Last week was quite a whirlwind… This was mainly due to the fact that the schedule was completely different from the pretty standardized schedule we had gotten used to in the previous half of the term.

Monday was filled with Dance Night rehearsals. For our group, that meant meeting with Diana for two 1 1/2 long sessions of going over the linear carole. The linear carole is a dance dating back to the medieval period where the group holds hands in a line and the leader sets off, creating patterns with the line by zigging and zagging across the space. There are also various “figures” you can do such as winding the group into a spiral and then with a pivot and a turn unwinding the group from said spiral. With all 38 of us doing this, it looked pretty amazing.

Dance Night gave each group a chance to show off what we’ve all been working on across the school. Every level performed at least one movement number. Most of the levels performed 2 or 3. It was such a fun night and it was amazing to see what everyone at the school gets up to in their movement classes. There was everything from very traditional historical dances to tap routines to modern dance to hip hop. Our linear carole closed the night and, since every single person at LAMDA knows how to do this dance, the whole school was cheering us on which made it even more fun than usual.

For the rest of the week, classes pretty much resumed as usual. Tuesday we had a master class with Judith, the director of the voice department. She led us in an incredible vocal warm up and then we explored some Richard III text together. We worked in such detail and specificity, relying entirely on the text to answer our questions and reveal the character of Richard to us. One of the things we looked at was the length of the phrases in his first monologue (“Now is the winter of our discontent”) versus his monologue at the end of the play (“Richard loves Richard, that is I am I”). The phrases in the first are long and poetic while the latter has short, terse phrases that seem to demonstrate an uneasy mind in turmoil. Judith was really great to work with and I wish we had her for weekly classes. Since we don’t, though, I’m glad we got to work with her for the evening.

Wednesday evening I went to see La Bohème at the Royal Albert Hall. This was the first opera I have ever seen and I absolutely loved it. The music was heartbreakingly beautiful and on several occasions gave me chills. Everything about it was breathtaking – the set, the costumes, the voices, and the production. I think what at least partially contributed to my awe was that I didn’t understand what was happening in front of me in any capacity. I mean, yes, I understood the story and the character relationships but the art of opera is something I am entirely unfamiliar with. I don’t know what goes into preparing for it, I certainly have no idea how those people sing with the power that they do, and the list goes on and on. When I go see ballet or theatre, I have an acute sense of what goes into those productions so I analyze and find myself being hyper critical. It was an unusual feeling to sit back, relax, and simply let the production wash over me. The theatre was stunning, as well, which certainly contributed to my incredible experience. Close your eyes and picture a stereotypical, classic, old opera house. Now turn that space into a stage in the round. I can almost guarantee that the classic beauty you just pictured in your head is what the Royal Albert Hall looks like. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a theatre like that before. I have a new dream venue… I can’t even imagine what it would be like to perform there.

On Thursday, we had two new classes – yoga and tai chi. Both were wonderful and I wish we could begin every morning with yoga. Tai chi was interesting because our tutor showed us how it really is a calming, grounding, “soft” martial art and yet we also did movements that were truly self defense based. I started to notice that a lot of the movements we did worked with the idea that the person who would be perceived as being in control could lose that control extremely easily at the hands of the other person. I really enjoyed tai chi and look forward to having it again soon.

Friday evening, LAMDA went back to the 90s for our 1990s themed “Sleazy.” The Sleazy is basically just a massive talent show which happened to be 90s themed this year. People came decked out in full 90s gear and many people performed in the show. Pretty much all the performers sang a song and/or played an instrument. Great… as if people here needed to be more talented than they already are. It was a really fun night. I enjoy all these events that bring us together as a school rather than constantly keeping us separated as levels.

This week, I spent an extra day at LAMDA as our rehearsal group met up to do a line-through of our show on Saturday morning. We finished that around 12:30 and I headed to Piccadilly Circus to meet Hannah and try to get tickets to some matinee show. We tried for Blithe Spirit but that was too expensive so we opted for seeing Grand Budapest Hotel instead. I think we made the right choice. This film in amazing. I don’t want to ruin anything because this is a movie worth seeing with relatively little knowledge about it. I will say, though, that the acting is brilliant and the story truly transports you to another time and place. It captures your attention, your intellect, and your heart and holds all three until the end. I absolutely loved it and highly recommend the film.

After the movie, we wandered around, going to Neal’s Yard where there is a pizza place called Homeslice. We will be back. We even saw where one of the Monty Python guys used to live. Then, we met up with some more friends for dinner and then I met Sarah, Teresa, and Caleb at Ghost Stories. They convinced me to face my fears and see a show advertised as “truly terrifying” and “not for those with weak dispositions.” While it lived up to its name and we all audibly screamed on more than one occasion, it was actually pretty fun and I enjoyed. Once we were done being scared out of our minds, I headed to Ariana’s apartment to meet up with a group of people and watch A Night at the Opera. Nothing like some classic Marx Brothers to forget about a scary play.

Sunday the weather was wonderfully beautiful, just as it had been the day before. Spring has sprung over here in London! I couldn’t be happier. After going for a walk in the sunshine, I decided to properly see the Victoria and Albert Museum. Entering its halls at 11:45, I wandered aimlessly through their massive collection. Stopping for a brief lunch break in the beautiful cafe, I finally emerged at 3:00 having seen the entire world timeline of jewelry, an entire exhibition on theatre and performance art, Raphael paintings, Bernini sculptures, the history of fashion, Japanese art, Chinese art, a collection of European art through the ages, and much more.

The collection there is unparalleled, certainly unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I am planning to dedicate the coming weekends to visiting London’s museums as I have been shamefully neglecting them and I know I will regret that. This visit alone made me miss the familiar walls of the National Gallery in DC.

When I finally emerged into the sunlight, it was too lovely to simply walk home and stay cooped up so I got an ice cream cone and sat in a little square around the corner from the South Kensington tube station. I ate my ice cream, got a dose of Vitamin D (something I’ve been severely lacking since arriving in London…), and then headed home to begrudgingly work on my class schedule for next semester and some summer internship applications. It’s really hard to be motivated to work on those kinds of things when you could be out enjoying the rare London sunshine. But, alas…

As is wont to happen here, the weekend all too soon ended and it was back to school today. This week we have rehearsals all day, every day, because we perform our Restoration projects for each other on Thursday. Our show is in pretty good shape and I’m excited to show it to the rest of our group. Restoration is fun and I’ve enjoyed learning about the style but I am really ready to get back to Shakespeare.

As my time in London begins to dwindle conspicuously, I can’t help but be sad and happy all at once. I’m homesick but only for the people who aren’t here in London with me. I wish I could bring my family and friends (and Norman and Coconut) over here and then we could all just stay here forever. I miss everyone terribly but fall in love with this city all over again every day.

Here’s to the remaining month and half of adventures to be had.

Until next time…

Cheers.