San Francisco Ballet blogger shares her thoughts
October 30th, 2008, 12:02 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Paul Hodgins
The San Francisco Ballet is coming to the Orange County Performing Arts Center next month to present a mixed program — its seventh visit to the Center, and a special occasion as the venerable dance institution marks its 75th anniversary.
Company member Katita Waldo (that’s the Spanish-born dancer, above) has agreed to share her quotidian thoughts as she prepares for the trip and balances a busy career and motherhood.
Here are the first two entries:
Entry 1—October 23, 2008
Today was my first day back in the studio since the Company came back from the New York leg of our American Tour; the Orange County engagement still seems a long way away.
The Company is getting Giselle ready for D.C. and I’m not involved in that, so I’m taking some time to breathe, but I’m a little stressed about staying in shape for the ballets I’ll be dancing in Orange County. Anyway, the response in New Yorkwas great and we’re looking forward to taking the rep to OCPAC and seeing what the West Coast makes of it.
Also in the wings — so to speak — looms Nutcracker, which always comes sooner than you think. I’ll also be doing a guest performance of Nutcracker in Alaska immediately following D.C. in November. It will be quite a workout after an easy Thanksgiving, but will get me ready for our Nutcracker season here in SF.
I have fond memories of doing Nutcracker in Pasadena many years ago. Maybe someday the Company will take our Nutcracker production to Orange County, as well.
October 28, 2008/Entry #2:
I’ve been teaching class quite a bit since we got back from New Yorkand I’m enjoying it thoroughly. I really like working with the dancers and helping them improve on what is already great work. They are probably tired of me talking about “turn out” at this point but I think it’s good for them. We’ve started rehearsing Within the Golden Hour and I am helping to teach it to some new people for this coming season. It’s always exciting to work with new members of the company—fun to see what they do with it. Some of our new dancers have little experience with contemporary ballet and it’s interesting to introduce them to a new way of moving and thinking. Some adapt better than others.
Halloween is coming up and we’ve gotten a Joker costume for my son James. His school is also celebrating “Day of the Dead” and he’ll be honoring George Carlin. I continue to have no dancing rehearsals of my own and I’m finding it hard to motivate myself to take extra classes because I really enjoy the downtime! I’m sure I’ll be busy soon enough though and after a few days of soreness I’ll be back in shape.
