Advertisement
Published: June 18th 2010
Edit Blog Post
Sorry it’s been a few days since I have posted anything. But they have been busy fun filled days, so lots to report. We had ballet on Wednesday morning and she really put us through the ringer. She had to change one part of the Russian dance we are learning which was supposed to have the Charleston step in it because a lot of us were having a hard time getting in. I was probably the worst culprit. We were supposed to have a seminar with Anatoly but he had to reschedule for the next day so we got in a tour of the backstage of MXAT, which was pretty impressive. They have a state of the art space. I was disappointed though that we didn’t get to see any of the actor’s areas, which I guess can be understood since they are in season and I doubt they want a bunch of foreigners running through their personal space. In acting we did an Etude that was too short where the previous day’s was too long. We are having a hard time striking a balance with these Chekhov Etudes.
That night we went to a movement piece of the third
year MXAT students. The undergrads had gone to a similar performance of the 4th years which was apparently just amazing and so we were pretty excited to see this. It was actually really great. For not being a dance program they did an amazing job. An hour and a half of straight dancing and story telling with their bodies, it was pretty incredible. On the way home walked home a really long way and took lots of pictures of cool areas. Found this really cool 50’s style diner that is open 24 hours and will have to revisit. They have a mini big boy statue in the entrance; it just looks like a lot of fun. They have a clock with Moscow time next to a clock with Hollywood time. Too funny!
Thursday we had film history class and watched this really amazing film called The Cranes are Flying shot in 1957, and it was utterly amazing. I want to share this film with as many people as I can because it is such beautiful film. I have no idea how hard or easy it will be to get a hold of, but I will definitely be looking for when
it when I return to the states. Our hour with Anatoly was really great, he has such great stories to tell about the history of the MXAT and Stanislavski. He talked a lot about his books and how we shouldn’t treat them like the end all and be all, they are not the bibles on acting, they are merely a tool.
That night JT our professor tried to get us tickets to another student production as the rest of the group was preparing to head to St. Petersburg (5 of us plus JT stayed back) but they didn’t happen. So I decided to go explore. I went to a couple of different neighborhoods. I found this really beautiful Monastery. There were tons of people there with several lines of people trying to get in and pray. The grounds around were just lovely. Apparently after I had taken 5-6 pictures I was yelled at by a security guard that photos were not allowed. That's fine, I was just leaving anyway. :o) Found another cool market that was in the guide book. It was closed when I got there but some outside vendors were still there and I bought some of
the most delicious cherries I have ever had. There was also a huge mall at the metro station where I came out. I wanted to explore more of that neighborhood but it started to rain and I didn’t bring my umbrella so I headed back to the dorm.
Today we agreed to meet at 10 am to head out and explore. We hit St. Basil’s Cathedral at Red Square which is pretty impressive. We wandered over the the Alexander Gardens where the tomb of the Unknown Soldier is. I had been there before but apparently missed all these cool fountains that are have statues of scenes from all these Russian Fairy Tales. It was just a short little self tour though and from there we headed over to the Arabat, which is a trendy street with a lot of artists, shops and restaurants. We were having trouble finding a way across this really wide street which I took a picture of and the group wanted to back track, but I suggested a particular loop that would probably be just as fast or faster, but no one thought it was a good idea. So they went their way and I
went mine with a plan to meet at the start of Arabat Street and see who was faster. I got there about ten minutes faster than they did. They all accused me of running just so I could beat them. Not true!
We had lunch first then spent about an hour exploring the Arabat which was pretty cool. The artists that ran down the middle of the street were amazing. Most of them were there to sale their talent of painting you and they had amazing examples of their work. It would have been fun to do if I would have had anywhere to pack it. Oh well! We then hopped the metro to Gorky Park. Most of the park is an amusement park, but I wanted to explore the forest that is at the other end. We split up and I headed of in that direction. I have lots of great pictures of the park so I hope they aren’t too many, but I will be sharing a lot of them, it was just really cool and pretty there.
The weather by the way for the whole day couldn’t have been more perfect: sunny and cool. We
were supposed to meet at 4:30 to walk to the north side of Gorky Park where there is a sculpture park but I missed the meeting time and so just planned to meet the group at the theatre where we would be seeing a show that night. I explored this other neighborhood on the way and then made my way to the theatre. I got there about 20 minutes before the rest of the group. Come to find out we were at the wrong theatre. The show, Uncle Vanya, was being produced by this theatre we were at, but it was being performed at the MXAT. So we had to hustle to the metro and we arrived right at 7 pm when the show was supposed to start, but they typically start late there, as there are lots of people to seat so we were just fine. The show was really great. It was fun to see the show since that is the one we are focusing on in our acting class, and so not only have I read it a couple of times but we have talked a lot about it and done lots of Etudes based on it.
Once again the theatre in Russia did not disappoint. We have a pretty full day planned for tomorrow and it’s late, so I had better hit the hay. Enjoy the pictures, because there are so many it spans to pages so make sure you scroll down and also go to page 2.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0346s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Anton
non-member comment
About 'The Cranes are Flying'
Even if you're not able to find a hard copy of it, the film is easy to find on trackers (at least russian ones, tell me if you need help with that) . BTW, I like your notes on russian trip. The view from the side is really refreshing.