Friday, October 26th 2012
My intention was to blog about tomorrow for our last show
in Kitimat, but today has been too exciting to consider not sharing.
Yesterday afternoon, we arrived in the town of Kitimat,
home to approximately 9000 residents. We flew into Terrace and drove to the
Minette Bay Lodge, the most jaw-droppingly luxurious accommodations I have ever
experienced in my life. This was clearly made possible by Anna Marie, our
Kitimat presenter, and the wonderful Ruth and Howard of Minette Bay Lodge (can
we express enough bewildered gratitude?). The lodge is only ten minutes away
from the Theatre we are performing at, but feels like its miles away from
anything. We’ve been told to not go wandering far, as three grizzly bear cubs have
been sighted in the area. You know what they say, cubs = bad news!
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| The view from the windows of the Lodge |
Today we woke up to a homemade breakfast feast, fitted
for royalty. Personalized omelettes, homemade granola, cranberry cake fresh
from the oven, fresh jam, fresh fruit, baked delicacies, and more—all laid out
as if for a classy Christmas cooking photoshoot. We could barely believe it was
happening.
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| Karissa getting in on our breakfast feast at Minette Bay Lodge |
The cast then headed for Mount Elizabeth Theatre, not
before stopping the van to watch a duo of owls in dancing flight. Darcy warmed
us up with an hour of ballet barre to some groovy tunes and then we worked on
changes, spacing and lighting. Somehow, it was all of a sudden show time.
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Lexi skillfully doing make up on the way to the Theatre
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Jennifer in tech for Nail to House
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We were performing for a (very) lively crowd of more than
300 high school students. The show was a great run for me and though I expected
the audience to be a tough crowd, I was surprised to feel how engaged they were. Jennifer was told by the teachers that the kids loved it. We thought it was intriguing that our Prince Rupert High School crowd had an overwhelming number of questions during the Q&A while our Kitimat crowd did not.
The school has no
dance program. However, students have taken it upon themselves to create a
dance club, where they teach themselves and choreograph their own pieces…!
Again I’m reminded how lucky we are in Vancouver to have all types of dance
opportunities relatively accessible to anyone with the hankering.
Yesterday, we had arrived just in time for Kitimat’s
first snowfall. Today, upon exiting the theatre, we were met with the clearest skies
and stunning sunshine we’ve seen on this Homewerk tour. AND we still had the entire rest of the day to ourselves (save Karissa, who would be teaching a workshop for ages 12-17).
Karissa, Alex and
I headed to the Aquatic Centre for some hot tub and sauna action. We walked out
as new people in new bodies, rejuvenated and massaged out. Upon arriving back
at the Lodge, I moseyed off for a nature walk, only to immediately discover two
of the three grizzly bears. They weren’t close enough for me to sense immediate
danger, so I just watched them amble about. With the sunlight reflecting off
the water and the mountains, and these bears in front of me amidst such
breath-taking quiet and stillness—it was all quite surreal. I stopped taking
photos, realizing they couldn’t possibly capture what I was witnessing.
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| Electrocuted by the Aquatic Centre |
As we’re become accustomed to, our evening ended in bathrobes with hot
chocolate and crumpets (well…cookies) by a crackling fireplace, with us cuddled
up together on the couch until we each retired in exhaustion.
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| Frank keeping the coyotes away |
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| luxury after a hard day's work and play |
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