Tuesday night, Brett and I held the School of Richmond Ballet auditions at a dance studio here in Beit Yizhak. I taught the class with 14 auditioners while 10 other dancers took it as a master class. The dancers were full of enthusiasm and hopefully we will see a few of them dancing in our summer intensive program in Richmond. We just finished our sixth consecutive day of Minds In Motion classes and, as the first week of our residency ends, we are proud of the students' energy and enthusiasm. Despite the language barrier, we are having no difficulty communicating with the students. It really does prove that dance is a universal language! Our Hebrew is improving but the dancers and teachers really love and appreciate the added component that they are learning English.
The weather continues to be beautiful and yesterday, outside, there was an in-school assembly for the tree celebration of Tu B'Shevat with music and singing. Since everyone talks in Hebrew, it is always a surprise when we hear our names mentioned and the whole assembly looks at us- so we smile and wave!
Wednesday, we visited Tel Aviv and the old city of Jaffa. We walked the streets of the famous Jaffa markets and saw the sunset over the Mediterranean. then last night, we went to the Susan Della Center and saw a performance of Batsheva Dance Company. They performed a spectacular piece called "Hora". We met one of the dancers afterwards who knows our own RB's David Neal- thus proving once again that the dance world is small!
After work today, we walked on the beach and, since we finally have a day off tomorrow, we are going to travel north to visit more sights.
Shabbat Shalom!
- Katherine
