Day 11: Some call themselves dancers, others dance.

Today was a great second day of dance!


I started the day off right with Paul Matteson's class. We worked on our walking meditation sequence as well as our normal tendu and plie combination. Then we worked on our floor combination which was very broken up. I tried to focus on how to connect each step so that the flow of the movement never died. A question Paul addressed was how we could keep the essence of each step and the work in general without losing the integrity of each step, but also to condense it so that it felt more like a phrase instead of a combination with steps within it. I am really enjoying this class. I like the slow progression of the "waking up" rolling that then turns into walking, and then simple tendus and plies, and then eventually to phrase work. I don't know how easy it would be to wake up early to catch a bus and then get to class and do intense work- like a Horton class. That would definitely kill me. A lot of people complain that Paul's class is a little slower than they would like. And although, I somewhat agree with that statement, I think that the fact that it's a slower class- actually benefits my brain into easing into my day and slowing warming up my body, but in a proper way. I think that this is the best flowing class I have had in awhile. Paul really knows how to ease into the progression of a class, something I wish other teachers possessed. 


We then moved into African Technique. It was only technically the second day of us having an African, so we were still pretty slow. A special thing happened today however, the famous African Technique Master, Baba Chucj Davis came to observe class today. I got to shake his hand! This guy is in several dance history books- he is definitely an African legend, and you can tell he is a legend based on how everyone reacted when he walked in. He gave us a mini-"talk" basically telling us his views on African dance and drumming. Sherone also brought up the point that "sometimes there are dancers....and sometimes there are some who just simply dance." I thought this statement was extremly powerful. He was basically saying that you can call yourself a dancer, but are you actually feeling what the power of dance is? And are you portraying this energy while you dance. He said that those who simple just "dance" are the ones who are getting the most out of their experience, and can be seen by others as the "true dancers". 


Then after lunch, I walked over to Southgate. Today is the last day that we are staying in Southgate for Repertory unfortunately...Next week we move into the Arts Warehouse because Southgate is going to be under construction... and not only is Southgate right next to my dorm, but the Arts Warehouse is a good 15-20 minute walk. Just lovely. Anywho, Ming divided us into groups. I got placed in a duet with Raphael. We spent time making a phrase together where we manipulated each other's movement and mixed it together. It came out successful for the most part, there are a few kinks that we are hoping Ming can help clean up for us.


Then afterwards Emma, Vincent and I got ready and went to the Tobacco City Campus which is right next to DPAC ( Durham Performing Arts Center) and got drinks/appetizers before the Scottish Dance Theatre show. We went to this place called Cuban Revolution. They had 3$ drafts and cuban specialities. We order the appetizer sampler which had all sorts of Cuban specialties, including plantains ( YUM). And we order two rounds of drinks ( not by choice..) But I must say my Blue Moons were quite delicious. However, I guess I was a little more tipsy than I thought I was going to be after two beers. We got to the show and Vincent and I were a little loopy. Thank goodness we were though, because the first piece did not grab my attention right away. It was very long and overdone. It was confusing as to what the subject matter was also. But then. The second piece came on, and my appreciate for Scottish Dance Theatre, grew by about 100% of what it was before. The piece was called Drift and it was a duet done to heavy metal music, and it was incredible. The dancers threw one another across stage and fell on the floor for probably the majority of their time on stage. I swear it was them throwing one another, falling, and rolling..but it was captivating. I wish I could see that duet 100 times more. The elegance and sophistication of the way they handled on another's bodies was inexplainable. Just truly a majestic piece, and I honestly don't know how many times I have ever called a piece, majestic. 


Scottish Dance Theatre: Drift Excerpt ( Not good quality, and close up )

I am really enjoying all this exposure to so many different dance companies, professionals, teachers, dancers, types of dance...it is such a blessing to be here. I am going to continue to grow as much as possible, and just DANCE. 

Day 10: Let's get this party started!

Today was the beginning of the first day of classes, and let me tell you- I am so excited for the remainder of my time here at ADF! 


I woke up at 7:00AM and had breakfast and then rushed to the bus in the circle at 7:45. We took a bus to Durham School of the Arts, which is about a five minute drive from Duke East Campus. We got there and headed to the gym for my first class, Modern Level 4 with Paul Matteson. 


