Translation: The Firebird
Language: French
Analysis: I have an amazing grandfather who teaches me something new every time we talk. A miniature French lesson always makes my day. Merci, grand-pere.
So, yesterday. Yesterday was great.
While the rest of my family was remodeling the kitchen, I was dancing. Not that remodeling the kitchen doesn’t sound absolutely enthralling, of course, but dance was beckoning me.
Miss Mimi taught company class, in which I successfully completed my best pirouettes of the month. Now, if I can just carry those over to pointe…
The soloists had a three-hour break between class and rehearsal, so I went home to check out the kitchen and watch Pirates of the Caribbean. The kitchen was (and is) looking beautiful, thanks to my awesome parents. What I saw of the movie (I was so exhausted, I fell asleep.) was highly entertaining. I vote finishing it once I have informed you of…
Rehearsal came in a flash and was gone just as quickly. We ran through the opening piece several times and began working on variations.
The Firebird variation is unnervingly fast.
There I was, thinking that we were around 30 seconds through the piece, and I had only learned 20 seconds. Ten seconds, let alone over a minute, doesn’t seem like much until you’re dancing to such a demanding classical song.
I love it, though, and I love to watch the other soloists perform. Bluebird and White Swan are so lovely, and Sun Queen starts her variation next week, which will be gorgeous. Everything is coming together so quickly!
The afternoon’s final dance was a dramatic scene involving the Prince of Darkness, Bluebird and me and a relatively new experience for all of us. Miss Mia declared, “You’re going to be red and bruised, but welcome to partnering!”
Red and bruised– yes, but not my ribs. No. It’s my knees. Because apparently, being stage-shoved to the floor is much harder than it looks! By the looks of my knees, I’m going to need to practice falling gracefully.
But, as Miss Bethanny so kindly pointed out on Friday evening, “Let’s be real: They put dancers in a big, empty room where we can’t hit anything, but as soon as we start walking along the sidewalk, we trip over a pebble or an ant.”
She was laughing when she said that, and so were we. That is to say, I hope that YOU are laughing now. 😉