The Artist in Me

The artist in me has been truly honored this week. I have experienced what theater should really be like. A day at the National Opera House is one of art and pleasure. 

You start off by walking through the stage door and up to the third floor where my dressing room is. Before arriving, a dresser has already laid out my costume, shoes, undergarments and hand towel on my dressing table. Ballet class is first. Dancers will need class before rehearsals or shows to warm their muscles and build energy for dancing. After class, I walked back upstairs and into the makeup room where I got my makeup done. It is definitely an honor to have a makeup artist! Then, back into the dressing room to put on the costume and then scurry down to the stage for some last minute stretches. 

Ballet is such a beautiful art form and being here has really made me appreciate my profession even more. Its a privilege to be in this temple of art and to be entertaining audiences with the classics. 

Here are some more pictures from a technical rehearsal. We’re getting close to opening night!!!

Alan, my twin!

Albrecht romancing Giselle

The corps girls from Giselle

The girls en pointe

Matea onstage watching variation

More of the girls

Watching from backstage

Picture with the houselights up

Jovana stretching onstage

Inspiration.

I had a wonderful weekend that included a beautiful city, beautiful friends and a beautiful SPA! Dancers, Kristina and Andre, drove me an hour up the coast of Croatia to this wonderful spa. There, I tried all the different pools and saunas. I relaxed in the resting room and walked around the foot pool. For the price of 90 kunas (or $18), you get a full day rest and relaxation. It was worth every lipa! 


I must say that I have enjoyed writing in this blog very much! I have decided to use some inspiration that I got from living in Split and start to write. Who knows, maybe after a year here, I will have a book for you to read! In the meantime, I will share some pictures of the trip with you.

I must run to the theater now. Tonights rehearsal marks our first one with costumes and the orchestra. We're all very excited!

A Walk to Remember

Today is Friday, October 8, 2010. Today is also a holiday in Croatia. I was told its like the Independence Day of American. Well, we all know what holidays mean- DAY OFF! So after sleeping in and eating a hearty breakfast, I decided to step outside on this beautiful Friday afternoon and go for a walk around the villa. Not to be bias or anything, but I definitely live in one of the paradisiacal locations in the world. 

As I do morning after morning, I stepped out of the front doors and walked along the stone steps that lead directly to the main driving path. I found myself at a familiar spot where my natural direction would lead me towards the front gate. Today, I decided to walk the other way and explore the grounds of Vila Dalmacija. I discovered beautiful stone buildings, fascinating foliage, and endless stairs that lead to mysterious locations. 

Everyday, I pass a vacant villa that has two chairs sitting on its balcony. Its always left me curious to why those two chairs were left there and why they were set next to each other. 

Beyond that villa, I discovered a carport with room for three cars. I would imagine that President Tito and his entourage would need more than three stalls for their motor vehicles. Nonetheless, the detached stone port lays at the corner of the property with a guards post to the left of it. 

Walking just beyond the garage, I found an even more curious building with seven stone arches and terra-cotta roof. I walked the path around the mysterious building that led me in multiple directions. Turning back, I walked inside to figure out that President Tito was a bowler! 

The long runway was a bowling alley that must have been used to entertain his guests. I enjoyed so much finding this room and picturing what it must have been like to bowl here. I would imagine that it was someones job to arrange the pins every time a ball has struck them. I wouldn’t mind getting paid to do that! Just next to the bowling alley was another detached entertainment room that laid between the main villa and the ocean. 

Then, I found myself directly across and facing the villa I live in. Let me tell you, the view is not disappointing. It seems that no matter how the weather may be, its simply a picturesque piece of land. I had seen but never been to this part of the beach before. 

This is where the boat garage is. It has two beautiful green doors with a circular top. Being the curious cat that I am, I peeked inside to find a large storage area that shelves old hardware and (what Im assuming is) old boat parts. 

Just on the right of the green doors, I noticed another door that I never noticed before. I peeked inside but the smell reeked of rotting plants and mold. 

Next to the boat garage, were windy steps. The sun was hitting them so perfectly that made them look like they were infinite stairs that points directly to the sun. 

I walked up the steps and along a road that shared gorgeous views of both the water and the backside of other properties. 

The weather was perfect and the views were so breathtaking, that I decided to sit down and take everything in. 

Being at that spot allowed me to have a spiritual and private moment by myself. Its that time that inspired me to rush home and write todays blog. So on my way back to the villas, I pass another set of stone steps that led directly to the water. 

I loved these steps because they seemed to just magically turn into rocks. I walked down them a caught the sun hitting the rocks leaving a shadow of myself. Of course, I had to capture that!

After that, I just walked along the stoney beach and directly back to the villas. 

