EASTER WEEKEND: Reflections on the Holy Days....And then, of course, Class!

It's a Holiday weekend and for those who celebrate, a special time of the year to reflect on the nature of forgiveness and the concept of resurrection and re-birth.  I always find this time of the year helpful not only in my personal spiritual life, but also to my endeavors in Dance.  Seeing that I can rarely ever really live up to my own expectations day by day, which aren't really, too seemingly impossible, it goes without saying that I certainly can't live up to the expectations of the Dance/ Ballet World, which are, in contrast, certifiably impossible!

Each day passes and I can make my daily list of failures..didn't stretch enough, didn't finish my blog brochures, didn't get to the gym, didn't relax my neck, didn't do yoga, didn't sleep enough, didn't do my 5th position press exercises, didn't put on pointe shoes, forgot to engage my turnout the entire time in tendu..thus making my tendus for the day useless, ate too many empty calories....... and on and on.  By the end of this daily tally I've usually convinced myself that I don't even deserve to improve...none the less actually ever perform in any sort of dance work.  However, when I think of the idea of a God Figure forgiving us all of our certainly more important, mortal sins, then of course I can feel slight relief from my presumably lesser, ballet sins... right? LOL!  But Seriously:  the idea of resurrection and forgiveness can come in mightily handy when my inner critical eye threatens to thwart both my efforts and resolve.  I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling this way... many of us live life with perfectly detailed ideas of "what we should do and who we should be" in order to deserve our success.  And many, if not all of us, seemingly fail each day to make the cut.  Ooops.

Yet, here we all are, together and hopefully, forgiving ourselves and each other as we each take the barre each day and offer ourselves yet, one more chance. In many ways the studio becomes a form of Church; a place where we convene in community to pay our penance and re-birth ourselves into the most perfect versions of ourselves for that day.  And somehow, with some Grace, that is enough. 

Regardless of where you stand in terms of the "The Official Celebration" I do encourage you all to join in some of the fantastic events that are specially suited to the season, below:

Get to CHURCH Class!

Easter Sunday at BALLET ARTS: All classes $13! (that's 1999 prices, people!) Also there will be an Easter Egg Hunt for free classes!  Lonne Moretton will be away April 24. Floor Barre is cancelled. Kenny Larson will teach Int Ballet 12:30-2:30  Samba Open Level 4:00-5:30 Richard Marsden's Missing Link class  5:30-7pm.

Pay Your Tithes to the American Cancer Society!
 
DANIEL ULBRICHT OF NYCB &  DANCE AGAINST CANCER
 
The Manhattan Movement & Arts Center is proud to present Dance Against Cancer. The year's performance will take place on Monday, April 25, 2011. Cocktails at 6 PM, performance at 7 PM and reception at 8:30 PM.
The evening’s performance, produced by Erin Fogarty and Daniel Ulbricht, will include three World Premiere pieces and will be performed by Daniel Ulbricht, Robert Fairchild, Amar Ramasar, Tyler Angle, Craig Hall, Wendy Whelan, Maria Kowroski, and Sterling Hyltin, as well as Matthew Rushing, Attila Csiki, Keigwin + Company, Alex Wong, and Martin Harvey to choreography by George Balanchine, Christopher Wheeldon, Benjamin Millepied, Larry Keigwin, Lar Lubovitch, Earl Mosley, Alex Wong and Robert Fairchild, and Daniel Ulbricht.   To purchase tickets or to make a donation, please visit HERE.



DANCE AGAINST CANCER
Manhattan Movement & Arts Center
248 West 60th Street
New York, NY
 
‎6:00PM Monday, April 25th
 
G*d Bless Us All,
 
B.