All performances have been completed, finals have been taken, graduation is (almost) over, and suitcases are being purchased as I write. In three and a half days we take off for New York City and Julian’s second American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive. I am nowhere near as ready!
Julian’s TDC performance was phenomenal! I am my son’s biggest supporter and his largest critic. While I always tell him how well he dances, I also can find things to suggest he improve–and I share these as well. I may not have the technical eye of his dance teachers, but I see enough…more than Julian would like. This time, however, I saw little to nothing. In fact, I was really impressed with the amount of improvement Julian made this year. I watched my son on stage dancing and instead of just seeing my son, I saw a dancer. Wow.
I went up to each of his teachers and the director of the program and said, “This year my money was well spent. I have seen significant improvement in Julian’s dancing.” And they all agreed. They said they had been pushing him, which is what Julian asked them to do, and they, too, saw the results.
Yeah.
I even got the program’s director to agree that Julian’s work at Los Gatos Ballet had helped as well–which it has, given him necessary classical ballet partnering skills and experience.
Anyway, Julian and I are now very curious to see where he will be placed at ABT this summer. He has high hopes, of course, of moving up. We’ll see… No matter. I know he has improved significantly and that this summer will just continue his growth.
Of course, as one of his teachers pointed out, his physical growth has made it hard for him to dance in his body, and now he may actually be starting to feel more “at home” with his new height. He definitely looks more like a man than a body, with a real dancer’s muscle tone, that ‘s for sure. He still needs some flexibility, and we hope that will come as his muscles and tends have a chance to catch up with the growth of his bones. That said, the doctor says he wills till grow to or three inches.
On another note, my stress level went up considerably when I discovered that Julian had been nursing (or not nursing) a swollen big toe for four weeks. He told me this the week before TDC’s Spring Concert and a week and a half before leaving for NYC for the ABT summer intensive (and 6-hour days of dance). Turns out he hurt the toe playing soccer. Yes…remember when I was worried about that activity? Well, not only did he play soccer, he played soccer barefoot. (Okay, don’t ask what I called him when I found that out. My husband says I owe him an apology for that….I’ve not apologized totally, but I did threaten to cut off TDC tuition payments if I ever catch him playing soccer barefoot again. I almost included soccer in total but restrained myself.) So, I took him to the magical acupuncturist on Wednesday, who felt sure it was a sprain. I then took him to the chiropractor who said he thought it was a sprain but suggested we go to a podiatrist for an x-ray and exam to be sure the toe didn’t have a bone chip.
Bone chip! That could require a cast. Ack! I had visions of Julian sitting on his bum at ABT watching the other dancers as his muscles atrophied. I was livid…and stressed.
Yesterday we went to the podiatrist first thing. She told us the toe is just sprained and will remain swollen for at least another 6-8 weeks, but he can dance one it. Phew. I was relieved. I apologized for being so angry, but really…soccer barefoot? Is that not asinine? His feet are his tools.
Well, with that behind us, we can start packing. My office is almost mobile; I have a few files yet to copy and prepare and books to assemble. I have to go outside today and finish weeding a few gardens. I have to shop for an outfit for a high school reunion I’m attending. I have to book one more college tour and print info on all the other ones we scheduled. (I’m not organized, let’s put it that way.) I might be ready by Tuesday night.
See you all in NYC. I doubt I’ll write again until the first day of ABT…happy traveling to NYC! See you in line outside the building. Well be the mom and her son near the front of the line…
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