I don't know what it is about ballet schools and railroads, but just about every single school where I've studied or taught has been on top of them; you learn to deal with the teeth-rattling thunder of the enormous diesel engines barreling down the tracks. It's part and parcel of operating in a low rent … Continue reading Homecoming, Part the Fourth
Summer
Works & Process
I love the theatre—lobby, house, backstage, on the stage—it does not matter. I have clocked time there since before I could walk. Friday night I had the chance to be there again at the small and mighty Paramount in Rutland, Vermont. A quirky and entertaining NYC-based company called Bedlam was reading a new play by … Continue reading Works & Process
Learning Curve
Once upon a time when I was the director of a small ballet school I taught classical ballet to adult beginners a couple nights weekly. They were dedicated people, mostly women, but also a few men, from all walks of life. Some of them told me it took them weeks to gather the courage to … Continue reading Learning Curve
Kingdom of Wilis: Foggy Vermont Morning
Giselle is a story ballet with Romantic-era sensibilities that still somehow reaches modern audiences. In it a pretty peasant girl—Giselle—dies at the close of the first act, duped by a handsome nobleman promised to a princess, her heart too weak to withstand the loss. In the second act she is transformed into a wili, a … Continue reading Kingdom of Wilis: Foggy Vermont Morning
July 27th Lake George Reunion
Sometimes I really am a princess. I never know exactly how to behave at big, multi-generational family gatherings because they weren't part of my own childhood. It's kind of like that feeling you get when you're in somebody else's kitchen—you want to be helpful, but it's not your kitchen or your stuff and you don't … Continue reading July 27th Lake George Reunion
Architecture of a Day: Cambridge, NY to Williamstown, MA
The 3rd of July: Cycling on the Battenkill
Great news: today is gorgeous, a perfect day for a longish ride. Less great news: the tourists have arrived, lots of 'em. Yes, I know they drive the economy. They also drive their luxury cars like maniacs on otherwise quiet country roads, and I still have a little grit in my teeth to prove it. … Continue reading The 3rd of July: Cycling on the Battenkill
Waning Summer
I have a pair of visitors who make their presence known every single morning on my front porch, expecting to be fed. I confess I have cultivated this habit in them. Handsome Chef Boyfriend chides me about this, insisting I will be the kind of old lady one day who can't afford to put food … Continue reading Waning Summer
Sycamore Stories 