I slept well last night so now I know its Friday, but the last few days have been a bit odd in a jetlag kind of way.
Yesterday we went back to Fishermans Whalf and took a boat trip around the bay, then did some people watching while Laura drew in my ears. We got some funny looks.
We had lunch in the Hard Rock on pier 39, took lots of photos and chatted to a few people. Then took the tram back to the hotel – I really like the bart and the buses, but the trams were over stuffed and very jerky – I don’t feel the need to take them again.
Our Ultra Gypsy class with Rose was early evening, and we shared the class with half a dozen – including the first men I’ve seen in class over here. One of them was fantastic, very isolated with a fantastic shimmy – I would have liked to video him, but we were rushed for time. Again we did 45 mins of conditioning, then moved on to breaking down and drilling layers of a move and then putting them together. We did a gliding maya in the slow section, a vine with a shimmy mid tempo and a moves whose name I forget, but I could show you for the fast. – I loved Rose, she was a very inspiring teacher, very good at explaining what we were doing and hugely likable too. I’m really embarrassed that I’ve forgot the name of the move. Highly recommended.
We were in a rush because we had talked ourselves into going to the Ballet. We had half an hour from the end of the class to get a cab up to the theatre and into our sets. Interesting that here people were dressed up (always good when you have rushed from class), and that the show started dead on time. I can’t remember the names of the three peices, but will add them when I get home.(edited to add : Night by Matthew Pierce, On Common Ground by Ned Rorem and Rodeo by Aaron Copland) The first was a dream, with wonderful costumes and mood changes. The second was very modern, exploring the issues of duo and trio, as dance but also in relationships – it had premiered the day before, so there was a buzz about it. The third was Rodeo, with lots of familiar music and a more comic storyline. The middle one was my favourite which surprised me as I don’t always like the modern ballet, but this really touched me. -
Anyhow we had dinner in the room and a fairly early night, which might be why I slept well.
