- Monday I spent the day in London with a friend from the Institute. We went in to see an evening of poetry inspired by The Faerie Queene, but before getting there found time enough to explore the National Gallery, feast on burritos at Chipotle, visit my old friend's at Ben's and take a lovely stroll along the Southbank, stopping in various bookstores. It was a lovely day, both in terms of weather and activities. Some pictures soon, maybe.
- Saturday I participated in a Renaissance dance workshop where we were taught the Queen's Allemande, the sundry ways to show off in a galliard and a dance from a masque. It was a lot of fun and vaguely exhausting...I understand the Renaissance preoccupation with calf muscles, now.
- Two-ish weeks ago I did a performance workshop with other Institute students led by a member of a well respected ensemble company. It was very similar to the workshop I did some months ago on movement though, at the end, we wound up staging opening scenes of Tempest.
- Been seeing theatre! All Shakespeare, because that's what I do. The Company's Romeo and Juliet (best stage version I've seen but still wildly disparate) and King Lear (some visually striking moments but a fairly hollow production) and a Russian language Tempest done by the company that led the aforementioned workshop (an interesting thought experiment that failed to be a production with any emotional connectivity, despite a powerful closing image).
- Got a pretty low grade on my last paper which has led to a vague academic paralysis coupled with intellectual insecurity. This has to stop, though, because I have another round of papers due. Never give up! Never surrender!
- We still play a lot of cards, eat a lot of tacos and watch a lot of movies in this town. I can't say I mind.
Friends visiting this weekend! Will try to do a better job keeping up to date....to be honest, I'm just really caught up in living life as opposed to writing about it. But. We'll see if I can't find a balance.
