Dancer, Runner, Writer, Mom

BALLET FOLK 5TH YEAR – MARCH 31, 1978 – AUGUST 26, 1978

2011-04-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

March 31^st – Friday, we took a drive out to Steptoe Butte—Todd was impressed. We also took class. Mom called to say Linda had gone into labor at only 6 ½ months so Todd had better not go to Minneapolis. He stayed with us another day and we planned to drive him to Spokane on Sunday. We went to the Studio for dinner (the Hotel was closed because the owner, Nick Bowdie, had died) and then to the Ratskeller because Moscow Mining had closed. That town was full of surprises.

April 1^st – Saturday, Mike and Todd drove to Lewiston while I cooked ribs and made potato salad. We saw the movie, “Saturday Night Fever” mostly just for something to do. The dancing was pretty good but the movie was for a younger generation.

April 2^nd – Sunday, we drove Todd to Spokane. We were happy to see him go although it had been fun. Mike and I really hadn’t been alone for ten weeks. Todd was bumped off his first flight because it was overbooked, but luckily he got on one fifteen minutes later. We drove home and did laundry. Tom and Karen moved out—they found a cheaper place. Mike called Mom and heard that Linda had a boy. He is still in the incubator but doing fine.

April 3^rd – Monday, we had class, meeting and rehearsal—back to normal. At the meeting we heard a three-week European tour is in the making for next year. I won’t sign my life away for the possibility of three weeks in Europe. We wrote Cincinnati and are awaiting word with crossed fingers. At the meeting we received sheets on which to write our tour gripes and also sheets asking our next year’s plans. We simply don’t know at this point. I bought a new needlepoint today but I may never do it. I also worked on my bedspread while we watched the Academy Awards.

April 4^th – Tuesday, we had class and rehearsal until 5:00. This is a big day—my bedspread is totally finished. We also wrote our gripes—that took about three hours. Mike had three typewritten pages.

April 5^th – Wednesday, we had class and rehearsal again. I remade George’s white pillow so it’s even now. I have been meaning to do that for over a year. We went to Steve and Patricia’s for dinner. Surprisingly we had a great time. Patricia is so much fun—Mike and I both love her.

April 6^th – Thursday, we had a long day again of class, rehearsal and set-up. We picked up our tour pictures—pretty bad!

April 7^th – Friday was our Fifth Anniversary—imagine that! It has been pretty wonderful. We had class today but no rehearsal. Nancy has left Jonny. The Moscow performance was spectacular—I have never had a better one. I talked to Norma a long time afterward about leaving. Forest Sears saw us and asked us to do the choreography for “The Boyfriend” this summer. We really couldn’t say “yes” or “no” because we don’t know if we’ll still be here. We have to hear from Cincinnati.

George had a party after the performance and it was lots of fun. I got good feelings from everyone. Carl and Jaye were there too. Jon came over after the party and we talked until 3:30 a.m. He’s doing all right. I think something is brewing between him and Leslie now that Nancy’s gone.

April 8^th – Saturday, we got the letter from Cincinnati and I could hardly read it. They said they have no money to hire us. I wonder if it’s true. We had the meeting at noon to discuss gripes. It was all very civil; George was on his best behavior. Donna Bray came over after the meeting and we told her about our problems with George and our thoughts of leaving. She was a real friend and told us we have to do what’s best for us. She has been sick for six months—she thought she had a brain tumor. But, thank God, she’s almost back to normal. The rest of the afternoon, I worked on the new needlepoint. We had another party this time with the Guild and the Board. I mostly talked to Lou Edwards and Mary Jo. I felt like a celebrity. Mike and I were mentioned in the review in the paper for Watercolors. Moscow loves us.

April 9^th – Sunday, we drove to Salmon. I can’t say I was happy to go. Esperanza is with us and she is fun to have along.

April 10^th – Monday, we set up at 9:00 and had a lecture demo with Debussy. Mike wrote some letters to various ballet companies. We had a performance in the evening.

April 11^th – Tuesday, the performance last night was one of my bests. The audience was so wonderful it was almost like being in Moscow again. I told JoAnn that it really helps having a lecture demo in the afternoon for high schoolers. It brings them back in the evening with family and friends. Kelly, Pam, Stephen and I left at 7:30 in the morning for Pocatello and the Kiwanis Luncheon. We weren’t in very good shape after celebrating last night at the bar. Leslie and Jon appeared to be hitting it off famously. The drive to Pocatello was nice—we talked about the different dance companies that Mike and I are writing. Stephen spoke at the luncheon and did a very good job. I didn’t have to say anything because no one asked me anything. I just sat there and smiled and looked like a ballerina. We had class with Esperanza in the afternoon. It was a good class but frustrating because the floor was like glass. During the evening we mailed the letters asking for audition information. We included resumes and brochures. I can’t wait to receive replies.

April 12^th – Wednesday, we set up early in Pocatello and had class. For some reason we all felt exhausted. We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant and I teased Steven about getting fat. I was really not kidding—he’s shorter than Mike and weighs almost 15 pounds more. We slept until time for make-up. The performance went very well considering the chaos beforehand. We shared our dressing room with all kinds of people—taking showers and drying their hair. The gym lady couldn’t understand what we were complaining about since there was plenty of room. We moved to the dance studio about fifteen minutes before the performance—the folk dance teacher let her students out early. Mike left warm-up early because George was being his usual condescending self—I didn’t blame Mike at all. What I blamed him for was apologizing. The audience was big—about 700 including Kenneth and Robert from Salt Lake. Jan and Betsy were nervous but I was as calm as could be. We had a reception afterward in Stanrod Mansion. It was a real punch-and-cookie affair, but I talked to some real nice old ladies. The guys had helped the tech guys strike so they could all come—but they never showed. They’re the laziest group I’ve ever met.

April 13^th – Thursday, it was a difficult day today because we were without a motel. We drove to Arco to do a performance, but we were staying in Twin Falls. We ate lunch when we arrived but then couldn’t set up until 2:30. Esperanza was supposed to teach class but no one wanted a class at 4:00. She is feeling useless and homesick. The performance went well even though there were a lot of very distracting children almost sitting on our floor. We were out-of-there in record time and on our way to Twin Falls.

April 14^th – Friday, we were up and dressed for our luncheon with the Governor and on our way to Boise by 9:00. We arrived without a minute to space. I worked on my needlepoint on the way and it is coming along nicely. The luncheon food was good but I drank too much coffee. I was already feeling nervous about the performance that evening and especially about doing Pas de Trois for Jaye. The coffee definitely didn’t help.

After we ate, the Governor spoke. He and his wife, Lola, fell in love Ballet Folk when they went to Washington D.C. with us two years ago for the Bicentennial Celebration. Lola waved “hello” to me across the room and then came up and talked to us when everyone was leaving. The rest of the luncheon was dull. A lot of plaques were presented for donations and a lot of people were introduced including the dancers.

We rested for about an hour at the motel and then set-up and performed. The crowd was a sell-out. Karen and Lou Esposito were there and had only good things to say. Pas de Trois didn’t go well for me; but Jaye, in her flippant way, said I was cute and, “Imagine, Deanne, doing a classical ballet.” She type-casts so badly—that’s one of the reasons we’re leaving. We went down to Pizza Hut when it was over—I was drained. I can’t understand why I was so nervous. I forgot to say that I chatted with the Governor again before the show. We talked about nerves and he said he gets them too. I sure do like him—he’s so unpretentious.

April 15^th – Saturday, we had a Beauty performance at the YWCA at 1:00. Everyone was wiped out and energy-less after the past three days and George criticized us for our lack of enthusiasm in warm-up. We shopped in the afternoon but I couldn’t find a thing to wear for the Moscow Hotel’s “Ballet Folk and Friends”. We all ate at Georgio’s, the place Chuck Bonney works—all the ribs you can eat for $4.95. I drank too many white Russians, beer and wine—so I fell asleep early watching TV. I could hardly keep my eyes open for 30 seconds to watch Ballet Folk on the news.

April 16^th – Sunday and a day-off at last! We watched TV, read and I did needlepoint all day. It was a relief not to have to see everyone else. Mike and I saw “The Medussa Touch” at the ADA and had hot dogs and popcorn for dinner.

April 17^th – Monday, we had a Beauty performance in Caldwell. Everything went smoothly. We shopped afterward and I found a dress—one that I had seen in the window on the way to the movie. We ate at the Sandpiper with Jon and Leslie and I realized it may be our last dinner there!

April 18^th – Tuesday, we drove to Ontario, Idaho, early and stayed at our favorite motel—the Holiday. So much has happened there over the years that I started to get sentimental. We drove to Weiser where we performed that evening. I was hoping for a good audience but we only had a total of 32 people—almost our lowest attendance ever. At that point we were cheering that we only had five more evening performances to go.

April 19^th – Wednesday, I didn’t dance well last night, so I should be glad it was a small audience. Actually it was just my energy-level that made me ashamed. We drove home and it was wonderful to be there. It was a nice day so we walked to Drug Fair to pick up the five pictures from the National Tour that they didn’t print the first time. We ran into Chuck Crossler and stopped in his photo studio to talk awhile. We ate at Hoseapple’s, a new place where Moscow Mining used to be.

April 20^th- Thursday, we drove to Lapwaii and performed Watercolors and ELP without costumes or lights. We were supposed to do Rainmaker but there was no room on the stage. So Mike has probably danced his last Starbuck—we were all taking it much harder than he was. It was a fun performance and a fun day. I got a letter from Mom. Carl’s wife, Mary, is pregnant again—poor kid. Carl is ecstatic. Mike made the big move and called JoAnn to tell her we aren’t coming back. She was dumbfounded. Jaye came over about 11:30 p.m. to talk. I was really surprised to hear she was not planning to rehire George. Jaye was pretty convincing but we are still determined to leave. She did say we could always come back if we don’t find anything. The situation couldn’t be better.

April 21^st – Friday, Betsy came over and we told her the news about George. She was very pleased. She is seriously considering staying now. I remade my orange pillow and it looks 100% better. We took Jaye’s two-hour class—what a killer, but it felt good. I made a pecan pie and we invited Steve and Patricia over to share it.

April 22^nd – Saturday, we had a performance in Deer Park, Washington. Nothing much to say about it. We found out the choreographer’s conference in Seattle was cancelled. Too bad for Ballet Folk.

April 23^rd – Sunday was a day off. I went to church and fixed fondue sauces and salad most of the afternoon. Pam came over for dinner. The food was great—well worth the work. We talked and watched TV the rest of the night.

April 24^th – Monday, we had class today and what a bore. I fixed my size five jeans and it took me all afternoon. Pam came over and we talked about auditions. She thinks we should go to American Ballet Theatre—it was nice of her to say that. We packed again—maybe for our last tour.

April 25^th – Tuesday, we drove to Sandpoint today and had an evening performance. The drive and the day were beautiful. We ate lunch at the Garden with Barb and Ben. I danced Pas de Trois because Barb’s knee was hurting. I’m afraid I wasn’t overjoyed about it, but the last shows are always the hardest to get psyched for. The conditions of the stage and backstage area were ridiculous. Six girls dressed in a room the size of a bathroom and the boy’s dressing room was half that. The stage was three floors deep with no wings and the front curtain was broken. In spite of all that, the performance and the audience were a success. There was a reception for us in the lobby and everyone treated us like kings and queens.

April 26^th – Wednesday, we drove to Coeur d’Alene and had an evening performance. The weather was gorgeous again but we didn’t have much time to enjoy it. It was a good show but the audience was small and cold. There were a few kids sitting on the floor in front of us talking at the top of their lungs during the entire show. It was very distracting. Chris Dyer was there and she came back to the dressing room afterward. She was shocked to find out we are leaving, but she understands. She’s working in Portland as a waitress and taking ballet from Barbara Remington, a former Joffrey Ballet dancer. We got her address so we can keep in touch.

April 27^th – Thursday, we performed our last Beauty today in Coeur d’Alene. The rest of the day was off but it poured rain. I finished Time Magazine (Gelsey Kirkland was on the cover with the caption “Ballet Soars”) and worked on needlepoint until dinner. The Company went out en masse to “The Cedars.” Mike and I split steak and tiger shrimp—it was delicious. Lenore showed a slide show of some of her photos after dinner. There were some gorgeous sunsets and some nice dance shots too.

April 28^th – Friday, we drove to Omak and had our very last full performance. It was another concrete gym and I was in no mood to injure myself. George and I had a big blow-up over Pas de Trois because I really didn’t want to do it—and Barb wanted me to. I thought George should have handled the whole thing instead of making Barb do it. He shouted that I had begged him to let me do it, but now that it was Omak. . . He also said he had been upset with me for three months—God knows why. Anyway, I didn’t do it. The show went so fast—I really enjoyed myself. There was a reception afterward at the old Omak Hotel and we met some interesting people. Some even came over to the room afterward. We were exhausted and smashed when we finally got to bed about 2:00 a.m.

April 29^th – Saturday, we drove home today. As of tomorrow, we’re officially unemployed. It is a great feeling. I cooked fondue for dinner and we did nothing for the rest of the night. We were very disappointed that there was nothing in the mail from any ballet companies. We were happy though that we got “Dance Magazine” and coincidentally the two spotlighted companies were Cleveland and Cincinnati.

April 30^th – Sunday, I went to church and even had the wine for communion. I talked to father Rick afterward. He remembered me and wished us the best of luck when I told him we were leaving. A woman is coming over at 4:30 to interview us for Lenore’s Ballet Folk book. We’re going to the Biscuitroot with Pam and Kelly tonight. Just what I need—more food. Maybe I’ll order a salad.

May 1^st to 4^th – Monday was a busy day. We went to the unemployment bureau and got that all figured out, took class (George played piano) and set-up for Ballet Folk and Friends. I washed and curled my hair for the last show—it went really well. We told everyone that we’re leaving. The whole place was in tears. The little ballerinas—Leslie, Kathy, Gail, Mimi, Mindy, Virginia and Dawn were the most upset. I had a good talk with George—I mostly evaded the truth. I gave him all the reasons we were leaving that didn’t apply to him. It was a fun night—Mike refused to get sentimental and acted disgusted when Ben and I hugged each other and cried. We talked to Jaye the following day and left for Toledo with Betsy at about 3:30. The trip was long but uneventful. We dropped Betsy in Chicago on the 4^th at about 8:00 a.m. and arrived in Toledo around 1:00. Mom was glad to see us but upset that we were early because she hadn’t washed her hair.

May 5^th to 9^th – We saw Grandma today and ate lunch out with Mom. We left for Cincinnati at about 4:30. It was great seeing Sue again. We went through the usual routine—looking at pictures and drinking beer. The next day we took Sue’s class and felt pretty good. Linda Calendrino, now Krume, and her husband, Mark, came over for dinner. It has been six years since I’ve seen them and they haven’t changed a bit. We had a good talk after dinner—just the girls while the boys watched TV and played pong. The following day we saw Cincinnati Ballet in Pas de Quatre and Peter and the Wolf. It was good but Peter doesn’t compare to Jaye’s Beauty. We went to Carla’s for dinner and bridge—we lost big time. Poor Bear has an awful cold. The next day was Sue’s birthday. We took James Truitte’s modern class and destroyed our legs for a week—just like in the good, old days. Sabline’s class followed and we loved it. The company was not there as they had another performance so we left a note that we wanted to talk to McLain the following day. We took Sue to LaRosa’s for dinner. The next day, May 9^th, McLain watched a little of our class and talked to us afterward. He sounded promising although nothing for sure. He did tell us not to sign any contracts until we’ve talked to him. He even gave us his home phone number and told us to call collect. We left for Milwaukee and arrived at about 8:30. We slept in a Motel 6 and it felt like we were on tour again.

May 10^th to 13^th- We had our first, official audition. We thought we had done really well; but after class, Jean Paul Comelin just said, “Thank you for coming but we’re looking for different dancers.” Now what the hell did that mean? After we changed, Michael insisted we go talk to him and I was really glad we did. Otherwise we never would have known. Comelin said he was looking for principals—someone with a name and reputation. We felt much better after we heard that. We drove to Toledo arriving about 9:00. Mom was at bridge but we talked to Joe, Ann and Dad the rest of the evening. The next day we didn’t do much of anything, but we did make it to Cassandra’s for class. She’s not a bad little teacher—although I feel like everything she does, every combination, every correction, and everything she says, comes from someone else. But she has taken from some excellent teachers so I guess that’s all that matters. We took class again the next day with Cassandra and went shopping in the afternoon. We bought Mom a plant for Mother’s Day and Andra a needlepoint identical to mine. She is interested in learning how to do it and I said I would teach her. We went to the Willows with Mom for a late lunch. Mom and Dad went to a wedding in the evening so Ann, Mike and I saw “Goodbye Girl”. I didn’t expect to be so impressed. The next day was class again at Cassandra’s in the morning. I spent most of the rest of the day helping Ann with her needlepoint. Carla and Bear arrived before dinner as Bear is staying with Mom while Carla takes a 17-day course at Northern Kentucky University. She talked about divorce all night. Poor Jerry and Bear!

May 14^th to May 16^th – It was Mother’s Day. We went to church, ate lunch, gave Mom her plant and split. We were off to Pittsburgh for an audition on Monday morning. We stayed with Ev and Edith Stetson and their gorgeous son, Paul—Mike’s Uncle, Aunt and Cousin. They served us a huge meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, broccoli and cake. We’re going to be porky for Patrick Franz. We took a little sightseeing tour of Pittsburgh and retired early. On Monday, we both felt we didn’t do well at the audition so we were pleased to hear Patrick wanted us to come back again Tuesday. We went to the unemployment bureau and watched rehearsal until about 4:00. We were tired and sore—the class was a killer. Edith outdid herself with a great steak dinner and then we killed them at bridge. Neither of us slept well that night. On Tuesday, we did much better at the barre but the center was even worse than Monday. Mike and I were in despair and were sure Patrick wasn’t interested in hiring us. He hardly paid any attention to us; and whenever he did glance our way, it was when I was falling out of a pirouette or falling off balance. We went to his office after class and were astounded to hear that he liked us. He has to see two more guys but he liked us a lot. He said I have a beautiful line and he’s very, very interested in Mike. Starting pay is between $650 and $750/month. Cincinnati Ballet was only $500 so we were elated. We stopped at Sue’s Mom’s for lunch on our way out of town. It was great to see her but she wouldn’t let us stay too long. We had driving to do and she doesn’t like people driving at night. We arrived in Cincinnati at about 7:30 and Sue had a lasagna waiting. It is nice to have friends!

May 17^th – We took McLain’s class with me on Pointe today. We expected to talk to him afterward but he had a meeting. We went to Linda’s to watch the ballet that night. Their house is gorgeous. I love the way it is decorated. The downstairs is like an old-fashioned garden party and the upstairs is all wall-papered with a big brass bed. It is really charming! The ballet was out-of-this-world. Each ballet topped the one before it. Les Sylphides with Ivan Nagy, Eleanor D’Antouno, Becky Wright and Marianna Tcherkasky. Eleanor was lovely—so soft and lyrical. I have never seen her dance better. Of course, Ivan was the epitome of poets. Fernando Bujones and Markarova danced a brilliant Don Q. She’s only been back dancing about a week since she had her baby, but she was so “on”. Fernando is just too perfect---they look so good together. Then Gelsey Kirklland and Baryshnikov dancing Theme and Variations took my breath away. The only ballet that was disappointing was Firebird with Cynthia Gregory and Leslie Browne. It wasn’t their fault—the choreography was just so simplistic. We talked to Mark and Linda about Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and our possibilities. They’re really down on McLain but naturally want us to live in Cincy.

May 18^thto 20^th – Thursday, we took Truitte and then Sabline’s classes today. Truitte was actually just right for us. We almost knew everything for a change. Sabline’s class was so much fun. The difference between the way he teaches and the way McLain teaches is night and day. We talked to Sabline for about an hour after class while waiting to talk to McLain. Sabline sure is an interesting man. McLain was discouraging. Now he won’t know until June 15^th whether he can hire us or not—it really depressed us. I went and picked up a form for graduate school and had my transcript sent over. It is a just-in-case measure. It took me the rest of the night to fill it out and send in my recommendation forms. But now it’s done. The following day we took modern with Kathleen Stone. She killed our bodies while boring our minds to death. McLain taught an awful Pointe class that made me want to quit. It was all balancing and fast footwork, neither of which is my forte. Mike called North Carolina School of the Arts when we got home and they said come and audition. That perked us up. We went to the zoo and saw all sorts of interesting animals. Saturday we took class with James in the morning and we both had another “I-want-to-quit-ballet day.” We went to a dance shop and I tried on some Freed Pointe shoes but they didn’t have my size. I went shopping with Sue who was buying presents for Mike’s folk’s birthdays. The guys fixed dinner. It was great if you like lobster, but I couldn’t even eat it because the smell was so awful. The girls cleaned up and we all sat around the rest of the night exhausted and in a drunken stupor. Saturday Night Live was great!

May 21^st – Sunday Mike and I went to church together at St. Ann’s. It was actually fine because the sermon was interesting. I got dressed to lie in the sun after we did a short barre in the basement; but by that time, the sun had decided to go behind the clouds for the rest of the day. Instead of sunbathing, Mike and I dusted and vacuumed the downstairs—we were happy to do it because Sue is always so swamped with work. Her Mike was off at King’s Island shooting pictures of the animals. I washed and curled my hair to look nice for our big audition in North Carolina. We sat around the remainder of the day resting up and enjoying life.

Written June 21^st – A whole month later and we are still in the same predicament. Monday, May 22^nd, we went to North Carolina. It was a very interesting and thoroughly enjoyable experience except for the nerves that always come with auditioning. The family we stayed with—Stan Ware, his wife Karen, and their daughter Ramona, were the perfect hosts. The whole atmosphere reminded us a lot of Ballet Folk—maybe too much. They are, after all, going to Alaska in a Greyhound bus. It does sound like a lot of fun and we were tempted. The first audition day went like most, so we were pleased we had another chance. Robert Lingren gave us the usual “definite maybe” which I always say is much better than a “no”. They will let us know by the end of June. We were back in Cincinnati by midnight on the 24^th.

We took classes Thursday and Friday at U.C. and were a little more encouraged than last week. We saw the dance majors perform on Thursday at noon and that really lifted our spirits. I realized I’ve come a long way since I was one of them. We went to Carla’s for dinner and bridge on Thursday and agreed to come back on Memorial Day to watch the National Ballet’s Giselle. The next day we went to lunch with Linda and talked about ballet and performances. The conversation really made me want to get back on stage. We went to Toledo for the weekend while Sue and Mike went to Sue’s Grandma’s in Akron. The weekend was a welcome rest. We played lots of bridge and relaxed.

I called Pam while we were in Toledo, not expecting her to be there—but she was! Kelly was there too. They came over for dinner one night and we talked Ballet Folk talk. Everyone is going back next season except us. Kelly and Pam made it into Vegas Ballet but decided it wouldn’t be any better than Ballet Folk. George is taking over the school!

We were back in Cincinnati on Memorial Day and went to Carla’s as planned. We were surprised when in walked Rusty and Michael Kim! We were really glad to see them. Rusty ended up taking class with us all week—modern. She was on her way back to New Jersey from Amarillo where she did a show. It was good to see her again and I’m glad someone is still hanging in there in show business.

Sue’s Grandma died so they were gone a good part of the week—we hardly saw them. We went to Toledo again June 3^rd through the 5^th and took Carla and Bear along with us. We really didn’t have anything better to do and we wanted to give Sue and Mike a little time alone since they had such an ordeal with relatives, etc. and the funeral. We had a good time in Toledo mostly just talking and playing bridge. We were back in Cincinnati on Monday for class with Pat Roso. Official classes are over for the year but the Company is meeting with whoever is in town to keep in shape. Unfortunately during that class I injured a tendon in my right hip. It got continually worse until Thursday when I decided I had better skip class altogether. It was doubly depressing because I was trying to get in tip-top shape for the audition for Cleveland Ballet on Sunday, June 11^th. By Friday it was a little better but still nothing to cheer about. We tried to talk to McLain all week but finally we had to leave him a message to call us at my Mom’s the following week. He was supposed to know if he could hire us by June 15^th. We ate our last dinner with Sue and Mike on Friday, June 9^th, and left the following day for Toledo. Upon our arrival, I went with Mom to the pool—I thought maybe the water could help heal my tendon. I also bought an infra-red light and had it on my hip flexor all evening. I must say I didn’t have much hope for it getting better even so. Mike, Dad and Joe worked on getting the house ready to paint. The folks are paying us $3.00/hour and that is going to come in mighty handy. We are about out-of-cash even with the $100 Mom gave us.

Sunday, June 11^th, we auditioned for Cleveland Ballet. It was an excellent audition. We did everything! The girls—about 20 of us—danced from 12:00 to 3:00 and the guys from 3:00 to 5:00. Mike and I were both among the callbacks who then danced from 5:00 to 8:00. It was excrutiating but wonderful as far as experience goes. We did a lot of Pointe work and lots of pirouettes. I have been practicing them lately and I did well. I would say I was about the 2^nd or 3^rd best of the women but Mike was 1^st of the men. Dennis Nahat is definitely a charismatic personality. They have another audition in New York City on July 18^th so we won’t know anything until after that. Again, at least it wasn’t a “no”. We also met some nice people—July and Lucas from Dayton were two of the nicest. It surprised me but by 5:00, my hip flexor was feeling pretty good. Monday, 12^th, we rested and worked on the house. On Tuesday through Thursday, we danced and worked on the house. We gave ourselves class at Cassandra’s and we worked like mad.

We had a 2-hour audition on June 16^th in Chicago for San Antonio Ballet. We drove there and back the same day. I have never done so well at any audition. I don’t know why but my brain and body clicked. They were very interested and will let us know in two weeks. The pay is great--$170/week for 52 weeks. They are paying their dancers through grant money from CETA—I don’t know what that stands for. We saw Birute when we were there. She is definitely not working for Ballet Folk this year. JoAnn says George wants to go on the National tour and Birute doesn’t want to be stuck in Moscow teaching kids. I don’t blame her one bit.

June 17^th through 19^th we scraped and patched the house, and rested from dancing for a few days. On Sunday, June 18^th, Mom, Dad and I went to a party for Anne Marie Nachtrab’s graduation. I saw Julie, who is a year younger than I am, with her two kids and it made me feel ancient. It also made me realize how long we’ve been away. I also saw Tom Ainsworth, Nancy’s brother. I have always liked him a lot and he has turned into quite a cool dude. On Tuesday, we started going to class again. I bought some Freed Pointe shoes in Chicago and they just might work. Mom and I also went to the pool—it was a perfect day. We took class again on the 21^st. I am proud of us for staying in such good shape for so long. I wish we would hear something soon. Pittsburgh is definitely out. Mike called him and said the Director sounded sorry but there was nothing they could do. They just didn’t need a woman. That creep, McLain, never even called. We’re lucky to be rid of him. North Carolina, San Antonio, Cleveland—which will it be? I just hope someone, anyone says they want us.

Written on August 3^rd – It has been ages since I’ve written anything and a lot has happened. We really started working on the house in earnest after our last audition. We continued taking class at least four days a week at Cassandra’s. After working all week and eleven hours on Friday, June 23^rd, Mike and I had a night out and went to JoJo’s for lasagna. Mom and Dad had their couple’s bridge club that night. While we were waiting for our dinner, the cashier came and told us we had a phone call. We couldn’t imagine who it could be. It was Dad. San Antonio Ballet had called and we were supposed to return the call by 11:00 p.m. We were in a state of euphoria—at least I was. Mike was a little hesitant, maybe because he was hoping for Cleveland. When we got back to the house, he explained his fears more fully. “What if they just want me?” Well he was right—in a way. They weren’t sure about me yet—something about three girls on probation and the fact that CETA doesn’t like two people from the same family on the same grant. Well, I was depressed.

We painted and danced the rest of the week. We made several other calls—to Atlanta, Dallas, Baltimore, Houston, etc. We had Mike’s Dad find out about classes in Syracuse. We were almost finished with the house and we had to go back to Utica soon. We went to Rudy and Nancy’s on June 27^th for dinner and to catch up. It was a very hot day and both Mike and I were feeling down about still not hearing from anyone else. Their baby, Courtland, is a doll and he thought the world of Mike. Mike kept running around the yard with him on his shoulder and he loved it. When we got home, there was a message for me to call Nancy Smith in San Antonio. Great news! They want us both!! I forgot to mention that after the first call, Mike told them he would love to work for them but that it had to be both of us. So I guess his strategy worked. I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. Thank God we have a job! We knew almost nothing about the Company but it didn’t seem to matter. It wasn’t as if we had a million other choices—or even one. Funny thing though—Duluth Ballet called the very next day. They had heard from George that we were looking for a job. We just told them, “Well, not any more.” We finished up the house on June 30^th—well all but the windows. We left them for Dad.

I took Mom, Aunt Pat, Aunt Mary and Grandma to the airport in Detroit the next day. They were off to Mexico. Poor Grandma broke her rib about four days before; but she decided if she’s going to be in pain anyway, she may as well be in pain in Mexico. On the way home from Detroit, I ran out of gas. First I got lost and that had something to do with it. I was getting off the exit to buy some when it happened. Luckily I was close enough to walk to the gas station. I also got some help from a painter who picked me up as I was walking back to the car with the 5-gallon gas can. He dropped me off at the car. I didn’t figure I would have any trouble after that, but the dumb car wouldn’t start. Just as I was despairing and calling Mike, the painter came back and started it for me. I will be eternally grateful.

That evening we celebrated by going to the movies to see “Heaven Can Wait” with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie. It was very touching. We had already decided to leave the next day for Utica. Ann was sorry to see us go. It was just her and Dad for four days. Joe was at a national Frisbee tournament. He could have won $25,000 but the team didn’t do as well as they had hoped. Terry was off to Florida every weekend to visit Dick Rhodes, her new beau. He is rich and the nephew of the Governor of Ohio. He is madly in love with her and has already asked her to marry him. She is talking about moving down there with him to give it a trial run. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the only smart thing to do. Carl and Mary are already having marital problems—I sure hope they can work it out. After all, they have one child already and another on the way. It is just too difficult these days to support kids and a wife when you’re not together. Carla is having the same problems with Jerry. She is desperate to get divorced but just doesn’t see how she can manage it with the cost of housing, schooling, babysitting, etc. I just feel so sorry for Bear because he loves his Mom and Dad both so much. Carla is already looking for a job in accounting. She will finish up in two years taking one course per quarter in night school.

Well—on to Utica. It wasn’t such a bad drive and it was great to see Mom and Dad Hurd and Todd again. We immediately set to work scraping, puttying and painting again—this time, outside windows. We had a fun few days and then ate dinner at the Yaunundassis on July 4^th (I had my usual steak and lobster tail). We went to the fireworks after dinner but were disappointed as they weren’t as spectacular as Toledo’s. The rest of the week we drove to Syracuse every morning to take class with the Syracuse Ballet and then painted all afternoon. We played a lot of bridge in the evenings. The classes were great—Sirpa Salatino teaches the Vaganova method and her classes are so organized and strength building. When we arrived, Sirpa and Tony thought we were auditioning which we might have been if we hadn’t taken the job in San Antonio. Syracuse Ballet was a small company with a short season and they didn’t pay well so it wouldn’t have been ideal. We didn’t have to pay for class which was great as we had to save our money to move. Sirpa and Tony said it was too bad we already had jobs because they could have really used us. This caused us some trouble later when we applied for unemployment. The only problem with the classes was that they were from 9:00 to 11:00 in the morning. This meant we had to get up at 6:45 to leave for Syracuse by 7:30. We got home everyday about 12:30 and immediately set to work painting. After we finished the windows, we painted the porch. We stayed on this schedule from July 6^th to July 14^th. On July 12^th we went to Vernon Downs with Mom, Dad and the Senior Citizens. We had a great time and even came away $30 richer! I must say we had incredible luck. We won 6 out of 7 races usually betting the 2^nd place horse.

On June 15^th, we left Utica for a little vacation—just the two of us. The first day, we drove up to Westport, New York, and visited Camp Dudly, where Michael had spent many a summer. We also toured Fort Ticonderoga and ended up in Saratoga Springs. We were really in need of a vacation after all the classes and painting we had been doing over the past six weeks. We had earned $800 although a good portion of it had already gone for rent, car payment and gas bills. We were both getting $54/per week unemployment and we really worked for it. We were in unemployment offices in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Toledo, Utica, Syracuse and Moscow and each one did things a little differently. The man in Utica didn’t fill out the statement correctly explaining why we had turned down the job in Syracuse; so we hadn’t received a check since July 1^st. I am sure they will get it straightened out eventually.

We saw New York City Ballet that first night in Saratoga Springs and it was so wonderful. The whole atmosphere of the place made it all the better—the weather was perfect. Merrill Ashley and Heather Watts were my two favorite dancers. We saw Bournonville Divertisments, Ivesiana and Jerome Robbin’s An Evening’s Waltzes. We stayed in a darling little cabin just down the road from the outdoor theatre. The following day we drove on a little back road over the mountains to Boston and John and Elaine’s house. I only almost got us killed twice. We arrived about 3:00 and talked until dinner. They took us out to Osaka, a Japanese restaurant where the chefs cook your food right on the table in front of you. The steak and shrimp were delicious. Then they took us to the top of the Prudential building for drinks. We had a nice time even though Elaine did 75% of the talking. She has certainly has had an interesting life.

The following day we planned to walk the Freedom Trail but it was pouring rain. I have been reading John Jakes’ “Bicentennial” series of books so I was in a very historical mood. Instead we visited the Christian Science Center which didn’t really thrill me. We also found a dance shop and I got some Freed Pointe shoes which I needed desperately. We visited Fanuil Hall and we ate in Haymarket Square. We were back at John and Elaine’s by 4:00. We left immediately for Middletown, Connecticut, to see Wesleyan University where Mike went to college. It was a beautiful campus and I even got to meet one of Mike’s old professors.

Next we drove over to Moodus, Connecticut, to surprise Rusty and Dennis with a visit; but, unfortunately, they weren’t home. It was a beautiful drive there and back to Middletown where we spent the night. The following day we went sightseeing—we walked through Gillette Castle in East Hadaam, Connecticut, and then took the ferry across the Connecticut River to Mystic Seaport. In the afternoon, we looked at old ships and then drove to Fairfield, Connecticut, to drop in on Mike’s cousin, D’Anne and husband, Dan. We had some difficulty finding their place since Mike had D’Anne’s office phone and had her street name spelled Stratford instead of Stratfield. With my ingenuity and a phone book, we managed to locate them. They were happy to see us and we had a great time although we only stayed a few hours. By the time we left, I felt like they were our best friends. We even talked about them visiting us in Texas. They have tons of money—Dan is a stockbroker and D’Anne a legal Secretary. They are trying to sell their condominium to help pay for their new $100,000 house. We left D’Anne’s for New York City to spend the night with Kevin. He has been doing great and has quite a massage service going. He is also going to college to get his physical therapy license. We were too tired to stay up late talking which was a good thing as Kevin had to be at school early in the morning. We left at about 10:00 for the Catskills and Utica.

It was a very hot day—we drove to Ferndale looking for Mr. Sabline. We knew he was at a ballet camp in the Catskills but that was all. After one failure, we found out via Sue via David McLain’s Secretary that he was only about three miles from where we were. He was very surprised to see us but couldn’t talk long because he had a soccer game. I drove the rest of the way to Utica getting stopped once by a cop. Mike insisted that the only reason I didn’t get a ticket was my shorty shorts.

It was good to be back in Utica although we didn’t stay long. We had lunch with Grammie the next day and were off to Buffalo. We stayed with Doug, who fixed us a delicious dinner, and then drove out to look at Niagara Falls by night with Doug and his girlfriend, Cynthia. They both had to work early the next day so we didn’t stay up late. In the morning we stopped at the Falls again, walked miles and rode the Maid of the Mist. We drove to Toledo through Canada and arrived at about 7:00 that night.

Friday, July 21^st, we lounged around the pool all day and Jerry and Bear came that evening. Carla couldn’t make it because of exams. She had already missed four days because of a tooth infection and felt she needed the time alone to study. We just hung around and relaxed in Toledo over the next few days. We swam, played bridge and Mike put a $100 dent in the car backing out of a parking place and turning the front wheel into a pole. Oh well, it’s only money.

Tuesday, July 25^th was a great day—Bear, Mom, Carl, Mary and Mike and I went to Cedar Point. Everyone had a super time. Carl, Mike and I went on the Gemini—the world’s fastest roller coaster. I was terrified. I carried Bear through the Fun House because he was scared, but later he said it was his favorite ride. I also won Bear a rubber shark when a man guessed my age as 20. I felt we all bonded as a family and were closer after that day. We went to the pool the next afternoon and left for Cincinnati at about 4:00. Bear was really sad when we told him we wouldn’t see him until Christmas. We spent that night at Sue’s. She told us McLain had asked for our phone number when Kay and Patrick quit, but that it was too late. Sue told him we already had a job with San Antonio. It must be for the best. The following day we ran errands and went out to lunch. We ate dinner with Sue and Mike and then left for Carla and Jerry’s. We spent the night there, talked a lot and even got in a rubber of bridge. It was sad leaving for San Antonio in the morning. The drive was long and hot but not too eventful. We stopped and slept for three hours in a Rest Area once we reached Texas. We arrived in San Antonio on July 29^th at about 11:00 a.m.

We drove around for awhile until we got directions to what we thought was the studio. It turned out to be Nancy Smith’s house. Her mother said she was out at the Mall and would be back about 1:00 so we said we would call her then. We drove over to the studio and ran into Marek, the Artistic Director. He welcomed us to town but said he couldn’t help. “Talk to Nancy”, was all he kept saying. So we went to the Mall, ate lunch and drove back to Nancy’s but she still wasn’t home. She showed up a little while later and gave Mike the phone number of a woman who could help us find a nice apartment. I managed to ask Nancy a few questions before we left, and I didn’t like the answers. Everyone in the Company is on CETA and they don’t realize they can’t do that next year. Oh well, we’ll worry about that later. We said “goodbye” and went looking for an apartment. We found a beautiful place at the Antonian Apartments #K7. The apartment itself was over 1,000 square feet with 3 swimming pools plus air conditioning—quite a difference from our small hovel in Moscow.

We drove to the airport to buy tickets back to Spokane and found out it’s almost impossible to get there. We got tickets to Denver and decided to worry about the rest of the way once there. We stayed in a cheap motel that night and left San Antonio on July 30^th less than 24 hours after we arrived. We dropped our car off at the Antonian where they promised to look after it and we took a cab to the airport. We arrived in Denver at 10:00 and immediately went to the United ticket counter. Miracle of miracles, they had two seats on a direct flight to Spokane. The man behind the counter was dumbfounded. He said he hadn’t seen a seat on that plane since April, before Northwest went on strike. If we had been a second earlier or later, the seats might have been gone. Someone must have just cancelled.

We called Steve and Patricia to pick us up and caught up on the dirt on the drive home. George is now Artistic Director! He’s not taking over the school after all. Jamie, one of the new men, was already fired. The new girl broke her toe. Theresa and Betsy have all the parts this year—Barb isn’t doing much of anything. Jan quit and most everyone else wants to too. It’s too bad Ballet Folk has so many personnel problems because the money is there. We went to the Biscuitroot with Steve and Pat for a few beers after we politely told Johnny he had to move out. He had been staying at our place since he and Leslie started having problems. We went over to George’s and had a great time—he sure is a nice person when you’re not working for him. Even Mike admitted that.

