Second Day!

The second day is over and it was productive! All the material for the piece is there. The girls learned a lot of movement, like... a lot! They are great! We are going to start putting the dance togheter tonight and it's very exciting.

We found kind of a little indoor market close to the theatre, so we went there for supper. It's a really cute place with goooooood Korean food according to Sa and CC! We might go back today, so maybe Mel and I will get to try it =)

Other than this, today we are going to try an "express barre"! A 25 mins ballet barre with no break between exercices.I have no idea how it's going to be, but we will tell you more about this after we did it =)

Day number 3 in process
Yééééééé!!
T

First Night!

Saint John

And so it begins again - the blogging.... dun dun dun, and similar to our other tours this one is not without an entertaining beginning.

This time however we had winter tires!!! To be honest we feel like princesses because we don't usually have such luxuries. Now mind you we had to pay extra for those at the car rental because they are considered an "add on" in the winter (yeah I know that sounds crazy) but CC was more then happy to get that" add on".

The drive was pretty nice. The Cobequid pass was clear and uneventful (thank god) even though the toll guy told us it was "getting better", what ever that meant. We of course got a little lost trying to get into the city because the roads are crazy here and the GPS doesn't seem to like them. However can you really go on a road trip without getting lost, I think not because its too much fun!.

We started our first day of creation with the residency participants and it was fabulous! We have 10 lovely dancers and it is great fun. Two of them are even driving from Fredericton each night to participate. They had a lot of material thrown at them last night and they did amazing. It will be an intense few days but they are up for the challenge and the piece is going to be really great. We are all excited for day 2.

Our hotel is sweet and the front desk ladies are so lovely. They have helped us out A LOT. We got back to our hotel late last night after the workshop because we had to get groceries. Both of our rooms have fridges and microwaves which is awesome because then we don't have to eat out every meal. Tania and I finally settled in and were going to play on the internet when we sadly discovered we didn't have internet. After calling the front desk we found out we are too far away from the server and we would need to switch rooms. Luckily there was another room on the same floor that had a fridge and microwave and also internet. So at 11:15pm we started our move. Also keep in mind that we had completely unpacked, filled our fridge and our all drawers. So we re-unpacked in another room and were happy little clams until I sat on the bed. Yes its true I broke the bed. I sat on the bed and broke it. Good god. I would like to think it was already broken because come on - I am not that big but hey such is life. So after T and I died of laughter we thought we should call the front desk. I was a little nervous because sometimes they make you pay for things like that in hotels but the ladies were so nice and were more worried about me then the bed. Someone is coming to look at it today but there is no fixing this bad boy and T and I are NOT changing rooms. So last night we made a new leg for the bed which consists of a book and an ice bucket! It is really sturdy and I am completely happy sleeping on the bed all week - I just avoid the right side... ha ha ha.

Maybe we will post a picture of our new bed leg. I sat on the bed and broke it and I am going to leave you on that note.

Happy Valentine's Day

Here is my first post on the blog, how exciting!! I don't know where to start? Let's start with the plane. I discovered that Mel is instantaneously sleepy on a plane which is the total opposite of what I am during a flight. I was very excited and could not sleep at all and she slept on the shelf all the way to Newfoundland. What a nice contrast =) During the week, we met a lot, a lot of elementary kids and they were amazing! It is always fascinating to see their creativity and their energy. Same thing with the dance school, the students were motivated and talented. It is a pleasure to watch them dance. We also ended the day celebrating Valentine's Day in a room watching 'The Notebook' and crying every 5 minutes=) A Happy Valentine's Day isn't it =) Tomorrow is the show and it's going to be very interesting to performe Susie's piece in an intimate theatre. Can not wait!

À plus tard...

Tania

Signal Hill and Burlesque!

Greetings from The Rock!
The sun was shining when we had breakfast with Karen in the "penthouse kitchen" (the dining area is on the fourth floor of this awesome B & B!) and it was the start of another great day. We took the opportunity of a morning off to take in some of the sights and headed to the famed Signal Hill! The scenery was beautiful and we had fun taking pictures at the top. Nothing like 3 cameras with self-timers to keep everyone entertained!

We then took a quick drive around Quidi Vidi Village before heading for lunch. We were a bit pressed for time before our workshops, so Tim Horton's to the rescue!

Our workshops were at Holy Cross Elementary and they were a rowdy (I mean lively), but enthusiastic crowd to saw the least. We had two groups of grades 4-6 and they learned step-digs and step, cross-over, step-digs like the best of them thanks to skilled teachers Carolle and Sarah. Unfortunately, CC strained her eye muscles from having to yell for quiet so much...All in all, they had fun though and it was another successful workshop.
Tonight we were off to The Dance Centre where Mel taught modern to a lovely group of hard-working and talented young dancers. They learned alot in only an hour and were very appreciative.

Our last event of the night was a Burlesque show, which was a fundraiser for Neighborhood Dance Works at the Dusk Lounge on George Street. It was so much fun! They reserved the best table in the house for us and we were treated to an evening of dancers, jugglers, magicians, musicians and an overall good time!

