Day 22: Last Monday

Today was a long day. I woke up, got ready and waited for my friend to get up so we could leave together. We parted ways, I headed to the studio and he headed to a new host and his journey to move to California.

We started at 10am, with Terry’s improv class. It was a powerful class, since I enjoy his method of Improvisation technique. He also played amazing music. I enjoyed the ‘eyes closed’ improv, so much fun! One and a half hours.

Pilates with Kym was killer, but not as much as usual… Maybe we are now stronger, or we are just too tired to work hard. I think we’re stronger though. One hour.

Lunch.

Ballet with Meredith was great. I’m taking Diana’s advice/challenge and staying away from the mirror from now on. I will now be present during ballet. I found that it helped. I also noticed that I have developed a tendency to follow others, even though I know the phrasing, and to rely on the mirror for no reason. I’m taking the challenge. Meredith said today was better, but still had more to work on. I enjoy her classes so much. We only have her once more. 😦 one and a half hours.

We had review with Meredith next. We reviewed Too Beaucoup, but the unison phrase. I had trouble with this one, so review is great! We also did unison review of Little Mortal Jump, which I love. The showcase is this week, and I am excited to perform again on a stage!! One and a half hours.

We ended with review with Glenn and Terry. We did more of LMJ and also reviewed Casi-Casa. Much needed review. I’m nervous as to what I’ll be performing, so I gotta be ready for anything this week. One hour.

Went with Diana to whole foods, where we found out that essential oils were much too expensive… 😥 so we got back to the train station to go home, but we had to go separate ways. We ended up being able to see each other through a slot in the dividing wall. We performed rep for each other.. Have a look from my perspective!

She’s too much fun! Don’t know what I’ll do without her!
Tired. Night.

Ruben

Day 20: Cirrus.Socrates.Particle.Decibel.Hurricane.Dolphin.Tulip.Ruben.

Today was phenomenal, I still have a high from it! I couldn’t have been happier than today. I started my morning with intermediate ballet at the Joffrey with the amazing Diana! I did some things better and others not so well. I need to focus on myself and get out of the mirror. After class was done a nice lady came up to me to compliment how fast I pick up corrections. Diana was adored by all, since she’s too amazing. 😉

Afterwards, I went to the cultural center to meet up with my friend that had spent the night at my hosts place. We spent the rest of the day together, which was surprisingly fun! Here’s a picture of him at the cultural center:

Here are pictures of the actual center:

We went together to The Happy Show. It was fun going with someone and seeing their reactions and facial expressions! He enjoyed it. Here’s a picture of the exit, which I thought was very appropriate:

When we got into the great hall space, I dropped my bags and gave him my iPad to record me doing a little improv:
Cultural Center Improv
Since he is a musician/composer, and loves to do camera work, I will just say that this is a trailer for something much more.. More on that below.

We went to chipotle to eat, his first time. I got to know him better, and vice versa. We spoke about our relationships, or lack thereof, personalities and so on. He told me many of his dark secrets, which were pretty dark, but I admired his courage to tell me. It was different.

Later we went to his new hosts hotel to pick up the camera since we decided to collaborate… So we went all over downtown shooting improv videos and such.. We might continue it tomorrow, hopefully. I hope it comes out well.. I’ll post it when it’s finished. The process was so fun, unusual and unexpected.

After the camera ran out of juice, we went to a restaurant to get dessert. I’m not sure what we had but we had A LOT of it, and it was sooooooo good! First dessert in almost a month.. We rushed to the theater and were able to watch A.I. Artificial Intelligence together. Here’s a trailer:

He enjoyed it, which was great. The best part was that he said that because of this day, especially the movie, he began questioning his darker thoughts/side. That was a very sweet compliment. He didn’t want to be alone after the film, so we went to get hot chocolate and walked the city. I ended the night by walking him to his next hosting destination. I’m exhausted, waaaaaaaay exhausted, but this was an unexpected nice day. I can’t wait for tomorrow. It’s nice when you make great friends randomly, especially when they’re so nice and not bothered to do things with you. Now I have two great friends like that, him and Diana.

Namaste.

Ruben

Day 13: Joffrey and Horton and the Beach

Today was a spectacular day! I went and took the intermediate ballet (open adult) at the Joffrey Ballet School. I went with the two lovely and amazing ladies: Zenas (aka Zena, warrior princess) and Diana. I got a lot of great notes in class, and corrections. One great thing is that I saw my advancement in the two weeks of being at the Hubbard Street Intensive, so far. I have improved! What a great feeling. Two more weeks and I will blow my own socks off!

