Arrived back from New York City on Tuesday afternoon and I am on a bit of a downer as we had such and AMAZING trip!! New York is soo exciting and full of opportunities we got to experiences a variety of classes including; hip-hop, contemporary, gaga, lyrical/contemporary jazz, vogueing and runway as well as a private workshop with contemporary choreographer Peter Kyle. Peter Kyle was great and he was really keen to keep up a good workng relationship between the PASS dancers and himself. We visited many leading dance centres such as Broadway Dance Centre, Peridance Centre, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and we also visited the Juilard Centre for a cheeky photograph outside the building. My favourite class was at Peridance Centre with Kristin Sudekis and it was called Contemporary Jazz. I loved her style of moving as it was lyrically inspired and you had to concentrate on your performance which was good to get into the routine emotionally. Throughout the class Kristin dimmed the lights and this really helped everyone's mood and spirit whilst performing the routine as you felt less exposed with the lights dimmed. The standard of dancing in New York was phenomenal and I must admit to begin with I felt a bit intimidated but once I got into each class I became more and more confident. Another of my favourite classes was Vogueing with Benny Ninja, his style was so intricate and you just had to go for it. I may not have been of Top Model standard but I still had so much fun strutting my stuff as if on a runway! 
Now for sight seeing, we would have loved a bit more time to see more but we had so much other things to cram in! Some of us visited the World Trade Centre memorial museum and received a tour with some of the people who had been directly effected by the attacks. This was a really amazing experience as it made you truly think about what happened that day. We also went up the Empire State Building which offered so many great views of the City. We saw other sights such as The New York City Public Library, Central Park, The Lincoln Centre of Performing Arts, The Trump Tower, Bloomingdales, Grand Central Station and lots more shops! Our hotel was really near Times Square so we were close to all the hotspots, unfortunately it was too expensive to go and see a musical as I really wanted to go and see The Adams Family on Broadway but hopefully will get to see that another time!
Catriona and I were lucky enough to get to see Alvin Ailey's sister company, Ailey2 performing in the Ailey Theatre for only $10! They show was absolutely amazing with a variety of modern and classical dance pieces, I must say I do prefer The Alvin Ailey company but Ailey2's cast was full of young vibrant dancers that gave the show a modern feel. The show made me laugh, cry and I was so inspired by their performance! Seeing the performance and taking the variety of classes that we did pushed me to work even harder and hopefully one day head back to the Big Apple and train with such aspiring professionals.
Well after a great trip away, it's back to reality! Now to hand in our final written work and then we will be into show work.... really wish I could have stayed in New York... maybe one day! :)
 |
| The famous Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre |
