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dance xhale dance company now michael susten and company and currently a full time company member with nimbus dance works what has been the best part of dancing in nyc thus far definitely the massive amount of opportunity there is so much going on and it is easy to completely fill up a day doing things that i love the people that i have had the opportunity of working with have been absolutely amazing i have been blessed with environments filled with talented and generally good people for this reason work just simply does not feel like work what has been the hardest part training at the ailey school was the hardest thing that i have ever done before entering the working world in new york an incredibly intense program with such enormous value since then living haha this is a hard city as a foreigner how do you balance life in this expensive city are you able to have outside jobs besides dance unfortunately as a foreigner i am restricted to working in the dance industry only however i have been extremely lucky with the work that i have i perform teach and assist i also have a side job at a fitness center to help cover my monthly costs how often do you get to visit home what do you miss most least about dancing there getting home is pretty tough firstly it is very expensive and secondly it is far away a 21 hour flight on average so it isn t exactly a weekend trip taking two weeks out to go home can be hard to do but it is very important to make time to see my family and take a second to break from the rush of this amazing city so i am to visit once a year i miss cape town because it will always be home and it is a gorgeous city however i was frustrated with the limited opportunity most of the time and i wouldn t change what i have in new york for anything i love my life here now what are your dancing goals for the next season my goals for this season are to continue to grow i want to get involved in projects and expand my network this is also my second season with nimbus dance works and first as a full time company member i am extremely excited to be working with this amazing company and can not wait to see what this next year brings any advice for other foreign dancers hoping to make it in the big apple don t give up it can be hard for anyone in this industry foreigner or local it is unsteady and unpredictable but i think we knew that already and probably wouldn t have it any other way it is spontaneous and exciting i have often felt completely overwhelmed and in need of family support if trying to establish yourself in new york wasn t hard enough adding the fact that we have to fight to legal work and live here sure puts on added pressure the rewards are great so stick it out see new york as your blank canvas now color it and create it into the image you want for your life that is possible here and i think that is why new york holds a very special place in many of its visitors hearts posted at 4 29 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest thursday december 12 2013 angelina ballerina national tour recap fall 2013 i know i haven t blogged in ages but thought this might be of interest and this was the best place to share my experiences hope to post more soon i just finished my first national tour dancing in angelina ballerina the musical my role serena silvertail is the most famous ballet dancer in all of mouseland i don t know about famous but i certainly was one happy mouse i had auditioned for vital theater company s production at least three times before i landed the part one wednesday afternoon this august i was sitting at kinkos on 56 th street printing resumes for yet another audition when i saw my phone blinking i always keep it on silent so it was a good thing i had it out to see it going off an unknown new york city number flashed across my background photo of lincoln center hello hi taylor it s holly calling about angelina ballerina we d like to make you an offer i m pretty sure i started laughing rehearsals started only a week later so i had already given up waiting for that phone call and arranged my life for autumn in new york hearing holly s voice was thrilling in the next few days i visited their theater on the upper west side to sign my contract and pick up my script i received two dvds of the show and a cd with the tracks i d have to sing sing ok yes we sing in the ensemble at radio city but we aren t mic ed looked like i d be actually singing and speaking onstage for the first time ever the first day of rehearsals was just to learn music i sat amongst 7 other actors and a piano in one of the smallest studios at ripley grier the musical director was asking them to sight read and create beautiful harmonies i was shaking in my seat praying he wasn t going to ask me to do the same luckily i only sang in one number so i got out of there early and embarrassment free we had one day learning choreography one day with the director and then a run through after a full day of tech learning how to hang and fold drops build the set tally props we set off for the first leg of tour to ohio that week was a trial run we played two cities in lovely old theaters it was our first really long drive first hotel rooms first of many nights getting to know each other the cast was 7 actors and myself and traveling with us were a fantastic stage manager and sound guy their big theatrical personalities came out immediately it was interesting for me as i m always the quiet one to figure out where i fit with this group in other groups of friends i am frequently the leader the planner or the good girl this group already had many of each of those it was a process not just of finding myself but finding myself in relation to other people we returned to nyc for a week and a half before leaving for the full tour in that time i packed up my apartment got a subletter and coordinated substitutes for all of my many jobs and classes i teach i have a lot of friends to thank of helping me out during that time the first week of the full tour we drove and performed through new jersey maryland virginia alabama mississippi and louisiana among others we traveled in a white 15 passenger van and a sprinter truck carrying the set and luggage i cozied into my second row window seat for each travel day and found a surprising amount of ways to keep myself busy on long drives i was writing freelance for veteran s advantage link making plans for my winter europe trip and possibly watching an episode or two of scandal or glee j one thing i couldn t stop myself from doing was checking audition listings in nyc as a freelancer constantly searching for my next performance opportunity it s just habit to keep an eye on the future that was probably the hardest adjustment for me to tour life accepting that i was really away from my regular life and friends and enjoying the fact that i could live in the moment with my current job performing the contract was for two months that s a pretty solid fall performance plan when i finally thought about it the show itself got better and better as we went on too we did a total of 26 performances by the end and each was more fun and interesting getting into microphone doing sound check and saying lines became second nature for this silent bunhead who rarely speaks anyway haha i became more creative in making choices in my finale dance i found moments to relate to the other characters onstage just as our real life