We started the class off saying each other's names and repeating it over a few times. We then proceeded to warm up slowly by rolling across the floor, crawling, and then walking. We experimented with shifting our weight between our feet slowly so that we could feel where our weight was being distributed on the soles of the feet. Then after that we slowly progressed into a partnering phrase that we had learned in the preview class. I really felt a lot of work being done in the hamstrings and in my core. Then after that we moved into two phrases. The first phrase was in the center and it focused a lot on floor work, and distribution of weight and directional changes. We also did a bunch of inversions in this sequence. The second sequence went across the floor and was focused on traveling across the floor while "floating like a gazelle"...however you are supposed to portray that, I'm not sure. The last combination proved to be very difficult for me, but there's always tomorrow. And then the class ended. Luckily, I have my next class in the same room, so I stayed in the room writing some notes, when Paul walked over to talk to me. Yeah, I was confused at first also,  but he came up to me and told me that I did fantastic work in class. He asked me if I was accepted into the Mark Morris Repertory, and I told him that I wasn't and that I was accepted into Ming's Repertory and that I was taking that in its place. He told me that he saw me in Elisa's class and he was really impressed with my work. He told me he thought my dancing was "sharp" and then said that he was happy to have me in class. What a compliment! Especially on the first day! I really appreciated his compliment, it definitely contributed to a great start of my day, paired with an excellent class!


Then my next class began, African Technique! We started the class by talking about the things that we would be accomplishing in class. We met the musicians and talked about the culture of African Technique. Sherone started the class off with giving us a warm-up. We did simple stretching and did a few arm patterns to get us going. We talked a lot about moving the arms efficiently without doing so much work in the shoulders. Sherone talked about using the hands to guide your arm instead of using your shoulder to help with the movement of the arms. This was like a revelation to me, why have I not thought about this before. Just like initiation movement from the distal ends of the feet, why not using the hands to help initiate movement without messing up the shoulders or spine? We then learned a warm-up series phrase involving a lot of arm movements that were mostly pressing, scooping, and flinging movements. Then we had a partnering section where we found a partner and had an arm-flinging dance battle. My partner was Marjani Forte from Urban Bush Women. We had a lot of fun with it. I  love how small and intimate the class is, and having the large ensemble of drummers makes it even more fun. We then reworked the dance we learned from the preview class which was the dance originating from Guinea, I think it was "the Sunu"- I could be wrong though..it was fun, but a lot of people ( maybe even myself) who couldn't hear the rhythms from the ensemble. Sherone got us all to sit down right next to the drums so that we could feel the rhythms vibrating within our bodies- so that we could feel it. Part of the problem is that we were placed in a Gymnasium and many times, the sounds given off from the drums bounce off the walls in a weird dynamic and make it hard for people to identify the sound, unless you are right next to the center of the drums. Ebo, one of the drummers also explained to us how he felt about rhythms and how a rhythm should be portrayed as a relationship, and that we should be building relationships to the rhythms like they are people we care about. We worked on trying to feel the rhythms in our body and process them in a way so that we can show music with our body as the music's instrument! How cool, huh! Anyways, I am really excited for what this class has to offer, and I cannot wait to get more invested in the culture and technique of West African!


Then after a great two classes, I got on the bus and found my long lost bff, Vincent. We decided to have lunch together in the dining hall- which presented itself to be a pretty nice dining hall ( Not nearly as delicious as Skidmore's though haha). 


After lunch I headed over to Southgate and had a Repertory class with Ming Yang. He first showed us the Repertory that we would be learning. He created this piece of Repertory at a Conservatory in Taiwan and he focused on the idea of "mopping a floor" and how he could translate that movement into movements within the body. He gave us a short phrase to learn and had us do it a few times. Then he asked us to create a our own "mopping" phrase to express our ideas and thoughts about the type of movement. We then shared our phrases with everyone. Of course, I forgot my phrase halfway through and starting making something up- I couldn't get my brain on track- it was weird!