Next we all went to get frozen yogi… Or froyo, as it is called. It was a spectacular place where they dump the frozen fruit into a machine to flavor the yogurt. It even tasted amazing. We also were given free bags of healthy chips. Score!!!!

Zenas went shopping while Diana and I headed to the beach. While at the beach (or lake) we tanned, swam and DANCED!!! Here are pictures of Diana improvising, followed by her improv video.

Diana’s improv at the beach!

Don’t be fooled, she is much more wicked than this.. And this is pretty wicked. She’s a prima ballerina with an over split amazement. She’s intensely amazing!

Here are some of myself.. Doing Horton at the beach! Miss Linda would be so proud!
Followed by my beach improv.

My improv at the beach!

All in all, it was a great day. Slept at the beach, and the whole nine yards! Even had some Potbelly’s for dinner! 🙂
Send me mail, in Day 9 post!

Ruben

Day 10: Male Duet

Today was the middle of the week. Wednesday as many like to call it. I didn’t get any sleep due to the multiple nightmares I had. So I woke up half-asleep, which seemed to be the theme of the day. It was difficult. I left for the studio slightly earlier than needed to try to wake my body up, for more energy…

We had improvisation with Johnny at 10am. He led a great “whatever”-feel improv class, it was awesome! Unfortunately, it was hard to get into the swing of class at first since my exhaustion and lack of energy was too much to handle. Eventually I got into the swing of things. I was partnered up with the amazing Alicia (pronounced Elysia), when Johnny led us through this intimate duet improv. It was an amazing feeling, since it didn’t feel like two people existed, just one. I guess that’s how true partnering should feel, always. It was great! We did tons more stuff but we ended with this so you think you can dance styled improv: one person improvises for the camera, the camera person (or director) chooses different angles and concepts to try. It helps with the 3-D dancing that is sometimes lacking in people…FUN! One and a half hours.
Here are clips from the improv class:
improv 1
improv 2

Next we had Pilates with Melanie. It was challenging, and with the way the day was going it was almost impossible! I learned a lot, but I can’t say it felt right. One hour.

Lunch was a nice break, I overate, which made me feel good, inside… Until.. We had ballet, with Lucas (HSDC rehearsal director)! It’s the same Lucas that taught the HSDC master class at the music center last month, which I attended. His class was nice! It focused on elongation rather than poses, and nice use of the feet instead of just pointing. I thoroughly enjoyed his class, even if I was still digesting! One and a half hours.

Repertoire today with Jonathan (HSDC), was the hardest thing ever. The movement was gorgeous, it was his own creation from a work from the danc(e)volve show HSDC had in June. I enjoyed the creation but I couldn’t muster the energy to do it well. It was even hard to focus on what was being taught. I was so wiped out, it wasn’t funny. One and a half hours.

We ended the day with something that gave me a lot of energy, the one thing that always does: partnering!!!!!! I love partnering, but today had a twist… It was a male duet, which meant we did same-sex partnering! I enjoyed this immensely since its never taught, and Eric is a great partner. The movement was a little hard and strange to get into with all the hugging, and slow motion rolling with each other (since its a male partnering) but it does make for an interesting duet. This was a duet choreographed by Robyn and taught by Jonathan and Johnny. It was pretty awesome and I think we did great!

Now I’m home and I’m going to stretch and knock out soon! I’m going to make up for lost time today.
Till then, don’t forget to send me mail! The address is in my last post! 😉

Ruben

Day 6: First Rest

Holy cow, finally had a break!
I was having so much fun in the studio that yesterday’s rest day felt strange to me and my body. Honestly, with all the walking I did yesterday I doubt I rested at all, but it’s okay, I had fun!

I decided to go explore the city, so when I woke up I did ALL my laundry: dance and not; took my clean dance close and deposited them in my locker….. Yes, it’s difficult for me to stay away from the studio.. I love it so much! Afterwards I went downtown.

I ate at Potbelly’s which makes the BEST sandwiches I’ve ever had! It’s like a subway, but for the same price and higher quality. I made my way to the Art Institute to go see some amazing art but discounted non-Illinois resident, student tickets were $17!!?!?!?!?!!!?!?? I can’t afford that, so I walked around A LOT, until I found the Cultural Center.

