed and danced to it. It was a lot of fun. I was really impressed with everyone that sang today. So many people improved immensely. I know I've learnd a bit about myself and singing, as well.

Acting was cool. So, I did my individual Chekhov etude from The Seagull today. I did the scene at the end of Act IV where Konstantin is offstage and shoots himself. I knew it was risky and could be a complete failure, but i wanted to explore idea of him going in to kill himself, deciding not to, and then the irony of the gun going off and killing him by accident. Etudes are a great means to explore and discover and possibly uncover answers and developments in stories or in characters. I began be rushing in because Nina had just told me she didn't love me. I ran to the drawer, pulled out the gun, sat at the table, held it to my my jaw, closed my eyes really tight. I opened them and saw out the window the lake. I put the gun down and walked towards the window. The lake calmed me and I decided not to kill myself. I went back to the table, grabbed the gun and went to put it in the drawer when it went off and shot myself in the stomach. I slowly died.

Some of the comments were that it was comedic...it is comedic. The irony of him going to kill himself, deciding not to, and then it going off by accident. It makes sense because he tried to kill himself in Act I, but didn't succeed there either. I wanted to explore this because all it says at the end of the play is that he shoots himself. I thought it left it open ended. He could have shot himself, but still been ok, but everyone assumes he dies. That was another route I was going to take; what if he didn't die? So interesting and so analytical. The etude ended up not being a failure and also not being a success, but I don't regret doing it. I was told it was one of my strongest performances, it was truthful, it raised even more questions because it is very possible that this would happen but no one ever thinks of it, and my imagination was flowing and creating beautiful images - work of a true artist. That stuff meant a lot to me because it was just me going out on a whim and trying something that irked me to go further into it.

Tonight we went to the Russian Circus. I asked Mariana if it is a respected profession because it isn't exactly looked up to in America. She said that Russians are obsessed with the circus. They love it and the performers; it's such a part of Russian tradition. There was this crazy contortionist woman would have her feet by her ears and used them as hands, it was weird, but interesting. Acribatic people in the air barely hanging by anything which was scary, poodles doing dog tricks, a couple clowns, dancing on horses. What I really noticed was how much insane gymnastics was used during almost all of the acts. The whole show was conducted in a theatrical aspect from the lights to the sets to the costumes, the intervals, the storyline. It was in a stationary theatre of its own, also, and was built in like 1886. The circus was very different from anything we've seen, but very interesting to see.

Tomorrow night we're going to see The Seagull. I'm so excited because we've spent so much time discussing it, performing etudes from it, analyzing it, finding questions and searching for answers about it. It's going to be great.

I, again, am exhausted. So, I am off to bed. Have a good evening/day. Whatever it is. :) See you all in 15ish days. PEACE

Breathe.

"Breathe" is the title of one of the songs I listen to every morning on my way to class. It's from the "In the Heights" soundtrack. I don't know why, but there's some type of connection with it. I need to listen to it at least once a day - usually in the morning. So weird, but hey, whatever, it works. And, honestly, after the last few days fiasco, breathing is all I can do. Just breathe.

Here's the situation with the Bank card. Apparently Russia put an international block on all debit and ATM transactions with National City, which is why I could not use it. After hours of drama, e-mails between Nicholas, me, and mom, phone calls to the bank, to our correspondance at the bank, to another number at the bank - we came up with a solution...well, EJ did. He gave me his account number and mom put money in his account and he withdrew it today. So, I have money. No worries, it was just a rough uphill climb to get there with a lot of stress...and unnecessary and stupid stress because this shouldn't have happened. Stupid banks. ha. Everything works out. Gotta have faith.

Today we had our last ballet class. We combined the class with both groups. We did our warm ups and dances first. They weren't bad. I wish I would have done a little better, but ya know, whatever. I was fine. I'm just too much of a perfectionist...as ALL OF YOU know. Afterwards, I gave Larissa like 5 hugs at different times because this woman is amazing and I didn't want it to be over. She is so brilliant. She told me to keep dancing and make sure I learn these crazy jump spin things. She told me she wanted to get me to jumps and spins, but not enough time, and that she really enjoyed having me in class. P.S. new news about her. Apparently she was prima ballerina at the Bolshoi for 22 YEARS which is twice the normal amount of time a prima ballerina is there. Also, she choreographed for many Russian films and was in some as well. She is such an amazing woman and I feel privileged I was able to learn from her in my life.

I can't believe this is all coming to an end. I've learned so much and have become a whole different person I think. Before I came, I was beginning to get into movement and dance aspects of theatre, but now, I know that that is where I need to be. I need to take classes and keep improving after this trip. I love it all and this is my strongpoint right now so I need to embellish it.

Chekhov class today was neat. Someone would pose on the chair and someone else would have to come up and pose with them and name the picture. Then that person would stay and the previous person would leave, but a new person would come and invent a new story. It was dealing with psychological gestures and how your imagination can work to invent all of these new situations. The next time we did it, you had to keep adding on to build a new picture, however, every picture had to be of different content and name with the same poses, though. Sounds confusing, but it makes sense because you can change the meaning of something or the way something looks because of your interpretation of it.

The next exercise was to go up front and be a character from The Seagull with no words and the class had to pick who you were...no words, just because of the character youbecome. Inorder for the audience to understand you and see the character, you have to live it and embody it. For some this was easy, but for others it was more difficult. You must have an event and a forward motion, gesture - something that makes you live the character instead of just sitting and waiting. This was a very interesting exercise. You could tell the characters by the physicality, rhythm - fast or slow, or song. We had to hum a tune or sing a song that represented the character also. Finding the character's inner song was cool because it connected to their inner motivations and self and kept the character grounded and free.

Acting was good today. We did an etude from The Segull. It was that Arkadina had a closing party for her show and everyone was in attendance and the event was that she was introducing Konstantin and he blew up and yelled and made a big scene. Changed the scene to that of discomfort. We didn't rush right out after, but instead, each character found a way to dealwith this awkwardness whether by taking a sip of the drink, looking other way, conferring with friend, whatever. The response was good change of atmosphere, great character definition/relationships, not rushing.

The interesting thing I'm finding is that I've been trying to figure out what I've learned so far here in Acting because we do the same things everyday. But that's the thing, we do the same thing - perfecting our craft. I've never thought it was useless at all, but I didn't see results like I could in movement, dance, or singing, probably because this was the only class we have everyday. I realized today that I've expanded on the ability to create a character, explore all possiblities of this character, establish relationships with other characters, and live in the moment - all happening organically and naturally and not rehearsed. It's a beautiful thing, but difficult. I used to think way too much when in these situations. You need to let your mind free and go with your soul/gut leads you.

