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I’ve arrived at Interlochen.
My home away from home I’ve missed incredibly. A haven for creativity and inspiration. "Art Lives Here," as their moto
beautifully notes.
So this means for the next month I’ll actually be getting
back into writing!
We’ve just been moving in and meeting our roommates (I’m in
a pretty bare-bones cabin with four rooms, but cozy-feeling since it’s
surrounded by woods. We had a
new-faculty dinner tonight where I finally met the Dance Director. She seems so awesome, enthusiastic, and
encouraging. I feel so lucky to be
working with her!
Other than preparing, I’ve been taking advantage of being
back here by visiting my old haunts and exploring new avenues. My favorite place to read or write used to be
“Sundecker,” the deck overlooking the lake in the High School Girl’s
division. Since hanging out there now
would be quite strange (and would involve potentially awkward encounters with
my students), I found a fantastic—or even better—substitute. There is a place just down the beach from
there called the Minnesota Building (don’t ask me why—do Minnesotans create
nice beaches?) with lounge chairs, board games, a coffee stand, waterfront
activities, all just for camp staff!
They call it the “gathering place.”
I’m so psyched to dedicate some R&R time here. Or if resting will be a near-nonexistent
concept, at least watch just about every single sunset, like I did the last two
nights. :)
I also was lucky enough to bring my 11-week old kitten with
me! She’s being generously housed by the
High School Girls director in a wonderful cabin on the lake, with a glorious
breeze and many rooms and hideouts to explore.
What I love about this place is how art doesn’t just exist
here. It lives, breathes, emanates from,
and is a part of every molecule here.
Walking around, I love hearing melodies coming from the practice
huts. Even some scales and arpeggios I
heard today sounded so much more rich and meaningful than warmups I might here
in some other less beautiful place.
Yesterday afternoon, during my first few hours of free wandering, I
stumbled upon the Horn Institute Recital (a pre-camp workshop), which was a fun
first concert to attend. I brought my
horn with me, and even though I haven’t played in a year ½, I’m sure I’ll be
inspired to play again. It would also be
awesome to take a voice lesson or two while I’m here.
There’s so much I want to take advantage of here! I find myself being constantly simultaneously
so incredibly grateful for being back here and landing this amazing job (I
actually cried yesterday when seeing the lake for the first time), and feeling
rushed to to experience everything in such a short amount of time, as I am only
hired for the first session….
Today I planned out the details of an injury treatment/prevention
lecture I’m giving on Tuesday—I have therabands and exercise sheets to hand out
to everyone, and I am so nerdily excited about it. Tomorrow and Sunday I need to crack down on
reviewing my lesson plans for the classes.
I confess I’m seriously nervous, but I need to project a confident act
so the students don’t sense it.
Thanks for reading about my latest adventure. More to come!
“Because I can count on my fingers the number of sunsets I have left, and I don't want to miss any of them.”
--Suzanne Collins, "Catching Fire"
