Summer training 2017
REFLECTION/DOCUMENTATION:
From June 18, 2017 to July 20, 2017, I attended The School of Nashville Ballet’s Summer Intensive program. This was a five-week training camp for Ballet, and I originally attended with the intention of securing a job contract with Nashville Ballet’s Second (i.e. Junior) company. Unfortunately, these aspirations were halted immediately when I sprained a knee that had been badly injured in the same way at an audition in the early months of 2016. The timing could not have been worse, and it metamorphosed what should have been a tiring, but engaging and opportune few weeks into a real struggle for me. It was certainly unintentional, but this drastic change in my plans for this experience certainly distinguished it from my previous honors experience at the Washington Ballet Summer Intensive. There is a joke often thrown around among dancers, that we wonder why we do this to ourselves. There is a great contradiction in considering this question when injured. The physical pain of an injury is usually far less than the pain of not being able to dance, as if the absence is a gaping hole in the soul itself. It’s maddening. And yet, it was dance that caused all the pain and sorrow in the first place. I wondered if the effort it was taking to recover as a dancer was worth it even as I needed to recover, needed to be able to move my body freely once again. But if I learned anything about myself over the course of this experience, it was that the pain is worth it. I’m still dancing because I am convinced it will always be worth it, and as of the end of this experience, I have an awareness of this conviction within myself, and that is encouraging. |
ARTIFACTS:
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL
This journal serves as my ongoing reflection for this experience. It contains both the corrections I received (on the first day) and those I observed (on every other day...) that I found helpful or unique. I also reflected on the previous week every Friday or Saturday in a short paragraph.
DISSEMINATING BLOG
A carry-over from my previous Honors Experience (See year two - Washington Ballet Summer Intensive.) Here I blog about my experiences through the lens of advice to dancers unsure or curious about the process of training away from home at a Summer Intensive.
REFLECTIVE ESSAY
What I ended up learning and doing for five weeks in Nashville, and why it matters.