Anyway, time to take advantage of this long weekend (thanks to US Labor day) for some updates.
So it's well into the 3rd season at Big Shift, and Ian has been giving me more advanced techniques to work on, bit by bit. There were a couple of days that I was the only student, so those were the days that he hammered on all those advanced stuff. He gave me a whole bunch of rumba combination exercises to work on, each of them focusing on several techniques at a time, from keeping control of my balance, weight, and body in general, plus learning how to spot while doing turns. I have to admit, I know I get frustrated when I can't do all those in class, but Ian's right when he said that I should stop getting frustrated with myself, and just shut up, focus and keep on practicing.
I also attended Julius' class once. Considering I was still the only student then, he called his nephew Mark to attend the class as well so I can have a partner to dance with. Tackling the cha cha cha, Julius said that, knowing Ian is already a good dancer and teacher, he'll leave the advanced stuff to Ian, and will just focus on keeping my basics correct, should I keep on attending his class. In fairness, he did manage to make quite some progress on my technique, but mostly on footwork. I still can't seem to get my hip twists and turns right no matter whose class I'm taking.
Ian and I had once talked about the studio's class schedules. It seems that we were both thinking the same thing, that they should've just kept the classes at a minimum considering not a lot of people are keen on taking weekday classes. Or at least just hold the classes during the weekends, with the exception of yoga and Zumba, which can probably still survive during mornings and weekdays. But of course, who in their right mind would attend a class (ballroom, no less) in the middle of the week during off-peak season? Of course, Ian mentioned that I was an exception, and he went on saying that I'm keeping this going so I can compete (and I just gave a small nervous laugh after he said that, haha).
In other news, now that it's September, our Bacolod leg of Children's Letters to God is a go! We only have 2 rehearsals here in Manila a week before we fly, then we have 3 shows in Bacolod! Woohoo! I can't wait to fly again and pig out on the local food. I had so much fun when I flew there with the cast last April.
Regarding other theater-related stuff, there was also the 9 Works Theatricals auditions last month. Helped them out all throughout the auditions, from initial cattle call auditions, to the dance callback auditions. It was great seeing a whole lot of friends in the biz during those days, though I was really keen on sitting still at certain places, like by the door in front of those auditionees who were about to face the panel. The energy feels different at that part of the room, hahaha. But even with that, it was a blast.
I also got to see a couple of plays the other weekend. First, I got a text from Claire on Friday, asking if I wanted to watch The Phantom of The Opera's dress tech that evening. Of course, I first had to check if I had dance class that very evening, but once it was confirmed that there was none, all systems were a go. Met with Claire at the Atlantis office, and once she was finished with her work, we flew to CCP (never mind that it was raining and we had to steal a cab from someone who was also waiting with us at the curb). We made it there with just a few minutes to spare.
The production was pretty awesome. Of course, like certain plays I had seen where I'd just sit back and enjoy the light-and-sound show of the musical's overture, that's what I had expected of this. When the sparks lit and the strobe lights came on as the chandelier rose, the audience applauded. I know it couldn't be helped, but I guess for me, the applause ruined the effect. Hahaha. Selfish, I know, and I apologize for that. I guess this is why I enjoy watching movies more when I'm alone. But anyway, I have to say that the production was superb. So they may not have achieved those rising candles during the iconic boat ride, but they sure made up for it (and yes, everyone also applauded when the stage floor was filled with dry ice that was spilling out into the orchestra pit, hahaha).
Next I caught TP's Walang Sugat the following evening. I was supposed to watch it with Nikki, but she suddenly had to flake out at the last minute (due to hyperacidity). I ended up watching it with the 9 Works gang (Santi, Anna, Robbie, Peachy, Jonjon, Angela, Jason, Sarah and Tita Jinggay), and we occupied an entire row in the middle of the theater.
Knowing that this is the second period play that Cris was in, I glad that her Julia was very distinct from her Maria Clara from last year's Noli Me Tangere. Julia was more determined and stubborn than the somewhat submissive Maria. I actually enjoyed the slices of wit scattered all throughout the sarswela, especially the Monica-Lucas tandem. Heck, I can still remember a televised production of the play back when I was in grade school, and I remember watching the Monica-Lucas duet, and the last scene until the curtain call.