Then after we all showed each other our phrases, we spent the last 45 minutes learning some partnering work that was featured in the Repertory. We learned 4 different moves that accumulated from learning just one and eventually flowed together in a partnering sequence. We first learned a handstand that rolled over our partner's back until we landed into a ledge. After that our partner did a rotating stomach turn on our sacrum. Then after they got into a position, I would wrap my left arm around my partner's back while my partner hoisted me into the air so that I was turning with my partner and I was horizontal to my partner's body. And then after getting out of that change of facing, my partner did a cartwheel, holding onto my legs and putting his head in between my legs, while I grabbed his torso as we cartwheeled across. Yes, it was intense. But it was so awesome! And I learned so much about negotiating my weight, timing, spacing with my partner, Shamar. We also figured out how to make the transitions smooth and look effortless. It almost began to start feeling effortless after awhile! Anyways, I am really excited for what this class has to offer, at least with Ming's 3 weeks of teaching. Who knows what Mark Dendy is going to bring the second three weeks!


Anyways, now I have the rest of the night to hang out and watch Breaking Bad!

Day 9: #Unproductivity

Hi.


Today was one of the most unproductive , lazy days I have had in awhile, and it was really needed. I did pretty much NOTHING today. I woke up, and went to auditions for the Forsythe and Jasperse Projects. The auditions ran from 10:15AM-12:15PM. These were the final auditions that I am going to be partaking in for a few weeks at least. There is one more potential audition that I foresee attending which is for the Shen Wei Dance Arts Company Audition for their Project that they will be showing at the North Carolina Museum of Art. I am guessing their performance will be some sort of installation in the art gallery?


Anyways, the auditions today were a lot more laid back which could mean that it could really go either way for me as far as results. The auditions were Improvisation-based. This means that the auditioners give you around 30 seconds per person to pretty much show the panel what you have to offer as an artist in whatever way you want. This means that you need to become smart and make sure that you do your research before showing up to an audition like this, so you know what they are looking for specifically, which I failed to do... I thought I had more knowledge about the styles, but I don't think I exactly knew what I should be showing them. The problem with doing an Improvisational structure for the audition is that what content you show them can become a problem if you do not know how to properly market yourself as an artist. Plus, doing this all in a matter of seconds can become hard. Improvisation is supposed to be something that comes from within and that can provide your body with a natural way of moving within your own shape flow ( or internal sense of movement patterns), but you also have to form to what people are looking for.


Anyways, after the audition I came back and had lunch and then went to the Ark to see if postings were listed. There was nothing posted at 1:30PM...The Forsythe Project Rehearsal began at 1:30PM but ended up being pushed back to 1:50PM...I didn't get in of course haha, but I also didn't expect to get in. Still don't know about Jasperse but If I don't get accepted it's not a huge deal. I am just trying to do as much as ADF will allow me to...Although you wouldn't know that if you saw me today.  


After I went to the Ark I came home and proceeded to spend my entire day watching Breaking Bad. Oh my goodness. That show is so addicting. I was going to: go to Hip-hop drop in class, potentially go to the gym, potentially go somewhere to tan on campus... No. What did I do? Sit in my bed for the remainder of the day and watch this show. I have watched almost 2.5 seasons in less than five days. This is an unhealthy habit all due to my wonderful boyfriend who introduced the show to me. Thank you Ben.... 


However, I do not feel guilty indulging in a day of rest and laziness, because the next five weeks are going to be up and active every day. I think after this crazy weekend, my roommate Emma and I deserve to sit on our butts all day and sleep and watch TV shows and eat fatty foods ( in specific Cookout). 


At least, that's what I'm telling myself. 


It's also that time of the month where mother nature likes to remind us how great it is to be a woman. So thank you mother nature for this wonderful excuse for a day off!


<3

Day 8: Registration Day

Today was the day we registered!

My class schedule is as follows:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday:

8AM-10AM: Modern Technique Level 4 with Paul Matteson

10:15AM-12:15PM: African Technique with Sherone Price

12:30PM-1:15PM: Break

1:30PM-3:30PM: Repertory with Ming Yang for the first 3 weeks/ Mark Dendy for the second three weeks

Wednesdays, Friday Nights, Saturdays, and Sundays are elective days where we have a continually altering schedule. We can take a range of classes from Pilates, Yoga, Samba, Gyrokinesis, Modern, Master Classes, Hip Hop, etc. They are on a drop in basis. There are also auditions being held by a few companies for projects and other works being held. 

I am very pleased with my schedule and I am hoping that I enjoy my classes as much as I am anticipating I will! But to be fair, so far I have enjoyed every class I have had here at ADF so far- even with the classes being preview classes. I am excited to finally normalize my schedule and begin taking classes on a more routine basis. 

Today we didn't do much other than go to advising, and register for our classes, but tonight we also had the opportunity to see Keigwin and Company perform at the Reynolds Theatre.


