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

The beginning.

I decided to start a blog for my trip to Moscow and Paris so that you can all know what I'm up to.
Enjoy!
I leave in two days!
So excited!