Had dinner with the group, plus Jenny (and Noel catching up at the last minute) at Chicken Rice Shop. Talked about Phantom, Walang Sugat, possible behind the scenes playtime, and other stuff (one topic that I fell victim to, thanks to Jenny and Ring, hahaha).
Anyway.
This past Friday, I expected to just have a nice lunch with my office mates at Bistro Ravioli, as we initially planned. Then we found out that another one of our office mates, Queen, was celebrating her birthday with her teammates (Pink Sphinx), so she was coming in that day with food for her team. She brought in a lot of food in the pantry, so other people that weren't from her team (yes, I am one of them) were invited to join the spread. Aside from the Pinks, there were a couple of other TLs (Barbie and Nadine), the other QEs (Julie and Rob), Anna from the coders, Mara, Clark, Steve, Jing, and a bunch of others. Oh, Amber's palabok and pichi-pichi were always a surefire hit. So much for our plans to go to Bistro Ravioli. Even the other guys' plan to go to Bon Chon were foiled, as they were also there.
After thanking Queen, Tin B, Julie, Sam and I suddenly decided to get dessert (yes, the pichi pichi wasn't enough, haha). We first decided to go to Dairy Queen for Blizzards, but considering there wasn't a place to sit, we decided to walk to Greenbelt for J.Co donuts. Sam was a limiting factor, as she needed to go home at a certain time. Eventually, what with all our detours all over the mall, she had to say goodbye while we were still in the Glorietta area. By the time we reached Greenbelt 3, we changed our minds again at the last minute and settled on Red Mango. I just love their frozen yogurt. Hung out there until Tin had to leave, but Julie and I still stayed and waited for Faye, as she had just finished her workload/training for the day (as our new upcoming AA for when Allan resigns). More yogurt and chatting, until I received a call from Tin Yang (I just realized how many friends I have named Tin).
It was a spur-of-the-moment invite to watch Potted Potter that very afternoon. I didn't have much time to decide, as the show was to start at 5 in the afternoon, a half hour after the call. Tin had mentioned that it would most likely end at 7pm, and I had class at Big Shift at 8. I bid my goodbyes to Julie and Faye and ran for the walkway heading to Ayala, thinking that I should have enough time to run back to Glorietta after the show, as I had left my dancing shoes in my office locker. While I was walking past Greenbelt 4, I suddenly run into Camille. I quickly asked her if she wanted to come along with me, and after a couple of quick phone calls (me to Tin and her to Jonjon), we were both off to RCBC together.
Potted Potter is actually, yes, all 7 of the books told in 70 minutes, by Gary and Jesse. The show was chock full of hilarious antics, minimal set pieces, crazy props and quirky costumes. There were references to celebrities, books, movies and theater, and even threw in a bit of the local flavor. Best of all, the audience got to play a game of Quidditch! I even managed to get a hold of the ball during the 2nd half of the game, but I threw it in the wrong direction, hahaha. But I swear, my sides and cheeks ached from laughing during the entire show. It was such a blast.
After the show, I thanked Tin (via text) and Sam, then Camille and I quickly left. We were supposed to take a jeep back to Glorietta/Edsa, but seeing the long queue at the loading area, we decided to just walk the whole way instead. I still got ample time, so we ended up walking and talking the whole way. The bad part of walking was that I was met with another long line for a cab after I got my shoes from my locker. Thank goodness I still made it to Big Shift with time to spare.
I was glad not to be alone in class that evening, as the 2 Chinese girls (Hannah and the strictly Chinese-speaking Abby) were there as well. We tackled the chachacha, and because I was busy practicing the rumba (thanks to those rumba combinations), I got a bit disoriented in class. Of course, once the session was over, Ian let me stay for a couple of minutes to quickly give me a couple of combinations (this time for chachacha) before we had to leave the studio.
While I was writing this post, I started thinking if I should also crosspost my blog entries in Tumblr. What do you guys think?
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