Under Pressure

Happy Holidays Everyone!

This post is going to have to be short and sweet. I'm writing this from the hotel room in Batumi because this tour has sapped more time than I expected.

My Christmas was definitely the quietest and uneventful one ever. To be perfectly honest I hardly even noticed it.

We were originally meant to be performing Nutcracker on Christmas day. This would have actually been cool in a strange way. I would have the morning off and be performing a fun Christmasy production in the evening. Fate, however, couldn't resist the temptation to have a bit of fun. There had been rumblings of disquiet amongst the girls in the previous week as the stage now has no heating. We were scheduled a rehearsal on the stage on Christmas Eve and the girls refused to dance because it was too cold. I didn't think it was amazingly cold. I thought Batumi was colder, but I don't have to stand on side stage in next to nothing for half an hour. There where a few noisy meetings, but in the end the industrial action stood and the season was cancelled.

So on Christmas day, I did class at the normal time and we then started rehearsals for the Batumi gig. These ended up being four mind-numbing hours long. So instead of having a cool little Christmas, I ended up sharing a drink with Will, Lola (Jewish) and Jasha (Muslim) after one of the longest days I've had at work in ages. How un-Christmasy is that!!

To make things even more weird, the Christmas retail business is still going strong. The supermarket is still playing Christmas carols, the markets still selling assorted decorations and have just started selling fresh Christmas trees!

Even my Christmas parcel from home got lost. (True, it wasn't originally going to be Christmas package, but the timing was working out right and it was a piece of home.) Fortunately, it was found last week, twice. Once by the Georgian Post, and the next by my family back in Australia. Tornikie told me on Monday he had been contacted by the post office to say that they had found my parcel and it could be picked up when we were ready. Yesterday, I got an email from Father saying that they got a parcel delivered from Georgia. Yep, my parcel had gone all the way to Georgia, got lost, and then sent all the way back to Australia! So unless my suitcase has the unusual talent of self-cloning, I've no idea what's at the post office. I'll just have to find out when I get back to Tbilisi in January.

On that note, Happy New Year Everyone! I wish you all a wicked safe party and a prosperous New Year.

Next week, I'll tell you of my New Year in Batumi. (I've already got enough material to write a very satirical novel!)

Happy New Year Everyone!

Rodney Cuthbertson

DreamChaser

Merry Christmas!

Wow! Just looked at the date and realized that Christmas is just around the corner. Another year has slipped by and I hardly even noticed.

It doesn't feel much like Christmas to me at the moment. My Australian body links summer with Christmas, and we are now in the grip of a cold Northern Hemisphere winter. No, there isn't any snow in Tbilisi yet, but I'm told we will get that in January.

Another reason it doesn't feel like Christmas is our schedule next week. Not only am I working on the 25th, but we are doing a performance of Nutcracker! Just to be clear for those I haven't told, Georgia doesn't celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December, but the 7 of January. Strange I know, but that's the way it goes with the Russian Orthodox calendar.

There is still plenty of "Christmas Spirit" around though. Rustaveli Ave, is lit up with thousands of fairy lights, street sellers offer fire crackers and decorations, even the local supermarket is playing English Christmas carols. It's the old law; were theres a Christmas there's a buck to be made.

So my first Christmas away from home is probably going to be a quiet one. William and me will probably go to a bar after the show just to say "Merry Christmas" but that will be it. I know that sounds really depressing, but because my body clock is out of whack and I'm working, I probably won't miss it that much.

New Years, on the other hand, is promising to be a really big holiday. The company has been lined up to perform for Georgia's big New Year concert in Batumi!! This concert is going to be a big deal with the President of Georgia watching, Jose Kareras performing and of course a big party lined up afterwards.

We're staying at a different hotel this time so hopefully the hot water will be consistent. We are also performing outside which will probably be warmer than inside that dreadful theater. So fingers crossed it won't be as eventful as the last trip.

Other than that life here just blunders along. I finally was able to pin down Tornikie to go and pick up my parcel from the airport today. When we got there Georgia Post didn't have a record of it on their database. It's obviously in their storage somewhere, as they called Tornikie to tell him that it had arrived. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way its been miss-placed and/or miss-labeled. So now I have to wait another couple of days for one of their staff to "look for it."

That pretty much raps it up for this week. I'm sorry I don't have anything more festive to share with you. But, I will wish you all a very safe and merry Christmas with lots of over indulgence.

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us." Matthew 1:23

Merry Christmas Everyone,

Rodney

DreamChaser

Late again

The epic posting continues. There is some stuff that I do need to update you on.

To be perfectly honest, there has been a lot of stuff that we have had to deal with lately. Life in a foreign country is not all travel and fun. The tour to Batumi and Kutaisi was not exactly a bed of roses and life here also has its own problems.

• People openly staring at you in the street
• Modern utilities are unreliable or non-existent
• Lack of proper sports medicine and general medical care
  
• Classes being taught in Georgian/Russian
• Artistic staff not communicating
  
• Lack of actual work to do
  
• Not knowing what the hell's going on in general
  

A lot of this stems from just being in a different culture and having a language barrier. I don't have a problem for the most part and generally just ignore a whole heap of stuff. It gets a bit harder though when you are in a rehearsal and nobody tells you which part you are supposed to be learning or if you are performing.

The company is also a bit disorganised. Most companies I know work on a three year basis, meaning they have plans for what and where they will perform in the next three years. This company barely knows what or where they are performing in the next three months! As a result, I live in a constant state of conjecture and rumour.

The latest point is that the company is doing one show in Egypt in the middle of January. What are we performing, I don't know, who is going, I don't know, and if I ask someone from the artistic staff and they don't know!

Lately we have also not been doing much work here at all. We only get put into rehearsals mainly just to pass fill in our time. The next role I've been given to learn is a Nutcracker rat. Whoopeee :-P

Tornikie, who is our administrative assisstant, has not been helping with the situation lately. When we first arrived we thought that he was an alright guy, but now he has been proven to be inefficient, extremely unreliable and lacking basic people skills. He has been stuffing Sean and Oliver's flight home around for the last week which has not made him any friends. I also need a working visa for this country after three months and I assumed that it was something that the company administration took care of in the back office. But according to Will, it comes with a Georgian ID card that I don't have. I've now been in the country four and a half months and am probably working in the country illegally. Not happy Tornikie! I'm going to be in his ear like an old woman until I get visa out of him.

Oliver is also temporarily heading back to the UK, but I'm not yet at liberty to discuss his situation.

This means that as of tomorrow it's just Jasha, Lola, Will and myself.

As for myself, I'm happy enough and can put up with this for a while, visa problems asside. Growing up in a large family does give you a thick skin. The worst thing for me is the lack of work. I only have to do class and one rehearsal most day. At this stage, I'll finish my contract, but then I'm going to seriously evaluate my options.

That's enough winging for this week.

See you next time,

Rodney Cuthbertson
DreamChaser

Writing......

Hi Everyone,

Sorry this week's post a bit late. The tour has given me a ton of material to write up and it's taking longer than I expected. Hopefully I'll have it finished by tomorrow and I can assure you that it will be epic.

The photos are up up now though if you want get a sneak preview.

Speak soon,

Rodney Cuthbertson

The Epic Tour

I'm sorry for the delay in getting this post up. I've been sick for the last couple of days and frankly have had so much material to blog that I can't keep up.

I took heaps of photos throughout the week which can be viewed at the usual place or in the sidebar. There should also be a map of the tour below of this post (Blogger willing) that will shows the major locations and our approximate route.


View State Ballet Georgia Tour in a larger map


So, in the beginning. We left Tbilisi on Monday 30th Nov. It was a seven hour bus journey to Batumi that took us through the heart of Georgia. The interior of Georgia was rather bleak in the bland shade of grey that winter had coloured it with. Mostly it was small simple farms and villages with the occasional small city dotted along the way. Passing through the Likhi Mountains that divide the country into east and west provided some interesting scenery, but on the whole it was unremarkable.
The route that I've marked on the map is only a rough guess, but it will give you an idea. Interestingly, a good chunk of our route took us on the ancient silk road trade route. For not being mapped properly, the roads were surprising good. The only real hazard on the road was the Georgian drivers (including our driver) who overtake with out fear of God, law, man or bull-bar. I stopped watching after a while figuring that we were be bigger than at least 50% of the traffic coming the other way.