They were a pretty bad-ass company. I enjoyed the performance...particularly a lot more than the last show I saw, Stephen Petronio...gah!
Keigwin's company had a lot of interesting dances and they all had a very unique individual style to them. The last piece was definitely a highlight of the entire performance, and I know that many might think I am saying this because of the unexpected MIA-hip hop performance that was randomly embedded in the dance, but because the concept of forming a relationship between the fashion industry and insects; two completely opposing forces of nature to fuse together made an interesting relationship occur. I think that the idea that fashion icons sometimes hold qualities that can even remotely relate them to seeming like an insect almost makes sense to me in a sophisticated way that I cannot explain. It was truly exceptional work, and I am hoping to see more works like "Megalopolis" again in the future. 


And now it's time for bed! Or, an episode of Breaking Bad....


<3

Day 7: The Last Haul of Auditions...

Today was insane. How I am typing up this is confusing because I am sooo extremly exhausted and overwhelmed and just flat out ready to crash. Today was the conclusion of the preview weekend schedule as well as auditions for Footprints, MFA projects, and the Repertories. 


I woke up today very early for my 8:00AM class in Brodie Gym ( my favorite....) to have classes with Pam Pietro, Mark Haim, and Jesse Zarritt. We started the class with Jesse who taught us a very lucid, floating warmup sequence that was based on the balance between feelings and experiences that your body sees itself doing, as well as what it can already do. Jesse described this as the spectrum of the possible to the impossible and teaching your body to move with that sense of delicacy. Jesse teaches a sort of fusion of Modern dance technique paired with "Gaga" technique, which for those who do not know...No. It's not Lady Gaga technique, but nice try. Taken from Wikipedia: Gaga is a technique developed by  Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin. The technique strives to establish a flow throughout the body that allows complete fluidity. In his technique, he has a series of words that signify particular ways to initiate movement and the parts of the body involved in initiating and feeling that movement. One example is “Luna.” When he says this, he is referring to the joint between the metacarpals and the proximal phalanges on the palm.

Gaga:




Then we took a class with Pam Pietro who taught a modern combination. It was good, nothing that I can see that stood out to me as being "especially different" or unique, but she sure is a little ball of fire, and I'm sure if there was more time, that I would be able to identify different types of her style. I then had the last part of class with Mark Haim, who is a character in itself. He taught us this phrase that I found pretty enjoyable, with a lot of focus on linear patterns, and traveling through space. 


After our final preview classes, I came back to the room to rest before our Repertory auditions. 


The first set of Repertory auditions were for Elisa Clark, Ursula Payne, and Paul Matteson. 


We started with auditions with Elisa. We learned a phrase from Mark Morris' Repertory.  I thought that the combination was a lot of fun. It was very musical and focused a lot on the counts and musicality of the steps. I think that overall I did a good job at nailing the combination. However, I think that my energy was low and that I did not present myself well throughout any of the Repertory auditions, however this first section was a highlight. Then came the Robert Battle Repertory audition with Ursula Payne. Oh my goodness. My arms hurt so bad from the phrase we learned from Primate. I don't know how anyone can perform Battle's work. It always makes me in pain! It was a fun combination though, although I doubt my body can handle this choreography yet. She also made us walk across the floor and pretend to throw up, while vocalizing the "hacking sound". Then was Paul's audition. Which ended up running late. It was a partnering audition. I was with one girl and one guy. We had to sense one another's weight and utilize the weight sharing to make a phrase that we perform as a soloist. It was actually really difficult to make phrase work out of partnering steps. I was impressed by other peoples' interpretations, although I don't think I made the cut for this audition.


The second set of auditions were for Mark Haim, Ming Yang, and Andrea Weber. 
At this point of the day, I was SO exhausted from the previous classes and auditions that I had just about had it at this point. The first audition was for Andrea Weber who ran the Cunningham audition. I thought that I did a good job at figuring out the complicated steps and quick footwork, but I really don't think I stood out at all to the panel. I was feeling very dry in these auditions. I think I was just "auditioned-out!" Then we had Ming Yang teach us a phrase for his Repertory that will be shared with Mark Dendy in a few weeks. His combination was full of power and strength and focused on eating up the space and moving efficiently through the body with the pelvis. After doing it a few times, I stopped caring and just started messing around with it. Then the final audition was with Mark Haim who literally made us walk, skip, and shuffle in different walking patterns with a Starbucks cup. He was looking for people to portray character and emotion in a subtle way without just "dumping" it on the audience. It was actually a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. 




