What a roller coaster

This is going to be a long story and won't be entirely wedding-related, but here it goes: In June, PNB did a production of "Coppelia." It had new costumes and new sets, but the choreography was George Balanchine's. They kept trying to bill it as a "new work," but Balanchine died in 1983, so it would be surprising if he created a new work in 2010. I'm not sure even he is that talented. At that point, it was obvious that Rico was back on the sauce and my Sandy-fuse was ridiculously short. The day before we moved into the theater I had third break-down in relation to my job and Bradley told me to quit PNB. Not do Coppelia, to just quit right then. I didn't and Coppelia went fine. My mood turned up again.

At the end of July, the company toured to Vail, Colorado to partake in the Vail International Dance Festival for the third time. It was not very well-planned and there was one day where I and my crew worked from 4:00am to midnight. Well, my guys worked from 3:30am to midnight, but I digress. The day after that super long day, I was getting ready for my 6:30 call time for the show that night and I started receiving phone calls from my friends who were all camping together back in Seattle. They got ahold of me at 6:15 and informed me that a friend had passed away that day. I had no understudy, I couldn't call in sick, I had to call the show that night after grieving for my friend for all of 15 minutes. When I returned home from Vail, I had another break-down about how much my job ran my life. It even dictated for how long I could grieve for my dead friend.

In the middle of August I found out that the Development Department had hired someone for a position for which I had applied. I had applied only after discussing the position with the Director of Development, but at no point was I even contacted for a courtesy interview. When I found out that someone had been hired, I felt certain that I would never be able to advance within PNB. That was the final straw and I decided it was time to leave.

The events that took place in the three weeks between when I turned in my resignation and my final day are best summed up in the wise words of my wonderful fiance: "PNB is like a bad boyfriend; they're going to try to screw you as many times as they can before you go." The individual events don't need to be recorded. My final day was a glorious day; Peter asked everyone on staff to come into Studio C for a final "round of applause." Unfortunately, I was quite sick (I had a fever), but it made for a good excuse as to why my speech was so short - in reality it's because I was going to burst into tears. I didn't want to leave, but was so unhappy that I couldn't stay.

The morning after my final day at PNB - Sept 10 - I was offered the Production Stage Manager position with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet in Washington DC. I accepted it and arrived in DC 9 days later. I will be here until Thanksgiving. The people with whom I work are amazing. They are a myriad of personalities, but I truly enjoy them all. I have am now in my third week and we have our second show tomorrow evening. Suzanne Farrell is amazing and I am enjoying working with her and the dancers she has selected. The Kennedy Center is huge and fantastic; while I write this the chorus for "Salome," which the Washington National Opera opens either tonight or tomorrow, has been rehearsing at the end of the hall near my office. It's amazing music to write by. :) Today I saw on Facebook photos from the first rep of PNB's 2010-2011 season. I didn't realize how badly I missed them until I saw them onstage and realized I didn't know the roles they were dancing, who was the understudy and what else they learned. It's a painful, but it's OK. It's a loss and this time I have more than 15 minutes to grieve.