Something for YOU.

<<<< class="MsoNormal">Day 4 So the stares that I've been expecting finally started to kick in around 5pm. Was it my green leggings, ruffled blouse, blue sequined hat and cowboy boots? Or was it the color of my skin? I can't tell and I still don’t know. As we walked the streets of Moscow … which, by the way, takes FOREVER no matter where you go. Not really. I was just tired and my feet hurt. Russians walk extremely fast, even the short one with little legs like me… I don’t see how they do it, but now I know why the they're all thin and in shape, even the ones. I KNOW I've lost ten lbs today, I'm sure of it. By the time we finally got to the metro station, I was weary but the subway here is awesome. Instead of the awful smells and dirt and grime, they have marble floors and walls, escalators, chandeliers, paintings, and golden crown molding… it like a PALACE. This is how the subways should be… its one thing that Stalin got right… it’s the transportation of the people so it should be immaculate and reliable… it certainly is! We took a boat tour of the Moscow river… it was beautiful. Obscenely cold but gorgeous nonetheless.

Studying acting is something that is sort of frowned upon in the US … two major culture shocks since I've been here: being stared at because the way I look and the fact that when I walked into MXAT and people stop and respect me because I am an ARTIST is the most amazing feeling in the world. That respect of my craft doesn’t happen where I'm from. People usually think less of you when you say, "I'm studying acting in school." I have people tell me all the time, and I use to say it to myself too, "I'm paying 50 thou a year to been unemployed when I graduate from college." THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN HERE! I literally walk around with my chin up so high, so proud what I do and how hard I work. I wear the badge of an artist and it means something!

<<<<<>

The control that theRussian students have of their bodies is incredible. Nothing I have seen in america can compare. Our bodies are so important for communication. In the show we saw tonight consisted of some of the etudes that the seniors had worked on in their freshman year which were so successful to the public that they had continued. Our acting teachers told us to watch their examples of objects and animals, since that is what we are working on; and they were exact. The most impressive object was strings on a guitar. Each string had a distinct personality basedon the tambor; they made their bodies roll and vibrate like a string but they were people. For the animals their was a a skit of a wolf and hiena. I couldn't describe to you how they did it but it was unbelievable to see humans tranform into an animal so compelely. My favorite etude was tittled "Attraction." It was a entwining of two bodies. The choreoagraphy was so beautiful yet if anyone else tried to do it it would have been jerky becuase of the stain on the muscles. Every movement was slow and controlled yet the technicality it took was more than I could imagine. there were so many beautiful peices and I was blown completely away by their abilities. I think though our classes here will take us toward what these students are able to do but I think it will take alot of self dicipline to contiue the training.
Part of our training here includes ballet. My teacher... an 80 year ex-Prima Ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre/// smh. We had ballet for the first time and I haven't sweat so much in my life. I was supprised how much was still in me. The only thing that wasn't very good was leg lifts but when she pushedmy legs I was more flexible then I have ever been. I will I think be better as time goes on and willget more strength.
Today I also had stage combat and voice but I will go into that later, as well as acting yesterday and today.

I am now eating a huge bowl of honey nut corn flakes (not cheerios) and 2.5% moloko (milk)… thank you Russia . And hopefully as I'm writing this blog, my 200 free rubles of internet wifi (PER MONTH!!!) doesn’t run out.

this is what u get when u order A BLACK RUSSIAN.

The Festival that is My Life Now

this is a really bad pic of me and my favorite girl here, Hannah... you shall see better ones of us soon.

these are all of what u haven't seen so far.





























To be a tourist you see the sites of Moscow but not Moscow itself and while they are beautiful, breathtaking and unlike anything you have ever seen in your life, Moscow can be beautiful without them. Today I think was the first day I felt connected to Moscow as a city. I ordered my own meal and despite the fact that I didn’t speak Russian very well I didn’t hold up the line, like I typically do. The language and their intentions behind their words is becoming easier to understand. Instead of gibberish I can hear unique sounds. Moscow is becoming comfortable and I think that is one of the beauties of the city. While the city and even the people can be harsh and even aggressive there is an understanding of the opposite that they can show you just as much kindness. It finally hit me today that I am in Russia and living amongst people who are nothing and everything like me.
The physical beauty of Moscow is also amazing which we saw on our 3 ½ hour bus tour. It was long and we stopped and got out places but it was worth it. The first thing we saw was St. Basil’s cathedral and the Kremlin which I have never seen and equal to. The cathedral, our tour guide explained, is a culmination of churches which creates a compass of the city. The red dome points north while the green points south. The east looks like traditional Russian hat and the west look like grenades because invasions all come from the west. This is one of the amazing things about Moscow in even the architecture tells the history of the city. Next we went to the overlook of the city by the cathedral Christ’s Savior which I had been to two days before. In Moscow they have a tradition that when a couple get married they write their names on a pad lock and put it on trees on a bridge- Only the picture can truly describe it. At this same bridge they have a bench that is curved and it is said if a couple who is fighting sits on either side and slides to the middle they will resolve their argument. Our next stop was a sculpture created by a French artist as a memorial to all the abused children, “for the children who are victims of adult’s vices.” The memorial is a ring of sculptured vices with two golden children in the middle, their hands reaching out to each other. We continued on to a park next to an old monastery where Stanislavsky and many other great Russians are buried. It was nice to just walk around. The last stop was Sparrow Hill where there is a beautiful panoramic of the city and the Moscow State University, Moscow’s Harvard. It was an incredible building but got the remark, “well that’s not intimidating (sarcasm).”
We are done sight seeing for the week. I start class tomorrow on a normal schedule. We are performing our first etude tomorrow, a short silent scene created by the group, which we rehearsed for an hour this evening. We are ready to have it ripped apart tomorrow but that is good. We were warned that we should expect criticism because Stanislavsky believed it was the way to get better to leave the good and work on the bed.

this is what u get when u order A BLACK RUSSIAN.