Now we're back at our cozy inn and it's time get some sleep before gearing up for more workshops at MacPherson Elementary in the morning...
Saragan

Bishop Field elementary and Jill Dreaddy DanceCo

Today was a stunning day in St. John's....god, I love this town! We awoke to a lovely breakfast made by Karen at our Inn - The Roses. We promptly hit Bishop Field Elementary in downtown St. John's for 4 workshops.....250 kids served!! They were amazing kids with some stellar moves.

Maria from the Arts and Culture Centre was our guide today, and she showed us around the Arts and Culture Centre. We checked out the Basement Theatre.....the performance is going to be intimate....should be exciting! During our break time this afternoon we split up and did various things: I hit the Nubody's downtown and stared at the Harbour on my treadmill, Mel and Tania explored downtown, Saragan and Sa went for lunch, Saragan and I did some administrative work, and we watched a bit of our recent mainstage on dvd....newly edited version by Rohan (thanks Man of Mocean!).

Tonight's workshop was an adventure and a half! We were headed to Jill Dreaddy's DanceCo which is quite a drive - just past Conception Bay South. Now - google maps failed us tonight I have to say. We got off to a shaky start and stopped to ask directions at a gas station where a lovely taxi driver gave us directions....then he actually lead us on to the highway!! what service! We managed to get lost again though and ended up finding the dance school exactly on time! I taught a Jazz class (Mel and Sa took the class and saragan was DJ preggo while little T observed). The girls were great and it was nice to meet Jill. We hope to get back to work with them again sometime.

I had fishcakes for dinner. Gotta love the seafood!
Over and out.
CC.

So now lets pretend it is Feb 10^th and we are going to the airport - bahahha – I like to pretend. The two Sara’s were driven by the lovely John to the airport and little T, CC and I were picked up by the Big Guy (aka my dad or you can also call him alex, or mr. investor) which was obviously quite the adventure. We got there in record time – to be expected with papa driving and checked ourselves in and went upstairs. I was pretty excited because this was the first time I would be flying with the girls. The two Sarah’s met us upstairs and then it was pretty much time to board. We were at the back of the plane because we were the rowdiest bahahahh – I was actually asleep right after the plane took off and the only reason I was awake that long was because Tania was beside me.. hahah. Planes + Mel = sleep.

The flight landed after one dip down and no free food – boo to no free food. Dick was there to welcome us and that was a lovely surprise. It was nice because he showed us how to get into the city and where to go to eat – which was good because in the end it was actually the only place open and we were STARVING! But before we get to that we should discus the car rental process. It took a really long time to get the vehicle because it wasn’t ready of something (to be honest I wasn’t paying much attention because all I could think about was the smell of fries and ketchup that was in the airport). Then the doors on the van were frozen and either we couldn’t get them open or if we did get them open, they wouldn’t shut… good god that was funny because Tania and I were sitting next to the ones that wouldn’t shut and we were laughing about us falling out, which lead to some stories about saragan almost falling out of a vehicle two times. She is funny.

Anyway we made it safe and Dick was lovely. He showed us to the cutest bed and breakfast ever and we all love our rooms. It is old and Victorian and so wonderful. We have the best breakfast maker in the morning and she is super sweet.

So yes we finally made it to dinner after walking down a street to find some other place to eat because there was apparently a wait at the restaurant recommended. The walk failed and we had to return and then there wasn’t any wait. All I know is by the end of the night I was eating fries and ketchup and everything was all-good.

It’s good to be in NFLD!

Ummm apparently I am not smart enough to figure out how to copy and paste the text in this message and get it to be at the top so we will also pretend that these pics are at the bottom.











So we may be a little late (it's actually Feb 11th and we are in NFLD) but for these purposes we will pretend it's Feb 8th and we are leaving Charlottetown. Last night was interesting and I apparently had too much garlic or maybe I am actually allergic to red wine because I had some crazy dreams and didn't sleep well on my cute day bed at all - sad because I thought it was extra cute. The morning was nice, we checked out and found a little diner to eat at, which was really great. The food was good and there were no lines. It was quiet and comfy. Then we went to the dance studio and taught a couple of modern workshops. They were great and we had a lot of fun. I think everyone left happy and you never know, maybe we'll be coming back sometime soon.
We ate our last meal at a sweet little coffee shop and it was nice. I was a little sad we weren't staying longer because there was a lot of restaurants I would have like to have tried.


Then we hit the road. We had to stop for gas and money when CC realized she had left her purse at the coffee shop - holy poop that was scary and would have been really bad if we didn't find it - but we were silly and of course it was still there - everyone is so nice there.


To be honest I wasn't awake for much of the drive... if I'm not driving I find it hard to stay awake and since I had all those crazy dreams I passed out in the back. Apparently the roads weren't all the great and CC was glad to be off the road when we got back. It was fun and I liked it there. All the dancers were super cute and I had a good time at the gym and hot tub.


here are some photos for your enjoyment!