Sunday, March 1, 2015

WELCOME TO THE BIG EASY!

LOOK OUT, NEW ORLEANS! Juilliard has arrived!

We're here and ready to take the town!

I felt like a child at Disneyland upon landing here in the south yesterday -- just so full of happiness! 

Considering we had a 4:15am departure to the airport, the group was chipper and made it onto the plane and into the bayou without a problem. We rented two maxi vans and put our tetris-playing skills to use when packing 20 people AND their luggage into them. And then, we were off to Morning Call for beignets and cafe au lait because PRIORITIES, right?!? Cannot delay in the true NOLA experience. We then had to rent some instrument equipment and started an impromptu dance party on the sidewalk outside of the store. Already love this team. We arrived at the good ol' HONO House (the bunkhouse operated by Hands On New Orleans -- a wonderful nonprofit organization) and unpacked, before we were off to stock up on food and supplies for the week. It was Dinner Team 1's night to cook and they started us off well. YUM.

The walls of the house started to shake as we broke out into our respective divisions to rehearse for our performance at Trinity Church -- dancers stomping away in the kitchen, musicians sawing away at their violins in the bedroom, and actors singing love songs in the hallway. 

Because of our early morning wake up today, people hit the hay pretty early and slept hard. 

Luckily, we had Sunday morning free to explore the French Quarter -- and what an amazing town this is! We loved shopping in the market, dancing to the street performers, and looking out into the fog over the river (it was a misty, magical, Pirates-of-the-Caribbean kind of foggy day). So wonderful to have some time with the team to enjoy all that the city has to offer!

We then were off to Trinity Church for our first performance of the trip. And a smashing success it was! We all performed in different permutations of solos, duets, trios, and groups, everything from a rousing rendition of "Come on Eileen" by the dancers, to a lovely Bach double duet by Allison and Natsuko. We obviously closed the performance with our team song, "Dancing in the Streets", which had audience members dancing through the aisles of the church.

What a day! And we are looking forward to the next week. I feel so lucky to be part of this fantastic group of people.

Angela 

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