Day 1 - Definitely FOD!

Wowsa, the frist day has come and gone, and what a day it has been. I left a little late today, big shocker (if you know me at all you will understand I'm not the most punctual of people, but I'm workin on it) In leaving late, I thought I would arrive late, however, they said to be there at 8:45 for the exact reason that there would be special people like me that would need to be told 8:45 in order to make it there by 9. One of the many brilliant ideas spewing forth from the brain of Kim Mattice Wanat, the director and founder of Opera NUOVA.
When I arrive they had delicious breakfast treats set out, and my friend Emma Parkinsons greeted me as I entered the Timms Centre (which is the main theatre on U of A campus) Emma and I met in Montreal this past January when I went to visit my dear friend Rebecca Woodmass.
It was nice to see a familiar face, and she was kind enough to introduce me to the people that she knew.
Next Kim hushed us all and began to dive into what NUOVA is all about. Frist off, she is a beautiful person, inside and out (Amazing hair) and she is firecracker of positivity just ready to go off. Her energy is completely contageous and you can't help but smile while she is talking.
This year's theme is "Embracing Change!" Wow, how ironic, probably the one thing that is going on most consitently in my life right now...CHANGE! As soon as she said that, I was like, "landed." (Another word I've picked up from Kim. Used when in a teaching situation you understand what the teacher is saying and are ready to move forward. Quite brilliant when you think about it) I landed right on the word change and it was scary how much I knew I needed to wrap my arms around this word and embrance it! She challenged us to reframe everything, take another look and try to figure out if there is a better way to do it. We are never done learning and in the performance world, you have never fully learned a role, or never fully understand a song, there is always more word to be done; and that is the fun of it all. The process is always changing, which at times can be unsettling, but in change comes growth. Furthermore, she explained that when you give graciously, you will always receive back 10 fold. All these things sound great, but putting them into practice is not so easy. Kim's understanding is that how you do/attempt/accomplish on thing/task, is pretty much how you will do everything (does that make sense) The way you decide which kind of cheese to buy is a prime example of the way you probably make most decisions in your life. We live in patterns, big and small. No matter how important the decision is, you will probably come a conclusion in the same way you would choose your cheese at Safeway. We are comfortable in our patterns. When we try to change the pattern we feel completely on edge, and out of control. And that is the exact place I want to be in during this NUOVA experience. I want to feel uncomfortable, and try to do things differently.
We had to pick 4 words to the acrinome (spelling?) PACE that would help you grow through our 6 weeks at NUOVA. It was completely ironic how much I could analyse about myself even by the way I chose those 4 words. I didn't want to follow my instincts because i was afraid of my words, it was so stupid. Finally I just went back to what first came into my mind.

PASSION
ATITUDE
CHANGE
EXTREME

And then we had to make a goal for the program, a personal goal. Here it is, for all to read, now keep me accountable, because the more people you tell, the more likely you are to actually follow through.

"My Goal is to accept MY voice/sound, and just play and have fun on stage!"

So there you go. That's my goal. I don't really know what it all means yet, but that's what my heart wanted to write!

The rest of the day was a confusing puzzle of understand the strange schedule and also becoming familiar with my surroundings at U of A. I feel much better about where things are now. But in the midst of the day I was a little bit of a mess. I mean, I pretty much just accepted that it was my FOD (Feak Out Day) It had to happen. I was so scared to sing in the sing through, and since we are double cast in Beatrice and Benedict, I said the other dude (Alfred) could sing it. [Justin, come on, seriously, what a little chicken poop] I know, I know, it's time to just suck it up and do it. Throw myself out there and give it a go, even though falling on my face is a very possible consiquence. I'm feelin like it's time for some mud in my face.

Well it's super late, and I could write a ton of stuff about today, and I'm sure everyday, but I have to get up really early for the Breakfast Television show tomorrow. That's all for now folks, this is JFri signing off.

Over and Out!