I would like to say that....

I LOVE THE LIGHTING DESIGNERS AND LIGHT TECHS AT BARD SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!

Last night was the last tech/ dress rehearsal before our show "The Future of Dance" Opens in the outdoor drama studio/ theater tonight, and oh my it was a bit of a mess. and that is an understatement in american standards. the previous night my professor had said that call time was 3:30pm so that we could finish costumes and hang lights so that when it got dark at 6:30 we would be ready to go. I arrived at 3:30, because he told us he would hit us with water sachets if we didn't do right, only to find another dance group in the space, a theater class in the space, props everywhere and not a dance professor to be found. My friend and I decided to give it an hour and then come back to see if any progress had been made. At 4:30 the director of the program was still not there and non of the dancers were there as well. At 5 people began to trickle in and the start time was set for 6pm. By 6:30 or 7 everyone was dressed in costume and looking great and ready to dance. Then we were informed that the lights were not right and that they didn't have a dimming board and other important lighting equipment. We then sat around for maybe 2 hours waiting for the lighting people to hang 20 lights (something they should have done earlier that day.) Then they had to focus the lights= more time. It was probably ten by the time we started our first run through with lights, which failed because the lighting people had not been watching the dances and thus didn't know the specials, important parts of the dances, and even which parts were group vs. solo work. So then we did notes and tried to run through the blocking that means we did what we did the first day of rehearsal, again. We finished around 3 in the morning and then argued for half an hour about where people were going to stay because it is dangerous to go off campus so late at night.

all in all it was a long night that would have been a few hours in the states. And if you think that my frustration and shock with this experience is purely because I am American, ask some of my Ghanaian friends what they thought of the day!

missing and loving Brian, Jeff, Moe, Kendra and everyone else in the PAC much love!!!!