Last night we watched Sergei's (our instructor) 2nd year class's showcase. It was all etudes. ha ha. Go figure, right? It was pretty incredible. They made rain and a thunderstorm with nothing but their hands, fingers, and mouths. It was amazing how believable it was. They then did object and animal etudes (like we have done, also). One that sticks out is that there were 6 girls in a row as guitar strings. There was someone offstage playing guitar. Everytime that string was plucked, that girl would move her body. He played a song and they all moved accordingly, so amazing to watch. Then one string broke. She left and was replaced by a guy string. It was just really cool to see the personalities a guitar string might have because no one thinks of it. Being an actor, it's important to give everything a personality and a story; every object has a story - where it came from, who it was created by, how old it is, where it is now, what it's gone through, what it thinks of the world, etc. So fascinating to think about and get into. Others that were interesting were a pack of wolves, marionettes, bees. For the human parody ones, they parodied auditionees for the MXAT. Hilarious - there the was the gangster, freak, too nervous to speak, and nerdy one. Different variations of teachers - old, intelligent, and eccentric. Then they did famous people. A boy band where they ended up having watering cans pouring water on them, fans flowing their hair - HILARIOUS. Enrique Iglesias with 4 beautiful women and him getting scared. Britney Spears going from somewhat conservative Baby One More Time to stripping clothes off for You Drive Me Crazy. Hilarious to watch, as well. It ended with Gloria Gaynor. The character study these kids must have done on these specific individuals had to have been intense because they had details down to the lip quiver and head nods. So funny to watch and incredible to see where you can be led with the guidance of such exercises as etudes.

On another note, today we were complimenting Sergei on his class and he told us that 25 of them were in the show last night and 6 were dismissed today, so now their class is down to 19. It began at 32 at the beginning of first year. Every year they cut people out that they don't think will make it. They hope for success for these individuals, but the MXAT is not the place for them. I knew it was a serious school, but I didn't know it was like that. It's good because it gets them prepared. "it's the business" - Sergei. It's just intense to think of getting kicked out of your program, not because you don't have talent, but because you're not there yet or whatever the case. Crazy. it's all crazy that I get to study here. Everyday I walk past lines of people in front of the MXAT just t audition to study here. Everday, huge lines, and I just walk by with my little card and go to class with the instructors they're dying to work with. They audition thousands a year and only take maybe 30. I'm extremely privileged to be have been able to have this opportunity. I know I keep saying this, but it's so true. I';ve sent myself here, and it's one of the best decisions I think I could have ever made. I've learned so much through acting, moving, singing, but also through culture, being in a different country and not knowing the language, handling myself in difficult situations, living with so many people, and being ok. :)

I'm about to go to bed. OH, the most important note of the day...I found a Starbucks. The lady of course had no idea what I was saying when I said carmel mocha, so I got a carmel latte, but still. AND...I have a London and Detroit Starbucks mug...well, I now have a Moscow one to join them. I was so excited that they had that. That was one of the only things I wanted to buy myself here, and I did. Lame, I know, but whatever. It's my thing I guess.

Alright, I'm off to bed. I just made chicken for tomorrow for dinner because we wont have time to come back to the dorms. It's done, so now I can go to sleep. Have a wonderful day. :)

I hate National City.

Well, the exciting events of yesterday and today have been me not being able to use my ATM card for some reason. We went to the bak beforehand, had everything worked out, my ATM card has been working fine...until Sunday. Now, ever ATM is declining it. Had mom call National City, they said it's the people in Russia's fault. Call the bank in Russia - Citibank (which happens to be a branch off of National City) and they say it's National City's fault. So, Mom is currently trying to figure out what the problem is with our correspondance that helped me get the international thing set up. This is the kind of thing that you do not want to happen when you're not at home, by the way, because there's literally nothing I can do. It'll all work out and everything will be ok. I have faith...and I know my mom won't quit until it's resolved today. ha ha. She's a tough one.

In regards to classes - we started off with movement today. My right leg is pretty much behind my head, and my left is a little more. So of course, in Russia, they push you to the max. So, Vladimir, the instructor, comes over and pushes them behind my head. So, yes, I had both feet behind my head today. CRAZY! Danielle - there's a lot of balancing exercises I think would be fun to with you where we share the weight between each other, you hop up on my legs and lean back with me just standing there. Pretty cool. It'll be fun. Vladimir now does a short warm up because we should be able to get warmed up in that amount of time with everything compacted instead of spreading it out throughout a longer period of time. Then the after-training is more intense.

Acting was good. We did this exercise where you had to hold hands with everyone in a circle. Study their hand by feeling it. Know it. Then run around the room. Freeze. Close your eyes. Find the people that were on either side of you by feeling only hands. It was really cool and really helped to heighten your senses and keep you aware. The specificity and detail involved in finding your partner can be used onstage with a scene partner or even a prop or object. Everything matters in an object - look, size, texture, smell. All of these probably seem like games to some of you - which they are. However, each game has its meaning. He doesn't tell us what the meaning is, I just gather what I've learned from it and that, to me, is the meaning of the game. I'm generally right because you get a good sense of each exercise. We also did this one where three people were along a wall: one in one corner, another in the middle, and one in the other corner, backs facing the fourth person who was down center stage area. This fourth person had to direct sound and energy toward one of those people and if the person thinks it's them, they raise their hand. It's harder than you think because the sound bounces off the walls. You have to direct all of you towards this one person otherwise a couple people raise their hands, or no one does. This exerces deals with directing your energy to your other and not just having it go all over the place. You need to have a direct connection, and this exercise helps to establish that connection.

We went and watched out Acting professors second year students final showcase tonight. It consisted completely of etudes. Here are some highlights. At the beginning, the entire class simulated a thunderstorm and rain. Amazing what sounds you body and mouth can make. I felt like I was in a storm. They also did animal etudes and objects such as marionettes, like we have done so far. My favorite was actually girls in a line being guitar strings. They would roll their body when their guitar string was strum. Then one broke, and a guy replaced her which crated this sexual tension. Hilarious. It's amazing to see what kind of a life a guitar string would have becasue each string had its own distinct and funny personality. Another one that stood out was everyone was seated as if in an orchestra and an instrumental song started playing. Everyone brought up their imagined instruments and each played their instrument as if it was there. You could see the weight and shape of this imagined object. Astonishing to see how they created this image with nothing there. I really felt I was at a concert. I get blown away more and more everyday.

