I wrote that one post on a flight, most of which is mindless mumbling…anyway someone might like to still read it…:
Another flight. A lot of time to spend as useful as possible.
Well, I am in the plane from Franfurt to Korea and actually I kinda get really used to fly these days lol. Some twenty hours ago I was in St. Petersburg Russia dancing Les Bourgeois in an Openair gala performance. Performance went fine, but for the first time I experienced what the people call the white nights in Russia.
White Nights
First what comes to my mind is of course the infamous hollywood-cold war-anti-soviet-kitchy-love story-movie ‚White Nights‘ with our beloved Mikhail Baryshnikov, which probably saw a lot of people not because of the wonderful story, but because of the actors playing in it.
Anyway here is the probably most famous excerpt of the movie:
When it’s bright in the night the night(-life) itself feels different, more alive (I know this sounds weird). But anyway I think I just got a small ‚touch‘ what the White nights are about.
Anyway of course this night I didn’t sleep due to the fact that I was picked up at 3:30 in the morning which was 1:30am in Frankfurt (where I travelled from the day before.) I flied back to Frankfurt, where I slept and repacked my things. And now I am back in the plane flying to Seoul where I will be performing in two Galas and staying almost for a week.
Somehow flying becomes for me to be something special, something more and more useful. I can feel how I can use my time every time better and better with things I still have to do or want to do. I learn how to keep my efficiency up on a high level and it feels good therefore.
This is one thing I admire flying for and what brings me to talk about dance.
The same thing happens with my dancing. Every time I perform a step, every time I execute an exercise, or I perform a variation or an excerpt, it leads my body to heighten its efficiency. Well of course not every time. I was a little exaggerating. There are days the body cannot improve anything, some days it just has to keep the current status of shape, of control, of efficiency. I don’t think any dancers likes these days, since these days are unproductive.
Anyway I’m gone to watch another episode of House M.D. … anyway I’ll write again soon!
Dear readers, hereby I start my “Ask me a question” column ;). Just so you know it’s almost 2 am again and I have to get up in 6 hours so well… like always I’m feeding my insomnia
What do you enjoy doing when you have free time, and do you have enough time to meet your family ?
- Well what I like is eating, sleeping, recovering, complicated and sophisticated books, simple movies, everything high-fi, technical and mechanical, computers and design, hanging out and meeting friends, going out and having some time out, but only when I can afford it myself with my body and state of mind. Beside this I enjoy writing blog entries trying to put myself in a good light for everybody reading them, haha.
Furtunately I see my parents pretty often since they are not only my parents, but also work as my coaches, artistic advisors and psychotherapists. Therefore they try to come to me as often as possible to support me.
What is your favourite dance piece ?
- Albrecht in Giselle, which I’ll be hopefully doing next year.
Professional dancers do not seem to become nervous. Do you get nervous when you dance onstage?
- From my own experience a certain degree of nervousness has to be there to have a good performance. Nervousness heightens the awareness and sharpens the senses. It gives me more control and a complete fixation on the things I am doing. Through experience and repeating a dancer finds a good level of nervousness he needs. One needs more, one needs less, but in general a certain degree has to be there. If I am not nervous, because I am too familiar with the surroundings or the piece I am perfroming, I might get sloppy, that’s why I then artificially start myself to get nervous through routines I discovered work for me best. But by now I start to bore everyone with that, so I stop here
How/what do you feel when you are dancing ?
- Billy Elliot says: “Don’t know. Sorta feels good. Sorta stiff and that, but once I get going… then I like, forget everything. And… sorta disappear. Sorta disappear. Like I feel a change in my whole body. And I’ve got this fire in my body. I’m just there. Flyin’ ike a bird. Like electricity. Yeah, like electricity.”
Uhm…I know for everyone it’s different, but to me this quote sounds kinda kitschy and funny (sorry if I insulted somebody with that).
I don’t feel any elictricity. Nor Fire. Sorry if this sounds now very unspectacular, but I just try to completely focus on giving a good performance. I try to remember the mistakes I made before and to do the corrections I heard from my teachers. The only thing I ‘get’ from time to time is that I feel the audience. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like the audience becomes one ‘thing’, a creature which follows me and which I can control. I don’t see it, nor can I touch it. It’s one abstract whole, surveiling me.
Oh, and if achieved my goal and danced well that’s is pretty much how I feel afterwards:
——————-
Ok actually it’s really time I’m getting some sleep. I’m leaving for London to rehearse with my partner Roberta Marquez tomorrow, a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London, for our gala performance in New York in February. I ‘ll be staying only two days, so there is not much time.
Anyway good night to everybody and hope to hear from you.
PS: Thanks to Mi-Gyeong Song for the questions. If you out there have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to ask them.