Photo highlights include



Stopping at a disused fuel station for a break.



Modern conveniences were a bit lacking here. A theme that was to be continued.

From Georgian Tour

Travelling through war scared Gori

We were very tired and travel sore by the time that we arrived at Batumi. As I've mentioned, road maps are scarce in Georgia, and even if you have a map, roads and streets are usually are not marked or numbered. This only leaves you the option that turns your average Western male into a babbling idiot; stopping and asking for directions. Georgian men though seem to enjoy it, with often several men joining a frank and open discussion on how to get a somewhere. Georgain tour company's are not above this and once we arrived in Batumi we spent another half hour driving around asking for directions to the hotel! After about three stops for directions and several long discussions we eventually found our hotel and thankfully disembarked.

The city of Batumi doubles as a resort where all the Georgians come in summer to holiday and as Georgia's main port which handles mostly oil, light manufacturing and agriculture. We were there during the off season and the town felt rather dead which was not added to by the constant strong burning smell coming from the oil refineries.

I was rooming with Oliver, Sean and Zura. We we were so tired from the journey that all we did was get some food, come back to the hotel, use internet and sleep.

On the bright side, our hotel was nice and had all of the modern conveniences, most of the time. The hot water was scarce for some reason which made some people very unhappy. The girls got quite cranky and ended up having a go at the hotel manager. The result was that we had to ration our showers by rooms.

The next morning, Tuesday 1 December, I got up and had the hotel breakfast which was one of the strangest breakfasts I've ever had. Hot dogs, cheese, bread, pasta, tomatoes, cucumber washed down with tea and coffee. It tasted more like a barbeque lunch than breakfast, but what the hell, it was free.

The theatre in Batumi was one of the worst theatres I've ever worked in. It was an ancient building that had holes in the plaster, a tiny stage, pokey dressing rooms (that the boys would persistently smoke in) and no heating whatsoever. It was often colder inside the building than outside!
But the worst of the worst was the toilets, or to give their affectionate Western name, squat pots. I hadn't expected these as they are more of a Eastern thing, making it a very unpleasant first experience. I have no objections with using the design, but these obviously hadn't been cleaned in a century, smelt like chemical warfare and were leaking!!! Sean Oliver and I found a nice little Turkish cafe across the street from the theatre that had a nice clean Western toilet and I timed my toilet stops accordingly. That cafe did good business while we were in town.

We did our run through that day without any major glitches. It was then that a rumour began to surface that contrary to planned casting and marketing Nina Ananiashvili would not be performing the second show, but if anyone asked us, we were to say that Nina was going to perform.

That evening Oliver and Sean got a bottle of Absinthe alcohol. A couple of members from the company joined them and they all had a good time. I wasn't in the mood for drinking that night so I spent most of my time cruising the internet and watching a movie downstairs. Bed time that night/morning was about 02:3o.

December 3rd. We were not required at the theatre until 16:00 so I was able to catch some extra zzz. I didn't do much that morning. Getting my head around what I needed to survive/stay warm that day was more than enough.

The performance when off relatively smoothly. The only problem was a track repeating on the mini-disc which left Yuri wandering on stage by himself for five minutes. The audience just sounded confused, but side stage everyone was splitting their guts with laughter. The joys of live entertainment.

December 4th: Pretty much a carbon copy of Dec 3rd. After breakfast I when for a walk and found some kangaroos in a small zoo! They very small roos, but it was very nice to see something that was a little bit of home.
This performance was the one that Nina was to perform in. Before the show she went on stage and apologised for not being able to perform due to an ankle injury. This was an outright lie, and everyone in the company knew it. The only reason the rumour mill could come up with is that she just didn't want to perform.
By now it had also been confirmed that instead of doing two performances in Kutaisi the performance that Nina was to perform in had been cancelled. One of a continuing series of events that question the company's management.

December 5th: I don't have much memory of this morning or the bus ride between Batumi and Kutaisi.Mainly due to being up too late the previous night talking packing and generally mucking
about. After a six hour bus ride and several stops for directions we made it to our hotel. Kutaisi was a surprising nice city. In ancient times it used to be the capitol of Geogia, I liked it because it just had a generally nice atmosphere. People didn't seem to in as much of a rush as they are in Tbilisi. We were all starving by the time we arrived so as soon as we were settled in our room we went and got a huge meal a the Pub (No joke that was the places name.) While we were there a gentleman who was eating at the adjoining table gave us some of his home made red wine. I don't usually like red wine, but this stuff though a bit strong was very nice. When I got back to the hotel the combination of good food, wine and long day took effect and I slept the blissful, dreamless sleep of a brick.

December 6th: The lack of modern conveniences continued the next morning, when the whole city lost power for about 10 hours. So now did we not only have no hot showers (again!) but also no internet, lighting or much else. I got lucky (or smart); because I had slept so well the previous night I rose relatively early (8am) and was able to grab a brief warm wash down. I joined people at breakfast (there was a generator in the kitchen) which again the strange picnic-lunch like menu, and went for a morning wander. The lack of power had not dulled the day's activities of Kutaisi and judging by the steady growl of innumerable generators across the town, this was a very common event.
After my fill of very cold morning air and photo snapping I headed back to the hotel. Sean, Oliver and Zura had just risen to the prospect of no hot water or internet and where not impressed. Fortunately for them the Georgian power gods restored the power at 11:00 and they were able drink their fill.
Kutaisi's theatre was a grand building that must have been quite culture and social hub in it's hay day. Now, it had a tired and depressed atmosphere with it's fading painting, worn out seating and dirty ceilings. The backstage facilities were not much better than Batumi, but at least this place had heating, and squat pots that were cleanish.
The day's class, brief run of the show and performance ran without anything of real note to report. Once back in the hotel, Sean and Oliver got a bottle of Malibu to celebrate and after packing I whiled away the evening playing computer games with Zura.

December 7th: We had to leave very suddenly the next morning as our departure time went from 11:30 to 11:00 to 10:30 in a matter of minutes. A problem of the language barrier is that all the information we get is word of mouth. That and nobody seems to know what's going at the best of times.
In light of the cancelled performance, the company had decided to go on a little excursion to the Gelati Monastery. This UNESCO listed site is extremely ancient. You can actually feel the age in the buildings. This site is a very important religious site to the Georgian people, and the whole company was as keen as mustard to get there. Anyway, if you what to read more you can view this Wikipedia article.
It was a further four hours back to Tbilisi, but the journey was uneventful smooth.

So ends the epic story of the Geogian tour. It's been one hell of an adventure and I'm sure that I won't forget it in a hurry.

There is still much more to tell you but this post is already epic in size so I'll finish up, and speak to you next week.

DreamChaser
Rodney Cuthbertson

Georgian Musings

We're off on tour for a week from Monday so I'm going to get this out of the way early as I don't know when I will get an internet connection again.

As I predicted, this week has been as placid at work as the last couple of weeks have been. The Gala came and went without anything of major note. In the end, my only job on the night was to walk on with a large group in random costumes that represent the various ballets in the repertoire. A personal best, the shortest role in my career so far.

This week hasn't been with out it's notable events though. As I briefly mentioned in my last post I went to a club called Two Sides with a group from the company. It was a good night out socialising and dancing. The only really remarkable thing was the way the girls moved through the vodka like it was water. They've obviously had a lot of practice. Anyway, pictures tell a better story of these events so follow the link.

I thought that I would try and blog about some of the more unusual things of Georgia this week. I was inspired by NZ bro and fellow blogger, Malcolm, who is currently travelling though South America to highlight some of the unique aspects of Georgian culture.

These are some things that I've had to change my perspective on.

Road rules are generally respected and enforced.
Here they drive like kids in go-karts. Loud on the horn and fast on the peddle. Seat belts are not generally worn and if you wear one you can inadvertently insult the driver's skill. (And don't use the pedestrian crossing if you want to live!)

Cats and dogs are pets.
There are so many stray and feral animals in the city that it's incredible. Haven't seen any rats yet though.

City pavements are easy to walk on.
Here they seem to be maintained (if at all) by the people who own the property. You really have watch your step. A couple of times I've nearly ended doing a face plant due to the rubble like conditions in places.

Having one family to a building.
Presuming that you are not in one of the many large apartment blogs around the city, houses here are squashed together around a communal courtyard or narrow lane.