It was a beautiful day that I had to share with you. I hope you enjoyed reading about it just as much as I enjoyed reflecting back on it. 

Better.

So as I promised, here are better pictures of the theater. Enjoy!

A view from the stage of the ceiling. 

A view from the stage of the house.

A view of the balconies. 

Hopefully the next series of photos that I post will be from dress rehearsal and opening night! For now, I must go as I am going to spend a night on the town and enjoy my day off tomorrow.

Life in the Theater

We had our first day in the theater. Well, I must say that as an American, the only time you see a theater like the one in Split is in the movies. A theater of such detail and structure just isn’t seen where I come from. This is truly a house for art. This is a theater. 

A performer is always honored when they get to perform for a full house or on a beautiful stage. Its a wonderful reward to get after all the hours you put into rehearsals. When you step onstage and look out into the house and see such beauty, history and detail, its thrilling and all the pain and nerves are replaced with chills of excitement. 

The theater here is definitely a home for many people. I walked in backstage and passed a costume room full of older women sewing up some corsets for an upcoming production. I walked along a rehearsal hall where the opera was practicing for their premier of Hamlet. I was watching the orchestra leader rehearsing the score of Giselle with his baton. I passed offices, dressings rooms and storage rooms. This is a theater with history. When I walked onstage for the first time, I looked out into the house and just gawked at all the detailed moulding around the balconies, arched and ceiling. To all the other dancers in the company, they are use to theaters like this. To me, it was a treat.

I have taken some pictures of the theater. Unfortunately, the house lights weren’t on so I was only able to capture pictures that are dark and grainy. I will try to take more during a tech rehearsal with lighting. 

These are from tech rehearsal today. No costumes or lighting. 

This is a view from a seat in the house looking just above the stage. 

A view of the box seats that overlook the stage.

A view of the balconies.

A view of the ceiling. Again, horrible quality!

This is ONE of the sewing rooms. No one spoke English in there but I was still able to make them laugh!

This is a picture of tech rehearsal from second act of Giselle. 

Picture This.

So, I have done a lot of writing about the city but I haven't shared a lot of pictures. Tomorrow's blog will tell you about the theater and include some pictures. For today, I thought I would just share some pictures of Vila Dalmacija and Split. 

This is the front gate. I walk in and out of this everyday. On the left, you see part of the guards post. There is a guard on duty 24/7

This is the long driveway and main villa at Vila Dalmacija. Thats where all the important people sleep (aka. not the dancers). 

A dried up fountain that I pass in the villas garden everyday. 

The backside of the main house.

This is right next to the main villa and my current home! Can we say private beach access?

The beach at Vila Dalmacija

I passed this today on my way from the studio to the Farmer's Market. Simply timeless. 

This is a view from the bus stop. Its perfectly located right at the edge of town.

This is a little outside of town. Beauty seen in a different way. 

The key to my room. Too charming to not capture and share with you. 

Along with the pictures, I have a story. I MADE A JOKE IN CROATIAN TODAY! I was so proud that A) I was speaking Croatian and B) was able to make a joke in a foreign language. Rehearsal was great today but that few minutes of my day was the highlight. 

So as you can see from the pictures, this city is full of history, charm and character. Maybe you can share this experience with me sometime. 

Working

First, I must confess/apologize for the delay in posting a blog. We are well into rehearsals at this point and I was more inspired to rest than to write. So in an attempt to get back into the blog, I will try to make this one interesting and informative. 

Like I said, we are well into rehearsals. We have finished learning Giselle and in the cleaning process now. Our premiere is on October 16th and performing for two weeks. Its exciting to get to start performing again. Our first day in the theater (and my first time ever seeing the inside of it) is tomorrow! I will have to take pictures for you and post them in the next blog.  

We also started learning a contemporary ballet called Touch. I have done a lot of contemporary work the last few years but this one is very different from the rest. Maybe what I enjoy about contemporary work more than classical is that there is no vocabulary for it. In ballet, an arabesque is an arabesque. In contemporary, an arabesque can be off balance, over the leg, arms up, etc. This is the reason it takes longer to learn though.  I learned a solo and a pas de deux that I enjoy dancing very much. Both are different and challenging in their separate ways but kicks my ass every time. There hasn’t been one rehearsal thus far where I didn’t feel like my body was broken in half afterwards. 

I have been thinking about Italy a lot recently. We are spending an entire month touring around Italy and performing in all sorts of theaters. I mean really, how can one complain about that? This is an opportunity for me to see more of Europe that I haven’t seen yet. I will have to keep up on the blogging at that time so I can tell you all about my Italian adventures!

For now, I will end the blog here and spend the rest of this beautiful Sunday outside by the beach and resting.