The second part was them doing etudes as people such as teachers (old, cranky, nerdy, stupid ones), auditionees for the MXAT (skanky, ghetto, nerdy ones). So funny how each had their own personality. The last part was people etuding singers, lip synching but with the music on in the background. This included Elton John, a boy band who had cheesy dance moves and did the stereotypical dance moves, rip off the shirt with water ( a watering can actually - really funny), a fan blowing their hair. Then there was Britney Spears who was slightly conservative with baby one more time and did then ripped it off for a lot more a revealing outift for Crazy. Then there was Enrique Iglesias and Gloria Gaynor. They were all great. To study a person or character so intensely to get even the lip quiver down to a T. Amazing the amount of work and effort the students put into things. This attention to detail is what gets actors places. Awesome to watch.

Tomorrow we have our final dance class. I'm really sad about that because that's one of my favorite classes. I love them all, but I really like this one. It's going to be both groups combined so that we can show each other the dances we've been working on. Then Chekhov, Acting, and off to see a show.

I'm going to write in my journal and head to bed. Hope all is well in America. Night!

St. Petersburg.

First of all, if you ever get the chance to go to St. Petersburg - GO! It is the most beautiful and historical city I've ever been to. Everything about it, all over the place. I was so overwhelmed. Anyway, here's my story about the weekend.

We got onto the overnight train at 1am and headed off to St. Petersburg. The compartments were very tiny, with two benches, a table in between them and then two beds hanging over head - so there were four beds to a compartment. Surprisingly, I fell right asleep and slept the entire way there. It was really nice. We arrived, checked into our hostel and then went to go get some breakfast. We stopped at the donut and coffee place. The donuts were the greasiest but best donuts I've ever had, and the coffee was really sweet and good. We headed off on our bus tour and we got to see many things including many beautiful churches, fountains, St. Peter and Paul Fortress, Tombs of the Czars, and of course recieved a ton of information on all of it too. Don't worry, I have it all written down, I just don't feel like typing the history out right now. I'll tell you about it when I get back and have the pictures for you. :)

Next we went to the Hermitage, which was the Winter Palace. It's a beautiful HUGE green palace. It is beautiful outside as well as inside...another place that I was a little overwhelmed in because there's so much history involved in it that is so interesting to hear. Many, many, many paintings were hanging all over the walls because one of the empresses liked paintings and kept buying them. When she died, her son opened up this section of the palace so that the citizens could see the paintings because there were so many. Such beautiful architecture, and the chandeliers were just outrageously incredible. I was blown away by the building. I took a ton of pictures.

We ate real fast and dashed off to the ballet. It was in a the Marovski Theatre...obviously incredible inside and outside. There was a spot inside also, that was like a box seat for the emperors when they would come and see the show there, which was pretty cool. The ballet was a lot of fun to watch. It was about pirates and Arabians and each act someone stole the girl, stole the girl back, stole the girl, had a huge fight and won the girl back. That's a boring summary, but it was really good because there were sword fights, dance fights, crazy lifts. oh, so beautiful.

We had the rest of the night (it's about 10pm now). Back story: This is the longest night of the year in St. Petersburg - White nights because the sun doesn't completely set. So, there was this shindig over by the bridge. Apparently everybody gathers by the river to watch the bridges open to let the barges through at night. So, a few of us headed over there. It was such a cool environment. SO MANY people. It honestly felt like it was New Years and everyone was waiting for the ball drop. As soon as the bridge opened people screaming, cheering, popping champaigne, a real sight to see and I'm glad I was a part of it. We headed off to a club next...I forgot what it was called. OH, before we went to the bridge we stopped at subway to eat real fast. and by the way they serve beer everywhere...and also subway. So, we had our healthy subs with a glass of beer. It was so cool. Just wanted to throw that in. Ok, so we're on our way to the bar. Well, people are crazy in the streets now with Russian flags, people on cars screaming, dancing in the streets, chanting "RUS-SI-A." Such an intense but excited atmosphere. Why were they acting like this? Because Russia beat the Netherlands in the Quarter Finals that night for Football (soccer) 3-1. I have never seen anything like it. EVERYONE was celebrating. At subway, it was packed like a bar with people watching the game...silent. no noise, eyes glued on the tv. I'm glad I was a part of that too. We weren't Americans this night, people would come right in ourfaces chanting, and we'd chant right back and they'd be so excited. I've never seen anything like it. You'd think a riot were going to start, but not even close.

We got to the club, people still chanting as they're walking into the bar "RUS-SI-A!" They played all english speaking music there. ha ha. It was pretty cool. We stayed there for a few hours and headed back to the hostel. It was pouring, so a few of us got a taxi. and that was the end of Saturday.

Four hours of sleep later, we wake up to go toPeterhoff. Peterhoff was the summer palace with extravagant gardens and fountains, 140 fountains actually. It';s a beautiful yellow palace. Insid was filled with marble solumns, gold around the framing of the room, paintings on the ceiling. Absolutely amazing. I have pictures. We walked around the gardens next. Well, when you walk out the back of the palace, there's the huge staircase fountain that leads into this canal that heads right into the baltic sea. On this gigantic fountain are many gold statues. This would be the type of picture you'd see in movies with the palace in back and then going down a hill is a grandstaircase with water flowing down it and many gold statues. Beautiful sight to see. We walked around more and found many other pretty spectacular fountains - one even being in the shape of an Oak Tree with water coming out of it. We then found a tiny tiny beach and got to stand in the Baltic Sea. That was definitely an incredible thing to do. I felt so free, so good standing in the water. Later, we went to their bicycle musem on the grounds, and there was this picture of Alexander II in the EXACT same spot we were standing in the Baltic Sea. How crazy is that? We took a picture of that picture of course.

Walking around at places like this is just such an enbelievable experience because the time you spend there is literally like taking you back in time for the few hours you're there. Nothing else in the world is happening, you're lost in the moments of the 18th Century. It's a really incredible feeling, and Lord knows I'm not big on history, but all I want to do right now is take a Russian history class because I'm that inspired by everything. Incredible. I lack words to describe.

