What's been going on? - Update!

Good afternoon!

So it’s been a while since I’m not posting and I really apologize for it but I’ve had quite a hectic past week full of rehearsals, performances and even exams!

So this post is basically to explain a tiny bit of what happened during this past few days and hopefully tomorrow I can come with a brand new post and get back on track.

Let’s go back to what happened this week. To begin with when I came back from the audition in Lithuania I celebrated my birthday with my friends in a lovely house party on Monday. I had a wonderful evening surrounded by friends that I love and care about and we stayed talking until 5 a.m coming back home with the sunrise and well, I was blessed. I realized that sometimes the most simple, not planned and last minute plans are the ones that fulfill you and all people that came made my late birthday celebration a fantastic one that made me extremely happy.

Beautiful sunrise when I came home

After that we had a day off school but I rehearsed my choreography as our exam was in a week time and everyone needed to do last minute corrections and so on. Also, during the next days we were rehearsing several pieces of our school performance program because we had performances on Monday and Tuesday in Fellbach, a town right next to Stuttgart.

One of the pieces we were rehearsing was «Chansons» from Dominique Dumais. This piece was in last year’s program and was not meant to be in this year’s performances but our director decided to substitute one of our pieces with this one that we danced some of us during the past season.

The «problem» with this piece is that we last danced it in September for a short performance in a congress that happened in Heidelberg and also in our very first performance in our school stage in October. This meant that for the past six months or so we hadn’t rehearsed it and we needed to include some rehearsals to remember it and get back into the feel of it.

I’m not going to lie, I was a bit concerned about forgetting absolutely everything but on the first rehearsal, as the music went on, we all remembered absolutely everything and it was as if it had always been a part of us. It’s interesting how a choreography can stay with you when you’ve danced it several times and how you can search for different moments and feels that you might have missed in the past.

I was really happy to dance it again and I think the public really enjoys it. To get you into context, «Chansons» it’s a piece that, as the title says, has several songs that explain different things about life and relationships. It’s a modern piece that was made for the company of Nationaltheater Mannheim and our director asked to have an extract for our school performance last school year. I was very lucky when I got chosen to dance it and I got to do a girl’s duet as «my piece» with an amazing dancer that just graduated last year from our school.

The piece is not too hard technically but I think that what makes the piece touching is the group connection and expression. It really connects with every single person in the public at some moment. Either it’s a funny moment or a deep and melancholic one, everyone can relate to any of the stories told in this piece and that’s why I think my director decided to bring it back. Let’s say it’s a safe bet.

Going back to my week, on the weekend we were also rehearsing «Chansons» and our choreographs for the improvisation exam. We also had a rehearsal of our Spanish dance for our exam that was happening on Wednesday, right after our two performances in Fellbach. But then we got the notice that our improvisation exam was also happeing on the same Wednesday.

Oh man, that was a stress punch right on our faces. But my whole class decided to take it as best as possible and we all met on the Sunday when we were having our Spanish rehearsal to make a full two run through of all the choreographs as we would do it the day of our exam and we made an awesome job.

My dancers did well on the first run but on the second one they were even better and I felt that they all were making an awesome job and after such a journey I want to believe that they were actually enjoying the choreography and for me that was the thing I cared the most about.

Monday came and the ride to Fellbach begun. After a two and a half hour journey, we arrived straight to the theater were we made an hour class and a full run of the performance in which we needed to adjust some of the choreographs as one of the students got injured. It took a bit longer than expected and that left us with an hour to get ready before our warm up class. Quick make-up, french rolls on point and performance is about to start!

The stage in Fellbach

That first performance got a very good applause and the teachers seemed very happy with all of us. We were all really happy as well and I was looking forward to Tuesday’s performance.

We got to our hotel at about 11 p.m. and we all had a bit of a chill time trying to enjoy as much as possible our short time off. I was in a room with two of my best friends and we had a lovely chat with a calming diffuser filling the room with a wonderful smell. I’ll write in the future about my own diffuser and how I got into aromatherapy if you want to hear about it!

After a very repairing sleep, I woke up naturally at 7:30 a.m (which never happens!) but I was really well rested and I couldn’t wait to start the day. The three of us headed to breakfast (I think the very best part of traveling and staying in a hotel is the breakfast buffet, am I right?) and then we got our ride to the theater to do a class to get ourselves ready for the day ahead.

My lovely roomates <3

After class we had a lot of free time and we all got the stage to rehearse our exams and I personally rehearsed some variations on pointe. After lunch I went for a small walk around the town and I had a bit of time sitting on a bench in a lovely green area were I read a couple of chapters of «The Lord of Flies» which by the way I’m really enjoying.

Once I got back to the theater it was time to get ready, but this time much more calmed and relaxed. We did our warm up class and performance time came up.

Even if Monday’s performance was already good, Tuesday’s one was fantastic. We had a fabolous public that clapped with loads of enthusiasm but I also felt a much better energy on stage and everyone did an awesome job. Specially with «Chansons», I got shocked on the response of the public. They even needed to to a blackout and turn the lights on again because the clapping wasn’t stopping!

It’s such a rewarding feeling when this moments happen... I feel that every single moment when you feel that you’re not doing good enough is filled with joy by this things. It makes me realized how beautiful this profession can be and that this is just the very beginning to a long life plenty of dance, applause and joy.

A picture we took right before

 the performance started in our Dryads costumes

Moving on, we finished this wonderful performance and it was time to drive back to Mannheim and we got home quite late. At that moment I never felt that was a problem because even if we had exams in just some hours (I got home at 1:20 a.m. and went to sleep at 3:00 a.m.) I felt more energized than ever!

Wednesday came up and the exams were about to start. We had our improvisation exam first and I must say that we were all a bit anxious before starting but we all gave each other the best vibes and energy to get through it. And we made an awesome job everyone of us.

The jury seemed quite happy with our choreographs and my group was fantastic. They really showed my idea and although they were nervous before starting I think they knew how to work it out perfectly and I was very, very, very happy with all of them.

I also danced in a choreography that was quite sentimental and the choreography told me that she was really happy with my work and that she was really proud of the group. I think she treated a very hard theme to talk about and that we all connected quite well during the choreography and for me it was a pleasure being able to dance for her.

We also made an improvisation exercise after all the choreographs. Our teacher gave us the headline «twisted times». He told us that we could show slow and fast movements, organic and very weird ones. It was about contrasting movements and basically find different approaches to movement. We made this exercise in groups of four and I was really happy with my group as we all connected very well and I think that the jury was really glad with our work.

Picture from "Nonfiction"

(the choreography I was in)

Capture from my choreography video by Saki Tanaka <3

Thank you, Saki-chan

Right after that we had our Spanish exam and I also think that it went quite well and the jury enjoyed our choreography. We used «mantones», a typical «scarf» shaped in a triangle used in flamenco dance. It’s a very interesting prop and I think public really loves it because it gives a beautiful visual effect to he dance. The whole group pulled off their passion and sensuality and me being the only Spaniard, I pulled off all of my Spanish dance knowledge and try to have as much fun as possible.

Me and some of my classmates with the "mantón"

We all made a great job that day and later in the night we rewarded ourselves with a small picnic in order to celebrate a classmate’s birthday.

All in all, that was a hectic week but I think that it was beyond worth it all the effort we made and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome of all the hard work that was put in every single thing.

I hope that this small update liked you and I promise that tomorrow I’ll post again!

Thank you for reading and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Love,

Muriel