Day 33 - Ode to the Waltz King!

If I thought I'd experienced humidity in New York this summer I was kidding myself. TODAY was the hottest, most humid day I've experienced here. It is fabulous if you're not interested in remaining clean and dry. If you care about hygiene at all you'd be bothered - so naturally I'm unaffected!

Today was our long day - class from 9-6 with only one 45min break. Fridays also include tap dancing, which is a favorite of mine. I am not getting much better, but I am starting to remember why I like tap so much! In Jackie's Acting Technique class I was one of the participants for an exercise in relaxation and then sensory awareness. Four of us sat in chairs across from our "partner" and closed our eyes and breathed and went into relaxation/meditation. Then our partner came and shifted the weight of our arms, legs, and head to relieve any tension we held in our arms, hands, legs, ankles, neck, and face. Next we were asked to visualize any object and begin to explore it (eyes still closed) to see it, feel it, taste it, smell it, hear it, etc. I thought going into the exercise maybe I'd explore a fine-toothed comb, since that is something I could imagine pretty clearly, but then after my relaxation I was sitting there and suddenly visualized a bowl of hard-boiled eggs sitting in front of me. It was so unexpected - I smiled and picked an egg up. It was still in the shell. I held it for a while and felt the weight of it. My movements became extremely intricate (eyes remained closed the entire time) as I cracked it, peeled it, sliced it, and began to eat it. I could smell it, and taste it, and feel the difference in texture between the yolk and white, and I experienced several other sensations that are too detailed to write about here. It was so fascinating to me. I had not anticipated exploring an imaginary hard-boiled egg during my day today... not on "the list" of things to do... Nevertheless, very cool experience, and I loved hearing about my peer's experiences as well.

Tonight I joined Stephanie Sundine (you may remember her from a previous post on my day of getting lost and going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art) at the Kaye Theatre on the East Side for a production of Die Fledermaus. It took me back to my day in Music History when Dr. Neimoyer was talking about Strauss and played a portion of this overture I think and pointed out the "drag" between beats that was the "Strauss Trademark" I took away from that lecture. I love the classical training I'm getting. The show was very nicely done, though having been exposed to such a higher expectation of acting in the past few weeks I was really missing the sincerity onstage tonight. The voices were very good, and I was happy to have a free ticket in a great seat and wonderful company. Stephanie and I bused back to the West Side and she walked home with me. A huge storm had occurred while we were in the show so the streets were wet and everything smelled wet, which I love. It was a fun night. I'm excited to sleep and go to Yoga in the morning!

Love to all - enjoy your weekend!