Apparently, amber is the stone that everybody buys in Russa. It's the big thing. They had a lot of it in St. Petersburg. I guess they get it from the Baltic Sea or something. Really pretty jewelry, not the cheapest. And those little Russian wooden doll things that have like 5 or 10 inside and keep collapsing and making more. Those are cool and everywhere too.

The last thing we did was go on a boat tour. Really relaxing and a nice way to end the trip. It was really cool because I know pretty much everything they were saying because of the past two days. I knew who Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Mary, etc. were. That was such a great feeling knowing that I'm traveling into their past and accepting and gaining knowledge about them. I was able to expalin stuff to my friends. What a cool feeling. The Boat tour covered a lot we already saw, but summed it all up pretty nicely and was a great finale to the one of the best weekends I can remember.

We got on the train at about 1am. I fell fast asleep. We arrived back in Moscow in the morning and I made some food, wrote in my journal, then went to Acting Class. We got back and I fell asleep at 8pm last night! Didn't wake up until 7:15 this morning when my alarm went off! Crazy! Anyway, hope you sort of got a feel for what the type of weekend I had. Hope you all have a wonderful day. I cannot WAIT to show you pictures and explain everything!!!! Love you al! I have to go to class!

Vacation this weekend!

So. Hope you enjoyed the super long blog from last night. :) Today started off great. I woke up early, made my normal scrambled eggs. Then Monique, Beth, Kennikki, and I headed over to class two hours early so we could grab a coffee a chill. So, we went to this park on Traskya with a beautiful fountain and benches and sat there and talked and relaxed for about an hour before we had to go to class. It was such a nice way to start the day because it gets you in your own groove and your relaxed and ready for the day.

We had Theatre History with Anatoly Smeliansky today. Brilliant man. He gave us the history of Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, and Chekhov, as well as a lot of other important historical facts. Very interesting.

We had our Chekhov class next. We're working on the beginnings of psychological gestures. So, we had a partner and had to sit opposite of them. Then you had to sculpt them into something that you thought represented them. (My partner was Matt. I had one hand on his heart and the other being held out, standing ina relaxed state, with a smile and a head a little tilted forward as if to nod.) We then had to name them and they had to complete gesture. I named him "heartfelt helper." The sculture, by the way, had to be something that we thought defined this person. He completed the gesture by grabbing his heart and holding it out. Exactly what I was thinking. So cool. He did me next. He molded me into sitting on the edge of my seat with my hands/fingers curled on the seat in between my knees, leaning forward with the biggest smile on my face and my eyes kind of squinting out of excitement. He named me "joyful loyalty." I completed the gesture by shooting out of my seat and bowing down.

Psychological gestures are gestures that are added to text to help get the meaning of the words. Sometimes you use them in a show, sometimes you just use them in rehearsal to get a beter understanding and feel for what you are saying so that you are saying it with meaning. Then, once on stage, you have these feelings in your muscle memory and you are able to say it all truthfully and be living in the moment.

Next was acting class. We did more etudes. We're now onto doing etudes from "The Seagull" by Anton Chekhov - both group and individually. They're really helpful by watching,and being a part of, because they help answer questions that may not have been fully looked into before and help with the understanding of the play and certain characters and situations.

In three and half hours (11:30pm) we're heading off to St. Petersburg. I'm really excited for that. That should be an amazing time. Lots of pictures I'm sure. I've already taken over 200 on this trip! Get ready to see many many pictures when I get back! I'll be back in Moscow on Monday morning, and then back to my schedule until Saturday. Then it's done. CRAZY!

Gotta go eat and pack! Peace!

It's already Thursday?!

So, I typed up a blog this morning, but apparently it didn't save. So, here I go again...I'll go until I feel like I'm going to fall asleep at the keyboard.

Let's see...Sunday...a few of us went to this marketplace where you could haggle for lower prices. I got a Russia Soccer (Football) shirt. Real cool. That's about it. It was a very interesting place with lots of shops and many different smells of bread, gyros, and old clothes. ha ha. We saw Swan Lake at the Stanislavski Opera House that night also. Beautiful Theatre. Marianna said that it was the "treasuer of our country." This sounds cheezy, but it the only word I can think of to describe the show is "magical." The elaborate sets including the forest with the lake backdrop, the elegant palace ballroom in the second act, and back to the lake/forest in the third. Unbelievable. The costumes were also very elaborate with very sparkly jewelry for the queens and vivacious colors for the others. The swans were of course white. I loved being able to see something that wasn't the conventional theatre that we've been seeing. The dancing was absolutely phenomenal. The lifts between the prince and the swan were so amazing to watch, and I wish I could do some of them...well, I can do one of them - where the girl is arching back and the guy has her over his head. A friend and I were goofing around and doing it and it was sweet. I also really enojoyed how much emotion and storytelling can be visible through movement. As you can probably tell from my other blogs, theatre movement is something I'm very interested in. Seeing a ballet - in Moscow, where it's so important to the culture, was just so surreal...just like the rest of this trip. Danielle and Katherine - you would loved it.

As I said in a previous blog, our ballet instructor was a prima ballerina at the Bolshoi Theatre in the 60's. She toured all over the world also. One of the roles she had was the swan in Swan Lake. Apparently, there was this ballerina sculpture that every little girl had in the 60's/70's...well, the model for this sculpture was my instructor, Larissa. How crazy is that?! So cool.

Ballet Monday was good, we were kind of off because we got kicked out of the room because they double booked it, so we had to transfer to a different one. When Larissa was showing us how to do something in the new rehearsal hall, she tripped on the a giant piece of tape on the floor and fell...honestly, it was like watching an angel fall because she's the most graceful, beautiful, happy human being I've ever met. But she was fine. Yesterday she had her wrist wrapped, but she said she was fine. We learned a new dance - a gypsy dance; it's pretty cool. There's a lot of knees bends, twisting, hips, and claps. So energetic and fun though. It's nice to be able to do different kinds of dances to see how versatile you really are.

We saw this show called KI on Monday which was AMAZING. It was pretty much a one woman show, but also with three children. It was a poor, homeless mother who sold her children for prostitution to pay for food. It was the saddest story, but so beautfiul in portrayal. It started off with the audience in the lobby and she would come up to us and talk to us individually...very audience oriented, a lot of audience interation. Eventually we made it into the theatre and some of us sat on the stage at a long table and the rest sat in the rake-seated audience. It was a small studio theatre. The tears this woman emitted, along with the emotion was incredible. The children were also extremely believable. I believed and felt for the poor unfortunate family. Terrific show. After the show, we asked someone if she would meet with us, and SHE DID. She was so excited to meet us (there was only 8 of us) and so happy to talk to us. She told us about how the process with the director was that she would come into the rehearsal at a level of zero and build from there because from starting at neutral you can have higher or lower emotional states, it's easier to get there an doesn't affect you as much as a human being. She told us that when on stage we are in a plane and we are the pilot, we control what we want to do and where we want to go. And most importantly, to be ourselves. It was so cool to be able to talk to the woman who wowed us for an hour and a half and give us advice. She had played this role for 14 YEARS and even toured around the world with it. crazy.

