Jacob's Pillow. Day One:History, Community, Mosquitos.

i was nervous about driving. i mean not driving a car but rather driving a car in the city. when i say that it was raining the day we left i mean that it was RAIN-ING. think monsoon. so that didn't help but it turned out to be a really simple route on the westside highway that didn't really leave me any city driving so phew to that. the drive was pretty....pretty long. i digress, i shall try and avoid terrible jokes. so once settled in hotel and unpacked and washed and fooded and slept, we went to the pillow(as most people call it). it's so beautiful. there aremany barn like structures nestled around and cabins that house the people there for the school. we're performing in the ted shawn theatre which is above in the picture. it's a huge oldbarn. so awesome. it smells wonderful. a really great combo of that dusty theatre smell, all lights and curtains and the barn smell: wood and sun. the backstage area is my favorite part. first of all, it's like a maze. not that it's huge or anything but it feels like a rabbit hole. a network of dressing rooms, small hallways, doors and little steps. so that was entertaining. opening a door and being somewhere entirely different than you thought you were going to be. second of all, there are millions and millions of signatures, notes, pictures and quotes written ALL over the walls, doors, bathroom stalls and ceilings. so many people. all the performers that have been there. so i spent a good amount of time wandering around finding people that i knew and admired that had come there before me(even found one of my best friends, jeff, and his unmistakable signature complete a little cartoony drawing of himself). it was astounding! as i was perusing i got an overwhelming feeling of community and an even stronger feeling of actually being apart of it. i belong to something. something other than my self or my family or friends. it was such a revelation to feel apart of something that was bigger than me. it made me happy.....then it made me nervous. all these people were here before me. dancing their little hearts out. and now i'm here. to dance my little heart out.what if i screw up? it would be like all those people would be watching!! this also was a new feeling because i don't get nervous before i perform. so with that in mind i went through the tech rehearsal. we had dinner outside by the pillow, the famous rock. the sky was so blue and the breeze was so gentle.great.calm.now for the show. i literally went over everything at least ten times before i went on...which again is something new for me. and then i danced. i danced in an old barn where so so so so many dancers had danced before me, and it was fantastic. well.....a little shaky but fantastic feeling none the less. the audience were so generous. so that's that. the first day here. i'm going to try and check out the archives either tomorrow or friday."The Archives at Jacob’s Pillow has approximately 6,000 films and videos from 1894 to present, 45,000 historic dance photos and negatives, 313,000 pages of unique printed materials, 27 trunks of costumes dating from 1915, and 2,000 books."

that.is.some.serious.history.