Hey, hey...OLE'!

6 Days to Go!!!

So, on that triumphant day, August 10th, I'll be boarding a plane bound for Madrid! I'm too excited for words! Over the past couple weeks, all I've been doing is Googling maps, and packing lists to figure out just what I'll need during my time there.

So, here's the deal: I'm going to Madrid for 3 weeks to study Flamenco Dance! Yeah, pretty exciting...:) I came up with the idea over Spring semester while in school because I was feeling that as a Juilliard student in the Drama Division, we don't have as many opportunities as I'd like for Dance. Of course we have Ballroom Dancing and Movement training in general, but as an artist, I'm always looking for more ways to express myself. I find that dance is such an exciting form of physical expression. I've always been interested in Cultural Dance as well. My family is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, and Carnival tradition is a big thing for us as a people. There aren't any particular indigenous dance forms in Trinidad, but I know that Carnival time, is a time for us to "express ourselves"! As an artist, much of what I enjoy creating and observing has so much to do with culture, both my own and others around the world.

My decision to study Flamenco Dance is actually very closely connected to my love for Theatre and especially Solo-Performance. I decided earlier this summer that I wanted to create a program, or a some sort of Masterclass series that would be able to connect cultural dance forms with Theatre. I decided to call it: "The Ancestral Story: Connecting Cultural Dance to Solo-Theatre Performance". The template for the project is based on an exercise we do in our first year Acting class called The Ancestor Project. Basically, the project asks students to find an ancestor that they feel closely connected to and to create a piece about them that includes music and heightened text (poetry, religious texts, Shakespeare). The piece is usually no longer than 5 minutes or so, but it should be a complete story with a beginning, middle and end...a journey in the life of this ancestor, so to speak. The program that I'm currently developing, will take that same template and then build on it by adding cultural dance as a way to find character and shape a story. In researching this cultural dance, it will give students a strong vocabulary for movement and physical expression as well as provide a sense of context about the region where that ancestor was from. Students can choose their own culture, or a culture that they feel a strong connection to. I chose Spain because I've always felt a close connection to Spanish culture. And hey, Trinidad was first conquered by the Spanish...Port-Of-Spain? Yeah... it may be in the blood somewhere.

I figured this program would be a good way to keep me occupied this summer, as well as be a far-reaching goal over the course of my 4 years here that I can continue to develop. I'm planning to apply for a Fulbright in my 4th year that will allow me to continue developing the program after Graduation...big plans!

I would essentially like to be able to teach this program at theatre-training programs across the country in addition to my work as a performer. Its just a passion of mine to collaborate theatre and dance. I believe they both share a very obvious connection.

Anywhoo-- I leave in 6 days and I'm so unbelievable excited! I just bought my Flamenco shoes and a fabulous bright, blue Flamenco skirt! HOT!

More than anything, I really wanna have FUN during this trip! I wanna eat all the Tapas my tummy can handle, dance till the wee hours of the morning, and flirt my face off with cute Spanish guys...oh yeah!

That's about it for now. I'll be sure to document the experience when I get there as well!

Adios!

The Big Birthday! July 8th, 2009

So, today July 8th was my Birthday!

Ummm, I gotta say... this was one of the best birthdays I've ever had! Its always hard having a summer birthday because my friends are always busy, so its hard to sometimes get them together for a celebration. But on Sunday, I had to commemorate the day of my birth and spend it with people I really cared about. I found out one of my favorite bands was performing live in Central Park this past sunday, so I assembled a group of my closest friends and had us all meet up for a picnic and concert in the park. I don't know why it was so special to me. Perhaps because we live in an age where people aren't the best at keeping commitments. Essentially, in this era we've become perpetual "promise-breakers". Sure this may sound harsh, but I've found with the advent of modern technology we've become a society used to "conveniently changing our minds", and notifying those close to us by a text message. Luckily, the friends that said they would come, came. That meant a lot to me.

We met up and just had the opportunity to catch up and find out what 's been going on in each others' lives. What's so interesting about this to me, is that during the school year I don't often have these opportunites to just sit down and chat with my closest friends. Juilliard keeps me really busy, and while that's a great thing creatively, I find that socially it leaves me feeling a bit alienated. I often feel like I'm in an environment where no one really knows me, intimately. At this point in my life, I'm beginning to find the value in surrounding myself with people who know the "real me". Who have seen me grow and change over the years, and essentially have been there for me through all of those changes...that's priceless.