Construction sites cannot be walked through.
Here you just wander through gravel, around bulldozers, under improvised ladders, and in one case notable beside a home-made fully-exposed welding transformer. If you don't want to take on these obstacles the roads are always fun to play on.

Being stared at as if I have two heads when I wear my Australian beanie.
Not the most common site in Georgia.

Vodka is drunken every evening you have a reason and even if you don't have a reason.
When you have a special occasion, you get out the cha cha. This is home-made vodka that is stronger than Popeye after eating spinach.

Travel definitely broadens the mind! But I've saved the best for last. Georgian song and dance is incredible. We had a very large group of children ranging in age from pre-school to late-teens putting on a show in the theatre today. These kids performed with a unison and discipline that was incredible in its own right. (Probably due to corrections being screamed out by teachers and then being shoved into line.) I've put a sample on from youtube on the blog that is similar to what the kids were performing.

That raps it up for me this week. I don't know how punctual next weeks post will be, but I will update you as soon I can.

Till next time,

Rodney Cuthbertson
DreamChaser

Still Waiting....

It’s been a bit of a dot week in Tbilisi. This Kylian season has left me at bit of a loose end. I was allocated the task of understudying William’s role, but there was never any real chance that I would be performing. Since the cast already knows the material, all I’ve really done is stand up the back of a short rehearsal, be ignored by everyone and try my best to look enthusiastic.

With rehearsals requiring minimal effort my only real challenge has been daily class. The classes are great, but inspiration, with such a chilled rehearsal schedule, is a bit hard to come by.
Fortunately the season finished today and next week we have a small Gala that celebrates the final performance in the theatre. The performance includes Don Quixote pas de deux Tarantella and Western Symphony. Once again I’m only slotted to understudy someone in Western Symphony. Hmmm, it appears that I will have another very quiet week coming up.

I’m going to have to find another outlet for my internal energiser bunny. These last couple of weeks have left me with way too much time on hands. Finding a way to spend it constructively is difficult in Tbilisi, so if you have any suggestions please let me know. At least the tour to the Black Sea is just around the corner. That will at least give us a change of scenery.

It hasn’t all been doom and boredom this week though. I was invited by Cola to watch a performance of Mozart’s Magic Flute performed by the local Conservatorium of Music. It was a very enjoyable performance. My first experience of true opera (I truly had no idea what was going on). There was some very good singing and I thoroughly enjoyed the new faces and new experience.


This week’s weird talking point comes from right in front of the theatre.

From Piano Problems

From Piano Problems

From Piano Problems

How? Who? Why? I have no idea. They make great pictures though.

Hopefully, I'll have something of note to write about.

Rodney Cuthbertson

P.S. As of late last night I do have something to write about. I went to a club with the company last night/early this morning. It was a good night and I got some nice pictures, but I'll leave that story till next week.

In Between Whiles

It's another week and another lari earned. Not a lot of news to report from this week's activities. From Romeo and Juliet and Giselle, we have had a complete change of pace and are presenting a Jiri Kylian triple bill on the 20, 21 and 22nd. The casting only really requires six boys for the entire show which doesn't leave me much to do. I'm only understudying a piece called Sechs Tanses which is a humorous set of dances set to Mozart. It's quite an amusing piece that has been fun to learn, but I think it very unlikely at this stage that they will need me to perform it. I wasn't able to find a video of Sechs Tanses, but did find this amusing video that is choreographed by Kylian and has a very similar theme.

Though I haven't been doing much in the afternoons, with my leg performing almost back at full strength I've been putting a lot of energy into classes and been really enjoying them. The classes here have a lot more Grand Allegro in them than I'm used to. But I really enjoy all the extra jumping and am hoping that all the extra work will add a bit of height to my jump.

The biggest news of this week is that the company will be taking Giselle on tour in two weeks. It's only a short tour that will last about a week and visit the Black Sea city of Batumi. Apparently we are also going to be visiting another city on the way but I don't know what it is yet. That's the way with so many things in this company. Because of the language barrier the only way we have of finding out what is going on is by word of mouth and everyone knows the Chinese Whispers effect.

I've just been interrupted by our land lady who has just taken us to our new wash room. This is very exciting as the old one used to be at the end of a hundred meter corridor on the second floor and had one tiny front-loader. This was becoming a bit of problem with six dancers living in the building generating enough washing to keep the tiny machine running around the clock. The new wash room is in the basement bunker. And when I say bunker, I mean two solid steal doors with two walls each over a foot thick! Noise reduction features aside the jewels of the room are the two massive industrial washing machines. Yippee!

That's all the big news for this week. I'm sorry that I didn't get the photos up last week but there only a couple which wasn't enough to make an album of. We are all going for a walk soon and I'll take my camera so I hope to have some new stuff up soon.

Till next week,

DreamChaser
Rodney Cuthbertson

Waiting....

I'm getting this done early this week, basically because we have a performance of Romeo and Juliet tonight and are not needed at the theatre until 5pm. The week has gone by in a bit of a blur as we have already done a performance of Giselle and Romeo and Juliet. It has actually been a rather unremarkable week. Once I got over the first performance of R&J it was all easy sailing, and because we don't start till late on show days, I've not had a lot to do this week.

I'm trying to be creative with the increasing amount of down time I have. Once I've done my stretching and Pilates, there isn't a great deal to do in this city for an English speaking lad once you've visited the major sites, tasted the local food and done some shopping. (I've bought a pot and a t-shirt so far this week) I can't even go to the movies as they are all in Russian and Georgian. I've been looking through my guide book which suggests visiting some places that are a little out of the city. I would like to see some greenery which is a bit lacking here (like most city centres) so I might consider mounting an expedition out there tomorrow.

On the other hand, this lack of activity has been good as I can report that my leg is very nearly completely better. I'm now back to jumping regularly and doing most of class full out. I'm still cautious when turning on the left leg, but it's definitely much better.

That's all I really have to share this week. I'll take some photos of R&J tonight and post them on the blog and Picasa.

Till next week,

DreamChaser
Rodney Cuthbertson

Romeo and Juliet, Again

Another week, another post and another ballet. That's the speed of things here at the moment. With Siberia to Moscow finished we are now preparing Romeo and Juliet for performances on the 4th and 8th and Giselle for the 6th.

The week started relatively slowly with only class and one short rehearsal for material that I already knew. On Thursday that was all changed when we had to learn the sword fights for the first act and practically the entire second act. When I last did this ballet with RNZB it took us two weeks to set and learn the choreography. I've had to learn virtually the same amount in about 4 hours of rehearsals. Brain squeeze! It's not as bad as it sounds. The stage blocking and mime stuff is just common sense and following the herd. I've got most of the stuff under control, with the exception of one silly fast ballone step. I know the step is, it's just so fast that I end up looking like I'm trying to do a Scottish jig backwards. I'll pull one of the guys aside to ensure that I've got it all sorted.

The sword fights were a heap fun to learn. They must be awesome to watch because we are armed with rapier swords made of steel that if sharp would be basically genuine weapons. I actually got taken out of it (I volunteered to be removed) because they didn't have enough costumes. I'm relieved because it's actually quite dangerous. There must be about 20 swords meter long swords on stage in a semi ordered chaos. And of course boys being boys with the toys they of course smack the life out of the swords. This week we have had two break on us. Nothing major, but it can result in a 6 inch piece of steal flying through the air in any given direction. Like a lot of things in Georgia, looks absolutely awesome, but sometimes the reality is a bit too strong.
I can now officially call myself a full member of the State Ballet of Georgia. Yes, I have my contract, have done several performances, know most of the dancers’ names and can speak more than ten words of Georgian (I can even count to ten in Georgian!), but you never feel like you’re really part of the group till you get the gear. So when I got the ‘official SBG track suit’ yesterday I had crossed the final hurdle. I’m now a representative of SBG.
In other news, I've just heard that tomorrow we have people coming from Japan (!!) to get some more information on the company. Best I get out the good dance gear for tomorrow.

I’m just rambling now so I’ll sign off and get ready for tomorrow.

See you next week,

Rodney Cuthbertson
DreamChaser

What a week this has been! There is so much to write about that I could fill pages with stuff.

