Hello from Texas!

DS readers, oh how I’ve missed you! Sorry it’s been so long. In the past 3 weeks I have flown from NY to Georgia, driven from Georgia to Texas, moved into my apartment and begun my final semester at TCU.  

Last time I wrote I told you that I would be choreographing at my “home studio” in Georgia. I’m so proud of those dancers, they learned an 8-minute dance in a matter of five or six hours! It was still rough when I left, but they know what they’re doing, and I know it will be clean by their performance in November.

At the end of the first week of classes at TCU the dance department holds an audition for our fall concert. We learn phrases in several different styles, and from that our faculty casts us in different dances. I had a rocky start. I was cut from the modern portion of the audition, which was especially disappointing since I generally considered that to be my strength, and I was really interested in the modern choreographers we were working with this year, Christian von Howard and Edisa Weeks. But, as Christian told all of us, it was just an audition, not an indicator of a lack of talent.  

But I was happy to discover that one of my ballet professors, Elizabeth Gillaspy, was choreographing a dance using swing music and inspired by the 1940s American icon, Rosie the Riveter. Her jazzy audition phrase was fast and furious, but so fun! I guess my excitement about the dance showed in my performance, because when the cast list went up, my name was on it.

It’s been awhile since I’ve worked with Ms. Gillaspy, and this semester I will not only be dancing for her, but I’ll also be working with her in a different sense. Ms. G. is the current president of an organization for ballet teachers in higher education, CORPS de Ballet International. She’s planning the 2009 CORPS conference, and I’ll be assisting her during this process. I know working in an arts organization is somewhere in my future, so I’m sure this will be great preparation.

There’s not a lot more to tell since the semester is just starting, but I’m sure I’ll be back soon with some more news. I hope your new school and dance year is off to a great start!