Acting classes are going well. My etudes, as well as everyone elses' individual and group ones, are going a lot better. You don't really realize what you've learned until you sit and think about where you came in at. It's pretty sweet how all of our creative energies are flowing together and making such great work altgother. It's really inspiring because ensemble work is obviously extremely important, and improv is pretty difficult. So, being able to live in the moment as if it happening for the first time, while making it up -great.

Movement - we've been doing a lot of partner balancing exercises. It seems kind of acrobatic, but the benefits are in spatial awareness, weight placement, trust-all of which are important to the stage. One of the exercises is where one person is sitting in a chair and another stands on their thighs above their knees and then the person stands up and the both lean back. Might sound confusing, but I have pictures, so cool, but you must work together or else you will fall.

Tonight we had a tour of the Moscow Art Theatre and the history of it. We kind of knew a lot of it already, but it was pretty cool. I got a picture next to the seat that Stanislavski always used to sit in when he came to the theatre. So exciting. (I know, I'm a nerd.) Also there is a sort of museum dedicated to the MXAT. It had old costumes, set designs, props, etc. from when Stanislavski and Chekhov were in shows there. We got to go into Stanislavski's dressing room. His make-up was there as well as the wig he wore in Ivanov. So cool.

A few of us went on an adventure with the translator, Dasha, who's 22, afterward. We traveled off of Traskiya and onto side streets and she gave us a little mini tour of houses, churches, and a beautiful park with a pond. It was really nice to see Moscow outside of the one big busy street I go down everyday. We then went to the American Bar and Grill. Oh yeah. We wanted to see what their take on America would be...the theme was Wild West with lassos, cowboy boots, saddles - right up my alley. BEST hamburger I think I've ever had. I of course got a hamburger and fries and we splite a pitcher of a Russian beer called Sibitskya - kind of tasted like Miller Lite. It was such a fun atmosphere and we just had a great time relaxing, talking, not having to worry about anything. It was really nice and much needed.

This morning I woke up for class at 7 and left at 8 even though I didn't have class until 10 (it takes 30 mins. to walk to class from the dorms). I went to Primestar - the cafe across the street from the American Studio and got a cappuccino, sat on the patio, and wrote in my journal. It was so peaceful, relaxing, and calm, and such a perfect way to start my day. Apparently there's the park Beth wants to take me to tomorrow morning before class because I am definitely doing this the next week.

Can you believe it? It's already been 3 weeks! I will be leaving in 10 days...9 days tomorrow! Craziness! I feel like time doesn't exist here because it goes by so fast! Tomorrow night we leave for St. Petersburg. We're taking a train through the night and arriving in the morning. I'm excited because I've never taken a train before. I'm totally going to feel like I'm in some old black and white film like Casablanca or something. So cool. We have our weekend filled with tourist stuff and shows, sleeping in a hostel Saturday night, more tourist stuff and shows on Sunday, and then taking the train back on Sunday night to continue classes Monday afternoon. Crazy, but probably amazing weekend ahead of me.

I should get going because I'm real exhausted. By the way - to those who have left me comment, I'm sorry I haven't figured out how to respond to them yet. ha ha. I appreciate the comments, I just don't know how to reply back. oops. Anyway, have a great night. Paris = T - 9 days! ahh. Love and Miss you all! Peace.

Saturday Night

Well, it's Saturday night at around 12:48am and I am doing laundry. ha ha. I needed to do it. I waited til the last second I possibly could, and in the evening is really the only time we have. I have last load in the washer and I just have to throw my other one in the dryer. A bunch of people went out to the club tonight, I wasn't in the mood. So, Ej, Beth, and I are just chilling, and in between, I'm making trips to the basement for the laundry. :)

Two nights ago, I had some crazy dreams. One was about the fall of Russia and the other one I was in the Bahamas and saw Emily and Liam. Weird. Then in Chekhov class when we were getting into our imganation and he was giving us scenarios with out eyes closed, I began floating. Up, up, up to the sun. My body was so light. It was like I was weightless. I talked to my friend Christyna after and after this feeling was the feeling of levitation. So, apparently I levitated. Cool. I wasn't literally off the ground, but all my energy was going up.

We saw this show last night called Country of Love (the Snow Maiden in America). It was so good. The dancing was just phenomenal. Hip hop mixed with contemporary all to tell the story. Also, music, song, and acting were incorporated. It was just a very exciting piece of theatre to see, and also very beautiful. The finale, they were all in gold and then the lights all went gold, coolest spectacle I've seen.

Today we had movement. We did the caterpillar across the floor. Feet, then hips, then upper body, then head. It's kinda crazy, but fun, and difficult. Then the "princess and the elephant." Where the men had their backs straight and the woman would stand on them and you had to walk around with them. Both people had to keep their concentration and balance in order for it to work and someone to not get hurt. It was surprising how light the girls felt.

Acting was next and we discussed the shows and theatre. One of the things is how remarkable everyone here in Moscow in regards to theatre and how much they respect it. Every night the theatre is packed, sold out, whether it's a Tuesday evening or Friday evening. The curtain call is an event in itself. They come out maybe 3 times, sometimes more. Everyone ends up clapping in unison somehow and people can bring flowers to the stage and give them to the actors. It's so great to watch and be a part of. Oh, also the lights come up during the curtain call so that the actors can acknowledge th audience also because the audience is such a big part of their show. It's just so cool how theatre is such a big and important part of these people's lives. America's theatre just hasn't been around as long.

Tonight we saw King Lear. It was really great, yet very abstract. I've noticed in a lot of shows, they keep the sets minimal and use other things such as large pieces of fabric or material...like gigantic pieces. It can used for deaths, beautiful moments, love, or even birth. i just love how every aspect of art is incorporated into everything...every aspect is just as imporant as the next.