After auditions I pretty much passed out as soon as I got back from them. Being in Brodie Gym all that time was exhausting and unhealthy for my body- specifically, my bones and joints. I am hoping I get called back for some audition, but if not it will not be the end of the world because at least I can dance. 

Day 6: Afro-whatttt?

Today was a lot less stressful than yesterday, but still nonetheless a stressful part of this hell-ish weekend of previews! Luckily, after my long day yesterday, I was able to sleep in until 9:00AM. My first class was at Southgate, so in close proximity, and I was able to make it to class on time. We had Marjani Forte, from Urban Bush Women as well as Roger Belman teach. This was definitely one of my favorite classes that I have taken so far! Seeing Marjani again was wonderful, since I had taken class from her at ACDFA at Muhlenberg College and have had class with her fellow company members, like Bennalldra Williams. Roger's combinations were so fluid, and made sense to me. I felt really comfortable and happy in class. This class is definitely one I will consider when finalizing my final schedule. 


Then afterwards, I went to my next class which was Afro-Modern with Michelle Gibson and Ballet with Elizabeth Corbett. We started with a 45 minute ballet barre from Corbett, which was different, but also a nice warm up for what we were about to encounter...Then Michelle came out and as soon as she walked in the room her ball of fire energy radiated onto the whole group as we learned this very challenging Afro-Modern fusion phrase. It was really intense, and she really pushes you to work hard. I mean, I don't think I have sweat so much this entire weekend until I got to her class! It was a really great class however, and she told us all to make sure that we take a class that we are uncomfortable in- because it will help us grow.


After that I had a long break from 1:30-6:00PM where I spent most of my day lounging around, watching Breaking Bad and sleeping because they were the time slot for people who got callbacks for Footprints. But later I had MFA auditions, which were wack! They shoved 300+ people into a room for one hour and tried to audition people for 4 different MFA's works. Literally walked across the floor, turned around to look behind myself - with intent, and continued walking and got cut- with the rest of the 280 people. We learned a phrase for one MFA student who cut everyone except 20ish people who did a partnering section. And then just got completely cut at the end when they told us to go home...interesting. Not too upset about it considering how they picked people. Definitely a good experience, because now I can say I have been in an audition where they did a ridiculous experiment and cut people after not seeing any of our potential. It also was an unrealistic amount of time and people in one room to see everyone- so it was definitely all about luck, I guess I just didn't have any today! But no worries, you move on. 


Tomorrow I have one class in the morning and then I get to rest until Repertory auditions, which will be taking all day long! This weekend is almost over, thank the lord! I really need some stability in my life and schedule!


About a year ago I was at Lar Lubovitch, closing out my intensive with them! Here is a little reminder of my experience last summer, and inspiration for the next 5 weeks:

Love you all! Thanks for reading and continuing this journey with me! 

Day 5. Getting Intense...

Today was an interesting day to say the least.


This morning we had a massive set of auditions that went from 7:45AM to 12:30PM. We were auditioning for three different pieces that were for three separate choreographers to set new works on ADF students. The three choreographers were Reggie Wilson, Jodi Melnick, and Helen Simoneau. The first audition that my group had was with Helen. We had a five minute warm-up which then proceeded into an hour audition. She taught a "contemporary-esque" phrase that we repeated several times. There was a lot of weight changing and it played a lot with the shift of weight in the pelvis and how the rest of the body responded. I really enjoyed the sequence. We were in Southgate, which is a fairly small studio,with around 100 people however, making this a very intense and sweaty audition. 


We then proceeded to go to our next audition which was in Brodie Gym. This was the first time I had stepped foot in Brodie, and let me tell you- I hate that facility. It is not appropriate for dancers to be in, at all. The gym is first of all ALWAYS freezing. I had to put a jacket over my clothes the whole time. Also, it's annoying because there is a mini-marley set up that is on top of some wood to act as a separate flooring situation- but the wood isn't sprung, it's just like someone picked up a panel of wood and put it down on the floor that's already there and taped marley on top of it. For those of you who do not have any knowledge about the difference between flooring, it is actually an essential part of a dancer's priorities and worries. The other half of the gym is just gym flooring which means it is concrete, and is not ideal for dancers because it can cause a lot of injuries from the hard, un-malleable floor. Typically, dancers dance on wood-sprung floors, which are more flexible which can take some of the pressure off of dancers when they jump and have to land. Anyways, we learned a combination from this woman, Jodi Melnick who has a Trisha Brown background in dance, a style I am not particularly familiar with. I am not sure I liked it very much and didn't think that my audition process went well. 