I must begin by introducing you to all the new people living in our self styled mansion. Yasha from Khazacstan and Sean from Scotland have been here for a while now. Yasha has been hired as a soloist, is a great dancer and an all round top bloke. Sean is here on a two month trial contract. He has been working on cruise ships for the last year so is a bit out of touch with the ballet world, but hopes to make a home here. And this morning we had Layla, Yasha's girlfriend, arrive. She has come from Israel adding a whole new dimension to our very diverse group.

This week we had the climax of all our work for Siberia to Moscow, premiering the ballet last Thursday. As far as I can tell the the shows when well. At least I didn't have any major dramas with my small role as Officer. Kept the lines straight, didn't step on the ladies' dresses, mimed endlessly through the second act; all good stuff. I nearly got chucked into the first act Cossacks dance again when Igor gave his leg a light twist, but he was fine and was able to do the show. (Whew!)

The premiere was actually quite a bit deal with a whole bunch of dance critics and brass coming to Tbilisi and watching the performances. We had a couple of small functions and I ended up speaking (simply because I spoke fluent English) with people from England, France and Denmark! They all said that they had enjoyed the performances and their time in Tbilisi. Hopefully they will repeat those remarks in their respective publications.

The last show was on Sunday, and we were all glad to be free of the ballet for a while. (At least I was!) Just for the occasion I learnt to say, "Today I am happy because last performance," in Georgian. It's quite an effort, but least it gave me something to practice while waiting for the second act.

Oliver is quite good with people and loves parties so we ended up hosting a small get together at the mansion. It was quite a good night with good food (Oliver made some awesome pizzas), a bit of improvised dancing by everyone and all round good times.

There are of course photos. (I'm going to need another hard drive to hold them all soon) You can view them on the side bar of the blog or via this link.

That's all for this week. (Romeo and Juliet with sword fights next week!)

Rodney C.
DreamChaser

Rehearsals

Another busy week of work done here. Nothing too remarkable to write on this week so this will be short.
The premiere of Siberia to Moscow is on Thursday so we have been doing constant full runs of the ballet on stage and in costume. I'm only cast as an Officer in the second act which involves little more than being a piece of live scenery. It's a good show, but when you've had to stand and watch it on stage for days on end the novelty wears off.
I am second cast for the Cossack roles in the first act, and this week I've had to it twice, as two different people. The first time was actually quite scary. Will was doing the run on stage on Tuesday and while doing a jump with a couple of other boys, he had a minor dislocation in his shoulder. Fortunately it just went slightly out and then straight back in, but it was enough to give him a very sore arm for two days. So the next day I got the lucky job of doing his spot in what was our first full run on stage with costumes. AAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!! Stress factor was high the next morning because he does quite a bit, and remembering all the changes would be a challenge. They did give me a bit of a rehearsal before we went on stage and I was able to nail down the essentials, but there was a whole heap of acting and blocking stuff that I was just going to have to ad lib.
I went out on stage and gave it the best I could. It all passed in a big blur of music and costumes, but I got through it without any major gaffs. I was pleasantly pleased with myself. I'd justified that I was worth my pay check.
The next day I was also put into Cossack, but this time in Zhenia's role. This time it was easy because he does next to nothing. All I to do was find out who his partners where and the rest was easy.
Oliver and I when for a little walk the other night. It was meant to be a little walk, but we ended up climbing to the top of the mountain that has the television tower on it. Mountain being the key word there. I got some awesome pictures out of it and you can view them here.
Talk to you next week,

Rodney Cuthbertson
DreamChaser

Performance Fun

The highlight of this week has to be the performance of Don Quixote. Like Giselle, it was just a one off performance, but what a performance!

It still scares me tiny amount of preparation we get for a show. The way I'm used to working is that we rehearse a show intensely for weeks and then take it on tour. Here, they have a repertoire that they just call on, give the dances a few rehearsals to brush them up and away we go. No dress rehearsal, just one full run with the orchestra the day before performance. This is fine for the company as they have done the show many times. It just left me in the dark for a few in-between bits where till the day before performance I had no idea what I was doing or where I was supposed to be! Fortunately, it was just simple stage craft and all I really had to do was just follow the herd.

I didn't see my costume until the night of the performance. (I'm an average size so I fit into their costumes without any problems usually.) This white Spanish looking thing was strange enough, but was paired with the most ridiculous looking hat ever! The things I do for my art!

The shoes I ended up with were a bit too small for my broad feet. Uncomfortable, but bearable for one show. I did my first little Spanish dance and then went to the side and watched the grand pas de deux (which was exceptional.) I then went off stage briefly before coming on for the finale. Imagine my horror when I looked down and saw that both of my shoes had come undone! I managed to get one done up, but had to leave the other. I did the last dance terrified that something awful was going to happen. But fate was just poking fun at me that night. I managed to hold it together, didn't screw the choreography or lose my shoe.

Oliver wasn't so lucky. He had a small walk on part in the first act as a comic servant. One of the other dancers lost his hat on stage and Oliver being smart made a grab for it. But his feet weren't able to keep up with him and he did the biggest face plant! The joys of live theatre!

I found a video of the Georgian State Ballet performing Don Quixote on the web and it is the same production that I performed in last Wednesday. Lali was also performing Kitri llast Wednesday so it will give you a pretty good idea of what the show looks like. Here is the link if you are reading this via email. Hope you enjoy it.

See you next week.

DreamChaser
Rodney Cuthbertson

Comings and Goings

With all the writing on my under-performing leg last week, I never mentioned that we had an American dancer join us last week. This morning, he left to return to America. He's a good dancer (very American in style) but he was just too short for the company. He came from New York on a similar deal to me; do company class and see what Nina thinks. I don't think that the company realised just how short he was because it was obvious to every one that his height would limit him to soloist roles without any partnering. He is a member of a company in Portland, but wanted to do some auditioning so he is going to back to good prospects. I don't think that he was very keen on living in Tbilisi either. This place is pretty orthodox and conservative which was a bit of a shock to a guy who has lived in New York for most of his life.

Today there should be a guy arriving from Kazakhstan. Apparently he is quite good, and I'm guessing that he will be more adept to living in Tbilisi than the American.There is also probably another boy coming from Egypt soon. So we will have the countries of Australia, England, Kazakhstan, and Egypt represented in Georgian ballet company! Who would have thought! It'll make next year's proposed tour to Israel interesting.

Work has been busy this weeek. I think I'm going need a computer to keep track of all the stuff I'm learning. We have a single performance of Don Quixote on Wednesday which as far as I know I'm cast in. That one is mainly Spanish style character dancing. Rehearsals for Siberia to Moscow have been going full blast. I got chucked into replace a boy on Saturday which was interesting. I had been watching the rehearsals so I sort of knew what he did, but was still was relying on traffic signals from the girls a bit. On Sunday we did an intense six hour run of the ballet. I was still replacing the boy which included doing a mime scene that I had never seen before! Just a bit of pressure! In to that full mixture we've also been doing some rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet. By the time we got out of work yesterday my brain felt like cold porridge dripping out my ears.

My leg is slowly getting better. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for me. I'm still avoiding jumping and pirouettes, but hope to be able to start gradually loading it back in this week. Your continued prayers would be much appreciated.

Thanks for reading

DeamChaser

Charlie Brown Times

Enough procrastinating! I’ve been getting around to writing this post for the last two days. Inspiration has been a bit hard to come by this week.

My left calf (or lateral side of the soleus muscle for those who want to be technical) has been giving me trouble since I started dancing in Georgia. It feels fine to walk on, but putting my full body weight the single leg while plieing or on demi-point causes discomfort.

I’ve been trying to manage it, but it has only been getting gradually worse. I stopped doing big jumps as soon as we finished Giselle to try and give it a break. It hasn’t worked, and now I’m down to doing a light barre. The company’s sports masseuse (there is no physiotherapist on site) says that it is probably caused by a twisting in the leg due to an incorrect plie technique and told me to wear a toe spacer to correct the problem. I’ve been wearing one for over a week now, but haven’t seen a huge improvement.

I’ve also tried to find a physio or sports doctor, but haven’t had much luck. Not being able to speak or read the language fluently is a bit of a problem. Thanks to the other dancers, I was able to find a “Sports Injury Institute” on the edge of town that has a sign outside saying they have a physio. I’ll try to get out there this week when Tornike is free to come along and translate for me.

