Sarah in Germany

Contributed by: Sarah

Hello, friends of baroque dance! As you may have
heard, I have recently moved to Cologne, Germany for a
few years. From this European vantage point, I will
be searching for new Feulliet notations to
reconstruct, paintings by Boucher to contemplate, as
well as reading those treatises we all know and love.
I am so happy that I will also continue to perform
with the company on occasion, and I will be back in
NYC to perform with the NYBDC in the fall performances
at Florence Gould Hall.

However, first things first - one must take class!

I spent an hour or so on Monday digging through German
dance websites to find a ballet class in Koeln.
Happily, I met with success, and today I took my first
class. The studio is called "Cologne Dance Center",
and the teacher this week was... absurdly... just like
Jason Melms. In fact, I would say that he is
Jason's doppelganger! I often took Jason's class in
New York, and this amused and comforted me to no end.
The class was a bit differnt in that it had taped
music (not a piano in sight!), and there was no petite
allegro. I don't mind the canned music so much
(although the frappe was set to "She's a Grand Old
Flag...), but I hope the lack of petite allegro is not
part of some German trend. Overall, though, I enjoyed
the class very much. Next week an Italian woman comes
in to teach the morning ballet class, and I am excited
to experience her style as well. The next stop on my
German dance adventure is the Tanzarchiv, where I may
find some of those Feulliet notations. I'll keep you posted!