Sunday, August 28, 2011

With the change of seasons comes a season of change

How philosophical, lol!! I happen to love Fall, no matter where I am (and contrary to public opinion, we do have our own version of Fall in Los Angeles!). But typically, this season brings changes for people's lives, good and bad. This post is sort of a catch-all as I reflect on some changes in my life...yes, good and bad.

First of all, of course, is studio stuff. Melissa Waters, my partner in crime (!), has moved back to Florida to be with her family and while I'm happy for her, this does mean some changes for me and the other teachers (and students!). On Mondays, I will take on her pointe class from 6-6:30PM and on Fridays, I will take over the teen open ballet class from 5-6:30PM.

Susie and I will also be doing Nutcracker without her and that is a loss of great talent and creativity. Melissa kept us on our toes (no ballet pun intended!) and she did so much with the girls of the company. We will do our best to do another great show but it will be tough without her.

Then there is change among my own teachers. One of my very favorite teachers, Patrick Frantz, has canceled a class I took with him on Saturdays which makes me sad. Not only did I get tremendous feedback from him about my own technique, I also got inspired as a teacher whenever I took class. I saw the nuanced corrections he would make with a student and that would give me ideas for my own students.

On the plus side, though, I'm excited about choreographing my Zombie Ballet for ArtNight in Pasadena (more on that as it develops) for my teen and adult students. I find that, as I age, I love choreographing much more. When I was younger, I think I used to want to perform or my expectations of my dancers would be so astronomically high that it was frustrating for me. Now, I love seeing my students develop and take on roles, making them their own. It challenges me and my creativity.

Another happy moment for me is my new yoga class with Susie at the studio. She introduced me to yoga this summer and now I'm really looking forward to continuing it this Fall.

Overall, I think everything will balance out. Good, bad, it will all be fine in the end. Things are cyclical, as my husband reminds me, and somehow they will work out. I may experience negative things for a while but that will only force me to make positive changes.

Happy dancing~

2 comments:

Rachel V. Olivier said...

That is a lot of change. So will you be looking for another teacher, or just waiting to see how it develops?

Leigh Purtill said...

Rachel, yes and yes! LOL...