Till then, all I can really do is keep up the arnica, rest, ice and toe spacer. Fortunately the role of officer, which I’m currently playing in rehearsals for Siberia to Moscow, doesn’t involve much dancing. So as yet it isn’t affecting my ability to work. If I can get my nerve up, I would like to not take class for a couple of days. That might just give it enough of a break to settle the problem.

It is amusingly ironical though. I survive three years of gruelling training without any major issues. Then when I find my dream job, my leg spits the dummy and I can’t do it!

You took the words out of my mouth Charlie Brown! Any prayers on this one would be much appreciated. The sooner I get back on my game the better.

It hasn’t all been doom and gloom though. I got paid yesterday which was very encouraging. I’m starting to get a handle on the language now. I can count to ten now, which is not as easy as it sounds. We got the new costumes for Siberia to Moscow yesterday. The whole company had a heap of fun playing dress up while Frank Nina and the seamstress went through and sorted out details. I have to wear these huge side burns with my officer uniform. I’m the living image of Mr. Darcy when I have those fuzz balls on!

There are some new photos up at the usual place if you want to check them out and if you’re reading this by email, it would also be really cool if you could check out the blog. I’ve given it a major facelift and would like to know what you think. http://rodneygeorgez.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading,


DreamChaser

Moments

Every once and a while, this journey of life stops being a rough uncomfortable ride, and pauses to give you moments of pure delight and joy. Planning your wedding day, graduating from college, seeing your football club win a grand final, achieving an A grade or receiving your first real kiss. Moments when the oppressive clouds of doubt lift, and that quiet dream, that whisper of hope which you had kept guarded and hidden in your heart for so long is suddenly realised.

I had one of those special moments this week. As I got ready for company's season opening performance of Giselle, I realised that I had come full circle. The first time I ever saw ballet was the Australian Ballet performing Giselle in Brisbane. I had never seen anything like this before and I was completely blown away by the pure magic of what I saw. I was so inspired by what I saw, that I knew I had to at least try and be a part of such a beautifully magical world.

The journey to finding that world has taken nine years, lead me across four countries and asked more than I ever thought it would cost in courage, sacrifice and determination. To say that I've found that world of innocence and magic would also be naive. The reality is that dancing is a brutal industry; indiscriminately rejecting, crushing and humiliating the lives of some people who choose to chase the dream. This world of fairies, princesses, magic and happily ever after's only really exists in happy movies, for a couple of labour intensive hours on stage, and in the hearts of people bold enough to dream of a happier world.

Or at least that was what I had come to believe up until a couple of weeks ago. Suddenly, my inbox had the offer of a contract in it. In a week I was on a plane to a place I had never heard of. Then, incredibly, I was employed by a major professional ballet company! But that special moment didn't come until on Thursday night when I was waiting on stage for my debut performance as a full member of the State Ballet of Georgia. I suddenly realised I had finally achieved what I set out to do. I had wanted to be part of the theatre that had touched me so much all those years ago and here I was performing, the very same ballet with an internationally recognized company! I relished that performance; a truly magical moment.

I have conclusively proved (for myself more than anyone else) that if you are willing to pay the price, grind through the grunt work and have the courage to take your hope through the darkest lows – sometimes magic does really happen, and dreams do come true.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

DreamChaser

Rodney Cuthbertson

Week One

I've done it! I've made it through my first week of real work in Georgia. So much has happened this week that I could easily fill pages with my adventures.

I want to start by saying that the food here is incredible! They don't have a wide variety in their fresh produce supplies, but what they do with them defies description. On Sunday night Will took Oliver and me to a restaurant. It was some of the best food that I have ever had. Everything beautifully prepared and each dish having such a strong and unique blend of flavours. We all ate our fill and enjoyed some local lemonade. Back home, a meal of this size would come to quite a bit, but we got all this for about 22 GEL each! (Georgian Lari, roughly 15 AUD)

Due to our kitchen not yet being completed, I've been mainly eating take away salads from the local supermarket. It seems to be your average salad bar on first sight, but on closer investigation, the rich and complex flavours have to be tasted to be believed.

I did pay a price for suddenly eating all this rich food. On Monday, I had a very unhappy gut and a mild case of diarrhea. I wasn't the happiest camper for that day, but the next day I was fine and have had no problems since.

Our accommodation is in the same building as the Georgian Ballet School and the company's costume department. The room is clean and well equipped with television, DVD player, air-conditioning and a small fridge. Our floor has obviously just been renovated and turned into a floor of rooms the company is going to be use to house the international dancers. The renovation is so new that they (as I mentioned earlier) haven't finished the kitchen yet. Washing is awkward at the moment as we have to get someone outside of business hours, with a key to open the washing room.

Tornike has been great with helping us get settled. He is a really cool guy who speaks perfect English (as well as Georgian, Russian and German!) He gave us an orientation to the city as well as helping us with all the practical and bureaucratic stuff you need when you change country. We got our Georgian bank account set up with his help and he is coming with us tomorrow on a shopping trip. (I just realised, I now own four bank accounts in three different currencies on three different continents!)

The company has been very welcoming and friendly. I'm slowly starting to remember their names though simple are often very similar. Cola, Nina, Anna, Dato, and Zarro are just a couple of examples. Some of the dancers speak very good English, but most of them only speak Russian and Georgian. I can manage a few simple words in Georgian, but am still struggling to remember enough words to put a sentence together. As a result, rehearsals often end up being a linguistic soup of Russian, Georgian and English. (With a few charades just to make sure we understand each other.)

The standard of the dancing here is surprisingly high. A lot of the girls are extremely good. All of the dancers here come from the ballet school upstairs, but with compulsory military service plus a very conservative society, it isn't the best place for developing male ballet dancers. Hence, they are suffering from a loss of boys which is why they are starting to import from abroad.

We are currently rehearsing two ballets, Siberia to Moscow and Giselle. I'm just understudying Siberia to Moscow but we have been cast to do some chore work in Giselle which opens next week. It is only simple work, but I'm really enjoying it.

Arrrgh! There is so much more to say, but my word count is already way too high. I'll have to save it for next week. I've got some pictures on the side (or follow this link)

Feel free to leave any questions or comment below.

Dream on,

 

Rodney Cuthbertson

DreamChaser

I Have A Job!!!!!!!

This will probably be the shortest post every, but also one of the best. I am now employed by the State Ballet of Georgia!!!!

Oliver (the other English boy who was coming) and I did the class this morning and afterward we had a meeting with Nina. One of the living legends of the ballet world. Surprisingly, she is one of the loveliest ladies I have met. She said she couldn't offer us a Soloist contract at this stage, but where happy to have us as corps de ballet. I don't quite know where they got this idea of soloist from but corps de ballet more than I had dared to dream of. She went on to say that they need us for a whole heap of performances and we would be working very hard, which is fine by me. After telling us a couple of details about class, performances and tours (Japan in February, March next year), she said she would get Tornike to do up our contracts. I can hardly believe it. I have a whole year of dancing work ahead of me.

After the meeting we went straight into our first rehearsal, Giselle. We are going to be performing this in October. It is simple stuff, but good fun to do. Then we then went to a Don Quixote rehearsal where we just watched and learnt, and a quick rehearsal for Siberia to Moscow. As you can see we are going to be very busy.

Or accommodation is quite nice. It is a series of apartments that have just been renovated in the same building as the Georgian Ballet School. I'm told we will be getting an Internet connection in the next week or so which will make my communications a bit more regular.

They are expecting a number of other international dancers in the next couple of weeks. They are getting two American, a Spaniard and Egyptian guys, plus two Australian girls. They are all going to be staying at the same place.

Oh, I need to tell you some nuts and bolts stuff. Georgia is GMT +4 which is 6 hours behind Australian Eastern Standard. The company works from Tuesday to Sunday. I can't send texts or make calls from my phone yet, (receiving is still ok) but will be getting a new SIM card soon.

I could write ssssoooo much more, but I have to leave now to see if I can find some food.

Success as last,

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark11:24

DreamChaser
Rodney Cutbertson

Preparations

This week has been all preparations, logistics and getting organized for the audition of a life time. So there isn't much actual news to tell. I've been in steady communication with the State Ballet of Georgia and I will be flying out there on Friday the 4^th of September. Till then, there isn't a lot I can do except concentrate on getting myself as fit as possible for the big event.