Tomorrow I think EJ and I are going to go to the Kremlin adn Lenin's Tomb and maybe some shopping. Then either Ivanov or Swan Lake in the evening. Fun filled day. :)

EJ and Beth are yelling at me because they want to hang out. Gotta go. Love and miss you all.

Wow. It's already Friday!

I can't believe it has already been two weeks here! Time flies I guess.

Last night we went and saw Richard III at the Satiricon Theatre. It was sooo good! The death scenes were all so beautiful too. The first one is the death of Clarence and they killed him by filling up glasses of red wine and throwing them at him and that symbolized them beating him/stabbing him. Another, they wrapped this guy's head up in newspaper and he suffocated. Another, they used material on the ground (like when I was in A Christmas Carol, for the ghost of Christmas Past) and they waved it around and made big air bubbles. Then the killers came in and killed them like that. Richard died by himself onstage and it really felt like he was in the middle of a war anda thousand soldiers and he got stabbed. The whole feel of the show was black and white. It was kind of mobster-esque...They wore the black coats and the fidoras and it was like Richard was the head mobster. He was such a phenomenal actor. As was Margaret - the red haired girl. She was in MacBett also. I love her. She's so brilliant.

Yesterday we had a day off because it was Russia's Independence Day. So, we just kind of chilled around all day. It was so nice to just have a day because we've been so busy all the time. I made this excellent stir fry because I had time to make dinner...it had chicken, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, celery, bbq sauce, and seasoned salt. mmm....soo good. And I have enough left overs for today adn tomorrow too!

Today we have our Chekhov class; I absolutely love that class. It's with Mischa. Chekhov is my thing, it's all about the imagination, feelings, energies, etc. This is what I love. Then we have a two hour break and we're going to see Country of Love at the Satiricon Theatre. That's supposed to be another amazing piece of theatre, and some people saw it already and have just been talking about it like crazy so I'm pretty excited.

Anyway, Have to get ready for class! Have a good day!

Walking the streets of Moscow

Tonight we saw the Third year MXAT students' final piece at the Nostrasnome Theatre. Such a beautiful piece of work. There were no words throughout the entire piece and it was all movement based. Their were classical Stravinski songs in the background, and then the movement/dance was choreographed to each song. Unbelievable. I've never shot out of my seat so fast during a curtain call to applaud them. Their use of breath as an element, as well as using their entire body. The amount of strength and stamina was just incredible. The synchronization moving into chaotic numbers moving back to synchronization. The lines and angles formed after clumps and groupings out of nowhere were so cool and right on. The energy shooting out of every part of them, reaching as far as they can sending the energy out. I'm trying to find the words to describe this show, and I don't even know what to say. That compelling. I wish everyone got to witness this piece of theatre. By the way, it won the Golden Mask Award in Russia - which is equivalent to a Tony or an Obie Award. So, in comparison, it would be like me being in a show at the Bonstelle or Hilberry and that winning a Tony. Pretty impressive.

We had our Movement class today again. I'm definitely really improving. My stamina, flexibility, strength, and understanding of my body is increasing by the day, and we do some crazy things. I can almost put my food behind my head! ha ha. We do this other thing where we're in a lunge and one hand is on the front ankle and the other is holding the back ankle by the butt. Easy for me. Really difficult for others. But every exercise is a little easier and a little different for everyone else. Spacial awareness exercises are also used, as well as weight balancing. Although it's important to balance your own weight, it's also important to understand how to share weight. Today we worked with a partner, back to back and elbows linked, one person would bend forward. You would then move to the side and back onto the partner's bent back in a circular motion. Harder than it sounds. Also, back to back with linked arms, trying to sit down and getting back up. You have to share the weight or else you'll fall over. You also have to trust your partner. All of this can be used on stage, not just the physical aspect, but the idea behind it. You need to be able to trust your scene partner or else you won't have a successful scene.

Acting today we did our etude at a LaMas class (sp?) where it teaches you what you need to know when pregnant with the mothers and fathers. Melissa was my partner in our group of 11. We were the 17 year old immature, stupid kids. I was a punk that was just real dumb. There was a gay couple with the serrogate mother, and a couple where the wife was 8 months pregnant. The event that changed the calm atmosphere was her water broke. The comments about out etude was that it was a creative idea and the atmosphere and mood definitely changed. Also, that each of our characters were very specific, well thought out, and brought out the life. The relationships between the characters were well established also. The only thing they would have liked us to do a little differently was to have a little less dialogue.

I typed this out last night and the internet went down and I was so upset because I thought it was gone, but somehow it saved. Thank goodness!

I have been craving Grandma Raybaud's pierogies, some GOOD pasta. The food isn't that bad though. There are tons of sandwich and wrap shops, and they're interesting,but good sandwiches.

In the green room right now with Beth and Kennikki. Kennikki's hungry so were going to eat lunch. Have an amazing day!!! :) Love and Miss you all!

I partied like a Russian.

Well. Saturday night was the night at the club. The dorms are locked from 1am until 6am, so if you're out, you're stuck out. Well, the Russian way to party is to not leave for the club until midnight-ish. So, we left at midnight for the club called B2. I only had two beers the entire time we were there - until 4:30am. So much fun, we danced and just had a great time. Then walked to Sbarros for pizza and got home at 6am. So much fun.

Boat tour on the Moscow River on Sunday. JT kind of seperated the group...not intentionally. We were on the boat and he was waiting for the others to buy their tickets, and the boat took off. It was so funny. It was so nice out though and so relaxing. We got a bottle of champaigne and split that 5 ways. It was like an hour long. There wasn't a lot to see on the tour, but it was a great experience. We just hung out the rest of the night.

Today we had ballet. We did some new dances and some new lifts. I love lifts, they're so much fun. Larissa loves me doing lifts also. She kept having me demonstrate the guy part. I'm getting so much better at everything in that class. Acting we did an etude of us at NASA in the control room and were getting ready for take off. It was so good. I was like the guy in Office Space "Where's my stapler" guy. It was great. We watched the take off and there this huge congratulations, excitement, etc. Then like a minute later the aatmosphere changed because the shuttle exploded. And literally, everyone in our group was crying watching this space shuttle. It was such an amazing feeling. The class loved our etude, we were believable, natural, exciting, and interesting to watch and we all had our own personalities and characters.

Went to McDonalds today. ha ha. I had a "Big Tasty" not big and tasty. funny. It was HUGE! It was like a real hamburger too. I could only eat half of it though. But I wanted to go to McDonalds in Russia, so I did.