The rest of the week we took class, watched rehearsal and got our affairs in order. We also ordered some pictures and had some slides reprinted. We are looking good as far as our dancing goes. We didn’t lose much being off. Rod—who is doing Mike’s part in Rainmaker is really good. They got lucky to find him—I hope he stays. Pam has her doubts about Theresa staying. From what I hear, she is a spoiled little rich girl. We went to Pam and Kelly’s for dinner on Tuesday. We are sure going to miss them. In the evening we went to the dress rehearsal for the opening performance in Coeur d’Alene. The rehearsal went well; but the whole next day, everyone complained that no one had said a kind word. Some things never change.

Friday, August 4^th, Mike and I started packing. We planned to do a little everyday so it wouldn’t be such a burden. We cleaned all the silver and packed it in a box plus we emptied many kitchen drawers. Saturday was the “big show”. We went to the reservoir until about 3:00 and saw Patty Moehnert there with her two kids. We talked a lot about the early days of Ballet Folk. We had a nice motorcycle ride to Coeur d’Alene. The performance was interesting—I am sure we didn’t see it as any other audience member would. We are real critics, but we were pleased with the total. The ride back was excrutiatingly cold—we had to stop three times for coffee and whiskey because we were both shaking so badly. I took a hot bath when we got home just to warm up.

Sunday was a lazy day. Steve and Patricia came over for wine in the evening and George also stopped by. I’m glad we are friends again. George complained of a sore back and Mike thought he may have pulled something during warm-up—it ended up being shingles. Mike joked, “When he was Ballet Master, he had migraines, now that he’s Artistic Director, he has shingles. If he ever becomes Director, he will probably pass away!” The day was August 6^th, the day Pope Paul VI died.

On Monday Barb taught because George was still feeling puny. A new girl to replace Jan (who left without a word) named, Rose, came today. We recognized her from Syracuse. She told us that Sirpa told her we had said terrible things about Ballet Folk. Are all Directors sneaky and conniving? Tuesday Barb taught again. Jaye called me out of class to ask if Mike and I would take over the Rainmaker rehearsals. We couldn’t have been happier. We went to the unemployment office yesterday and it doesn’t look like we will be getting anything more from them. So we started working again that afternoon. It went well—we surprised ourselves. I think Jaye was sufficiently impressed too. They might as well take advantage of our knowledge while we are still there. Barb, Ben and Rose came over after dinner. We had a nice reminiscent chat about past tours. Rose is going to fit in just fine!

Wednesday, August 9^th, we decided to have a yard sale with Mark from downstairs. He is going to take care of the ad. All we have to do is price and sell our stuff. We went to Steve and Patricia’s for a party—Rod, Barb, Ben, Betsy and Rose came too. Rod should have been a comedian. He had us roaring with stories about auditions and classes in New York. We are still working on Rainmaker.

Thursday, rehearsal was over early so we spent the afternoon getting ready for the sale. I forgot to mention I taught Company class yesterday—I got a lot of good comments. Rod taught today and Leslie is teaching tomorrow. I thought Rod did a great job—he will be a good teacher someday. He really gets a lot of joy from dancing and that definitely helps his teaching. We went to George’s later in the day and it was just like old times. He is feeling better and planning on teaching again on Monday.

We invited the Company over for first pickins from the yard sale. Rod came with Sharon, Jamie’s girlfriend. They wanted the rug so that was $35 right there. Leslie bought about $5 worth, John $1, Rose $15, Ben $4—not bad for one evening. Saturday, the actual day of the yard sale, was a miserable day. It was freezing and pouring rain. Luckily one of Mark’s friends had a tarp that we used as a tent over the whole front lawn. I was amazed at the turnout in the morning. We started at 9:00 with four carloads of customers. They came pretty steadily until noon. We also had some barefoot, robed “Christians” come by to ask for coffee and tell us that “no materialism, no sex and no killing were the keys to heaven.” It was an enjoyable, if freezing, day. Almost the whole Company came by at one time or another. We made about $40 bringing the total to $100. Jaye may still buy our air conditioner for $90. Not bad for a bunch of worthless junk! We went to dinner at Leslie’s after watching Nureyev and Miss Piggy at Jon’s. We had a nice, relaxed time eating steak, potatoes and salad. We also all got pleasingly drunk.

On Sunday I went to Church; and when I returned, I found out Jaye had called. She wants us to come with George to the Biscuitroot for coffee at 1:00. We wondered what the big secret could be. We were amazed and overjoyed! Mike and I will be doing a farewell gala performance with the Company on August 25^th. We will perform Property, Water Colors pas de deux, and Rainmaker. The Julliard people are coming to adjudicate the Company for the State Department’s possible European tour. The Company will look good and we get paid. Sounded like a great arrangement to us. We didn’t find out how much we would be paid until the next day—we get the whole house take minus expenses! It could be up to $1,000 and not less than $600. We were ecstatic. It will pay for our move and more! The rest of the afternoon we played tennis with Steve and Patricia. They cooked hamburgers on the grill and we had a quiet evening watching Masterpiece Theatre.

I talked to Mom the next day. She has been having asthma pretty bad lately and it is worrying her. She finally went to the doctor and got an inhaler. I hope it helps. Mary is due in October. Terry has moved to Florida to be with her boyfriend and the family hasn’t heard a word from her.

On Monday, George was back and he started working on Tarantella. We are still rehearsing Rainmaker and it is coming along. We will be leaving Idaho on the August 26^th, right after the performance. We had our last Rainmaker rehearsal on August 16^th. We started running Property and Rainmaker everyday. The rehearsals went well. I gave Pam some of the Pointe shoes I had left that the Company had bought. JoAnn is going to pay me for them. That’s good because it means there is still money coming in. We paid off our car with our savings as we wanted to have as few bills as possible. We got a little tipsy at Pam and Kelly’s on Harvey Wall Bangers but it was well worth it.

On August 18^th Mike got another unemployment check. We weren’t expecting it so it was a pleasant surprise. Laurie (the child who is going to run the school) taught today. We all nearly fell asleep. Mike and I were finished with rehearsal by 2:00. I read Volume VI of the Bicentennial series—I love them! On August 19^th we went to dinner with Steve and Patricia and then played bridge at their house. They are not bad players. It’s too bad we never got around to playing before. The next day, Sunday, Mike and I went to the studio to work out. Now that’s dedication. I also finally finished my needlepoint. We went to George’s possibly for the last time.

On Monday, Gordon, the new tech guy, came over to check out our apartment. It looks like he will be living there once we leave—right now he’s sleeping in his truck. Wednesday we had a complete run-through and it really tuckered us out. Thursday, the lady from Julliard watched class and dress rehearsal. I thought it went really well; but Jaye, as usual, was frantic and called an extra rehearsal for Friday. There were two people auditioning from the National Ballet of Illinois in Champagne which just folded. They weren’t very good—I certainly wouldn’t hire them. After rehearsal, Mike went and rented the truck we will drive to Texas. Ben and Gordon came over and loaded all the big stuff. The place looked so bare—it was painful. That evening we went to the Biscuitroot for the last time. We stopped downstairs for a little while to say “goodbye” to Mark and Len.

I started feeling sick right after dinner. I was sure it was just something I had eaten and that I would feel better in the morning. When I woke up, however, I felt worse than ever. I dragged myself to class because I thought it might make me feel better, but I couldn’t even make it through the class. I tried taking a nap but I had diarrhea all afternoon. I started throwing up at about 3:00. I couldn’t eat or drink anything without throwing it up or having to use the potty again. I was really depressed. The biggest performance of my life was just a few hours away and I didn’t know if I could perform. I felt terrible through putting my make-up on and through warm-up. I felt really dumb too because I figured my illness had to be partly psychosomatic or caused by nerves.

The performance was SOLD OUT. They had to turn hundreds away and there were people sitting in the aisles. Thank God it went terrifically! We were fabulous or so everyone said. The final applause was deafening, I was given a beautiful bouquet that looked like a wedding bouquet. I cried buckets especially when everyone came into the dressing room. When Ruthie, Annie and Donna came in, I really lost it. Carl even cried. George had a party afterward and I was sorry I felt so shitty. I wanted to celebrate but the thought of champagne made me sick. I drank ginger ale and water. I talked to Jon a lot and wondered what will happen to him.

The lady from Julliard really loved the Company so I think Europe is a lock. It was terrible when it came time to say “goodbye” to everyone. Jaye was the hardest. She is a strange lady; but in her way, she liked me. It felt wonderful to be in bed at last. We got up Saturday, August 26, our last day in Idaho. Steve, Patricia and Jon came over to help and they did a lot of that. We never would have made it without them. We didn’t realize how many trips up-and-down the steps we had left. We were out-of-town by noon. We left one thing—the bottle of champagne Steve and Patricia bought us as a going away present. We felt bad but there was no turning back. On to the next phase of our lives.

BALLET FOLK 5TH YEAR – DECEMBER 18, 1977 TO MARCH 30, 1978

2011-03-18T11:26:00.000-07:00

December 18^th – Sunday, I had just enough time to get up, shower and go to church before Mike had the car all packed. The train left at 5:15 but we wanted to leave in plenty of time in case of bad weather. The weather turned out to be fine and we had eaten dinner and were headed to the train station by 4:00. Because of unforeseen circumstances—a washed out bridge and a heart attack—our train didn’t arrive until 7:00 and wasn’t on its way until 7:30. We headed for the Club Car about 7:31. We met a group of railroad men traveling home after six months of hard labor and they were in the mood for partying. We partied right along with them far into the night.

December 19^th – Monday, trains are my favorite mode of travel and the Empire Builder is my favorite train. Almost everyone on the train is traveling across the country so there’s plenty of time to get to form friendships. The Sky Cars are a real escape—a 24-hour jam session went on in one of them. The bar constantly ran out of booze; the dining car ran out of eggs, but the jamming went on. During our dinner with a not-quite-right-in-the-head religious fanatic, a man approached us and asked if we were dancers. He had seen both of our shows in Klamath Falls. We’re getting famous!

December 20^th – Tuesday, I had prunes for breakfast and they worked all day. We arrived in Chicago four hours late so we only had an hour-and-a-half layover. It was good to feel firm ground under our feet. We called Mark and Irene, (Mike’s friend from college) and are going to see them on our way back through. We also called Birute but there was no answer. The Lake Shore Limited was cramped and stifling hot so (what else) we sought refuge in the bar. This time we were lectured on racism by a black Navy man who caused quite a commotion before he passed out. We also met Susan, an artist living in Chicago, who we liked instantly. We hated to say good-bye.

December 21^st – Wednesday, we ate breakfast with an English teacher from Milwaukee and his wife. They were interested to hear about life in the West. We arrived in Utica only two hours late. Mom, Todd and Peter met us and it was a wonderful reunion. Almost as soon as we arrived at One Jordan Road, we left for the Mall. We bought our last Christmas gift and also picked out Mom’s gift to us. She had given us a package with a slip of paper in it that said, “Good for anything.” The anythings seem to be getting more expensive every year. Linda came over for dinner with Stephanie and we played cards until her bedtime. I slept like a baby, able to stretch out at last.

December 22^nd – Thursday, we did some exercise in the morning and it felt good after sitting for three days straight. Then we wrapped all 29 presents! We went to Grammy’s for hot buttered rum and cookies in the afternoon and I pigged out. Bruce Barber was there and the jokes were flying fast. What an interesting sense of humor both he and his mother have. He told a story about a little boy putting a gold fish bowl on his head in the subway; his mother pulled him screaming off the train after putting his little cap on top of the bowl. Bruce’s mother told how she had been standing on the subway once and dropped her handkerchief into the lap of a man with his fly unzipped. Embarrassed, he stuffed the handkerchief into his pants and zipped it up. We played bridge at night without Mike. He wasn’t feeling well and went to bed at 7:00.

December 23^rd – Friday, I knitted until it was time to go to the Yahnundasis. Jaye’s leotard is all finished except for the sleeves. I was feeling asthmatic so I took a pill and shook until I had two martinis. The lobster tail and hot fudge sundae were the best I’ve ever eaten. Doug arrived from Buffalo just as everyone was being served dessert so we stayed extra long. I had two dramboui and was floating. Doug came over, kissed me and whispered, “God! Are you gorgeous!” He’s one-in-a-million and what a face! We played bridge until 2:00 a.m.

December 24^th – Saturday was the day of the big Hurd get-together. Everyone was there. This time the martinis didn’t seem to calm me. My hands shook uncontrollably from the medication. I mostly talked to Linda and Thelma but also had conversations with Bart, Nancy and Marsha. I hope I remember them next time. I ate dinner with Uncle Earl and Doug and we talked about dance. Mike and I played bridge with Linda and Peter until about midnight when Doug took over for Mike. We continued for another couple of hours.

December 25^th – Christmas, Wow! What a bash!! The gifts from us seemed to go over very big and we got some great things too. Everything fit except one pair of shoes. We’re having lots of things shipped because we can’t possibly carry all of it back on the train. Mrs. Neuthardt was sick this year so the boys went down there instead of her coming to us. Mike and I went to Grandma Hurd’s. She looked thinner than ever. Later we learned how to play Whist from Sandy and Michael (John’s wife, Elaine’s, oldest daughter and her husband) until dinner was ready. We packed and played bridge until it was time to go to the train station. I’ve never had better cards in my life—we killed them.

