Day 2: Sounds and Sights/ First Rehearsal

Was yesterday a holy day for Muslims? Or can I expect beautiful amplified sourceless chanting to happen at 6pm, 9pm... and 4:30am every day? I woke up a few times to sounds of cars at all hours, including a siren that another sleeper described as sounding like "laser tag." This morning I remembered that I did in fact pack ear plugs.

Rehearsal today was great! I haven't done La Zous, "Korean," or "1,2,3" for a while- those are the pieces I was part of today. It was fun to remember what I've done before, and to learn the details of performing it with New York quality. There were a couple new sections that have been in development since I was part of 2,280 last summer- the new parts may be my favorites! They really have new beautiful, fun, and crazy qualities that I can't wait to see on stage! Mark Morris Dance Center had a beautiful space, and time flew by with all the bucket fun!

Tonight some dancers have plans to meet friends in New York- personally, I'm home for the evening, as I'm still getting my bearings here. It's not the people or the traffic that intimidate me, but the huge buildings everywhere, and partly the fact that I have no idea what's inside them!

Here's a photo of where we rehearse:

We wandered a little after getting off the train to rehearsal, and found a Target near our studio so I bought dancing snacks. The interesting thing was that it was hidden within a secret mall that was piled up about three stories high between all the other same-looking buildings! And I can only imagine how many elevators are in this city, since all the buildings are so tall!

Even our rehearsal space was on the fifth floor, and it was the entire floor, because of how small but high each building is. There was a nice view from the little balcony outside the studio, though- it was sunny and breezy overlooking the area while we snacked in a rehearsal break. I could go for that again tomorrow :)