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