I can’t believe the ABT summer intensive has just two weeks left. Time flies…in the heat and with a mouse under my bed.
Yes, I paid almost double this year for our apartment in the West Village, and we got a pull out couch, a desk for me to work at, a great kitchen, a washer and drier, ants galore (flying ones, too), a fridge with a condensation problem (it leaks like crazy), and a mouse (only one?).
Sheesh. Don’t ever, ever get a garden apartment. I learned the hard way. Although I understand from the handy man that 10th floor apartments in the Village can have mice, too. And the girls in the New School dorms (1st floor) have mice, too.
Anyway, Julian is having a great time. His only complain really has been with the partnering class. It has not lived up to his expectations at all. Most of the boys are way too short, and this has meant that the green guys only partner with yellow, red and blue. They haven’t even partnered with green.
However, he is enjoying Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden’s Complexions intensive immensely. I’m waiting for him as I write; he’s taking his third class. He only comes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. On Monday he said it was hard, but he enjoyed it until the last 15 minutes when his brain shut down. On Wednesday, he said he had a bit of trouble getting the choreography. Desmond has been away in Italy, and Dwight has been there doing all the choreography. That actually won’t change, except that Desmond, rather than a company member, will be doing the demonstrating next week. Anyway, Dwight choreographs from point A to point B, but then decides to insert more choreography in between…like a lot more choreography. He may add numerous “inserts.” This was a bit difficult for Julian to get his mind around, I guess.
In addition, he choreographs quickly. In two hours, they do probably four times the amount of choreography Julian is used to doing…if not more…in that amount of time. But he is basically keeping up.
His dad and I told him he has nothing to lose. As the baby in the class—he’s 16 and a pre-professional and everyone else is a 18+ and a professional (or pro level)—no one will be surprised if he just barely keeps up and if he does well, they’ll notice.
Dwight told them the class is set up just like a company choreography session. The company “gets” the choreography a bit faster; that’s the only difference. Wow. What a great experience.
We’ll see if Julian wants to do any dancing tomorrow. He might be too tired. Plus, it’s just beastly hot and humid here.
Into the home stretch. I have to say, with the mouse in the house…I’m getting a bit homesick. And I’m not getting much done work wise. Too many handymen and exterminators and cleaning people (they required me to get the apartment cleaned) to deal with today. And an insurance call about an accident my daughter had a while ago…And scheduling a wisdom tooth extraction for her as well. The things we do for our kids.
Was it hard for your son to get into Complexions Summer Intensive?
Well….The story is in the blog somewhere. Julian attended a class with Desmond Richardson. We had to run out so Julian only got to say a passing, “Thanks.” I managed to get an email address for Desmond (legitimately) and Julian sent him a formal thank you note (with photo attached). Desmond wrote back asking him to attend his Level Three (Pro Division) class at the intensive. We knew nothing about the intensive at the time and had no idea this level was for 18+ professionals with a letter of recommendation from a professional. Julian was just turning 16. At the end of the program Dwight Rhoden invited him back to the same level for this year with a “gift” of Level II so he can take barre as well. So, was it hard? Not really.