Then, we arrive at the Ark, which is a beautiful facility in itself, but the facility is relatively small for an audition ( although not as small as Southgate) and is not air conditioned. However, we arrive there and find that Reggie Wilson, the choreographer of the third Footprints piece, doesn't really have much prepared because he isn't sure what he wants to produce as a new work. So he first makes us walk/run around the room for about 20 minutes just moving our bodies and getting all the kinks out. Then he teaches us this cha-cha phrase which then turns into the structure for his actual phrase, except he then embeds different movements of the body, while moving into the cha-cha sequence's spatial pattern.  This audition was definitely the WORST for me out of the three that I did. Me and Kyoko (sp?) were trying to figure out the other side, but we misinterpreted what Reggie meant when he told us to figure out the other side. Typically when a teacher tells you to do that you automatically think "reverse it", but since the cha-cha pattern goes in a counter-clockwise circle, the pattern never reverses, it just happens with a different facing, so while we are making it even more complicated for ourselves, the actual pattern is a lot more simple than we thought. So once it became time to show I was totally "lost" when it came to knowing what side I was facing. I tried my best and tried to accommodate and follow off of others when confused, but it was still a challenge because my body was now programmed to do something else than what my mind was telling myself to do. 


So then auditions were over for Footprints. It was a morning of sheer STRESS, so getting to my next two classes definitely was a relief. After a short lunch break, the Green Group headed over to the Ark to take a ballet class from Jeffrey Bullock, and a Limon based Modern class with Gerri Houlihan, the co-dean of ADF. Gerri's class is SO fun. I loved it so much, but it was not as technically difficult as I was craving, however her training in Jose Limon technique was apparent and embedded in each combination she did, however it wasn't a strict Limon class which was nice. Jeffrey's ballet class was also a good change- since we had ben taking mainly Modern Technique classes, it was a nice change of scenery. I actually did really well in my turns and approach to the class! 


At this point of the day, I was exhausted...but in a good way. However, our next location was in the Arts Warehouse- which is literally a 15 minute walk, uphill! It was like a trek to get there in time! I met a new friend and we talked for a while on the trek there and by the time we arrived, we were so exhausted- and we were about to take African and Hip-hop! Hip-hop was a challenge. The class was given by LaShawn Jones. She taught us about how to properly "pop" and "wave". It was challenging, and something I should work on- but definitely attainable. She said something in class that really stuck with me, she said: " You're not going to take 6 weeks of this and tell the world you are a master of hip-hop, but you will improve and get better and can at least say that everyday was a journey..."
Or something like that.. haha. Then we had African with Sherone Price. I don't even know what to say about this class. It was really difficult, something I didn't feel comfortable doing- but also was a thrill, because I found it to be a really informative and really fun class. I think if I took this class I would gain so much knowledge about the culture as well as gain so much power, stamina, and strength. This class is definitely going to kick my butt. 


Then after class we walked back to see the Teaching Tribute Award be presented to Ana Marie Forsythe, who is pretty much in charge of the Ailey School, and is also "The Master" of Lester Horton technique. Important people were there! Including but not limited to, Robert Battle, Melanie Person, and Clifton Brown...I feel special being only a few feet away from this beautiful people. The ceremony was a nice end to my long, tiring, day. It was a nice way to be inspired by these people and what they have brought to the dance world- a nice opening to the festival. 

After the ceremony was over, my roommate and I went to Whole Foods and got $3 bottles of wine! How crazy is that...and it was actually pretty decent! We went to see the Cast List posted for Footprints and she got a callback for Jodi's piece, and I didn't get any...but it was alright! Because the $3 wine and Ben And Jerry's Fro-yo made up for it! 


The thing I am loving most about this festival is all of the opportunities and all of the different people you meet here! Without trying I have met at least 10 new people today. It's crazy. And you know what, tomorrow is a new day and a whole other set of auditions for MFAs are tomorrow. And I get to sleep in :) !


<3