My First Week on Internship

My first day at Monkeyhouse started off not at all how I expected. Nicole asked me to generate a list of things I would need to budget if I were to hold a dance performance. Of course I came up with the typical list of venue, lighting, sound, costumes, etc; Where Nicole then had me take that list and generate all of the fine details about each bullet point. Let’s just say that the list doubled in size pretty quickly! From there I generated questions that I could ask if I were to go and try to rent a space. Upon learning that I would be going into Boston on Friday to do so, this simple exercise fueled my excitement.

Throughout the week, Karen and Nicole had me work on several different movement phrases. Starting on day 1, I worked with Emily Dickinson’s poem, “One Does Not Need a Chamber to be Haunted.” I took one line from the poem, and created a movement phrase, using letters from the chosen line as inspiration. For the next day, I was asked to record that phrase in two different settings, and bring in a poem that I enjoyed. I brought in a slam poem written by Sabrina Benaim called “Explaining My Depression to My Mother.” I have watched this poem on Youtube multiple times, and on several occasions. I wanted to use this poem because of truthful and harsh reality it has when explaining what it is like to suffer from depression. Karen had me create multiple sets of movement phrases, choosing one word from the poem that is quite repetitive; mom. I worked with different paces, size, planes, and instrumentation to create a set of phrases that I can say I am quite proud of.
My last day of the week was quite an experience. I traveled to South Station by myself to meet Karen and Nicole to go look at venues for rehearsal and performance space. I don’t think it would have been the full South Station experience if a creepy old man had not come over to talk to me, but don’t worry; I certainly got the full experience! Nicole and I visited three locations, all of which were very different from each other. The Dance Complex was wide, open space, with a comforting atmosphere, and looked like your typical performance location. The space where the performances were held was a large "black box." Nothing to grab your attention away from the dancers performing. Although there were a lot of stairs, (!) I thoroughly enjoyed viewing the building, and getting a sneak peek at the ballet class. Green Street Studios was quite the opposite of the Dance Complex. Quite the "hole in the wall" location, Green Street brought an entirely different vibe to the dance world. The space was occupied so it was hard to get a feel of the size of the studios. I can respectively say that Green Street would be a wonderful rehearsal space, as the location feels built for that solely. I do have to say that the Multicultural Art Center definitely caught my attention. Although on the pricier side, I do see why it is a popular venue to hold weddings, with its beautiful ceilings, and uplifting sense of surrounding. I do feel as if this location is more than appropriate for any dance rehearsal/production. The art galleries were just the cherry on top!