Since that celebration on the 5th, I've recieved an outpouring of well-wishes from friends for today, my actual birthday. At work today, I was lucky enough to have my co-workers surprise me with cupcakes from my favorite bakery. How they knew it was my favorite, i'll never know! And then at the end of my workday, i met up with a very close froend to go to a guided meditation at an elite spa and mediation center here in NyC. Luckily, we both ran into another really good friend of our who does massage therapy for the Center, and she gave us passes for free yoga. Such a treat! The my friend and I went to the roofdeck of the hotel to which the spa is attacched and had an amazing time simply being grateful for the world that we're in at the time that we're in it! I feel so priviledged to be born at this time in history. To know tha as an african-american woman, I have the right to acheive pretty anything I put my mind to. That I can find support for whatever I need when I need it, that I am healthy and mobile, that I have people who are positive and progressive all around me to help me grow. These are just a few of the things I have to be grateful for.

I'm most grateful to be going to this amazing school at this time of my life! When I give tours, I often describe what I believe to be the difference between choosing Juilliard and choosing to go to a regular liberal arts school for their education. It comes down to inspiration. I feel that everyday, when times become overwhelmingly difficult with rehearsals, and classes and meetings, that at the end of the day your spirit is low, you can always be re-inspired when you hear a fellow student sing an aria, or play the guitar, perhaps even watch a dance rehearsal. When you see the talent of other students around you, it reminds you why you do what you do! It makes you want to press forward.

This is a birthday I'll never forget, because its at a time of my life that I'll never forget!

Back from Detroit!

Wow!...

What an experience we had sharing the Arts with Detroit Youth! I've been back now for a couple days and have only recently been able to piece together some of the amazing experiences shared with my fellow Juilliardians during this trip.

I was one of a group of four students part of Detroit Arts Immersion 2009. It's the beginning of an ongoing program that we hope to build upon every year to impact the youth of Detroit. Our target focus was a group of young men and women at Holy Cross Day Treatment Center. We taught 6-10 girls in the morning for 2 hours and then in the afternoon 6-10 boys, all ranging from 13-18. Our goal with both groups was to allow them to create their own final performance using elements of music, dance and drama which we as students all represented. Nate and myself are both actors, and then Allie who plays the flute was our musical contingent. Finally, Bree (the organizer of the program) is a dancer. With specialized group exercises, we found ways to open up the students as we found the most difficult thing to gain before collaboration was their trust. Fortunately, there were days of hope where some student would really be excited by what we were teaching. And if you were lucky, you would see them laugh or smile...free in that moment to be the child that many of them had never had the chance to be.

While we played movement and creative exploration games with the kids, I found one of their biggest challenges was focus and patience. I'm definitely a generation older than all of these kids, and what has become very clear to me is that children seem to be losing the ability to focus. Not to take too much of a turn here, but while working with these kids I found myself saddened by the thought that most of them are probably used to spending a lot of time watching t.v. or playing online...they are a part of this "instant gratification/constant stimuli" generation of youth that has lost touch with human contact and what it means to trust someone. Also, this demographic of youth had had some very difficult childhood experiences. Many of them were headed to or on their way from juvenile hall. Lots of them had mothers that had them at 14 or 15 with no resources , and a surprisingly high number of them were severely medicated. Many of these medicated kids could barely focus their eyes , much less stay awake during class. the medication was often for depression or anxiety, but in my mind, I was so concerned with their past and the thought they most of them had no one who cared for them. They were just tossed aside into this facility and offered no hope for their future,. And sadly the medication wasn't helping, it only made matters worse...deadening their spirits making them seem like walking child zombies. Heartbreaking.

To see these children and to know what they had experienced, especially the young girls it made me that much happier when they did choose to engage! It was amazing to see them fight past the anger, hurt, or even the medication to put their all in to an exercise or game. And often at the end of the day, one of the students would be surprised to hear that we were returning the very next day to continue working with them.

At the end of the week, the girls did their own sharing of work that we'd learned over the course of the week together. The boys were a bit more shy, but I'd still say that we made big strides with both groups. So much so, that by the end of the week, some of them wanted to give us their numbers and to be sure to stay in touch. It was really beautiful to see them all really come full circle in so many ways.

It's truly amazing to see how Art really can change lives. I believe what were able to give those students at Holy Cross was something they could believe in when others may have let them down. At Juilliard we speak so much about Artists as Citizens, as Leaders, as people who can affect change in the community around them. That week I knew, as well as the rest of my group, what it meant to change lives, even in the smallest of ways!