December 26^th – Monday, the train ride was sheer hell! First it was stifling hot and then I had an asthma attack. Two African-American teenage girls were talking at the top of the lungs all night long. We were two hours late—as usual. Mom and Dad looked great—Dad had on a pair of blue jeans and Mom had her hair cut really short and had a new pair of glasses.

We started playing bridge almost immediately. Carl, Mary and Baby Carl arrived about 4:00 followed by Terry, Carla, Jerry and Bear. It was a great reunion. The first thing Bear said was, “I missed you, Aunt Dee.” Ann’s boyfriend, Dave, came over too and Mike and I picked up Grandma and Aunt Mary. We had our usual Christmas pageant with Jerry singing “Oh Holy Night”, our “Shepherd’s Awake” and finishing with “Drummer Boy”. Mike is so good on those “rum pum pum pums”. We got great gifts from everyone. Carla gave us a beautiful quilt that I hate to cover up with my string-crocheted bedspread. She loved the legwarmers and the slippers were a big hit with everyone except Bear and Joe. Mom gave both Mike and I a new outfit and everything fit perfectly; we couldn’t get over it. We also got lots of money something we can always use. We finished the night with some great bridge. It’s good to be home.

December 27^th – Tuesday, I bought some $27 perfume—I’m worth it. I stretched out and did a short barre; I even put on my Pointe shoes. We played bridge and went to Grandma’s for a party with the Welch’s and Bercher’s. Later in the day we saw Terry’s new apartment (exactly like her) and Carl and Mary’s new house. Little Carl is actually walking already and is built like a football player.

December 28^th – Wednesday, we danced again in the morning and then I worked on Jaye’s leotard. We played bridge and watched the dance company, Philobulus. Mom really liked it. We drank one of the bottles of wine that Todd gave us for Christmas—the second of four. Everyone really seems to be enjoying it. Now that I think of it, Mom never keeps wine in the house—except maybe at Thanksgiving.

December 29^th – Thursday, Rudy and Nancy came over from Freemont. It was really good to see them. They both talked a mile-a-minute for two hours; Mike and I hardly got a word in. I worked on Jaye’s leotard as we talked. The whole family, including Dave and Grandma, went to O’Henry’s. It was great except my jaw was bothering me again. I shouldn’t have eaten that Granola this morning. We polished off bottle #3 after dinner playing bridge.

December 30^th – Friday, I’m heartbroken—I don’t think the leotard is going to fit Jaye. I did everything I could think of to make it bigger. It was our last day in Toledo and we savored the last bottle of wine as we played bridge for the last time.

December 31^st – Saturday, the train was over 2 hours late—so what’s new? We couldn’t even sit together it was so full—and it was also about 90 degrees in the coaches. We slept most of the trip. We called Mark as soon as we arrived in Chicago and took a cab over to their apartment. They both looked good—Irene a little thinner even though she’s 5 months pregnant—and Mark a little fatter. We drank and talked and drank and ate and drank and talked some more. Irene showed us her collection of antique ink wells which I found fascinating. I wonder how she decided to collect that particular item? Mark drove us back to the train through the newly-fallen snow just in time to say a few words to Birute before the train’s departed. She sounded good but a little tentative about her plans. She still doesn’t know what’s going on with Chicago Ballet. She offered us her house when she found out we’d be going through on our National tour. I hope it works out. On the train we met Tom from Missoula and, with him, we welcomed in the New Year.

January 1, 1978 – Sunday, we spent all day on the train. Our car was freezing when we woke up; but by the time we went to sleep, it was back to 90 degrees. I think I prefer it about 40. Everything went wrong. We ran out of water and had to walk forward two cars every time we had to use the bathroom—also no beer because it was Sunday. To make matters worse, I had a stomach ache all day. We were delayed at every stop because there was no electricity in the baggage car; and at around 10:00 p.m., we stopped for 5 ½ hours because of a derailment ahead of us. We got off the train and had a little bedtime snack which was the only good thing about the whole day.

January 2^nd – By the time we woke up, the train was 12 hours behind schedule. We spent most of the day with Tom and his friend of one night, Kay. It was fun and we even got a free lunch. Later we met some bridge players and ended up playing all evening. Mike and I didn’t do very well—they were excellent defensive players but weren’t so good at bidding. We slept a few hours before our stop and arrived in Spokane about 1:30 a.m.—14 hours behind schedule. The snow was deep and it was a slow ride to Moscow. We met a man and his son on the train who asked for a ride to Moscow, so there were four of us in our little Gremlin. We arrived home about 4:30 a.m. to find the oil heater out and no water. Home was still a welcome sight!

January 3^rd – Tuesday, we unpacked and prepared for Pam all day—we grocery shopped, did laundry and cleaned house. I invited George over for dinner. Jon and Nancy stopped by and so did Barb, Ben and Tom. I had a hard time getting anything done. It was a lucky thing Jon came over because Mike couldn’t get the chains tight enough on the tires. Jon and Mike drove out to the airport to get Pam whose plane was an hour late. (Mike remembered later he had bought the chains to fit our over-sized snow tires, so no wonder!) While we were waiting for Jon and Mike—Nancy, George and I drank beer and smoked pot; we thought they’d never get back. Mike called to say Pam’s luggage hadn’t arrived with her and they were waiting to see if it was on the next plane. By the time they got home, dinner was ruined and I was wasted.

January 4^th – Wednesday, we took class—Mike, Barb, Jan and I. Steven was there also. We invited everyone over to watch Paul Taylor Dance Company but explained they had to leave right after the show. Leslie came over in the afternoon and stayed for dinner—we made pizza and salad. Paul Taylor got mixed reviews. I expected worse so I liked it. Some of the others expected better and were disappointed. Steven’s wife, Patricia, seems very nice but didn’t say much. George, Pam, Mike and I went to Jon and Nancy’s to see their new place—it’s perfect! It is also ideal for parties because the living room is so big. Jon’s kid, Michael, was there and was the life of the party. At one point Wonder Woman was on TV and I asked him if he didn’t think she was beautiful. He said, “You’re much prettier than she is,” and I told him he took after his Dad. Pam stayed the night with us because she still had no luggage.

January 5^th – Thursday, we went back to work. Class was really nice; George was in a great mood. We rehearsed Hoe Down (I dance with Steven), and then ran through ELP. I think I got Mike’s flu; my throat was sore and I ached all over. Pam’s luggage finally arrived so Mike and Pam drove to get it. While they were gone, I took a shower and cleaned the apartment. We finished a joint George brought over two nights ago and had the giggles while we were visiting Steve and Patricia. Steve is really into showing us how much he knows but most of it is B.S. We took Pam to Bill’s because she’s staying there until his Mother gets home from her trip.

January 6^th – Friday, we had a nice class again and a short rehearsal. The rest of the day Pam, Leslie, Bill, Mike and I got wasted. Bill cooked steaks and the girls made the salad. We picked up Steven and Patricia and went to George’s. It was a strange evening; I think Steven’s going to have some trouble until he learns to relax.

January 7^th – Saturday, Leslie gave class. She’s a Russian-style teacher—CRAZY. I’ve never felt so bad after a barre in my life. Tonight we’re going to the disco. Mike was a doll all day; he helped me take ribbons and elastics off old Pointe shoes.

January 8^th – Sunday, last night was a sleeper for me. I had no energy left to dance. I mostly sat and tried to converse with Bill over the music while Mike danced with Pam and Leslie. Sadly, Bill is in love with Pam, but she’s not ready to get involved with anyone yet. He’s so shy around her—it’s not the Bill we’re used to. Pam says he makes her nervous because he never sits still. Poor Bill really has it bad.

Sunday was Bill’s party and it was kind of a dud. No one got very wild. After dinner (cataloni, eggplant parmesan, garlic bread, 3 different salads and 3 desserts) no one could move. It didn’t help the party any that the movie “Nashville” was on and everyone just sat staring at the tube. I was ready to go by 10:00 but Mike was nowhere to be found. He had taken Jan home so I went with Leslie. When he got back to the party and found me gone, he dashed home and explained everything.

Jan has really been bumming him out lately because all she does is make goo-goo eyes at him. He took her home so he could tell her to lay off. There was a big scene and lots of tears and “I love you’s” but Mike told her to forget it and grow up. I sure hope she does because it makes me mad the way she tries to make him pay attention to her. Maybe everything will be better from now on.

January 9^th – Monday, we started rehearsing pretty heavily and were too tired after dinner to do anything. I fell asleep in front of the TV at 10:00.

January 10^th – Tuesday, we had a Company meeting and a shock. Carl took a job as Head of the Idaho Arts Council. He will be moving to Boise and will no longer have any association with Ballet Folk. JoAnn will take over with more help from the Board. Jaye will remain as Artistic Director and will commute.

George, Mike and I rehearsed a few hours in the afternoon. We also worked out the understudy list so we’re covered if anyone is sick or injured. We rehearsed ELP in the evening. We were dead tired but managed a little partying after rehearsal when we took Pam home. It was definitely half-hearted.

January 11^th – Wednesday, wasn’t a bad day. ELP all afternoon but we finished by 3:30. Pam, Steven, Patricia, Mike and I saw “Turning Point”, a dance film. Leslie Browne wasn’t very good but Baryshnikov was marvelous and so were Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine. It’s wonderful that one of the major films of the year is about a ballet company. And the audience seemed to really appreciate all the dancing. We stayed at Steven’s talking until about 1:00. I am starting to like him more. He’s immature but he has a beautiful heart.

January 12^th – Thursday, it was an awful day for toes. We did Debussy until 3:00 and Watercolors until 5:00. I amazed myself at how well I did after being on vacation. Mike is looking good too—so much cleaner and sharper. In the evening, we watched American Ballet Theatre’s “Dance in America” performance with “Billy the Kid” and “Les Patineurs”. The first ballet was really good but I didn’t like the choreography in “Patineurs”. It was boring and repetitive. Steve, Patricia and Pam were over and I don’t think they approved of all my criticism.

January 13^th – Friday, it was another bad toes day. We rehearsed Debussy and Pas de Trois with both casts. I felt I had done well and it gave me confidence in myself. We went to Jon and Nancy’s after dinner and I drank far too much beer. We started talking about seniority in the Company which led to Jon drawing a bus seating arrangement. I think my whole tour would be much better if I didn’t have to sit in front of Chuck. So far we’ve been getting along this year (only 15 days) but it would be nice if it could stay that way.

January 14^th – Saturday, we set up the PAC (Performing Arts Center) for Monday’s taping. Pam, Leslie, Mike and I had lunch at the Biscuitroot and it was delicious. The rest of the afternoon I frustrated myself because I couldn’t seem to get anything done. I did fix my new leotard for ELP but it took forever. Leslie, Mike and I went to see “Kentucky Fried Movie” in the evening and almost the whole Company was there. It was pretty dumb but, had I been in the right mood, I probably would have found it funny. We stopped by the Garden for a drink before heading up to Carl’s “goodbye party”. I perked up considerably after a few glasses of champagne and some chocolate cake—sugar gets me high. It was a good, lively party but sad. However, it’s not like we won’t see him again.

January 15^th – Sunday, I finally got caught up a little on my work. Mike and I cleaned house; I ironed and sewed shoes. Mike left to go to Jonny’s to watch the Superbowl at about 2:00. Maybe that’s why I got so much done—no interruptions.

January 16^th – Monday, I went to the dentist at 9:00 and didn’t have any cavities—yeah! We had class and rehearsal at the PAC and taped the show in the evening. This will get us in shape fast! We had to repeat the final section of ELP because we tripped the circuit breaker with the TV lights on. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

January 17^th – Tuesday, we had class and rehearsal at the PAC. We did Rainmaker, Beauty and Vivaldi. Pam came over for dinner and we made shish-ka-bob. She was really impressed with the whole company but Jan. She went on-and-on about how Jan should be fired because she doesn’t put anything into her dancing. I knew it was bad, but not that bad.

January 18^th – Wednesday, we started working on the lecture demonstration and my mind was miles away. I had gotten a letter from Mom about Ann’s boyfriend, Dave. He killed himself because he was drunk, had taken some pills and thought Andra didn’t love him anymore. The letter was all about his funeral—heartbreaking.

We rehearsed all day and then went back to the PAC in the evening and taped Rainmaker, Vivaldi, Property Pas de Deux and Beauty.

January 19^th – Thursday, We had a lecture demo in the morning at the PAC and rehearsed with the understudies in the afternoon. Later we had a meeting with the Ballet Folk Board about Carl’s leaving. No one could say much of anything because George was there. He let everyone know what side he was on and it was infuriating. Just about everyone went drinking after the meeting.

January 20^th – Friday, we rehearsed the lecture demo until 2:00 and then watched the tapes. The quality was piss-poor. You really couldn’t see much of anything. We all looked good though. Then we went to the bank to get our travelers checks for the upcoming tour. I called Mom and Dad but they were out playing bridge.

Mike and I ate at the Biscuitroot and had a long talk about how we felt about the Company. Ballet Folk has been invited to Seattle to have a ballet set on the Company and Jaye and George decided to send only four dancers—neither Mike nor I were one of them. We felt we deserved to do it because of all the shit we have taken in the past. I burned the hot dish for tomorrow’s dinner—what a scatter-brain.

