The past week I spent my time exploring the great beyond: new york city. I arrived Saturday afternoon to an empty apartment and already within thirty minutes of being there, felt lonesome. Of course, I hear all the time "it's such an odd feeling, having so many people surrounding you in the city but feeling the most lonely I've ever felt". I kind of understood what those people meant at that moment. Instantly, I realized how many people I know who are in the city and snapped out of it and got out there and explored.
It was such a time for learning, experiencing New York City alone. I truly got to know the city and truly got to know myself and what I am wanting from my life at this moment. I met up with some old friends and made a bundle of new friends, connections that will never fade.
The dance intensive that I was with during this time was called ArchCore40; a program under the direction of Jennifer Archibald, who chooses 40 dancers with the potential and passion to gain knowledge about (and hopefully survive) the dance industry. A brilliant experience. Not only did we experience the performing aspect, but we absorbed so much useful information about this industry; Injury prevention, chatted with an agent, experienced a surprise audition--woof--,break dancing, voguing, and acting for dancers classes amongst incredible hip hop and contemporary classes, a photo shoot, a music video shoot, and all kinds of professional development opportunities, including putting a showcase together in less than 4 hours. It truly was a career changing experience. I learned so much about the dance world and what I want from it and I learned to dive deeper into my own intellectual core.
On the fourth, the city was nearly empty (by nearly I mean still lots of people). But the subways were moving much quicker than usual because of the lessened time spent keeping doors open longer for more people. My commute time on Friday was beyond fast, it was mind boggling. Then at night, some friends from the intensive and I found where the people of New York City were hiding all day. Brooklyn Bridge Park was jam packed for fireworks that night. We didn't see more than ten whole fireworks because of such the crowd that the show was blocked by a plethora of buildings, people, and trees. But for me, it didn't matter the view I had. I was in the company of some amazing talent and incredible humans that I can call new friends. A night filled with great conversation, excitement, and the hussle and bussle of city life on the day of independence.
I spent other parts of my trip catching up with old friends. A best friend of mine from high school is in the city for the summer doing an internship so I was fortunate enough to spend significant time with her. Oakville gals taking on the big city, glorious. And a seriously good friend from college (my intellectual twin) with whom I stayed in the city this week got to catch up over brunch and dinner a couple of days out of our busy lives. Always a good person to catch up with and discuss our lives and life in general.
Overall, my trip was a grand ole time, a mix of ups and downs, lost and found (and then somewhat lost again), highs and lows, and most importantly constantly learning and creating and exploring.
No comments:
Post a Comment