That's All, Folks... for now

A view of the city from inside the Kremlin walls

Some of the cathedrals and gardens inside the Kremlin

Self Photo inside the Kremlin

Um, did I mention that I graduated?:)

Well, I'm inbetween packing and showering before I leave this country for home at 4:30 in the AM. The last few days have been reflective, sight-seeing days. Yesterday I trecked down to the Kremlin by myself (which was lovely) where the lady at the ticket office only wanted to give me a student ticket to get into the walls of the Kremlin, but not into any of the museum stuff. It actually was still a good thing as I got to peek into all of the cathedrals inside the walls and stroll around the place where the entire city used to wall themselves in when they were under attack. It was a photographer's dreamland -angles and colors and shadows - and I lovingly exhausted my camera. After a sweaty hour long walk back to the dorms and a nap, we got all dressed up to go out to celebrate Morgan's birthday/our last real evening here/ Canada Day (of course). This morning our group made it out to the Novo-Devichy Cemetary with Dr. Thomas to say our goodbyes at the gravesites of those such as Anton Chekhov and Konstantin Stanislavski (two of the most influential reasons I have been spending the past month in this part of the world). It was a beautiful cemetary and a nice way to start to close this door. Following that our group finished off with 2 hours at a huge flea market. Haggling and pissing off Russian vendors seemed to get most everyone some pretty sweet deals on some really fun souvenirs. I'm so excited to share gifts with people:) If my goal was to spend every last ruble bill I had on me, well then I'm good at reaching my goals, ha ha! It's time for farewell, but something tells me that the door isn't completely closing here. I know I'll keep in touch on so many levels with the people and the experiences I've had here, and they will influence me for the rest of my life, even when I don't realize it. Time to go make room in those suitcases for all of those Matrushka dolls and bottles of vodka. Look out for an update to this blog when I get back and gather some perspective. For now Russia, do svidanya.:)

Graduated!!!

Myself, Nastya hiding behind me, Anatoly Smeliansky (the dean of the school and
co-artistic director of the theatre), and Dr. Thomas. Diploma!:)

Impressions of Russia's take on Europe - St. Petersburg!

Well I just experienced 3 of the most jam-packed days that i can remember in a long time! I will spare those of you with lives pages and pages of self-indulgent blogging, but remember that I'm always excited to share my journey with anyone who wants to grab a cup of coffee and elaborate when I get back to the states! That being said - wow. St. Petersburg! The most European-like part of this technically Asian country. We started by taking an 8 hour overnight sleeper train from Moscow that felt like a weird spaceship from the 1950's with fold-out everything and compartments to stow our overnight things. Sleeping actually didn't happen naturally for the entire trip, but I was excited about the little things all the way. When we arrived in St. Pete's early Monday morning we were given a guided bus tour that lasted into the afternoon and overwhelmed our tired brains with a wealth of information (and overworked our cameras, too!). The tour included most every site-seeing venture, including the Peter and Paul fortress where Peter the Great first established himself and where all of the tzars and royal family are entombed. We basically had the rest of the day to do with as we pleased and so a few of us ventured out to The Church of Christ on the Spilled Blood which looks familiarly like St. Basil's and was erected on the spot where Alexander II was assassinated. Full of incredible mosaics and gold leaf, it was a giant piece of art in and of itself. Then we wandered into Kazan Cathedral, the largest operating Orthodox church in the city - which had a very different atmosphere as lines of scarf-adorned women were waiting for their turn to pray to a supposedly miraculous icon of Mary. Then the bad decision to be courageous in my menu options happened. Note to anyone planning a future trip to Russia: a plate of traditional pickled stuff + sushi + carbonated water = something equivalent to food poisoning. Either that or I just got food poisoning. Either way, this was on Monday, it's now Wednesday night and I'm still feeling a little gross. No matter - the group embarked on a river cruise that took us through some of the city's Venice-like canal system from 12:30- 2 AM and it was a gorgeous tour, unlike anything I've ever done! We were lucky enough to be there during the White Nights Festival, which basically means that the sun never goes down. It was like vampire land... many hours well into the night of people walking around with no shadows! After a barfy restless night of "sleep", I dragged myself with the group for a tour of the Hermitage museum the next morning, and was glad to have done it! Pictures for days:) After the Hermitage outing I forced some food and set out with Nastya (Anastacia) - our friend and liaison from MXAT - to a tattoo parlor to commemorate my completion of the Month in Moscow training program on a more personal level. Nastya helped me translate with an artist to get a beautiful seagull - the symbol of the MXAT - on my right wrist (*see below:). I'd been wanting to have this done since I stepped on the plane and was so grateful that it happened! We wrapped up our evening with a birthday dinner out for a student on the trip (Greg - happy 20th, friend:) which involved great discussion, including some insight into Nastya's memories of growing up in the USSR. She is about my age and though I found that we had a lot in common, I was hanging on her every word, almost entranced by the foreign stories of a childhood not knowing where her next meal was coming from or when she might get to see family again. The group left early this morning from the hostel towards Pushkin - or tsarskoye selo - to explore Catherine I's summer palace and estate. It was like the Russian answer to Versailles and included the famous "Amber Room"... interesting theories on the legends behind it if anyone ever wants to grab that coffee! To get back to Moscow this evening we took advantage of a new bullet train that got us back in half the time it took us to get to St. Pete's to begin with! I enjoyed the Russian countryside through the big window of the train (which surprisingly reminded me a ton of driving through parts of southern Ohio!) on our way back. Alright folks, I told you it was a lot of info, and that's as condensed as I can manage! Only a few days left, and tomorrow we have our official little ceremony of champagne and awarding certificates of completion in the program! Ahhh!!! Of course, pictures to follow:)

Proof that I existed in St. Pete's for 3 days!