January 21^st – Saturday, we packed most of the day. I talked to Mom and we planned to meet in Toledo for lunch on February 2^nd. She sounded tired. They will also come to Ft. Pierce, Florida to see us there. Tom and Karen from downstairs came up for a drink. I hope and pray I can keep my sanity for the next 10 weeks.

January 22^nd – Sunday, we left at 8:00—destination Twin Falls, Idaho. I read and started a needlepoint project but didn’t get very far. We were supposed to meet Carl at the Sandpiper in Boise, but it was closed and he wasn’t home so we drove on. By the time we arrived in Twin Falls everything had closed except J.B.’s. We were starved and frozen. It was fun thawing out in our rooms after dinner. We stretched and did a barre—have to keep in shape.

January 23^rd – Monday, we rode all day again and arrived in Rawlins, Wyoming at 8:00 that evening. I was really feeling sick. We shared a two-room suite with Jon and Nancy which only had one bathroom. Of all the days to have diarrhea; I was in the bathroom half the night. We went to dinner but I couldn’t eat much; I was worried about the next day on the bus.

January 24^th – Tuesday, today was painful. Mike bought me some kaopectate which saved me but I still felt awful. It was below zero all day and the bus didn’t warm up. We spent about two hours in Cheyenne at Little America because the tires on the bus needed balancing. It turned out to be more serious than that, but at least we got it fixed. We arrived in Grand Island, Nebraska, late again. But I finally started feeling better.

January 25^th – Wednesday, we drove to Brookings, South Dakota and what an eventful trip. We almost froze to death. The last 60 miles took about 3 hours; because of blowing snow, visibility was almost zero. With the wind chill it was about -60 degrees. We walked to Sambo’s after thawing out—it was 2 blocks away but the coldest 2-block walk of my life. It reminded me of LaCrosse last year.

January 26^th – Thursday, another bitch of a day. Mike left at 9:00 a.m. to go check on the bus with Kelly, and I discovered the door to our motel room wouldn’t close. The Manager told me the room had been broken into once and the door had never been fixed. So I packed up everything and moved all our belongings to another room—what a chore. It was still -30 out. One consolation was that the new room had a bathtub. Mike came back to the old room and was alarmed to find everything gone. When he did find me, it was with bad news. The bus plug for the heater blew out in the night and it would take some time to get it warmed up again. We were supposed to set-up but had to cancel. We barely made it to the lecture demo. George was a real bastard—he kept yelling at everyone. You would think he would understand what we were going through as he was going through it too. After all, we hadn’t had class in 4 days. We rehearsed Rainmaker with the orchestra at 7:30. The temperature in the theatre couldn’t have been more than 60 degrees. It was great to be dancing to an orchestra though and the conductor was a dream!

January 27^th – Friday, we set-up in the morning and had to form an assembly line up a long, narrow flight of stairs. We rehearsed some of the dancers going into new parts. George was better than he had been yesterday but managed to make Jan feel awful. The performance was a big success—we got a warm response from the audience. But at the reception afterward, no one said on word to us—they were probably just shy. We felt like we were still “on stage”. The food was good though.

January 28^th – Saturday, we did Beauty at 11:00 and it was great not to have to do two parts anymore. Unfortunately the bus is sick again. The front-end is dragging on the ground. Kelly thought something was just frozen; but after being in the garage all night, it still wasn’t fixed. Kelly worked on it all afternoon while the dancers sat in two motel rooms and waited. We were on the road to Wausau, Wisconsin, by 5:00—thank God for Kelly. We stopped in Mankato at Mr. Steak and were very disappointed. Now I know never to get lobster at a place like that again. After we arrived, we spent the evening in Jan and Lenore’s room with Steven watching “Saturday Night Live” and the old version of “Star is Born”. Both were well worth staying up for.

January 29^th – Sunday, we checked out at noon and went to set-up—the place was a dump and the stage only 3-floors deep. Too bad because Peter came to watch the performance and take us back to Minneapolis with him. It was still a good show and he really enjoyed it. Linda didn’t come because Stephanie was sick. We stayed up talking, drinking beer and eating pizza until 3:00 a.m.

January 30^th – Monday, we didn’t get up until 10:30. It was wonderful to have a real “day off”. I did needlepoint most of the day. We also ate most of the day—Linda was a wonderful hostess. She fixed bacon and eggs for breakfast; and when we had only just finished that, she fixed tuna, soup and ice cream for lunch. I could get fat in no time living like this. We had spaghetti for dinner and played bridge into the wee hours of the morning—we won!

January 31^st – We took a class from Frank Borman, on leave from Winnipeg, at Minnesota Dance Theatre. I’m in love! What a wonderful sense of humor; he took a lot of interest in us. We sat around in the afternoon and watched Coppelia with the New York City Ballet on TV. Linda cooked a delicious chicken divan for dinner and we played bridge all evening. We won again!

February 1^st – Wednesday, we were on the road, but we didn’t get off to a very good start. Chuck was late because his friend, Stan’s, car wouldn’t start. When we finally left the motel, the bus wouldn’t go faster than 30 mph. We wasted an hour getting back to the University area where Kelly had worked on the bus yesterday. We shopped and ate while the bus was being fixed. It turned out to be bits of rubber in the fuel line. I bought a $20 blouse while we were waiting, so I got something for the inconvenience.

We arrived in Chicago about 11:00 p.m. and our motel was the pits—ice cost $.50. It was a very old hotel and very depressing—it fit my mood. We called Birute but she was vague about everything including us staying with her.

February 2^nd – Thursday, we didn’t arrive in Toledo until 4:00—partly because we didn’t leave Chicago until 9:45, we lost an hour and we had a half-hour pit stop. It all turned out for the best. Mom picked us up at the mall; and by the time we got home, Dad was home from work. Ann was there and Terry came for dinner. We only had 1 ½ hours but we made good use of the time. We hopped back on the bus and arrived in Cleveland about 9:00. We found a nice deli with beer and cheese and had a party.

February 3^rd – Friday, it was a cold ride to Utica—something was wrong with the heater. We arrived at 6:00 to freezing cold rooms. Mom Hurd says Utica is very energy-conscious—unfortunately for us. We froze all the way to Herkimer for class with Barb at 7:30. It took my toes the entire barre to thaw out. We ran through Pas de Trois just in case George decided to let us do it. We froze again all the way back to Utica and then in Mom and Dad’s car out to the airport to get George. It was midnight before we had dinner—and it was awful. I guess this just wasn’t my day to be comfortable.

February 4^th – Saturday, we were at the theatre from 11:00 on. Set-up took forever—we only had one helper and the distance to the stage was one of the worst ever. A boy auditioned during class, but he was too short and not good enough. We ran through Pas de Trois, tonight I finally get my big chance. Mike and I stayed at the theatre because we were staying at the Hurd’s tonight and we had already checked out of our rooms. There was plenty of food in machines downstairs but we realized, too late, we didn’t have any change.

The performance went very well even though we froze our asses off. Talking to people at the party at the Hurd’s afterward, we learned the audience was frozen too. My first Pas de Trois was a triumph even though I did have one memory lapse which I covered well. No helpers again but we struck in record time. It was a cold ride to New Hartford but our reward was waiting. The party was great—plenty of food, drink and friends. Doug said we were better than Elliot Feld and Uncle Earl said we were more entertaining than New York City Ballet.

February 5th – Sunday, we had bus trouble again. This time we were grateful for it as we got to sleep late and didn’t leave until 1:00. The bus was surprisingly warm and the day was pretty uneventful. We arrived minus food at about 8:00. We hadn’t eaten since before we left. The only thing open was Friendly’s. I’m not going to get fat on this tour.

February 6^th – Monday, we had a lecture demo at noon and my scatter-brain struck again. I left my purse in the room and my contacts were in it. I danced pretty well for not being able to see. I even did Property. I almost decided it’s better not to be able to see faces. We hung around the Student Union at Bridgewater State College while a blizzard dropped 3 inches of snow in an hour. Classes were cancelled and so was our lecture demo at Wheaton College that night. We heard on the news that Boston was expecting at least 12 inches of more snow. The winds were tornado force. We were all thinking that we may be stuck for days.

February 7^th – Tuesday, when we woke up the next morning, we couldn’t believe our eyes. It was still snowing and blowing. We weren’t going anywhere that day and neither was anyone else. There were about 50 others stranded with us. Someone went out and brought us hot dogs for lunch and pot pies for dinner. At least the bar was open and, not surprisingly, we spent most of our time there. When the bar closed, we were told we had to leave. I stopped for one last beer and met a nice salesman named John. We sat in the lobby and talked until Mike came frantically looking for me.

February 8^th – Wednesday, well it has finally stopped. At least two feet of snow fell with drifts much higher. We walked to the grocery store and it was great! Everyone was shoveling—trying to get their cars out from under all the snow. It was called the Blizzard of ’78 and was the worst in Massachusetts history. Governor Dukakis (who later ran for President) declared a State of Emergency and called out the National Guard. No one was allowed on the roads except emergency vehicles. Many homes on the Coast were destroyed by high tides. There were over 3,000 cars stranded on one highway alone. The news was saying it could take days before the roads were clear enough for travel. We still planned on making Fitchburg—two days away.

A new romance has come about due to the quarantine. Kelly and Pam are the new lovers and poor Bill is miserable. Mike has been playing a lot of cards with him to help keep his mind occupied. For lunch today we had more burgers and for dinner cold cheese pizza. We should feel lucky as there are thousands sleeping side-by-side in shelters. At least we have the comforts of the motel. Many salesmen and truckers staying at the motel only have the clothes on their backs. They expected to be home for dinner two days ago.

Poor Steven lost his glasses trying to push the bus out of a snow drift on the first day. I’m afraid they are gone forever. Jan has been consoling him—she’s good at that. Is another affair brewing? John, the salesman, joined us after dinner and we ended up never leaving the bar that night. I’ve been drinking so much beer these last few days, I’m sure I’m getting fat. George taught barre so we’re not getting too out-of-shape. We talked about putting on a performance for all those stuck at the motel except that the floor is concrete. We actually would have done it but Barb wasn’t feeling well. She fainted this morning and George called an ambulance but all they did was take her temperature.

We met a Morman girl through John who had eaten lunch with her. She thought we might be Morman because we were from Idaho. She and her girlfriend were invited for dinner by two guys who live up the road. When the guys brought the girls back to the motel, Mike recognized one of them as Jeremy Serwer, the President of his fraternity at Wesleyan his sophomore year. Jeremy’s roommate’s name is Henry and he’s a hairdresser. We were trying to decide if they’re gay or not—not that we cared. We had a few drinks with them and they invited the whole Company for dinner the following night. The Governor had already announced the driving ban would extend at least until Thursday midnight so we were overjoyed by the invitation.

February 9^th – Thursday, Jeremy and Henry lived only six houses from the motel. Despite the ban, Jeremy and Henry drove us all over N. Easton—what a beautiful little town with lots of estates and history. The rich folks of the town were named Ames—a name that goes back to the 1700’s. At one point an Ames Protestant girl married a Catholic boy named George Plimpton, the writer. The family was so upset; they burned down some of their own lovely homes just so the Catholics wouldn’t inherit them. The Ames family made their money making shovels and the factory is still standing. Every shovel that worked on the railroad or dug for gold was made right there. The Catholics ended up getting a lot of the inheritance after all and gave it to the Church which started a college—Stonehill. That is why there is a Catholic college right in the middle of white Protestantism.

Mike helped Jeremy dig his car out while I took class. George was mad that there were only six of us there—but no one knew about it. We get tired of never being told anything. We trooped over to Jeremy’s that evening for a fantastic spaghetti dinner with lots of wine and smoke. We all had a great time!

February 10^th – Friday, we’re still stuck. The Governor said at least until midnight tonight. I settled down today and did some reading and needlepoint along with class. We saw John leave this morning but had no way of knowing whether he made it anywhere or not. Most of the Company went out to dinner but Leslie, Lenore, Mike and I went back to Jeremy’s for another great evening. Henry told some hysterical stories about his job cutting hair. We ended up literally rolling on the floor laughing at some of Mike’s imitations and then laughing at each other laughing. It was difficult to say goodbye to such new and wonderful friends.

February 11^th – Saturday, we finally made it out. The police stooped us once and asked why we were on the road. When Jon answered that we were a touring Ballet Company trying to make a booking; the policeman answered, “That’s not a very good reason,” but he let us go anyway. It could have been because there was no place for us to turn around with snow piled 8-foot high all around us. We drove all day—going through Hartford, New York City, near Philly and ending up in Baltimore. I was in an ornery mood—the restaurant was expensive and not very good; but the bed was comfortable so I was grateful for that.

February 12^th – Sunday, we drove to Farmville, Virginia arriving just in time for set-up. The theatre was perfect for us. Everyone was bitching because we had to run through ELP with no warm-up but there was really no time. The weather was a gorgeous 50 degrees. It seemed unreal after being in the blizzard the day before. The performance was great! George came back after I did Pas de Trois and raved about it—it floored me! Our sponsor gave us a nice reception afterward. Farmville will always have pleasant memories for me. I love doing Pas de Trois—it makes me feel beautiful.

