Workshop Weekend and the past week.

So I'm sorry for the lacking of posting from this past week, but it wasn't a week where I felt compelled to jot something down. I do have a video to share however, it's small, but it might be slightly entertaining :)

Last weekend, was WORKSHOP WEEKEND, which is a weekend at NECCA where teachers from NECCA and guest teachers from various places come and teach a weekend filled of all types of workshops.
Francois Gravel and Michael Lanphear were going to be guest teaching a few workshops.
I signed up for Francois Gravel's "Single Point Trapeze" workshop (he does some really innovative stuff), and Michael Lanphear's "Stretching for Backs and Shoulders" workshop.
By the end of the weekend, I had also taken "Stretching for Feet, Legs, and Hips" with Michael and "Aerial Transitions" with Serenity.

All the workshops were really great, the Single Point was a little less physically stimulating than we had thought it would be, but it was still very great, as he led us through some exercises he uses when he is creating an act. My theatery brain totally loves that kind of work, so it was very good. The feet legs and hips workshop was INCREDIBLE, for 2 hours, we stretched in new and unusual ways. Most of the people in that workshop had trouble walking due to soreness for the next day or two. On Saturday night after the Feet Legs and Hips workshop, a bunch of NECCA staff and friends from out of town and I went to Flat Street Brewpub for Dinner. It was really nice to just remind me of how familial the circus community is, and if you don't know someone directly, you DEFINITELY know a friend of theirs.

On Sunday, I had Stretching for Backs and Shoulders (and then snuck my way into Aerial Transitions directly after). Backs and shoulders was interesting. I have been having trouble finding out what is going on with my shoulder's and upper back flexibility. Bill (the coach at NECCA who is known for stretching people like woah) has yet to find a good stretch for my shoulders, because apparently they have a really big range of motion and I don't feel a stretch. I thought my upper back was INflexible, but Michael found my oddness intriguing or something and was stretching my upper back himself, pushing it into a bent position, and...I felt nothing. Honestly, I felt that his fist was in my back, but I couldn't even feel that my upper back was bent so far. So again, I'm an anomaly to the teachers I have, but Jamie thinks I should look into Somatics, which involves the re-connection of nerves from parts of your body to your brain. What IS good, is that apparently, since my shoulders have such a range of motion, that they will keep me safe better.

So workshop weekend was very thrilling and inspiring, but that started off my week being very sore. On Monday, we did more work on the act Intensives is going to be performing in the NECCA Winter "Nutcracker"-esque circus show. It would have been more fun if I wasn't still very sore. I decided to take Member's only off that day so my body could rest before Lyra and Sling class. HAAHAA, funny joke, when I got to Lyra and Sling class, I found out that we were going to be doing various drops on Lyra (drops on lyra usually involve bruises, and more soreness). The student teacher wasn't extremely knowledge about the certain drops on lyra (her focus is more sling) so Caroline had me demonstrate them, because I've done them before.

The rest of the week involved general soreness, and a desire for my body to have a small vacation (this seemed to be the theme amongst everyone this week, REST THE BODY). Luckily, this week is Thanksgiving vacation! YAY!

Currently I'm working on my first FOR HIRE costume since I've been here. It's for a friend and teacher at NECCA Amanda, I will post pictures of that costume process for fun later.