On our late night boat tour of the Neva River

Self portrait (mind the food poisoning) at The Hermitage

Yuri, my artist, and the newest piece in my permanent collection:)

In a gilded great hall at Catherine I's summer palace in Pushkin.

A close up of the MXAT's symbol - a seagull. Going home with me:)

Put down the book and be a tourist!

It's a rainy Sunday morning here in Moscow, and I'm spending the day transitioning from student to tourist. We completed our last classes yesterday, and though it sounds cliche, I can't believe how quickly it all went by! I'm glad that I came here at this point in my career/education, because although it's different for everyone, I really feel like I was able to grasp the majority of the training. I feel very lucky to have had this opportunity to meet the amazing faculty here at the school and get a sense of the training style behind Russian acting. One more chapter of my own training complete and I'm excited to meet the challenge of applying so much of the training technique to my work back in The States. I think I saw my last few shows that I will see here already this week, including the Togonka Theatre's production of Ionesco's "Rhinoceros", and the Satiricon's always impressive production of King Lear. Last night a couple courageous souls joined me to try to brave a student rush line at The Bolshoi to see a ballet of "Don Quixote". Ballet at The Bolshoi! Duh! Unfortunately, we were ill-informed about a lottery list system and missed out on the student prices. When we found out that the cheapest tickets available were 2000 rubles (about $70), we decided to forfeit the endeavor, all dressed up with nowhere to go... except for back to the dorms to have some end of class celebratory drinks!  As for the last week of the trip, I finally get to be a tourist! Tonight I leave on an overnight sleeper train (which is exciting in and of itself for me!) to end up in St. Petersburg early tomorrow morning. We will be visiting The Hermitage - I already bought extra camera batteries-, Pushkin Village and Catherine the Great's summer palace, and we will be taking a bus tour of the city. There will also be extra free time to explore at will, and I think I may look into a boat tour through the Venice-like canals of the city. Also, we will be there during the White Nights Festival, which basically means that it's only dark for maybe 1 or 2 hours at night... charming:) Until I'm sleepy and aggravated:) I also look forward to just having time to take in the wonder of this ancient, history-rich country. Seven days and counting... gotta make the most of it!

Wrapping up classes

Singing with Marina, with accompaniment by Masha

Acting with Sergei, with translation by Tatyana

Chekhov with Mischa, and more translation by Tatyana

Movement with Vladimer, translation by Nastia

"Everything is beautiful at the ballet..."

Here's my attempt to be more communicative; I really wish that I could have danced when I was younger. Here, in our diverse group of 20 American/Canadian students, I was unofficially named the best dancer in a silly acting game today. While this may not be a complete untruth, those who have known me for more than a few years and have some relative knowledge of professional dancing will enjoy a nice giggle over their coffee at this pronouncement. I have found in the last few years what an amazing outlet dancing can be for me, creatively, emotionally, mentally, and physically. Maybe it's being in a group with so many young artists (I keep going, "Crap! My kid brother is older than you! No offense."), but I keep experiencing tiny moments of realizing that I'm not a kid anymore. One of those bigger realizations came sometime halfway in to Act One of the Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theatre Ballet Company's production of "The Little Mermaid" this evening. Again, for those of you who know me, you will realize what a double win this was for me:) It was such a beautiful ballet. You know, I'm not sure if I've ever been to a real professional ballet, at least not that I can remember. This was a take on the depressing but enchanting Hans Christian Anderson original fairytale, so there was no production number of "Under the Sea" before intermission. The lead moved so beautiful, really articulating through each joint from her fingers to her shoulder blades as she moved through the 'water'. The men were so strong and graceful, I hardly heard a footfall. I was in tears as the little mermaid tried in vain to win the love of the prince, but to no avail. She had a stronger objective than some of the professional straight actors I've seen here, and man did she work for it. There was a very heavy modern dance influence to this piece that took me back to my modern dance classes at Kent. There were some very recognizable shapes, and the end (where the poet and the mermaid basically fall away into the abyss together having lost what they yearned for most) was a pretty obvious homage paid to Martha Graham. No dialogue, no language barrier, and such a clear and heartbreaking story. Yeah, a few dancers fell out, or came out of a spin off balance, or had a late grande battement, but I had a wonderfully inspiring time. My realization in watching such incredible athletic feats was in the fact that I am old enough to know that this is something I will never do in this lifetime. And that made me sad, folks. It's a super great possibility that many many things would have gotten in the way of a professional ballet career (like the fact that I love cheese so much, for example), but man I wish I could've taken a shot at it. Ah, hindsight. More dancing and singing when I get back to Detroit. Hold me to it, friends. Missing you in Moscow!