Tonight we went to go see Inspector General. It was sooo BAD! This was part of the international theatre festival and they were Italian. Everything was forced with them. They weren't organic or natural, they very stiff and rigid. Also, they wore masks, but did not know how to use them correctly and made it suck. The show is supposed to be a comedy and it ended up being a drama somehow -very serious. Such a bad show. Oh well, it was free. You win some, you lose some.

I'm about to catch up on my journal for class then hop to bed. Have a good night!

P.S. Steven got offered a part in Sesame Street Live on Tour. So excited for him. I don't know any details, just that. So cool.

It's still kind of light outside...it's 11:30pm.

Well, today was a crazy busy day. Meeting with group 10:30-11, singing 11-12:30, acting 12:30-3. Lunch. Movement 5-6:30, Show at 7.

For singing, the 22 people are seperated into two groups. Four of the boys in my group, including myself, were given four pieces of music because Marina couldn't decide which one to give us each individually. So, for Tuesday we need to memorize one of the songs (which I have never heard of) and know the rest of them. She's so cool and funny. She's already making so many improvements with everyone, including myself, and there's only been two classes.

Acting was cool. Our etude today was of a roller coaster. We improv-ed getting on the roller coaster, going up the climb, and the event was getting stuck and the atmosphere changed from jovial and exciting to panic and fright. It was then fixed and we continued on the rollercoaster crouched down to indicate the lows and went up on our tip toes to indicate the heights, and even tilted one way to indicate a turn. It was great and Sergei - the teacher - absolutely loved it, as did the restof class. It was "inspiring" because all of our characters were alive, we were excited, believeable, and it could've gone on all day and they would have never been bored. awesome. Individually we had to be animals today. I was a fly. So, I had to take on the persona and physicality of a fly. I flew in a window and got stuck in there, freaked out, was buzzing and flying all around looking for the window again bumping into walls etc and finally I found the window and got out and the atmosphere and my emotion changed. It was really cool. Monday we finally get to be a person. I have some real good ideas. I'll tell you how they went on Monday. :)

In Movement we had a sub for Natasha, his name was Vladimir. He was so cool. It was such an amazing class. He worked on us getting acquainted with every inch, even centimeter of our body and working every single muscle - not leaving a single one out. It wasn't strenuous, but it definitely brought out a sweat. It was so awesome. He was more process oriented - meaning he wanted us to understand what we were doing and make sure we're stretching that out to the max. Natasha is more result oriented, she pushes you and pushes you to make sure you're feeling the most pain (or so it seems ha ha) or the most stretch without spending specific focus on getting acquainted with the body. However, I'm not bashing her, she's absolutely brilliant and has done amazming things for me. P.S. For whoever knows ballet, I've never been able to do this gracefully, but now I can: When stretching at the barre, when one leg is straight and you're in releve and you develope one leg up into passe (foot at knee) and then develope onto the bar (bring foot to bar), I've never been able to do this gracefully, I usually shift around. Today, I was able to bring it up with NO PROBLEM!! I was schocked. AND on both sides!! It was such a cool feeling. I'm already making huge strides and it's only the first week. Amazing.

We saw a show tonight. It was a in a small proscenium studio theatre at the MXAT (Moscow Art Theatre). It was the first year students' final presentation/final exam which was a performance of a play. Absolutely brilliant. They were so talented and brought out every emotion. The Cossacks was the name. The set was simple with bamboo looking fences that folded out and in to make different rooms and stuff. So good. So glad I was able to see this piece of theatre, and I
loved it even more that it was their final exam. AND Mischa, our Chekhov teacher, was the director for the show and he was so excited to see us all there. He's this short little spunky energetic white haired 80 year old man. He's someone that knows exactly how to get what he needs out of you for the stage. Brilliant.

Tonight I'm going out to my first Russian club. That should be exciting! Tomorrow we have a boat tour through Moscow and then we're seeing Richard III, which is supposed to be the best show here right now. Christyna and I have been craving pizza (I know, we're so American, right?) so we're going to get pizza for dinner too. :)

Well, I'm out. Have an amazing evening!

P.S. I almost forgot! While waiting in line to get into the show tonight, a few of us starting talking this other patron. Turns out he's been living in Vegas for the past 17 years, but is Russian. His son was in the show and goes to school at MXAT. Turns out, he was the director for Cirque do Soleil in Vegas for 11 years!!!!! Insane, but so freakin cool!!!! I met someone famous and don't even know who he is! Whoo!

Only in Moscow

Only In Moscow/Only in Russia is my new saying. These are the two sayings I've been saying a lot lately. I know I obviously wasn't around for a lot of the important Russian history that has happened within the past 20 years or so, but it's still prevlent in society. People not smiling back, walking straight forward minding their own, trying to survive. It's so interesting. And the drivers here are absolutely insane!!! Hopefully I don't get hit one of these days! All of the women wear heels every day...even stillettos (sp?). Men generally wear black/dark dress shoes and never shorts. Interesting.

What I love about the performances I have seen so far is that they incorporate every aspect of art - dance, music, singing, acting, lighting, sound, sets, everything. Every artistic aspect is blended beautifully. The curtain calls consist of much more than a simple bow like in America. They are choreographed and it's like a finale. The actors come back out and do a dance or a pose and then do many bows. The audience claps sporadically but eventually it all turns into a clap in unison. The company continues with their bows. The house lights come up during the bows to establish and reiterate the relationship between the actors and the audience. Some patrons bring flowers up to the stage and hand them to a specific actor during the bow also. It's all so amazing, beautiful, and respectful.

Today we had our Michael Chekhov class and our acting class. So much is learned within each class and each one deals with different exercises. In the Chekhov class today we focused on working the imagination, increasing attention and awareness to your surroundings and fellow ensemble, and the idea of playing. For kids it's so easy to imagine and play, but as we get older, we forget those things. In order to be a successful actor, one must play, imagine, and have fun. We did improvisations etudes in acting. Ours today took place a funeral home where the person in the casket pops in the casketpops up (not alive, still dead). We needed to create an atmosphere (aka sincerity, empathy, sympathy, etc) and then have an event that changes the atmosphere (in our situtation the body popping up created an air of hysteria, freaking out) but having distinct characters. Specificity and detail is extremely important in order to make a story clear and understandable to the audience. I'm really loving everything we're doing here.

