blogging, premiers und andere "verzettelungen"

It´s been 11 days since my last blog-entry and I think this one is overdue.
We had our premiere of "Magisches Kaleidoskop" this saturday....finally- after a never ending week of stage rehearsals and endless tiredness...all the costumes were ready (last minute) and save the minor glitch where part of the scenery got caught in one of the soap- boxes for the bubbles in "6 Tänze" thus flipping it by 180° and emptying the whole thing over the dance floor (big mess) in one of the intervals, everything went smooth. Even the revolving stage did not behave like a diva for a change and actually did, as the technical crew told it to ((O; (big smile)
Here´s a link to the web-site of the house....and of our program:

http://www.staatstheater-wiesbaden.de/?page=programm_detail&submenu=w3&eventClusterId=722536&language=de_DE

Other than all the buzz at work going on I´ve been spending a lot of time thinking and reflecting. As far as my blogging is concerned I feel I always just write, what pops in to my head...and not in a very academic manner...I guess that blogging is meant to be quite casual anyhow, but I have started to take notes on what I want to babbel on about, so at least I have a little sense and structure in what I communicate.
I´ve also been reflecting a lot on my sense of being a dancer, working in a theatre, being on stage, etc.
I was involved in a serious car- crash just over a year ago, which by some miracle I survived. However I sustained some injuries, that are sometimes making dancing literally quite a pain in the neck. I suppose all dancers hit a point in which they are in pain and in which they realize, that they cannot go on existing as a dancer for ever either. We all know, that one day we need to move from our more active careers to something less demanding on our bodies.
Many thoughts going on in my head about this right now. As they will mushroom into something a little more concrete I will keep on sharing them.

I´m also reflecting on my BAPP planning. I still sit down at the end of the week...take a look at what I was able to produce and then make a plan for the following week...printing an iCal document that sits on my desk, reminding me on what I need to do.
That works quite well for me so far...I only feel I need to spend more time catching up and commenting on other people´s blogs, as I literally have no time of that. I´m thinking to somehow get some internet device going at work (like an iPad, netbook like thing), so that I am able to use a free hour between rehearsals for such tasks. Another thought has been to set aside two days of the week to do this (going in my iCal right now). Of course the whole romantic thought of sitting under the tree in the sunshine in front of the opera-huose, with a coffee at my right, doing some course work, seems very appealing....especially as winter will be knocking on our doors soon ((O;

I have been looking into a wonderful book "The Study Skills Handbook" by Stella Cottrell. It is a wonderful, light- hearted book written in a way that makes it easy to dip into a chapter that you need at a time. (at least the German version is so ((O;)
It´s a book written for "normal" students of course, but also work-based learners like us can get their fix from it too, especially as planning, time management, reading and other study skills are concerned.

It also gave me this wonderful idea, that one should keep index cards on what you have read or whichever book you dip in to, in order to be able to make quicker references, when it comes to writing a text.
I got this wonderful piece of advice from a student of sociology called "Zettelkasten" based on the ideas and experiences of the renown German sociologist Niklas Luhmann.
It basically is a program which will save your reading, thoughts and ideas. I´m still getting to know it, so for now I will only post the link and report on how it supports my studying.

http://zettelkasten.danielluedecke.de/en/index.php

And here the wikipedia on Niklas Luhmann....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niklas_Luhmann

Another thing I would like to share with you today is a reflection I have had on the whole process of learning.
I like to be a person, who goes into the cellar to study and practice my steps without anyone watching and  then finally, when I feel ready I will go on stage, or better said let people into my "finished" product.
I have come to realize that in life nothing is ever finished...nothing is ever permanent....and even if you hand in a final piece of work to lets say pass a semester or so, or have a really good performance that you will remember for ever....you will always live beyond that and draw and improve from that experience.
I am also starting to realize that letting people in to the development of my thoughts and ideas not only provokes an exchange of ideas and allows for improvement of the unfinished.
So therefore I have shared this blog with many of my friends and family...I am not going home to poor over books and texts every night, but I rather spend time cooking and exchanging many words with people after work...and I am really, really happy for any form of feedback I receive!!
As an example...The last part of this entry came about from a discussion I had with my mom the other night. She is here to watch the premiere (ever so the premiere-junky and the most supportive mom I could ever have dreamt of) and as we were catching up on our lives I was anxious to tell her all about BAPP and the preparations for the premiere and so on.
So spending time exchanging ideas with friends and family (people, who know you best) is actually also a very productive thing to do!!

I also felt last week, like I was being chocked by the amount of time we had to spend at work. I realize the importance of producing an almost perfect premiere (nothing is permanent, remember??) and that rehearsing everything to perfection is vital, but art also needs to breathe and it needs space to develop into the magical thing it is. Spending time on other things to refresh and recharge the batteries is vital in any form of production and at the end of the week I personally felt, like I was actually just auto-piloting the steps I had rehearsed to death and I was almost completely missing the freshness and buzz of the new and unknown.

I´m feeling a little afraid, that reflecting on my current existence is making me extremely critical towards what I´m doing...on the other hand all I say is "bring it on"!!...and make the most out of it!!

Cheers!!