I must’ve been really lucky to find it because it had the coolest most influential exhibit ever: The Happy Show by Stefan Sagmeister. Stefan is best known for being the cover artist for bands such as The Rolling Stones, and such. Here is some of his cover band work:

The Happy Show was his artistic expression about his 10 year journey to find peace, happiness and self-actualization. It was very profound. It had amazing quotes that were quite touching and true, such as:

Everything I do always comes back to me.

Seek discomfort.

Uselessness is gorgeous.

Every exit is an entrance.

Being not truthful works against me.

And much more, but these were all depicted artistically, and even had some descriptions/background/insight on how it affects happiness. Here are some great pictures of they exhibit:

I highly encourage everyone to go see the exhibit before it leaves. It won’t make you happier but it will open your eyes, mind, and heart.

After I was done perusing the exhibit, I went downstairs to look around when a nice lady told me about Taste of Chicago. She told me to leave the museum and do this event now, then to come back another time to the museum since its free and whatnot.

I’m so glad I did! What is better than indie music and food? NOTHING! Basically, Taste Of is an event like a street fair or carnival, free of entrance, where you buy 12 tickets/strip for $8, with around 40 of Chicago’s finest restaurants and live, free indie music. They had names such as fun. and neon trees, which weren’t free, but the indie rock was.
With 24 tickets I was able to get: mini shredded chicken sandwich, watermelon slice, chorizo empanada, 1/2 slice of deep dish pizza, 1/2 Chicago style hot dog, and a cup of grapefruit! I also got a free dill pickle slice, free tree leaf drink, free fruit punch, and I found out (through blind taste challenge) that I prefer Pepsi over Coke, for free!!!!!!

THIS is a must do event that ends today. If you read this and are in the area, go do!!! They have much more stuff too, like professional chef’s cooking, giving recipes, advice, etc. everyone is nice and will talk to you. Such great atmosphere. Now I’m happy that I tried the Chicago hot dog and deeply dish pizza. Back to my no salt, no sugar diet! :-). [btw, this place had a lot of low-ticket sweets! Oh the pain of not being able to have it!]

Till later today, signing off.

Ruben

Day 5: End of Phase 1

Sooooo today concluded the first week of the intensive!!!!! I must say it was hard getting through today knowing that its the end of the week.. We’re exhausted. I started the abdominal series today, it hurt.

We had ballet with Jessica at 10:45am this morning, and it was goooood. I enjoyed her ballet class, she had us dance ballet rather than going through the poses. But that’s what everyone at this intensive stresses. She said she would rather have to tell us to calm down rather than to pick it up. Great note. It was enjoyable and nice. One hour and a half of grace.

Next we had modern with Miss Linda. Now today’s class wasn’t as exhausting, although it was challenging, but it was structured differently for a reason… Can you say Ailey repertoire?!?!?! Can you say… Wade in the Water by Alvin Ailey?!?!? 🙂 happiness. Instead of blabbing about it, here’s a clip of the section we did. We learned about half of the couples dance:

It was AWESOME!!!! A hour and a half of wading, and Horton training.

Then we had lunch, followed by repertoire/review with Meredith.

You might be wondering why I posted a second clip of Little Mortal Jump, other than the fact that we reviewed the rep we learned from it on Monday… Well we learned a different section, which had music to Phillip Glass. I nearly died inside of joy!! This phrase is so beautiful and lush. It feels great on the body to do. I’m probably enjoying myself too much 😉

Now I’m home and tired but I feel great! I’m excited for next week… I just looked at the schedule and it seems as though there’s lots of fun to be had next week. 🙂

Ruben

Day 4: Funk to Funk

Where to begin? Today was a much nicer day on the body, except after lunch (more on that after). Yesterday, and a bit throughout today I was a bit stunted on my dancing since I had stomach pain: food poisoning. Luckily, I got pepto pills which kept me dancing with only slight pain throughout the day.

We started today at 10:30am with Improvisation, taught by Robyn!!!! It was so much fun, and I learned even more than I thought I would. It’s funny how sometimes watching your classmates improvise across the floor, while having fun to good music, can make it look like an amazing dance. My favorite was the old tree improv. Robyn was so sweet and she made improv so natural. It was an hour and a half class.

