Design For All.

For me, down time is one of the hardest times of the year yet also a time of year that I crave. As the dancers backstage begin to count down the number of shows left (although lets face it we start crossing them off the calendar once the season starts) I am left with this vacancy in my head all of a sudden. When I am used to waking up and standing at the barre at 11 am every day how does that void get filled but still nurtured in my two months off?!

It is always a struggle knowing the difference between enough rest and too much rest when you are forced to come back in top shape in the fall. As much as anyone wants to joke by saying they need the two months completely off, in reality a dancer notices a big difference after a week off. So how am I going to strike the balance between dedication and relaxation over the break? When you are used to being so dedicated to an art form, a sport, or just life in general it is shocking to your system to suddenly have the routine changed. I find that dancers get bored extremely easily the minute they have a chance to breathe. However great the feeling will be waking up on Sunday morning with no scheduled plans in sight there will be an equally great feeling of confusion and absence. Co-workers that you have seen every day for the past 5 months will vanish for months as freedom sets in. The city is like a door that has suddenly been unlocked but I don’t know where to turn! But what to do with that freedom?

As I was cleaning up my apartment today I found a piece of paper, an ad for a Target Razor Blade, with some writing scribbled on it. A piece of paper I thought was long lost was suddenly a reminder of goals I had set for myself on March 15th of this year (the date was on the paper….my brain’s not that good!). This piece of paper was titled “The Razor Plan” which is obviously the most creative name possible. It was an idea presented by my friend and I to each other about cutting (or shaving) the excess materials out of our lives in an effort to clear the path for artistic and personal growth. While the idea of this plan was instigated and is something I reflect about at various times it hasn’t really become a way of life yet and before the Met finishes I need to have a “Razor Plan” pow-wow to plant some new ideas in my head. Being 20 sometimes equals an unproductiveness plague and I am attempting to thwart that immediately, one razor at a time.