Getting information about Tbilisi has been a bit tricky. I can't buy any of their currency here and Tbilisi doesn't even have its streets listed in Google Maps. I can get a good guide book for them here though, and I hope that it will cover all my basic needs.

Seeing that I'm going to be jumping the country a bit sooner than I expected, I've been taking in some of the sights that I hadn't seen. I've visited St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Tower of London and Buckingham Palace just to name a few. There is still so much more to see do and experience in London. I'm barely touching the surface by just stopping by and taking a couple of photos.

St. Paul's Cathedral was really something else. An ornate cavern the length and size of a football field, whose main dome still dominates the London skyline. They didn't allow photography inside the building so you will have to content yourself with the wikipedia photos. It is the sort of building that leaves you feeling very small as you take in its sheer size and intricate beauty. I walked in during their Evening Songs service and hearing the organ backed choir is an experience that I will never forget. The building's acoustics take the ethereal music and magnify it, till the stones themselves seem to be singing.

My photos of London's sights will tell a better story than my writing so follow this link to view the latest and greatest. I also took a short video of a busking violin duo who I thought were very good. Just to give you an idea of London's atmosphere. All this media is also available on the left hand side of my blog if that is how you are reading this post.

Next week, I will be writing from Tbilisi and reporting on my biggest opportunity yet. I would really love to have this job. It is all that I have ever wanted and so much more.

To infinity and beyond!

 

DreamChaser

Rodney Cuthbertson

Action Stations!

All hands on deck! Secure the hatches! Man the helm! I'm heading into my biggest adventure yet and it is going to take everything that I've got left. Suffice to say that this week has seen some major developments calling for drastic action.

The week started quietly enough. I did my trial shift at Ripley's museum and I felt that it went well. They wouldn't tell me if I got the job until Thursday which left me with a bit of a gap to fill. I spent most of it at the hostel to conserve ££'s, but towards the end of the week I was starting to have my doubts about the Ripley job. So to alleviate boredom and calm my mind a bit, I did some more job hunting in the local area and got a trial shift at a local restaurant. They fed me for the night's work which was pretty cool as it's a gourmet Italian restaurant. Definitely some of the best pizza I've ever had. The management seemed to like my work and they offered me a shift for the next evening.

I went home that night satisfied that I had at last found a form of employment in London. "Stage one complete," I was thinking, "Now I could start putting some more effort into looking for dancing work." Little did I know, that all my plans were about to get a nuclear bomb put under them. I checked my email when I got home to see if Ripley's had replied. They hadn't, but the State Ballet of Georgia (whom I had sent a video two weeks ago) had! The email offered me an expenses paid trip to Tbilisi to audition for the company!!!! All thought of Ripley's and restaurants was banished from my mind as I tried to take in the implications!

This really is my dream job. It's a big company (90 dancers) that has an incredible repertoire and tours internationally to Japan and the United States. The pay isn't that great if viewed in the major currencies, but the company pays your tax and accommodation. And it gets better, I am good friends with William Pratt who already works there and has offered to let me stay at his pad. So while Georgia may be at the other end of the earth, not the most stable nation and where everyone speaks a completely unique language, there is so much going for this job that I can't let it pass me by.

So the next few days were spent frantically trying to get some information on this Caucasus nation, and figuring out just if and how it was going to work. I replied to the email saying that I was interested and also gave them a phone call to discuss a couple of details. Because they have been in rehearsal for a week now they want me there as soon as possible. I shouldn't need a visa to do the audition but will obviously need one to get employment. As it stands at the moment I'm just waiting for them to get back to me with dates, which will probably happen tomorrow.

I told the restaurant that I had an offer from another source which fixed that problem. I did get the job at Ripley's, but haven't told them yet, just in case this falls through. (My first shift is tomorrow.) I've done a couple of classes so I'm fit and in shape. At this stage, I'm still planning to do the European Ballet audition on Wednesday, but expect that will change.

The only potential fly in the ointment here is that if don't get the job, I won't have enough resources to rebuild the foundation that I've made here. I always knew that coming to London was going to be a very high risk situation, and have been trying to keep the odds as short as possible. Now I'm going all in. The die is cast and red pennant raised. A case of kill or be killed. These sorts of opportunities don't come every day, and I would be a fool not to give it a try. I can sense the hand of God at work here. There is so much about this situation that is too convenient to be explained away by mere coincidence.

So onward we fly my friends, to whatever fair or foul destiny that awaits us in this grand adventure.

Till next time, wherever and whenever that may be,

DreamChaser

Rodney Cuthbertson

Busy London

It has been another busy week here in London town. Not a great deal to write about though, it has all been a lots of boring housework stuff.

I spent a couple of days this week spreading handing in my CV to various restaurants and cafes. I have seen results though, lining up a couple of trial shifts and interviews. A couple that I have followed through to dead ends, but I have high hopes for a paid trial shift that I have tomorrow. It's for "Ripley's Believe It or Not" London museum. It's basically a freak show that displays a selection of the world's curiosities. A five legged lamb, shrunken heads, a portrait made of stamps, a meteorite, a Mini covered in sequins and Marilyn Monroe's bikini are just some of the items on display. It is an American franchise business (I seem to be cursed with working for these people!) and so is a bit of a money grubbing scheme. However, they are offering to pay me £7.50 an hour which is very good money for London.

I have also signed up with an agency called Admiral Group that send people out to various locations on a temporary basis. I've heard that they are pretty easy to sign up to and while the pay isn't very good you can pick and choose your jobs and hours to a certain extent. A good ace to have up my sleeve.

In other news, I was looking at moving to a different hostel. It is closer to the city, has its own kitchen and is also cheaper. I went and had a look at it yesterday though and discovered, that is was rather rough, dirty and well used. The roughness I could live with, but the condition of the bathrooms was a bit more questionable. I did the maths on it and found that while it would save me about £10-£20 a week, my gut just really didn't like the idea of living there. I like the hostel I'm at the moment. It is very clean, tidily run, well maintained, in a nice area, and I now have a few friends here who are also long-terming here. Taking all things into account I would much rather just stay here.

I've had to drop back on classes this week because the ££'s have become a bit thin, but with work just around I'm sure that I'll be back in business very soon. My first audition is also just around the corner. A company called European Ballet have an audition on Wednesday week and reading between the lines a bit, I think they are needing boys. Anyway, it is something to look forward to.

That's all the main news for this week. I'm off to do some washing now :-) Like I said, a week of housework.

Talk to you next week,

Rodney Cuthbertson

http://rodneygeorgez.blogspot.com

The Real World

So I've survived my first week in big London town. Though the original surreal feeling has subsided, I still get a real buzz out of walking down the historically drenched streets of London.

Still, this week has been a bit more down to earth. The interview I had lined up went well, but unfortunately I didn't get the job so I'm back to square one; carpet bombing the internet with my resume. I've applied for so many jobs in the last couple of days that I probably wouldn't recognize the job description if I got a call back for one. One thing I'm slowly finding out is that electronic resumes are rather ineffective. I have a much better reaction if I can ring the place up and talk to a real person. I'm considering hitting the streets of London next week and just handing over my resume to anyone who will even look at it.

This week hasn't been all resumes and answering machines however. The classes I've done at Dance Works and Pineapple are stimulating, challenging and keep me in shape. I still think that avenue will have to be pursued for a lot longer before any sort of break through happens. There isn't a lot going around at the moment with everyone just starting to come off their summer holidays.

The one touristy thing I did this week was to join the packed National Gallery. True to the continuing London theme, it is packed full of astonishing pieces of art, by artists including Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Van Gogh and Rembrandt that take the mind to a whole new world. The building is almost as amazing as the creations on display. Huge halls supported by arches covered with delicately coloured details. Pillars of coloured marble stand strong and unmoveable at the doorways, as if on guard. As for the paintings, they range from intricate miniatures to massive canvases that stand over 15 meters tall. Unfortunately they don't allow photography so to get an idea of the items on display, follow this link to view the Wikipedia site.

So that's it for this week, I've added a couple of new photos to the Picasa site for your viewing pleasure. I've also added a map to the blog to give you an idea of where my photos have been taken. Just move it around and click on the pointers to see the photos.

Till next week,

Rodney Cuthbertson

www.rodneygeorgez.blogspot.com

London!