relationships developed after many of our performances we would do meet and greets with the children in the audience besides melting my heart with their doe eyed looks at my tutu and crown their enthusiasm for ballet was invigorating even in the smallest of towns girls came out in their pink leotards and fluffy skirts to hug us and sign up for classes at their local studio part of me wanted to say don t do it you don t know what you re getting yourself into ballet is crazy haha but the better part of me was humbled to see such an appreciation for an art form that argues its losing its audience there are so many great things about touring in general but one of my favorite parts was being in so many historic gorgeous theaters across the country i have a thing for big stages and empty audiences every time we arrived at a venue and went to drop our bags in the dressing rooms i d head out onstage to take it all in some had incredible chandeliers one was built like a castle on the sides others had unique artwork along the aisles and almost all were really large stages the performances i have most of the year in nyc aside from my time at radio city and the met are on smaller stages or intimate performance spaces how wonderful to have space to travel and look out to the back of the house the other highlight for me being on tour was having the opportunity to take class with several ballet companies en route i sent emails a few days before we approached major cities to see if i might be able to take company classes most responded very positively and were happy to have me for a day the first was alabama ballet i took an open class the night we got to birmingham which had been my first class since we left for tour over a week ago i was so ready to move it was a small class but the teacher was positive and very complimentary the next morning i took company class with their director i felt encouraged to see many dancers similar in type to myself the next classes i took were at university of texas at austin my friend roman baca connected me with his mentor who works in the theater department there i was so inspired touring the college campus that s the nerd in me i miss school the two classes i took were absolutely incredible the teacher gave corrections and combinations that made me look differently at the way i ve been executing certain steps for so many years it was amazing to be exposed to new approaches and ideas the second class was on halloween so it was also fun to see the students dressed up as i ve always done on that day in my training j on our weeklong drive to shows in iowa i took class with oklahoma city ballet their company manager was super nice and introduced me to the director before class by this point i had a bad cold was tired of hotels and hadn t had a real class in 2 weeks though i wasn t at my personal best i took the class and really enjoyed it center was much more technical than what i usually like but it was just what i needed to keep myself in shape the company was also preparing for a balanchine ballet in the spring so jumps were quick like i like iowa and all the middle states we passed through were not too exciting sorry mid westerners we had several one night only stops in a row so i didn t get to see much of the cities beyond the hotel walls and restaurants i did get to meet a lovely twitter follower and dancer in iowa who asked for my advice about dancing in new york as we spoke between shows i realized how much i wanted to share with her and how many mistakes i ve made and had to figure out in my nearly 9 years in the city i felt old haha after iowa we drove all the way back south to shows in new mexico which was a welcomed change the warm weather was much friendlier for my body the cast made fun of me for stretching in the van by sticking my foot on the ceiling whatever my hamstrings liked it j i took class with ballet arizona when we made it to the phoenix area that was a little more intimidating they are tall and beautiful it was a challenging class for everyone i realized later not just myself but a few dancers were friendly and all were a joy to watch and learn from the most interesting class i took was with la dance project i showed up monday morning for class but apparently the ballet master forgot there was a meeting instead of class so i returned the next day eager to be seen i thought it was going to be a ballet class wrong it was much more contemporary than classical though we did do barre work many of the dancers were recent juilliard graduates so i enjoyed reminiscing about new york with them it was cool to find new ways of moving in a low key environment grande allegro was to the song hot stuff i also took a fantastic class at dance arts academy in la my friend and la ballet dancer christopher mcdaniel suggested it to me reid olson gave interesting combinations with fun challenges like a cartwheel out of a tour jete i wrote down the entire class so i can steal some ideas when i go back to teaching haha i knew chris was going to be in class but as i went to hug him walking into the studio i heard someone else call my name it was my friend laura from a decade ago at the rock school i totally forgot she was living in la doing comedy now it was a pleasant surprise to catch up with her i had just mentioned her when i saw my roommate from that year lindsey after one show in texas we hadn t been in touch in since 2004 and had fun gossiping about where classmates have ended up the other good friend i got to spend time with in la was former new yorker and dance blogger tonya plank we had dinner one night and then she showed me around hollywood and beverly hills she was generous enough to drive me all around that huge city and show me the sights we too spent a lot of time missing new york together and recalling the golden age of dance blogging we both were part of i really liked la i m pretty sure i was biased because we were finally in a true big city with civilization i had friends there and ways to get around independently unlike the rest of our stops on tour we also had a gorgeous hotel on the beach so that didn t hurt j i paid a visit to disneyland too my roommate from 11 years ago at rock s summer intensive lives near there and knows the park like the back of her hand michelle was the best tour guide i could ve asked for and we had such a wonderful day returning to childhood there is no better way to do disney after thanksgiving spent by the water in a t shirt thanks california winter our tour moved to the san francisco area two of my best friends from year round rock dance up there and came to one of my last performances katie has visited me in new york but i hadn t seen alanna in at least six years it s always amazing to me how the ballet world has given me such close friendships that expand around the country and remain solid after so many years i absolutely loved seeing them and exchanging life updates the day we visited san francisco itself i was able to take one more class at alonso king lines ballet the teacher was really nice and offered advice for the other towns we were visiting it was a dance y class that felt great i wanted to return another day but transportation issues kept me away i owe a special thank you to my stage manager and a few other castmates who drove me around to various dance studios not having my license was a blessing in terms of not having to share driving duties cross country but it made it somewhat stifling to no...