Next we had Pilates. This time we had Kym today, who was even tougher than Melanie!! We did so much in Pilates, it was very painful.. But I ended up learning more about the correct muscles to use during dance: transverse muscles, and how to feel them, work them, etc. She told us that if we did the stomach series of Pilates, for at least a month, everyday, that we’d see a difference… So I went up to her after class and she wrote them all down for me. Challenge accepted, I will do them until I leave, maybe even longer. I hope to see results. One hour of strict pain.

We had lunch for an hour, then ballet with Meredith. Now, ballet with Meredith is definitely one of my favorite classes, but when it’s not the first class of the day and you just ate lunch, it can be very difficult. Luckily I got through it, and I even used several of the corrections in my corrections book, which helped!! I can see myself improving. 🙂 one hour and a half of ballet bliss.

Afterwards we had REPERTOIRE with Robyn!!! Today we learned a chunk of choreography from
Too Beaucoup by Sharon Eyal. Such amazing, extremely fun, funky and challenging choreography. This one was definitely the hardest of all the rep to learn and do. It is so precise and far from classical (it’s kinda weird in a fun way), but I got the gist of it by the end. One and a half hours to learn this rep.

This is the work that we learned from, although our section isn’t shown in this video. It’s FUN:

Lastly, we ended with partnering rep!! The boys re-learned what we did with the other group and the girls learned it for the first time. This time I got three partners, who were all so amazing. Although I kept hurting their boobs with my shoulder, which made me feel awful. I also pulled on one of their necks, which made me feel just as bad.. I just get so into it and excited. I loved being able to do that work a few times at the end of class and watching the original cast (Robyn and Terrence) perform it live for us. 🙂 one hour of boob pain.

I’m starting to get the hang of this! 🙂

Ruben

Day 3: Injury Prevention

So today I woke up majorly exhausted and sore. Yesterday really did a number on me, but it’s all good because I’m going to be that much better when this is all over. No pain, no gain.

We started our day a bit later today, 10:45a with an hour physical therapy lecture. The topic: injury prevention. Honestly, I wish I would’ve had this lecture two years ago, it was fantastic!!! Not only did I learn how to repair myself when I’m broken, but I also learned about proper technique a bit more, from their point of view. Did you know you have to be able to see your inner foot and raise your toes while you plié?! I didn’t!! She taught us much more amazing stuff and even gave us a flier.

Next we had ballet with Meredith again. Today she gave another exceptional class, with a bit more difficult center. One of those #}^*|€] moments while learning it was the double pirouette into a fouetté attitude turn, then land. And that was only the end of the phrase. I worked a bit more n my petite allegro, but lucky the other people here are so amazing that they helped me out too. They even stuck around class at the end to help me with the tombe pas de bourre glissade pas de chat, which I was having so much difficulty getting… I know, I’m rusty. It was all that EDGE! This was another hour and a half.

Next we had yoga, with Helen. In today’s yoga class, we learned:

I was able to do it! But it was rough at first. I can feel myself getting much more flexible. It’s crazy, I think I just needed to get broken into it. I really love this yoga class. It was challenging but very do able and it was relaxing at the end. She even rubbed our necks with oils. This class was more emotional since I miss everyone back home and those I love. I dedicated my practice to a very special someone who I miss so much! 🙂 I even held only my necklace specially tight.. An hour class.

We had lunch,then we had a forty minute video session where we watched HSDC do Three To Max by Ohad. It was very interesting and amazing to see it. His choreography is very unique and had a lot of stylistic nuances.

Lastly was the cake on top… REPERTOIRE! We had the lovely, and amazing Jessica (HSDC), who taught us three lengthy sections from Mats Ek’s Casi-Casa!!!!!!! It was SO AMAZING! I love the language he uses and the expressionism. He has a very interesting vocabulary as well. We learned all three sections in 2 hours!

Here is a clip of his work.. We learned the phrasing at 0:55 and 3:40… Now it might look easy, but it’s not. And those are excerpts of two of the three much lengthier sections we learned. Oh boy, did we learn a lot 🙂 kick butt!!!!!!!

Ruben

Day 00: Yoga, Shows and the City

Okay, so I obviously made it to Chicago in one piece! I’ve already done quite a bit since arriving.

I got to Chicago around midnight, but didn’t arrive at my first place until 1-2am!! (Living in multiple places this summer, which is kinda great, so far!). I had planned to do yoga but I woke up late and missed it, but determined as I am, I googled yoga and came across CORE POWER, so I decided to give it a try.

