Yesterday we had our first day of classes. You already may be thinking to yourself, "Wait a second, man. This blog is already a week old. You started classes yesterday?"
Yes.
FIGHT!!!
What better way to start off a three-year journey than sitting down with all of your new friends and talking about all of the ways that you are going to pretend to kill each other? We kicked everything off with a group trek through the now rainy (Hello, Fall) streets of New York City to the studios uptown where we met up with our fight instructor, Joe Travers. Here's something I should inform you of: normally I really fear stage combat people. I often get the feeling that they were picked on a lot in their formative years and have turned to "almost violence" as a means to take out their pent-up aggression. And usually they are more than slightly condescending assholes. I once sat through a masterclass on combat where the instructor went on for over an hour about the importance of safety. Not that bad you think? Over half of it was him demonstrating (famously, if you've seen my re-enactment of the scene) of "Hospital/No Hospital", which was him standing like a soldier at attention with his hand in the air sicking his thumb out and in repeating, "Hospital/No Hospital."
Joe doesn't suffer from this affliction. It's kind of amazing when you have an instructor who takes his job seriously, but still has a sense of humor. I dig that. And I'm really excited to pretend murder-kill Sheyenne Javonne Brown. She was pissed that she didn't get a personalized shout-out in my first post... so there you go.
DANCE!!!
We closed out the first day of classes with Dance, instructed by Livia Vanaver of Vanaver Caravan. I am not a dancer. I always wished it was a skill that I possessed, but it's something that's never been really accessible to me. There's another story about Taking It To The House that I'm going to have to share another time. We talked a bit as a class about our experience with the dance and most of the men in the class were in the same position as myself where we collectively just don't feel very graceful. Society doesn't really allow for it, which is a shame. I guess I should say this: Parents, if your son wants to dance... let him, it's not that "gay" and it'll probably score him a slew of hot girlfriends if, in fact, that's what he's in to, so really... nobody loses. Think about it. The thing that was really brilliant about this particular three-hour period, and this is a credit to the bros as much as Livia and her brilliance in being supportive and creating a safe environment, is that about midway through everyone was just doing it, and what's more, looking good doing it. The gracefulness that I certainly feel like I've never harnessed was there, it just needed a little love. And it feels like being a kid, like when you're at the playground and you on the swings and jumping off at the height of the arc. That moment right after you let go. It's a little addicting. And I can't wait for more.
ALL GOOD THINGS...
We finished Collaboration weekend last night as well. It was brilliant to be done, truth be told; the week was long as hell. The bonds that you can make with complete strangers when tasked with telling an engaging story in a short period of time is something else. it's a little like going to war... or what I imagine what that would be like. You just throw yourself in and trust that the guy next to you, even though you just met him, is going to have your back. For those of you that were there that may be reading this, I am truly grateful for the experience and so looking forward to the next time we get to make it happen. But in a little over an hour, the week of toil had come to a close; our right of passage was over and we stood amongst our peers and instructors, welcomed with open arms.
I imagine that if the excitement from these postings is not abundantly clear to you the reader, I should state it plainly, I am truly honored and blessed to be where I am right now, with these brilliant, wonderful and beautiful people. I was thrust out on stage to vamp a bit while a lighting kink was worked out right at tthe top of the show, and I was able to tell them as much... which I'm thankful for. For you, reader, I write this: if you ever find yourself in a position where you want to go to grad school for the arts, you should definitely come join us...
Magic happens here.
Yes.
FIGHT!!!
What better way to start off a three-year journey than sitting down with all of your new friends and talking about all of the ways that you are going to pretend to kill each other? We kicked everything off with a group trek through the now rainy (Hello, Fall) streets of New York City to the studios uptown where we met up with our fight instructor, Joe Travers. Here's something I should inform you of: normally I really fear stage combat people. I often get the feeling that they were picked on a lot in their formative years and have turned to "almost violence" as a means to take out their pent-up aggression. And usually they are more than slightly condescending assholes. I once sat through a masterclass on combat where the instructor went on for over an hour about the importance of safety. Not that bad you think? Over half of it was him demonstrating (famously, if you've seen my re-enactment of the scene) of "Hospital/No Hospital", which was him standing like a soldier at attention with his hand in the air sicking his thumb out and in repeating, "Hospital/No Hospital."
Joe doesn't suffer from this affliction. It's kind of amazing when you have an instructor who takes his job seriously, but still has a sense of humor. I dig that. And I'm really excited to pretend murder-kill Sheyenne Javonne Brown. She was pissed that she didn't get a personalized shout-out in my first post... so there you go.
DANCE!!!
We closed out the first day of classes with Dance, instructed by Livia Vanaver of Vanaver Caravan. I am not a dancer. I always wished it was a skill that I possessed, but it's something that's never been really accessible to me. There's another story about Taking It To The House that I'm going to have to share another time. We talked a bit as a class about our experience with the dance and most of the men in the class were in the same position as myself where we collectively just don't feel very graceful. Society doesn't really allow for it, which is a shame. I guess I should say this: Parents, if your son wants to dance... let him, it's not that "gay" and it'll probably score him a slew of hot girlfriends if, in fact, that's what he's in to, so really... nobody loses. Think about it. The thing that was really brilliant about this particular three-hour period, and this is a credit to the bros as much as Livia and her brilliance in being supportive and creating a safe environment, is that about midway through everyone was just doing it, and what's more, looking good doing it. The gracefulness that I certainly feel like I've never harnessed was there, it just needed a little love. And it feels like being a kid, like when you're at the playground and you on the swings and jumping off at the height of the arc. That moment right after you let go. It's a little addicting. And I can't wait for more.
ALL GOOD THINGS...
We finished Collaboration weekend last night as well. It was brilliant to be done, truth be told; the week was long as hell. The bonds that you can make with complete strangers when tasked with telling an engaging story in a short period of time is something else. it's a little like going to war... or what I imagine what that would be like. You just throw yourself in and trust that the guy next to you, even though you just met him, is going to have your back. For those of you that were there that may be reading this, I am truly grateful for the experience and so looking forward to the next time we get to make it happen. But in a little over an hour, the week of toil had come to a close; our right of passage was over and we stood amongst our peers and instructors, welcomed with open arms.
I imagine that if the excitement from these postings is not abundantly clear to you the reader, I should state it plainly, I am truly honored and blessed to be where I am right now, with these brilliant, wonderful and beautiful people. I was thrust out on stage to vamp a bit while a lighting kink was worked out right at tthe top of the show, and I was able to tell them as much... which I'm thankful for. For you, reader, I write this: if you ever find yourself in a position where you want to go to grad school for the arts, you should definitely come join us...
Magic happens here.
So happy for you love
ReplyDeleteTake it to the house....Royal Court Dancer style
And Wade!