first day

I have officially started with Ballet du Capitole :) Today was the first day of work, meeting everyone rehearsing for Giselle. We took class with Nanette Glushak, the director, this morning.  It's interesting, how dancing is a language spoken everywhere, and how more and more I'm finding that it is one I'm fluent in.  Opening a bank account in French, dealing with the post office, figuring out what hours a grocery store is open on a Sunday, all of those are somehow daunting.  But dancing?  Dancing I can do.

Class was taught in half French and half English, with Nanette giving corrections to all the English speakers in English, but all the basic instructions in French.  Rehearsals were great, the morning full of peasants in the village square, the afternoon beginning our Wili training -- the dead virgins before their wedding day.  It's a big difference between a full day being 6 hours of rehearsal plus class (à la Carolina) vs 4.5 hours plus class (ode to European time sensibilities).  A lot, but so much more manageable at the end of the day.  And we repeat it all tomorrow -- I think we're learning all the material, then going back to put the finishing touches on the style and build stamina, but most of the company has done this before, so mostly it will be the newbies learning and imitating as fast as we can so we can be ready for the show in... two and a half weeks.  On y va.