Thursday, September 15th – SFO to PVG
6:58 PST
We left for China today! I’m sitting on the plane right now somewhere over the Pacific Ocean speeding towards Shanghai. Though it doesn’t feel like we are speeding, while I write this I believe there are another five hours left of our 13-hour flight. I will probably try to get some sleep after I write this entry.
I am really looking forward to this tour. I have never been to China, or anywhere in Asia for that matter, so I have been eagerly anticipating this trip for some time. I think it will be a very unique adventure with fabulous performing opportunities and culturally broadening life experiences. The Company has pretty much taken over the plane at this point and about 90% of the people I see walking up and down the aisles are dancers. It’s fun being on a plane with lots of people you know; it certainly makes the time pass by faster.
There was a phenomenal amount of planning that went into getting us here today. SF Ballet has been trying to tour to Asia for a while now, and this time the stars seemed to align and, through a huge amount of work, there are 65 ballet dancers on a plane hurtling towards China! We will be performing a mixed-repertory program and Helgi Tomasson’s full-length Swan Lake in Shanghai and Beijing. The mixed-rep will consist of Helgi Tomasson’s On a Theme of Paganini, Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour, and Balanchine’s Stravinsky Violin Concerto. I am in Paganini and Golden Hour. I will also be performing as a Swan Maiden and the Spanish Princess in Swan Lake. I will have a pretty heavy schedule while in China, but hope I can find time to see the cities, because I promised myself I would make a concerted effort to do so! I have to!
We will be landing in Shanghai at about 5pm China time, which will feel like 2am to me, so I will look forward to checking into our hotel and climbing into bed almost right away. I think I will try to force myself to stay up a few extra hours though, to try to adapt to the time change as quickly as possible. We have optional ballet class the next day!
Going to try to get some shut-eye now, more from Shanghai later!
2 Comments
Please add the poster’s name to these blog entries. As far as I can tell, there is no way to tell who posted (except sometimes from context).
Hello Mary, the poster’s name should appear at the top of each post. If not, there should at least be a category listing at the top of the post that says “All Posts by …”. Please let us know if you’re still having trouble!