Thursday, September 11, 2008

Why I am here

Monday hit, and I began to feel homesick. I had come off a weekend of more free time than I was planning on, and my mind had plenty of time to ruminate. Upon rumination, it decided that then was a good time to start missing people. I actually got to feeling pretty low, but enough time had passed that it was time to go to dance. I went to Jazz 4 class that night, and left feeling refreshed and remembering why I came. That class was taught by Joanne, the dance school principal and one of the main reasons why I am here. It was deep into the ground rhythmic, accented, full of variety and chances to switch emotion. In general, a favorite among all the classes I have taken in my time dancing.

I got to thinking today, and realized that in the four days that have passed in this week, I have taken four jazz classes. A pretty nice ratio, if I don't say so myself. Right now, my dance schedule is like so;

Monday: Jazz 4, 6-7:30
Tuesday: Jazz 9:30-12:30
Afro-funk, 5-6
African, 6-7:30
Wednesday: Ballet, 9:30-11
Tap 11:15-12:30
Modern, 6-7:30
Tap, 7:35-9:05
Thursday: Core conditioning, 9:30-10:30
Jazz, 10:30-12:30
Jazz 3, 6-7:30
Friday: Improv/ Jazz talk, 10-12

The rest of the afternoon on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday during the day are all free, and currently attempted at being filled with work, which has proven difficult. I have enough free time between classes each day (5 to 6 hours) to satisfy me, so I am feeling antsy to fill Friday night, Saturday and Sunday with work. Not only considering my strange aversion to free time, but also that I need money like woah. Yes, I said 'like woah.' That is how serious it is!

Another hitch in the job situation - Called Sherry today, and she informed me that her boss is concerned about the fact that I will have no wage because that means I will not have worker's comp. I was dissapointed, and suggested to her that I sign a waiver saying that I will not sue them if I get hurt. She is going to talk to her boss again and I am supposed to call tomorrow, but in the mean time, I will be pursuing other leads. I talked to a former pre-pro'er at DJD about film work - production assistantship. She suggested that because it is so sporadic, she knows they often just hire for cash, and that it is $250 a day. Sweet. I also tried to follow an old lead - the performing arts center I contacted back in May about front of house work. I emailed them this weekend and had not yet heard back, so I went in today during my break. A nice woman named Christina informed me that the business offices closed at 4:30, but talked to me at length about my situation, and gave me names of people to talk to when I go in tomorrow. This sounds like a positive lead, as I have enough experience that they can make a case that I am the most qualified person for the job, fill out a labor market opinion for me, and get me working legally. Yay.

More work on job development tomorrow. Back to dance - I took the jazz 3 class tonight, taught by the same person who taught jazz 4, and it made me feel equally warm and fuzzy. This is the way I love to dance, how I feel confident dancing, what I tap into emotionally. I already feel like I am improving. In other warm fuzzy news, I booked my plane ticket home for Thanksgiving today, and I will be home from Wednesday night (late) until Monday morning. Yay. It seems so funny to be planning for something relatively far away, but it makes me happy.

Bottom line. This dance is the right dance for me. I love my classes, and I always leave with a renewed sense of why I am here.

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