Travelling to a new city is always stimulating and exciting. But, I didn't know that the city of London would totally blow my mind!! This city is so off the wall awesome!!!!

Where do I begin to describe this modernly ancient city? How do you describe the experience of walking down the century old cobble stone streets of Covent Garden market. Or standing at the bottom of Big Ben and listening to the 150 year old bell ring out over the city. Or seeing the artefacts in the British Museum and realizing that our current understanding of the roots of human civilisation is all based on what I see here. Or walking through West End and not being able to remember the number of theatres that I have walked past. How about walking past the church where Samuel Johnson worked on the first popular English Dictionary and seeing the shrapnel damage in the building's side from the Second World War. Any one of these experiences alone would be mind blowing, but put them all together and mix in things like Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, West End Theatre and National Portrait Gallery to name a few of the sights that I've only glanced at, and you have an idea of just how mind-blowingly-insane and jaw-droppingly-incredible this city is!!!!!

Suffice to say that my first couple of days in London have been spent walking the streets to get a handle on the geography and figure out where everything is. This has also involved a lot of getting lost, making wrong turns and retracing my steps. It is rather easy to get lost in this dense city with an unending labyrinth of narrow streets, small lanes and tight places. And with the buildings forming a wall either side at least five levels high, it is easy to lose your sense of direction.

I've found Pineapple Studios and I did a class there the other day with a Roland Price. It was a good class with a VERY interesting group of dancers. Everyone from seasoned professionals and dedicated older folk to aspiring younger folk were there. On Saturday, I did a class at Danceworks with Paul Lewis. His class was more challenging than Roland's and seemed to have a larger group of professional classical dancers. At this stage I think that I will try to split my classes between the two.

Another of my accomplishments this week has been to get a book listing all the dance agents in London. It took me half a day of asking in book stores, but I finally got it and I'll be putting it to good use tomorrow.

On the job front, I have an interview with a company called NL Recruitment tomorrow. I called up about a job for an outward bound call centre that works for the larger charities. What makes this job attractive is the fact that the hours are evenings and weekends, which would leave my daytime open for doing classes.

I could write for hours but I'm sure that you're sick of reading now and I have to do some more job hunting. So I'll just rap up by saying that the hostel is great and the weather has been good.

I've also placed a heap of photos online at Picasa Web Albums since I seem to be having a bit of a technical problem with putting them in the blog. Check it out to see my first impressions of London.

If you have any questions or want send me a message feel free to leave me a comment or send me an email.

This is DreamChaser signing out.

Rodney Cuthbertson

 

Incheon Seoul, South Korea

Hello World,

Just a quick little update to let you know that I have arrived safely in Seoul. It was a long, but uneventful flight. I was lucky and was able to sleep a large chunk of it away. It seems that the Koreans have a taste for the finer things of life. All the magazines on board the plane were full of articles relating to fine arts and sophisticated fashion. Most of the magazines even had an article about ballet in them.

Incheon Airport is something else. For a start it is huge! Taxing up to the terminal, we must have gone past at least 30 jumbo jets just lined up on the tarmac. Inside is just as vast as the outside. Endless corridors that stretch out of sight, and every inch of it gleaming as if it had been built a month ago.

The climate here is very warm and humid and being in the middle of summer it makes sense.

The hotel, Hyatt Regency, they have put us up in is just a little bit posh. Bell boys speaking perfect English and wearing pin stripe suits are all around. See the photos for a further idea. The hotel is five minutes from the airport so unfortunately my exploring of Korean culture will be limited to the money grabbing tourist focused attractions downstairs. Once I've finished writing this and had a shower I'm going to explore further.

Speak to you again soon,

Rodney Cuthbertson

DreamChaser

Destination UK

Hello World,

It has been a while between posts, but now the time has come for me to start the first of a new series in the DreamChaser history.

It has become apparent over the last couple months that there is not enough dancing work in Brisbane to keep me in business. My hours of searching the internet were not producing any auditions, yet alone jobs. All my calls to local talent agents only turned up dodgy operators and places that would not return my phone calls. I tried to get into classes with Expressions Dance Theatre but was continually told that there was no room. I did manage to do a couple of classes with Queensland Ballet's Professional Year, but it was quite obvious that they are just using the paying Professional Year students to prop up the company. If I wanted to get into that company I would have to go through their system, which after completing three years of full time study has all the appeal of a kick in the face.

The only job that I did manage to get was working as an extra for the Paris Opera Ballet when they were performing La Bayadere in town. It was quite buzz to be in amongst one of the best ballet companies in the world. It was also one of the easiest jobs that I have ever done. I was one of eight "Rajah Carriers" who carried the Rajah onstage and then I had to help push the all famous elephant across the stage. Total stage time was all of about 30 seconds!! They still had to pay me for the minimum of 3 hours or each show which was very cool. Even cooler was being able to watch every show and see this fantastic company from up close and personal. I've posted a couple of pictures to give you an essence of what it was like.

So with nothing serious really happening in Brisbane, I have made the executive decision to move to London and try my luck there. I've got myself a two year working visa, meaning I can to any type of work in the UK for that time. The plan is that I will have to get some sort of bill paying job to support myself for the initial period. Once I have built this foundation I will be able to branch out a bit and, God willing, get dancing employment.

Another reason why I'm doing this trip is that I have grown very sick of living in between worlds in Brisbane. Having to live off half an income in a job that I didn't train for is not very rewarding. By pursuing this adventure, I will get a result that tells me whether it is time for me to stop trying to be a dancer. If I do get employment, the dream has come true. If it doesn't happen I will be able to look myself in the eye and say that I did my best.

So I hope you enjoy the stories of my adventures. Please feel free to leave a comment below.

Dream Chaser

Rodney Cuthbertson

The Bizarre, The Stupid and The Ridiculous!

Greetings Blog Readers,

It's been another exciting month in my little world. Exciting in the same way hunting for bombs in Iraq is exciting! It has been so eventful that I have had another edition of the bizarre the stupid and the ridiculous.

The bizarre was my Black Friday. Now I'm not superstitious. I will scoff at the black cat that strolls out in front of me, laugh as I walk under a ladder and happily sit in aisle 13 any bus, cinema or plane (especially if it is cheaper!) And so far, fickle Fate let this slide without it costing me a single hair on my head. However, last Friday the 13^th , he decided that it was time for payback, times 3!

The day started calmly enough. I arrived at work on time and in one piece, but Fate was just waiting around the corner. I felt the first impact of Black Friday when I realised that my rosters at Officeworks were in conflict with my dancing schedule. To this day I don't know how they got the information that I was available on Wednesday and Thursday night. I hate missing classes like that. Because every time I do it, my dream is that much closer to just vanishing, like my brother does at clean up time! I spoke to the manager in charge at the time and she said that she had got it off my original availability sheet and since the roster had already been completed I would have a better chance of fixing the global financial crisis that fixing the roster. Fate strike one!

I thought nothing of this little pass. Just another one of those little pot holes that you invariably find in Life's road.

Fate, on the other hand was just warming up. Half way through my day, the manager asked me if I would like to do a shift the following day. I tried to remember if I had anything on my usually vacant Saturday, but nothing came to me. This is where the Stupid comes in because I didn't check my diary. As I couldn't remember anything, like a lamb to the slaughter I accepted the shift. Fate rubbed his hands with devious glee. Half way through the Jazz class that night, someone said the word graduation in passing. Lights flashed and clicked as my brain made the connection. Graduation! My sister had her graduation ceremony for receiving her AMUS for music... on Saturday!! My stomach promptly did three back flips as it embarked on a journey to the centre of the earth.

I didn't enjoy the rest of class much. I was too busy trying to work out how I was going to get myself out of this one! After class, I desperately got in touch with work, praying that they would have not packed up for the night yet. I was lucky. Fate was out to tease me, not kill me; because that is was my sister would do if I didn't show up! The closing manager was very considerate and I was able to get out of the shift. Fate strike two!

I got home that night feeling more like I had spent the day in a shooting gallery than at Aspley. Superstitious Black Friday however had to work in threes to complete his little game. I flipped open my computer looking forward to taking on the evil Empire and de-stressing by blowing up some TIE fighters. The log on screen came up and I tried to type in my password. Nothing happened. I tried moving the mouse. The mouse remained. I franticly start stabbing at buttons. Still nothing. Getting a very suspect feeling in my gut now, I disconnect the power and try a reboot. This time I don't get even a squeak out of the machine. The power light came on, but everything else was looking like George Bush's presidency. The lights are on, but nobody is home and your stomach saying this is going to be really messed up. Fate strike three! Game to Black Friday!

