Boston Ballet : Spain Tour 2007

BOSTON BALLET
SPAIN TOUR 2007

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

August 5 , 2007

There is a long standing Wroth family tradition that it storms every time we drive to the beach in the summer. Spain was kind enough to keep me feeling right at home on the trip from Madrid to Santander. In much the Spanish way, the rain is casual. Light droplets fall from thin twists of lightening and muffled thunder. Not a great uproar- a siesta style rain.

The bus is pretty quiet. I am beginning to see a pattern that travel days are spent mentally recovering from a week of performing and physically recovering from the “last night” partying in any given city.

I am pretty sure yesterday was the longest (or one of the longest) days of my life so far. I woke up, good start, and went to the free breakfast next door at the Hotel Husa Princesa. Heather Waymack, Tony Randazzo and I met Valerie Wilder and her daughter Sabina in the lobby at noon to head over to the Prado Museum. Thanks to an ultra informative guide book and a hand written top 10 list from Christine Temin, we were fully absorbed in art and learning. Greco, Goya, Velazquez and several others put on a show for us. Artists appreciating artists. It doesn’t get much better and I knew my mom would be proud of me for taking in the history Madrid has to offer.

We were done in time for a siesta before heading over to the theatre to warm up for the show. I am giggling a little even now at the thought of warming up on a black Marley stage in 100˚ heat. After class came a short rehearsal for spacing on stage, and notes on any mistakes made the night before. The last show in Madrid started at 21:40 and the audience members received a complimentary paper fan upon entering the theatre.

Final bows led to the peeling of sweat-saturated costumes off our bodies. Melted pointe shoes were discarded with the make up remover towelettes and empty water bottles. The company parted ways for dinner, promising to meet in the lobby of the hotel at 1:15am looking fabulous. We began the evening with a classical base, trying desperately to keep up with Lorna, Nelson, Melissa and Jaime. After faking the funk salsa-style for about an hour, a large contingent moved on to an American friendly beat at the club called Kapital. There were 5 floors and something for everyone to enjoy. Heather Myers, my roommate and often source of mental stability, and I broke off from the group around 4:15am and took space in the center of the techno dance floor to let the music move us and just be generally ridiculous. The evening was topped of with a glass of cool water and some light stretching before falling asleep with the performance bobby pins still in my hair.

We have two hours left of a 5 hour journey together to our next city. The beauty of the fields here keep my eyes dancing out the window. They are golden sheets with constellations of green shrubs all over. We will pass an occasional small town, but mostly there is a broad expanse of potential landscape paintings as far as the eye can see. So inspiring. I guess I really am a road-trip kind of gal, rainstorm or not.

Note: company is getting tired of jamon y queso. It’s everywhere!

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