Tomorrow Christyna and I are going to get pizza because we're craving it ha ha. There's supposedly this really good restaurant near the theatre because we have 2 hours between class and a show at the same theatre. I'm kind of excited. :) Full day tomorrow: Singing, Acting, Movement, then a show. Then, Marianna, the head of the American Studio (where we are studying) wants to take us out to a club. So we'll be going to a club tomorrow night also. Get a feel for the Rusian nightlife. OH, I saw a sign for an American Bar and Grill...I'm going there before I leave here to see what their take on American culture is. ha.

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Long today tomorrow and it's really late. Love you all. Night.l

Sorry for the delay.

Well, it's been a pretty busy past two days. I'm beginning to love this place more and more every day...well, the classes at least. Moscow's definitely cool, but the training I am getting right now is uncomparable to anything else. It's absolutely worth every cent I paid.

Yesterday we started off the day by singing with singing with the lovely, firey, and hilarious Marina. We sang 16 bars for her, she worked with us individually and then chose a new song for each of us to work on for the next month. She is so remarkable and get anything out of anyone. She's amazing. Next we went to Movement. Man, that kicked my butt. She had us doing the craziest things - pushing us further and further - but never too far. My muscles are still sore - but in a different way. Instead of them not being able to move, I actually feel more free and more stretched. I love it. The movement class is pretty intense, though. Putting our arms, legs, bodies in the strangest positions you wouldn't think possible. It's important for an actor, however, because our body is our tool and it has to be explored and shaped in order to use it to the fullest extent. It's all good. We then went to Acting with Sergei and we did etudes (improvisation in a certain event and atmosphere) and etudes with am object. We had to pick an object, become it, have an event and then live through it. I wasa vase - flowers were put in me and then my "event" which caused a change in atmosphere, inner life, and emotion was that i got knocked off the table and broke. So cool. We did this kind of stuff with Lavinia and James before too.

Today we had our first ballet class with Larissa, who was a former Prima Ballerina at the Bolshoi Theatre here in Moscow. She is absolutely brilliant. She is so funny, so intense, and also pushes us. (That's what I love about being here, when you think you're doing your best, they know you're not and push you further than your best. love it.) We did some work at the barre and then some floor work. She was pretty impressed with me and I was usually in front or demonsrating when she was teaching a new dance which was cool. Thank goodness for Betty Ballet. Betty taught us ballet at Wayne State for a semester and a half. Without that basic knowledge, I don't think I'd be the dancer I am/becoming, or would I be able to grasp everything we're doing so well. It makes everything so much easier. We did some lifts - the girl is in an aribesk, the guy picks her up and she goes into passe and then add a spin. it's fun. We also did some regular jumps. Absoluely loved that class and could've stayed there the entire day. I can't wait for the next one. The next class was a Michael Chekhov class taught by a brilliant man named Masha. Chekhov is my thing. It's all about imagination, playing, radiation, feeling, etc. We did a bunch of differnt concentration execises, as well as focus, attention, and sensations and feeling centers. Loved it. He built upon what James Luse had taught us when we had him. I'm definitely going to love this class immensely. Had acting next and we continued the Etudes.

We went and saw MacBet tonight. Amazing show. It's not MacBeth, but it is based off MacBeth. It was completely in Russian, but you didn't even need to know what they were saying. This is the kind of theatre I would love to be a part of. I'm always talking about how I love physical theatre - this was it. It tied in all of the arts - there was singing, there was dancing, there was acting, there was physicalization. They brouight in certain animal elements and transformational work (another one of my favorite things) - for instance MacBet became some sort of bird - a hawk or eagle. Everything was just performed so beautifully. A great first show to see in Moscow.

Kennikki and I are going to make some kind of chicken dinner tomorrow. We've been eating pasta everyday for dinner, so we decided we needed to change it up. That should be exciting\ and interesting. If we have Sunday off I think we might head over to check out the Kremlin and Lenin's tomb because that's just down the street from the Moscow Art Theatre.

Well, I'm tired so I am off to do some homework and then go to bed. Peace out!!!!

In Moscow.

Well. I am now in Moscow. Whoo!!! The plane ride wasn't that bad. Had some issues with luggage on the way there because I had too much. ha ha. Thank you Dad for turning around and picking some stuff up. I was going for a month, I didn't know what I needed! Met the Canadians that were joining us for the trip. Got on the plane. Long plane ride. We drank wine and talked a lot. The layover in Paris was boring`- 4 hours of just sitting there doing nothing. It sucked. The next plane, I fell asleep before we even took off. Woke up an hour later wondering if we had taken off yet. ha ha.

We arrived in Moscow and to the dorms we were staying in and were greeted by the other half of the group that arrived a week earlier to perform "A Lie of the Mind" at an international theatre festival held in Moscow. They/We were all really excited to see each other. We all hung out for a while and had a good first night. Kind of annoyed because the internet was out and I couldn't figure out how to read the calling card because it was in Russian (my cell phone won't work...still working that out). But it was all good.

Sunday we went for a bus tour of Moscow. Visited St. Basil's, Red Square, the Russian Christian Orthodox church (absolutely beautiful!), Moscow State University...everything was pretty cool. The architecture here, as well as the history, is so amazing and a bit overwhelming to take in because everything has a story of some kind and every Russian knows the stories. The frustrating thing is not being able to understand anyone or read anything. Meh. We're all getting by anyway. Apparently mullets are in because almost everyone has one. ha ha.

Today we went to the Moscow Art Theatre and was acquainted with a bit of the history by Anotoly Smeliansky, the dean of the Moscow Art Theatre. I knew some of it, but it was really interesting. We then had our acting class which was a lot of fun. We did a lot of focus, paying attention, listening exercises which included acting games with our eyes closed and delaing with rhythms - working as an ensemble. Loved it. So excited for the rest of our classes. Tonight we have off, but he have some homework already, so we're going to be working on that. Loving Beth as a roommate. Last night we just kept talking...I don't know how good that is because we don't shut up...as many of you know, so we stayed up a little later than we wanted to. Oh well, we were fine.

Kennikki, Beth, and I might go out after we do some of our homework and check out the park at the end of the street or something. Who knows.

I've been doing my own grocery shopping and making my own lunches and dinners because it's easier, cheaper, and I know I'll like it. ha. It's been working out so far. However, I will be going out and experiencing the Russian Dining Experience because I think it's important to try new things.

Anyway, that's all for now. Tomorrow we have class and might see a show and Wednesday we are seeing MacBet which is supposed to be amazing. Night!

Frank