It took me three weeks to recover from that day. The rostering problem I had to just work through, but the computer was much more complicated. In fact it was Ridiculous! I rang Dell who were very helpful, despite being in the Philippines. They quickly determined that they needed to replace the computer's motherboard and they said that a fix-it man would be visiting soon. Only problem was that they were wrong! (Alright Malcolm, you've already said Macs are superior to PC's, no need to rub it in!) Over the next three weeks I had four visits from Dell technicians who between them replaced the motherboard (twice), one RAM chip, the fan and the multimedia buttons. The fan and multimedia buttons were broken by one technician being too rough. Ironically, the original problem was in the stick of RAM which I could have replaced myself in about 5 minutes!

That's the latest in my non-adventures in Brisbane. I hope that I've kept you entertained and feel free to post a comment if you think my writing is awesome.

Thanks for reading ;-)

DreamChaser

P.S Just checked the calendar and we have two more Black Fridays this year! HELP!!!

Rodney is Not Going to New York!?

Hello Everyone,

This blog post has been delayed a bit due to some technical issues that I have been having. My computer was attacked by a severe case of Friday the 13th, but more on that later.

You're all probably wondering what's with the 'not going to NY' thing. Why would I spend my valuable time telling you that I'm not going to NY. That's nothing special. The chances are good that you, my beloved reader, are also not going to be swinging though downtown Manhattan anytime soon. But in the last three weeks I had an opportunity open up to make this journey to the other side of the world.
It all began suddenly with a phone call. I was about to start my shift at Officeworks when my phone began its merry jingle. When I answered, I hear an excited Mrs Donaldson (ballet teacher and mentor extraordinaire) tell me something about Paul Boyd (guest teacher) calling her and needing to get in contact with me about an opportunity to perform in New York. Eagerly, I took the number that Mrs D gave me and called Paul. I was only able to have a brief chat with Paul as he had to go back to teaching, but I established that Tanya Pearson, whom Paul was teaching for, was sending a group of dancers to a competition in NY and they had to leave out a boy who was causing problems with his attitude. Paul had put forward my name, which left the ball in my court. I would have spend three weeks in Sydney learning a pas de deux before taking it to this competition in New York!
As we were short on time, I told Paul that I was definitely interested, but would have to do some number crunching and call him the next day with a final decision.
At this point I was fairly jumping round the Officeworks tea room! This sounded as if it had the potential to make all my dancing dreams come true. What an opportunity to get out of Redcliffe and possibly into a company, in New York!!
However, after a few moments of seeing visions of success and glory I had brought my self down to earth with a few sobering questions: what was this competition? who would I be performing with? and how on earth was I going to be able to afford this? Paul said that Tanya Pearson was going to provide board and classes, but the living and flying would be in my hands which presented a problem.
After finishing my shift at Officeworks, I went to my nightly ballet class and was able to discuss it at length with Mrs D and my class mates. Mrs D was starting to be a bit dubious about it as there was no guarantee that I would be able to get a job out of it. No doubt that it was a once in a life time opportunity, but there were a few too many unknowns. Questions like: who would be watching? would I have/be able to do other classes? would this involve living for a week in NY? would I be able to travel further if required? were all needing solid answers.
After doing my somewhat distracted class that evening. I went home to get on the Internet and see if I could answer a few of these questions. Unfortunately, the more I looked at it the more it looked as if this was not going to work out. I didn't really have enough dollars on hand to live for a month without solid income and afford a trip around the world. I also discovered that I would be performing in the Youth America Grand Prix and no one could give me a definite answer as to whether or not I was too old to perform.
By the time I turned off my PC late that night, I had come to the conclusion that I could either go to NY and be risking all that I had on this one roll of the dice. Alternatively I could wait, build up some cash capital and do the Europe trip where I would have a much better idea of what I would be getting into, be more in control of what was happening and would be much better prepared physically and mentally.
So when I called Paul the next morning, I told him that I as much as I would have loved to come, it was just not physically possible or practically sensible at this time. I thanked him profusely for thinking of me and hoped that I would be able to be more helpful in the future.
Now you know why I'm not going to New York. It was an exciting twelve hours though, running around trying to make a decision that could change my life for ever.

That raps it up for post, but I will write further of my (non-)adventures soon. Included in the next post will be the stories of my black Friday, Mother's work ethic and the junk mail flood.

Thanks for reading :-)

DreamChaser

Feburary in Review

Hello World,

There has been a lapse in happenings of note in my little sphere which explains the gap between blog posts. But as I have a couple of hours spare and don't want to spend it drifting through job websites, I decided that it was time to bring you up to date on my latest non-adventures.

Life has settled into a semi-regular pattern and I can't escape the subtle feeling that I have been benched. I'm stuck marking time and life is just running away leaving me behind. The family junk mail business (which has more sucking power than a black hole) and painting the 5-year-old house renovations continue to be my primary sources of income. There is a large degree of frustration in doing all that training to get a ballet body and now all I'm using it for is brainless manual labour, I'm grateful that the work is covering the bills, but I can't say that I'm passionate about it. The painting I don't mind, but the family business grows somewhat dull after a while. Working monotonous hot hours sorting tons (literally) of advertising material, and then spending hours in a car checking that the walkers have delivered it correctly. All just so some housewife can look at the stuff for 30 seconds between the mailbox and the bin!

I've been taking classes most days at my pre-New Zealand School of Dance studio, Desley Donaldson Ballet Academy. This is often the highlight of a dull day. Jane Devine and Paul Boyd are regular guest teachers there which makes it really beneficial.
The most exciting event of this month has to be Jane's teaching. She is teaching me how to dance without holding excess tension in my body. I've had this problem ever since I started ballet and have never know how to fix it. But Jane knows how to approach the problem and to communicate what needs to change. The results are revolutionising the way I approach my work. Instead of adding effort and energy to make a movement happen, I'm simply allowing the movement to happen. Often I don't know how, but it just happens.

So what's the escape plan out of this black hole? Despite my continual carpet bombing of my resume to every major retail outlet within 30 minutes drive, I've only had one interview....
Well speak of the devil! The phone just rang and I now have a job! Hoorah! Escape from the black hole! FREEDOM from this house!!! My next great career move will be working at Officeworks at Aspley. It's obviously not going to be an amazing job working on the floor of a department store. However, the pay is above average, I'll be able to see some different faces and the store appears tidy and the people there all seem to be friendly and human enough. The extra cash flow which is needed to start some serious saving will also be much appreciated. I'm actually looking forward to my first day which is on Wednesday.

So though Feburary has been a rather dull month it hasn't been without its benefits and has shown a late rise. The foundations are now laid and it will be all upward from here, I hope.

Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a question or comment.

Dream On!

DreamChaser

Audition for Disneyland Toyko

Hello Everyone,

I’m putting up a quick post just to let you know what happened at the Tokyo Disneyland audition.

It was quite a cluttered audition with about 90 people jammed into one studio. You had to be careful or you would end up with bad case of jazz-shoe-up-nose. We started with a basic classical exercise which was performed in groups of four. It took them quite a while to work through the whole group. After this, they did a cut and there were about 30 of us left. We carried on and learnt a short jazz routine which was also fairly simple. They gave you stacks of time to learn the choreography which made it all rather easy. We performed the routine in the same small groups. After which, they did another cut and this is where I stepped out.

I was just about to leave, when the panel called me aside. They told me that I had done a great job that day and was cut only due to being inappropriate for their current needs. They also said that they would like to see me at the next audition which is going to be in six months time. That was a nice positive to take away from the experience.

I have to say that this has to be one of the nicest auditions I have done. The panel were all smiling friendly and willing to communicate. A dramatic change to the frowns, and sullen silent gargoyles that inhabit most ballet auditions.

So I’m not going to be slipping off to Japan any time soon. As for what’s next, once again I have no idea. I’m just going to have to take it as it comes. When it does happen, (whatever “it” may be) I’ll be sure to blog it. So stay tuned for the next episode.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to post a comment below.

DreamChaser