I'm taking on New York City for my second time around in less than a week. Excited? Yes, if I'm trying to describe one small ounce of how I feel.This intensive is going to be amazing. We're dancing about 8-9 hours per day and rehearsing for a project performance at the end of the week.
I was hoping that we would have a few classes in an old theatre, but all our rehearsals are going to be at the Alvin Ailey studios - which are quite beautiful.
Honestly, I cannot wait to be back in that city. Sounds crazy for only being there once... but it's just one of those places, I think for a lot of people. I was introduced to New York in a unique way and I instantly knew that I would forever love it there. 
Maybe there are places like that for all of us. The area has taken hold of something and we want to explore the solitude or business of it at every chance. That's how I think adventure helps us grow. When you're open to letting things take hold of you or your area's of passion... things are bound to happen.
Maybe there are places like that for all of us. The area has taken hold of something and we want to explore the solitude or business of it at every chance. That's how I think adventure helps us grow. When you're open to letting things take hold of you or your area's of passion... things are bound to happen.
It's the whole style of "Living In The Now" and experiencing things for what they are and what they might be - not cutting short an experience.
There's this amazing interview with Suzanne Farrell where she was asked "Can you describe the feeling you have when you are in the wings, waiting for you cue, and your hear the music and you enter the stage?" She said "Before I go out, I have these feelings of insecurity, this 'what am I going to do?' feeling. Even though I am a professional, and I know what the steps are, I don't quite know how I'm going to do them, because I haven't lived that moment yet. I always feel very insecure and I get very excited. Nervous, not so that I can't dance, but excited with nerves because I love to do what I am doing. The minute I get out there, I realize that I'm more in control than I thought I was. Because there is no turning back. It's when we think we can turn back that we don't make good decisions, or we don't try hard enough. It's when you jump off the cliff that you are suddenly in control, in a way that you don't have prior to that.
“It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence, and our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and I remember thinking, ‘How did he know to put the pursuit part in there?’ That maybe happiness is something we can only pursue, and maybe actually we can never have it, no matter what. How did he know that?”
