Lesson one in Moscow fashion: burning your hair off with a blow dryer is not the best way to look like a non-tourist! Rough morning aside I once again floated to class even though it was Saturday, I am still going on a few hours of sleep a night and I have not quite gotten used to the heels that are a requirement in Russia society. We have a rotating schedule of classes which includes a daily acting class, ballet, an acrobatic-like movement class, singing, Russian, Russian Theatre history, Russian cinematography, Costuming and Scenic Design. I thought it was going to be a 9-6 kind of day. I know get the impression it is going to be more of a 7-12 kind of day and Sundays are not off. We all seem to feel like we have been here a month as the days tend to blend into one another without a break. It is the best kind of exhaustion I have ever felt. So far the teachers have all blown me away. I think there is a very different ideology when it comes to teaching here then in the States. It is very strict and there is pressure but there is not that need to impress the faculty. They all say not to worry if you succeed on a given objective because if you do not there will always be another opportunity to try again. One of my classmates put it best when he said that they establish a dynamic from the beginning that makes it much easier to work WITH them rather than for them. After class the group from Northern had dinner with Alex, who has become a fast friend. It is so nice to reestablish a new relationship with someone you have know when the parameters have changed. We have had the most incredible conversations over the last few days and I will be truly sad when he leaves next week. But by the way he keeps trying to convince me to return to Chicago to act on stage I think he believes our days of working together are far from over.
We spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the dorms with the Russian students who are in the four year program, playing guitars, singing (Apparently I sing in Russia, full-out, without being afraid – I forgot how much I love it!) and talking about art. I got into a two and a half hour conversation with one of the guys in my class about our process and this art form and life outside of academia. I sat there telling him how important it is to just let go, not beat yourself up about every little mistake you make and just embrace the fact that most things in life are out of your control. It was amazing because these are the very issues I have spent my entire life struggling with. I don’t know if it is Moscow or the fact that I am doing the one thing in life I love more than anything else or because I have wasted so much of the last year with b.s. drama that doesn’t seem to matter now but I now, here in this place, I just seem to get it. I know it has only been a few days and I am sure the hard part has yet to come but I honestly can’t remember a time in my life when I was happier. Real happiness, I am learning, comes with obstacles and pit-falls but offers you a lightness and an inner peace that is so very hard to find. The keep telling me that the theatre is like a religion and I think I am starting to see what they mean.
We spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the dorms with the Russian students who are in the four year program, playing guitars, singing (Apparently I sing in Russia, full-out, without being afraid – I forgot how much I love it!) and talking about art. I got into a two and a half hour conversation with one of the guys in my class about our process and this art form and life outside of academia. I sat there telling him how important it is to just let go, not beat yourself up about every little mistake you make and just embrace the fact that most things in life are out of your control. It was amazing because these are the very issues I have spent my entire life struggling with. I don’t know if it is Moscow or the fact that I am doing the one thing in life I love more than anything else or because I have wasted so much of the last year with b.s. drama that doesn’t seem to matter now but I now, here in this place, I just seem to get it. I know it has only been a few days and I am sure the hard part has yet to come but I honestly can’t remember a time in my life when I was happier. Real happiness, I am learning, comes with obstacles and pit-falls but offers you a lightness and an inner peace that is so very hard to find. The keep telling me that the theatre is like a religion and I think I am starting to see what they mean.