It was a studio located in uptown Chicago, and it was nice! Luck was on my side this time because not only was it a power yoga/bikram fusion studio, I was able to get a week of unlimited yoga (new student offer), along with a free yoga mat and towel rental! HAZA! So I did the hot yoga, which was intense since I had just eaten at subway a minute before the class (not a good idea). The facilities are amazing here, very state of the art, and the class was phenomenal.

After taking a shower, I went to explore the downtown area near the Lou Conte Dance Studio, where I’ll be all summer. I went downtown, and with the help of Michael C on the phone, discovered the library, AMAZING! I walked up and down Jackson and Adams streets. I found a place I had visited the very first time I came to Chicago with my friends Yvonne and Kamal. We stopped at a McDonalds to get ice cream, Yvonne’s first cone in years at the time, So I decided to stop by again today. It was nice to return to a place where it all began.

Eventually, I made my way down to the art institute of Chicago, since I had many hours to kill before the HSDC show. I sat down at the steps since it had just closed. As I got there, I noticed a mother-daughter violin duet asking for donations for her college fund. I was so inspired and respected them both so much for sacrificing time and energy to do that, for something she really wants. I know it’s tough when you don’t have all the money in the world to pursue what you love, but she’s doing it and that’s amazing. They played very beautifully, too! That’s the mom (in red), and her daughter next to her. They were packing when I took the photo.

When they finally packed up, I headed towards the UIC theater. I waited there for an hour for the show to start. I had to get away from large groups of people since I was alone and terribly shy. I overheard some younger audience members speaking about the summer intensive behind me during the show, which was kinda cool to know that they had came to watch it as well.

The show was spectacular! Every choreograph and dancer was so talented.
My top three favorites were:
Wedding Dance by Terrence Marling [marriage and commitment are very close to the heart at the moment],
Silver Soon by Johnny McMillan [strong use of imagery and powerful performance],
Maiden, Mother and Crone by Jonathan Fredrickson [made me think about mom <3].

My top three most interesting were:
Divide for Better Reign by Richard Walters [amazing male solo, very athletic],
Opaque by Quinn B Wharton [loved the video, it was beautifully confusing],
A Winter’s Tale by Alice Klock [male duet, with interesting costume and movement vocabulary. Also used video game soundtrack, awesome!].

All in all, everyone was amazing. The show was funny, heartfelt, thought provoking and brilliant.

Now it’s time to train, improve and get on that stage myself. 🙂
Moving to my next destination in a bit. Wish me luck!

Ruben

Step 17: Flying

I haven’t updated in a REEEEAAAALLY long time. So much has happened, and I waited until today to update because its FINALLY here! HSDC!!!!!!

Things haven’t been easy since graduating but it’s been rewarding. I moved to Hollywood, thus having to train at the EDGE Performing Arts Center… It’s not necessarily known to produce technical dancers, although those studying here are quite amazing at commercial dance. It wasn’t for me, but I found a few great ballet instructors like IRINA, KANA and REI who were incredible! I also had lots of fun taking jazz from MALAYA and SABRINA whenever I would take jazz (rarely).

I was fortunate to be invited to audition for BODYTRAFFIC, but unfortunately didn’t make the cut (or well, I did, but you get it). That bummed me out but its fine, I learned so much about it. I seem to assume the role of the ‘nice guy’, but too much, I need to be more serious at auditions.

But not all has been sad. I was lucky enough to take a master class from HSDC rehearsal director, Lucas. It was an amazing ballet class, where he gave a lot of corrections that I feel will apply to this intensive. I also got to see HSDC perform along with LINES ballet, I even went to the per-performance talk! It was incredible! Little Mortal Jump was my favorite piece that night, it was everything that I love about the company, and then some.

Now I’m at the airport, waiting to fly to Chicago:

I’m flying SPIRIT, it’s not that great of service, if you ask me….just check out the baggage price, for a second carry on!

I’m so stoked to get there, and of course nervous! Tomorrow I wake up to yoga (maybe at the park), followed by Inside/Outside, an evening performance by HSDC (last one of the summer)!

Wish me luck! I’ll be updating VERY frequently during this summer intensive! 🙂

Ruben

PS. A special thanks to my mom and family, Marco Carreon, his family, and all my friends who believed in me, for the donation that made this possible, and all the love. And a special thanks to MIchael C, for the love and support.