February 13^th – Monday, we had another day on the bus—driving to Columbia, South Carolina. The brakes failed once and we had to stop for about an hour while Kelly went with a cop to get some new pipe. Will the troubles never end? We had a good lunch at Mr. Steak and the rest of the day was pretty uneventful.

February 14^th – Tuesday, we had a performance in Forsyth, Georgia, today after driving 230 miles. Great pecan pie at the motel restaurant. The people around there were real hicks. One of the loaders said to me in barely understandable English, “Women aren’t supposed to tote.” The audience was pretty uneducated also. They didn’t know what to make of Pas de Trois but applauded our kicks and circle in Hoe Down. We spent the evening with the Magic Fingers on the bed massaging our aching muscles.

February 15^th – Wednesday, we drove to Ft. Pierce today and arrived at about 6:00. We did laundry and then went out for Chinese food—it was great. Kelly is talking about quitting dance and taking over the tech next year.

February 16^th – Thursday, Mom called and asked if we wanted to come to Miami after the performance. They’re been having such a great time, they don’t want to go back to Toledo yet. They brought Cousin Patsy to the performance with them. The theatre was perfect—only two days old and we were dedicating it. We had about 1,200 people in the audience and it was a good show. Lenore came back to Miami with us because she has two sisters who live there. We were dead tired and a little drunk by the time we arrived at the motel. We drank beer in the car all the way from Ft. Pierce.

February 17^th – Friday, we were in Miami and it was cold and cloudy. We ate breakfast at The Blue Mist where we stayed when I was in college. That was 10 years ago! We took a long walk on the beach and ended up walking almost 4 miles. By the time we got back, my right foot was really acting up. We took a little dip in the Caravan pool which was heated to 86 degrees. It felt wonderful until we got out.

We drove down to the end of Miami Beach and looked all the new hotels. I have always enjoyed those drives. It rained the rest of the afternoon. We went to Rocky Graciani’s for dinner and had the some wonderful lasagna. Dad and I danced a little and we took a scenic route back to the motel.

February 18^th – Saturday, it was another overcast day so we drove up to Lakeland eating lunch along the way. We stopped at the Everglades and took a tram ride but got drenched on the way back. There wasn’t a spot on me that wasn’t wet. We arrived in Lakeland about 8:00 and Mike and I treated Mom and Dad to lobster dinner at El Greco’s. It was only $6.95 and was delicious. We all got a little tipsy but what’s new.

February 19^th – Sunday, we went to the Dark Continent at Busch Gardens. It was freezing out but we didn’t let that stop us. We saw everything there was to see—a parrot show, a magic show, the dreaded Python that turns you upside down, saw a movie and thousands of birds and animals. It was such fun. I can’t wait to go to Disney World—I’m really in the mood for amusement parks these days. Mike and I ate constantly all day. The barbeque ribs and corn were the best. We didn’t even want dinner on the way home. We played bridge with Mom and Dad the rest of the evening. Mike and I did fine but we still lost.

February 20^th – Monday, Mom and Dad went to see Bea and Fred Baker who live in Largo. Mike and I set-up and had class. By the time we got back to the motel, Mom and Dad were back from Largo. I had a scare for about 10 minutes when I couldn’t find my make-up. Dad is so hyper—he makes me nervous. But the show was super. Mom loved ELP which we hadn’t done at the performance in Ft. Pierce. Mike’s Aunt Jean and Uncle Howard came to the performance too. We all went to the Waffle House after the performance because it was the only place open. They don’t have booze but we made up for it when we got back to the motel.

February 21^st – Tuesday, our vacation began today. The weather was beautiful all the way to St. Pete’s. We got a little lost due to JoAnn’s awful directions and, by the time we got there, a storm had rolled in. Our rooms were nice but we had to walk through Jon and Nancy’s bedroom to get to the bathroom. We ate at HoJo’s and sat around the rest of the afternoon drinking in the room. It was too cold and rainy to venture outdoors. Nancy is complaining a lot, as usual, and I am trying not to let it get to me. Patricia arrived from Portland and we’re all going out to dinner at the Wine Cellar.

February 22^nd – Wednesday, last night’s dinner wasn’t as good as I had anticipated. The waiter was a perfect bastard. I also had asthma and had to take a pill so I felt like I hadn’t slept at all. It took me forever to get ready for class—trying to maneuver around in our little cubby hole. It was frustrating as hell. And then we didn’t even have class because George was too lazy to call the dance teacher to let us into the studio. We spent a couple of hours at the mall spending money which always seems to help. I got a pair of jeans and a scarf and Mike bought a shirt. We stopped at the grocery on the way back to the motel and bought food to cook our own dinner—which was great. We went to the movie, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. It was good, but I wouldn’t exactly say it changed my life. In fact, I have hardly thought about it since.

February 23^rd – Thursday, we had class today and it was OK. George wouldn’t stop at the mall on the way back to the hotel like we had planned because he said he had to have four hours to get ready to see his uncle. He was just mad because we hadn’t consulted him first. We did stop at the grocery though and he sulked while everyone else shopped. Barb and Ben were organizing a big clam sauce spaghetti dinner. Mike and I were glad we were going out with his Uncle Harold and wife, Ruby, because we don’t like clam sauce.

We walked along the beach looking for shells after eating lunch in a café on the beach. The weather was actually not bad; the sun was out although it was still only about 55 degrees. We fell asleep in the sun waiting for Uncle Harold. It was good to see them again—it had been five years since our honeymoon. We went back to their place and drank, talked and then went to dinner. We had a wonderful time and good food—and we were home by 10:00.

February 24^th, Friday, we had class again today. George was really trying to control himself but lost it a few times. We stopped at the Mall for an hour on the way home and then bought steaks for dinner at the grocery. The weather was still not cooperating but we walked along the beach anyway and nearly got frostbite. Dinner was great and then we watched Mel Brooks in “High Anxiety” and had a good laugh. Tomorrow—Disney World!

February 25^th, Saturday, we didn’t leave until 10:00 and didn’t arrive at Disney World until 2:45; but since we stayed until 11:00, we still had plenty of time to do and see everything. It was a second honeymoon for Mike and I and we agreed we were as happy together as ever—after five whole years. We palled around with Leslie all day. The most fun we had was on Space Mountain—a roller coaster ride in the near dark. Circle Vision was our next favorite and the Tiki Birds were the biggest bomb.

We arrived back at our motel to hear the “good” news—Jaye is coming to our Washington, D.C. performance. When will she learn, we always do performances better when she’s not there. There is a rumor some VIP is going to be at the performance that could be our ticket to Europe. I will believe it when I see it!

February 26 – Sunday, we drove to Columbia, South Carolina and stayed at a Howard Johnsons that was really special. A soap holder at shower level, switches for all the lights in the room right next to the bed, and super nice mattresses were a few of the little extras. We carried-out Kentucky Fried Chicken and drank beer with Leslie. Jan is in a mood again—partly because Jaye freaks her out and partly because she’s been sick.

February 27^th – Monday, it was another driving day—to Richmond, Virginia. We stayed at Martha Kay’s motel which wasn’t bad and went to the grocery and liquor store soon after we arrived. We got a cake for Jon and Nancy—tomorrow is their big day. We had Dairy Queen in the room with banana splits. Mike trimmed my hair; it was a quiet evening, just the two of us.

February 28^th – Tuesday, we arrived in D.C. at around 1:00 but it took us another hour to find the motel. All the streets were either too narrow or going the wrong way. When we finally arrived at the motel, it took another 15 minutes to get up the hill to the parking lot. We left after we got checked in for Gallaudet College to take class. Sarah from National Ballet School auditioned during class but she was tall and big and had a lot of bad habits. Jon, Nancy, Steven, Bill and the two of us went to the Italian Gardens for dinner. It was perfect and the waiter was a jewel. I wish we could hire him on a CETA grant. Jaye got in about 10:00 and George immediately got in a fight with her over the condition of the stage for the performance the next day. It was a strange evening. No one said anything directly—we just insinuated. George called Jaye right after we got back and asked her to come to his room. I wish we could have heard that conversation. The party broke up shortly after that as we were all dead tired.

March 1^st – Wednesday, we had a little time in the morning because we didn’t leave until 12:50 with make-up on for the performance. Some people didn’t get the word about what was happening and were very upset with George when they saw the rest of us all made-up. George was bubbling and really getting on my nerves. He wasn’t sure he would make it to warm-up on time because he had to practice his speech with the sign-language lady. He asked Barb to teach again and that really burned me up. It made me even angrier when Barb was interviewed after the performance for TV. Who says we don’t have any stars in this Company. The performance was very well-received, but I don’t think Jaye was pleased. Hoe Down was a re-run of Philly last year. I think Kelly was the culprit. I slept most of the way to Hartford. I didn’t even know it was Hartford; for some reason I thought it was New Haven.

March 2^nd – Thursday, we were on our way to Fitchburg by 10:00 and arrived at 12:00. The theatre was beautiful—intimate enough for us and with the perfect-sized stage. Most of the troop went to lunch before set-up, but Mike and I stayed at the theatre and ate groceries. Our sponsor supplied us with all kinds of fruit, milk and OJ—very thoughtful. We set-up and were planning on rehearsing but we had to leave before the sun went down. The bus is on the fritz again. It is the generator which means we have no heat or lights. Kelly is planning to remove it tonight and drop it off at a garage to be fixed tomorrow. It’s lucky the bus can run without it.

Mike’s brother Todd called and they’re planning to come to the performance tomorrow. The weathermen are predicting another snowstorm so I hope they can make it. We went to dinner with Bill and Steven. Mike had lamb kabob and I had pork chops but it was expensive! Jan has Dee’s Disease (diarrhea); Bill just got over it. That’s the worst thing you can have on tour. Hope it doesn’t last.

March 3^rd – Friday, we had a Beauty performance for school kids at 10:00 a.m. which was an awfully early day for a day with an evening performance. But after we were finished with that, we had the rest of the day free until make-up at 5:30. I hadn’t slept well the day before because my asthma was especially bad so I finally got a little sleep. There was about 4” of snow on the ground by the time we left for the theatre so we were wondering if John, Elaine and Todd would make it.

The performance went well except for my breathing difficulties and unusually sore toes. John and the gang made it but missed Watercolors. Oh well. We went to the motel and drank and talked until closing time. Todd may come and visit us in Moscow the first week of April which should be fun.

March 4^th – Saturday, we drove to Erie, Pennsylvania, today and it was a long drive—we didn’t arrive until 8:00. It was a cute little motel with restaurant and cocktail lounge and a jukebox playing country music. It made me feel more like I was in Wyoming. We had dinner with Jon, Nancy, Bill and Steven—great hamburgers. I had a terrible coughing asthma fit but Mike got some of Jan’s cough medicine and it stopped almost immediately. Great stuff but it put me right out.

March 5^th – Sunday, we drove to Chicago today. We left early as George was anxious to get there because he was staying with friends. We arrived at about 6:30 after stopping for lunch with Mom on the turnpike. Birute had the flu so it’s a good thing Mike and I had a room. We agreed to meet at the Ellis’ the following day for class. Jon, Nancy, Mike and I took a cab to a restaurant famous for its pan pizza—and it was delicious. The bus is malfunctioning again. This time Kelly thinks it is really serious—we will know tomorrow.

March 6^th – Monday, we rounded up the group and took a cab to class. Mrs. Ellis taught, and I was ruined by her plies. I didn’t stop shaking until the little jumps. I guess she was impressed with us because she offered to set a ballet on us for $500. Before she’d seen us, she had said $1,000. Birute didn’t take class but came by at 2:00 to pick us up for lunch. We talked for about two hours and it was a very informative conversation. If Birute does come to Ballet Folk, it would be as the Assistant Ballet Mistress because she definitely wants to dance. She’s out-of-work collecting unemployment since she was leg-go in January from Chicago Ballet. So she definitely needs a job. She is going to Europe for 3 weeks in May to check the situation out there so she won’t be able to tell us anything definite until after that.

We walked back to the motel and found bad news waiting for us. The bus would take at least two weeks to fix. Jon and Mike were on the phone constantly from 4:00 to 7:00. They arranged to rent two nine-passenger station wagons and a Hertz truck for the equipment to drive to Macomb tomorrow. Kelly would stay in Chicago and buy a new bus.

Mike’s friend Mark and his wife, Irene, picked us up on 7:00 to go up to the top of the John Hancock building for a drink. Mike and I had been drinking since lunch with Birute so we decided to go to eat and get coffee after that. We had a great time even though I hadn’t expected to.

March 7^th – Tuesday, we were supposed to be ready to leave by 9:00 but we didn’t get underway until 11:30. The truck took about ½ hour to pick-up because there was a lot of paperwork and the bus had to be unloaded into the truck. Lucky for us the guys did all that and then picked us up. Mike drove one car with Birute and me in the front, George and Chuck in the middle and Leslie in the back. We followed Ben who had everyone else except Jon, Nancy and Bill who were in the truck. We hadn’t gone more than an hour when Ben’s car had a flat so we decided to stop for lunch. By the time we arrived in Macomb, it was 5:30 and we were all stiff and on-edge from being unable to stretch all day. Give me the bus any day.

