"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. :)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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!
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!
Monday, June 23, 2008
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!
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!
Friday, June 20, 2008
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!
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!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
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.
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, June 14, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
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!
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!
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