Third week of rehearsal period.

As the third week began we all started to work hard again. This week we were drilling all the things we have done so far. We were joining all the small pieces of choreography to one big masterpiece, we also began to understand where and when we had to go on the stage.

It was helpful that we were practicing in the theatre instead of usual studio because everyone stayed focused. Even though we did a lot in the previous weeks, we still had a lot to do, especially transitions from one piece to another.

The third week for me was mainly about understanding the concept of the choreography and trying to put the meaning into my movements.

For me Arrival and Departure means a lot of things. One of them is arriving back home and departing from home and people. Because I came to London last year and I left my home and my grandparents, it was very hard for me to deal with this situation. Originally I am from Israel but when I was 4 years old I moved to Latvia to live with my grandparents without my mum and dad. So I was moving a lot from one parent to another but in the end I stayed with my grandmother and grandfather. When I just left my home to go to the airport I felt very bad and empty. I left all my friends and my lovely cat and I was going a place where I didn’t even know the language. After six months of living in London I came back to my place and it was an incredible feeling. Everything was so familiar and beautiful that when I first saw my grandfather I couldn't stop crying. So this choreography was very familiar to me and every movement was expressing my feeling, which was amazing.

Lucy explained to us the stimulus and what the show will be about in the first week but no one really understood what was going to happen in the piece, but now we have finally understood what she meant. For her Arrival means birth and departure means death.

Our main character is Sam. He will start the piece with a solo which means that he comes (is born) to the world alone and at the end he will stay alone which means that he leaves (dies) this world alone as well.

One day I stopped and thought about how I evaluate myself. Because I am a perfectionist, which is not necessarily a bad thing for a dancer, I sometimesdon’t realise that I did a great job and I should be proud of myself. Then I thought of my role in this piece. Lucy gave me this opportunity to dance a solo and a duet which means a lot! But at first, I didn’t understand it. I mean I was pleased that I would be dancing a duet and a solo but for some reason I wasn’t satisfied. I had some time to think things over and I finally realised I was wrong to feel that way. After that moment I changed the way I evaluate my work and I feel very proud of what I have achieved.