le printemps

The beginning of March and spring is here in full force -- I'm sitting out on the back porch in my petit coin de soleil (little corner of sunshine) as I type this, my new favorite spot for reading and lunching. Afternoons in the sun have been full of trampolines and children, good books and simple, extraordinary food, lounging along the Garonne River (beside a bare-chested Julian!!) and meeting exciting new people.  Life's been pushing forward in spurts recently, racing ahead without me and then stalling out as soon as I arrive, but with the arrival of real solid sunshine I think I've found my footing again.

Isaure, sur le trampoline 

I guess firstly, I should talk about the big news that's shaped the past few weeks:  I had my meeting with Kader, the director-to-be, and am really excited about some of the things he's passionate about bringing to the company, and so signed my name on a contract that will keep me in Toulouse through July or so of 2014.  Two and a half more years stretching out in front of me in one place, that I love but also happens to be on the other side of the world from home, naturally set off a mini wave of homesickness, mostly manifested in staring at pictures of the Seattle skyline on Pinterest.  Luckily the ridiculousness of said wallowing and inevitability of missing home at the same time I'm committing to being far away wasn't exactly lost on me, so I had a pretty good sense of humor about it :)

And while three full years is longer than I've committed myself to anything apart from maybe chocolate, I am also realizing how nice it might be to settle in one place for a little.  Three years in France becomes a whole different affair than a nine-month-lark, and it gives me a chance to really invest in my life here.  It's exciting to think about a new apartment and how good my French will be and getting to watch the kids grow up, not to mention the places I can travel to from here and the far-away possibility that it might be more than just a few years.  That remains many steps down the road; part of what I am trying to keep defining now is the answer to what I want to accomplish with my dance career. I know now that dancing can make me really truly blissfully happy, that having this as a career is one of those "shrug your shoulder and grin and shake your head about how incredibly lucky you are" type things. I have had a few people in the past week or two repeat exactly that back to me, some version of "oh, so you're living your childhood dream dancing in the south of France?" and um, yup, that's exactly what I'm doing. So the next question becomes what do I want to do this to accomplish, what's the bigger picture, at what point would I be willing to let go of this really wonderful life to search for the next, different, really wonderful life? It is going to take some mulling, naturally, but it's all of a happy sort.

So beyond that, the day to day routine of the past bit.... We've been rehearsing Allegro Brillante by Balanchine, which is fun and hard and lightning fast (naturally I'm the tallest girl doing it by a few inches), but also natural and clear and I know at least what it's supposed to be.  It is not there yet, but I know what it is supposed to look like, what I need to work on and how to get to a good final product -- a nice alternative to Jacopo's piece, though I can't help but hunger after the chance to really get to work on and perform something closer to that, where all my boundaries are pushed in different directions and you never quite know what is going to arrive when you're out there on stage.

Philippe, sur le trampoline

I have also tucked myself into the youth/student chapter of Amnesty International in Toulouse, which has been great fun. It is so nice to be around students, and a different social circle, and to throw myself into a cause completely separate from dance (and brainstorm ways to make the worlds intersect). I'm off to a concert in a few minutes actually, where we'll be outside asking patrons to sign petitions asking free various political prisoners before and after the show (and get to see a free concert in the meantime). It feels good to be involved a little more directly in some of their activism, to see what they're doing and be a little more aware of the happenings outside the dance world or mainstream media headlines. Combining that and good books -- I've given up watching TV on my computer for the 40 days happening to fall between Mardi Gras and Easter but having nothing to do with Catholicism -- and yoga intensives and good friends and sunshine, life here is pretty good. La belle vie dans le printemps, all that :)