Boston Ballet : Spain Tour 2007

BOSTON BALLET
SPAIN TOUR 2007

Diary of the Tour
by Sarah Wroth, Boston Ballet corps de ballet member

August 22, 2007

Last day! Last show! Last day! Can you believe it?!? 6 weeks gone… 7 cities… new discoveries, passionate dancing and LOTS of free breakfasts. Tonight we have our last La Sylphide in Spain (of this tour) I have saved all my gift shopping of this tour for this city so I have a lot of things to accomplish and new purchased to make between now and the plane taking off on Friday.

It has rained everyday we have been in San Sebastian which leads us to wonder why royalty would pick such a soggy vaction spot. Lucky the theater is indoors so this will not be a show stopping rain. However, the rain in Spain does have a tendency to make the picturesque walkways and hotel foyers somewhat treacherous for dancer. We have a hard enough time just walking normally in a coordinated fashion let alone adding the element of rain-slicked stone. Lia Cirio had an incident involving her bottom and a hard stone walkway on the way home from dinner yesterday. I demonstrated my unique sidewalk skiing ability while speed walking yesterday morning. I was drinking in the statues and the stone walks lifting my eyes and my spirit when I hit a change in the stone surface and skier style- bent knee- sailed for about 4 feet before regaining body control. The best fall, by far of the tour, I am relating to you second hand. Katelyn Prominski was re-entering the hotel through the automatic motion sensor revolving door after a large group failed attempt at finding dinner. She stepped into the revolving cylinder not realizing the floor was an icy pond of linoleum and rainwater. With one step her limbs were flailing, groping the air for control and traction. She hit the floor with a yelp and the oblivious revolving door kept circling. She rolled and slid in a half circle every time trying to stand and then getting nudged and scooted by the door. Lorin Mathis, Heather Waymack and Heather McLernon were beside themselves but after seeing Katelyn laughing at her own predicament started tearing up with uncontrollable laughter. The icing on the cake, as Lorin tells the tale, is the fact that after the half revolution she scrambled to stand now on the hotel side of the door and got hit in the head by the door. An inquiry was made this morning to see if there was a security camera evidence of the scene but apparently only the Spanish police are allowed to laugh at those videos.

Heather Myers, my patient and dear roommate for the tour and I decide to escape the rain on Monday, our day off, and take a bus to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Bilbao is about an hour and 15 minutes of breathtaking scenery from San Sebastian. The museum is a must see architectural feat. It is like a living organism with a heart and curved limbs as well as thousands of titanium scales. It was such a treat to see. We also toured the Keifer exhibit. An artist I previously knew nothing about, Keifer is a former law student with a deep respect for 20th century history and a great artistic respect for lead on a grand scale. I highly recommend the trip if you are ever in the Bilbao vicinity and want an educational day trip.

I am going to go get ready for the day ahead. Hopefully the rebajas (sales) are plentiful and I have good luck finding gifts for loved ones. I can’t wait to see how much energy and spunk will come in the show tonight. A last Spanish hoorah of Sylphide glory!

Back to Tour Diary