Today we had our last voice class with Kevin and our last movement class with Claudia. This was just a taste of what it will be like to say goodbye on December 8th. We've been in both classes since day one. Claudia and Kevin have been like our parents away from home (well actually, we lovingly call Monica our mom and Claudia the hot babysitter). This past week we each had to write a sort of reflection paper which I took as an opportunity to track my progress in my classes. I've had moments of breakthrough and moments of breakdown in both voice and movement, but I'm quite proud of myself because I've started each day wanting to get better.
I can say right now, hopefully without sounding too mushy before it's due, that I have accomplished things here that I never thought I'd be able to do. I've always had reservations about dance and movement, but Claudia is such a wonderful mentor that I have a completely new way of thinking about moving my body. I've become far more
aware of what my body is doing and is capable of. I can now do two types of head stands, walk into a backwards tumble, flip someone over my back, do a double person cartwheel, and stand on someone's shoulders... among many many other little things here and there. In voice, I've struggled with finding a bridge between my 'singing voice' and my 'stage voice'. With Kevin, I've begun to discover ways I can make incredible, strange and diverse noises without damaging my voice. On top of that, I've become much more willing to explore my vocal range. As I wrote in my paper,
the pallet of movement goes hand in hand with the pallet of the voice.Another great thing about ADA is the atmosphere. Everyone here loves their art and I have been truly inspired by them. In all honesty, sometimes I feel I'm trying to make art and music for the wrong reasons. But I have felt more creative here than I have in a while. I've now almost completed my first original song. I can now play a few songs on the guitar. These are a couple goals I've had for a long time, but for one reason or another, I couldn't reach them.
Well, enough with the sappy stuff. I still have a couple more weeks here. And you know, I'll surely be sad about leaving, but on the other hand I've got a lot of tools and ideas now that I look forward to doing more in the future.
More pictures from the Villa, taken on various days.