The truck went to the University housing where we were scheduled to stay. We forgot that all our dance clothes were in the truck so we couldn’t even warm up until Ben went after them and brought them back. By that time it was 6:00 and the lecture demo was scheduled for 7:00. It took another 15 minutes to get the door to the truck open and another 15 minutes for everyone to find their bag so the lecture demo was done pretty cold. We didn’t even have time to put the floor down so we were slipping all over the place. It was pretty sloppy with a lot of mistakes but we got through it. Jan was a mess. She did everything wrong and cried through most of it. She claims it’s because she’s sick but hard-hearted Dee had no sympathy. None of us felt good. I feel you have to be able to pull yourself together for a performance no matter what.

Anyway, after we got to the University Housing, we had to unload everything except the equipment. It took us close to an hour, but the rooms were nice and it was good to get settled if only for a few days. Birute, Leslie, Steve, Mike and I went downstairs and had roast beef sandwiches. It was a good set-up. We were on the 3^rd floor of the Student Union and food, drugstore, candy shop, etc. were all located in the same building. We crashed early as I was sick to death of everyone.

March 8^th – Wednesday, Mike had to leave early to unload the truck so Birute and I went to breakfast at 10:30. We found out they stopped serving breakfast at 9:30 so I had another roast beef sandwich. It was good, kind of like Arby’s, but I had hoped for eggs. We left at 12:15 for a lecture demo at the Junior High. Birute taught warm-up which was wonderful. She managed to give everyone something to work on in just 20 minutes. I think everyone, except Chuck, loves her as much as we do. Chuck would prefer not to know about his faults.

It was quite an unorganized day. The time for the lecture demo had been changed three times and some people hadn’t gotten the word. Betsy and Lenore were going by the itinerary and thought we were leaving at 9:00. Lenore even woke George up to ask him why everyone was still asleep. It was George’s fault again that some folks didn’t know.

March 9^th – Thursday, we set up at about 2:00 but everything was so unorganized we didn’t have time for class. We were all mad at George again, but that’s old news. It was a spongy, concrete floor but my calves didn’t bother me at all. My left toe did, however. The nail cracked a little and it wasn’t until the next day that I realized how bad it was.

The performance wasn’t one of our best. Everyone was trying so hard to have a good performance for Birute that we didn’t. Pas de Trois was pretty good though. There were about 1,800 people in the audience and they were very enthusiastic. Birute talked about how wrong it is for all of the dancers to lift such heavy equipment, but she was pleased with the performance—especially Mike in Rainmaker. After the performance, I was so tired that I had two beers and passed out.

March 10^th – Friday, we drove to St. Louis and arrived about 2:00. Our hotel was the pits but we were in a great section of the city. Birute, Mike and I had lunch and then walked to the arch and took it to the top. It was fascinating but very claustrophobic.

We had class about 6:00 in one of the hotel dining rooms and then Birute and I had dinner. Mike was a little “under the weather”. We watched “The Hulk” and “Charlie’s Angels” and slept soundly until morning although not many of the other dancers did. The walls were paper-thin and there was a lot of partying going on.

March 11^th – Saturday, we drove to Memphis, TN. It was a pretty uneventful day. We had good barbeque ribs for lunch on the road and then dinner with George, Chuck and Birute. Mike was still sick so I brought him catfish. I did a little stretching and Pointe work in the room and went to bed early.

March 12^th – Sunday, we drove to Russellville, Arkansas, and arrived early afternoon. We all trooped to the grocery and then had a little leisure time before a meeting in George’s room before class. The meeting was mostly so George could tell us all the things wrong with the tour that he plans on yelling at JoAnn about. He wanted to get our unanimous approval. What could we say right before class? I must say Mike and I tried to put our two cents in but George wasn’t listening. He was convinced that we all felt the same way he did. Actually our biggest gripe about the tour was not enough classes. George has to have his days off.

George hadn’t called the Sponsor so it took us a half hour to find out where class was being held and then it was a bomb. George was in a shitty mood and took nothing into consideration—like the fact that we hadn’t had class since Thursday and then just a warm-up. We went to dinner with Birute and Steve and they agreed George had been a real bastard. Birute said she was biting her tongue the whole class.

March 13^th – Monday, we set-up at 2:00 on another poured concrete floor. We rehearsed some and George made some little changes. The performance wasn’t up-to-par because of the spongy floor—it seemed to soak up all the strength in my legs. Birute told me Pas de Trois was better this time (because she had fixed my head) and Rainmaker had more life. The audience was big again—about 800.

We all went to the bar at the Holiday Inn after the performance. We had a nice talk with Pam who we haven’t seen much since she moved in with Kelly. She is so dissatisfied with George that she’s seriously considering call it quits after the season.

March 14^th – Tuesday, on to Fort Worth, Texas. We couldn’t leave until JoAnn wired us money which turned out to be at 10:30. Bill lost his MasterCard in St. Louis so it had to be cancelled. It took us another hour to find Western Union and get on the road so, consequently, it was quite late when we arrived.

I’ve been reading “Your Erroneous Zones” that I bought in St. Louis and it is really helping me deal with people and everyday hassles. I have vowed to quit complaining (I don’t want pity), quit making approval-seeking a need, quit feeling guilty, quit worrying and quit conforming just because people expect it. We walked to the grocery and then to a Mexican restaurant with Barb, Ben, Steve, Jon and Nancy. The margaritas were fantastic as were the nachos. Mike was feeling a little sick again so we went to bed early. I had a bad night with asthma—I thought I would be through with that by now.

March 15^th – Wednesday, we drove to San Angelo today. We had just enough time for set-up and make-up until we found out it was a 7:30 performance instead of the usual 8:00. That is the fastest I have every made-up. We should have left at 8:00 in the morning but George wouldn’t hear of it. I wish he would ask the dancers how they feel once in a while. We’re the ones doing all the work.

It was our first ELP show for Birute and it was a good one. We had a stage for once and real dressing rooms. Barb wasn’t feeling well so I did Pas de Trois again and it was a big hit. Birute and George raved about it. We spent the evening with Jon and Nancy. Birute went to dinner with George. She was really angry at him earlier because he told her to teach a 45-minute warm-up. The nerve of him!

March 16^th – Thursday, we drove to Odessa, Texas and the Antler Motel—another dump. We walked downtown with Birute—a really long walk—and had lunch at the Inn of the Golden West. We got to the school to set up and no one was there. We waited around for nearly an hour before our loaders showed up. Mike and I decided to stay at the school rather than rush back to the motel to do make-up. It was more relaxing. I performed Pas de Trois again and was dead tired after that. Mike and I just stayed in our room after the show.

March 17^th – Friday, Leslie and Betsy decorated the bus for St. Patrick’s Day and for our drive to Santa Rosa, New Mexico. There certainly wasn’t much there—it was a lovely day so we walked around the town in 15 minutes. We had a good dinner of barbecued ribs with Jon, Nancy, Bill, Barb and Ben. I had a long talk with Birute afterward and I don’t think she would be happy at Ballet Folk. She’s been in Chicago too long and she expects our Company to be as organized and professional as they are. She has given us some really good ideas for making Ballet Folk better, but with our touring schedule, the dancing will always suffer.

March 18^th – Saturday, we drove to Santa Fe. It is a quaint, old town founded in 1610. It was there before the pilgrims. Our room situation left much to be desired. We had to share a bathroom with Jon and Nancy and also a TV that was in their room. The theatre was wonderful and Birute taught a nice class before the show. The show went quite well. We had a buffet afterward of wonderful Mexican food—which I’m really starting to love!

March 19^th – Sunday, and a day off. We got up early to say “goodbye” to Birute and hitch a ride to town with Leslie and her sister. We went to Church at the Cathedral of St. Francis. I think we saw almost everything in town—we took a tram ride which lasted nearly two hours that took us all over town. We even went up Canyon Road where all the craftsmen have their shops and then to the Folk Art Museum. We ate lunch and then saw the oldest church in North American, the oldest house, the Governor’s Palace (the first residence in Santa Fe), which is now a museum, and the miraculous staircase in one of the old churches. It was a day for historical sites. We bought some earrings for me and a ring for Mike handmade by the Indians and both with turquoise stones. We walked back to the motel—at least 2 miles—and then did laundry and had dinner. I was pooped!

March 20^th – Monday, we drove one hour to Las Vegas, New Mexico, and arrived to find the theatre dirty and full of roaches. We set-up and drove to the motel to do make-up for a 1:00 Rainmaker/Watercolors school show. The performance went fine; but by the time we did the evening one, my toes were a mess. It was definitely my worst performance of the tour—and yet George commented (much to everyone’s surprise) that it had been a good show. I was having definite thoughts of leaving from that day forward. I decided to write David McLain in Cincinnati when we got back to Moscow to see if he could use us. I’m just not enjoying it anymore.

March 21^st – Tuesday, drove to Gallup and set up at 4:00. I was composing my letter to McLain all day in my head. The performance for me was the direct opposite of yesterday. I could do no wrong. I held all my balances and really enjoyed myself. Later I found out that George and Mike had had an argument about George not announcing when I do Pas de Trois. George not only threatened to fire Mike but also threatened to take Pas de Trois away from me. Numerous other paranoid incidents were also mentioned. I’m sure glad I read “Your Erroneous Zones” and am no longer approval-seeking.

March 22^nd – Wednesday was a day off and we did nothing much. We shopped for string so I could finish my bedspread and then I crocheted the rest of the day. We watched Fernando Bujones and Marianna Tcherkasky on Merv Griffin. They were brilliant but the choreography was dumb.

March 23^rd – Thursday, drove to Ft. Defiance, Arizona, to do Beauty and Rainmaker for Navajo Indian students. It was the best audience reaction we have ever had for Rainmaker. It made me feel wonderful. We drove back through Gallup stopping for pizza and then on to Grants. Mike called Todd and we’re pretty sure he’s coming to Moscow to visit. He will probably arrive the day after we get back. The weather was glorious!

March 24^th – It was another day off and Good Friday. We drove to the Acoma Indian’s home called “City in the Sky” because it sits on top of a steep butte. We took a tour and then walked down the butte the way the Indians have done it for over 500 years. There were steps worn into the stone and hand holds too.

March 25^th – Saturday, and it was the day of our last performance of the tour. Only about 100 people came and it was a bit of a letdown. My feet hurt, I had a terrible cold and I was nursing thoughts of Cincinnati Ballet all evening. The sponsors had a party for us and we met Chuck’s Mom, Dad and Step-Mom. They all seemed very nice. Later we had our own tequila party at Steve and Bill’s and we really celebrated! I hope I didn’t embarrass Bill too much by sitting on his lap.

March 26^th – It was Easter Sunday and a perfect day. We arrived in Cortez, New Mexico, about 3:00. We expected to arrive by 2:00 but Pam felt sick so we stopped for breakfast. We all bitched a lot but the rest of the day made up for it. We took the bus to Mesa Verde National Park and saw the cliff dwellings which were fascinating. Indians lived there as early as 600 B.C. and left about 1200 B.C. The view was magnificent and we got lots of pictures. It was nice that we did a lot of sight-seeing this tour. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner that I believe was even better than the Sandpiper.

March 27^th – Monday, we drove to Salt Lake City and went out to eat with Michelle, George and Chuck. Michelle looked real good. She is getting her degree in nutrition and then plans on a Masters in nutrition for dancers. She is still planning to marry Danny and I will go on the record that I think it’s a mistake. Mike and I saw the movie, “An Unmarried Woman” after dinner.

March 28^th – Tuesday, we drove to Boise and I finally finished the trim on my bedspread. Later, I bought the yarn to finish my needlepoint. It was a wonderful dinner, as usual, at the Sandpiper.

March 29^th – Wednesday, we left early and were home by 3:00. It felt great and Mike and I immediately and frantically cleaned house. Todd called from the Pullman Airport at 6:00 as we were finishing. It was good to have someone come visit us in Idaho. While we were eating at the Biscuitroot, Mike and Todd recognized a family from Utica. It was Ward West “Westy”, his wife, Mom and Dad. I realized we had known that Westy was there for about six months—we had even tried to call him once but he hadn’t had his phone yet.

March 30^th – Thursday, we did shopping, paid bills and took class with Esperanza in the afternoon. I loved her instantly. She really knows what she’s talking about. She is on an exchange program through the State Department from Ecuador. I made lasagna for dinner and we saw the movie, “Semi-Tough”. It is my vote for Best Movie of the Year.

BALLET FOLK 5TH YEAR – SEPTEMBER 18, 1977 TO DECEMBER 17, 1977

2010-12-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

September 18^th – Sunday, we packed and showed our new downstairs neighbors how to water our plants. We left on our first real tour of the season at noon. It was an easy drive to Missoula, Montana—we arrived around 6:30. I slept a good part of the day and read most of the rest of it. We had a bottle of wine in our room with Leslie, Lenore, Barb and Ben and then went out to dinner at Alice’s Restaurant. The food was OK but the atmosphere was marvelous. When we got back to the room, we watched Johnny Carson narrating movie clips shot during WW II and then Paul Newman in “Judge Roy Bean”. We didn’t sleep well at all.

September 19^th – Monday, we had a fairly easy day but it will be our last for some time. We drove to Helena, set-up, had class and rehearsed Watercolors and Rainmaker. Things went pretty well considering we hadn’t even thought about Rainmaker since August 6^th. It was Jan’s birthday and we had a party for her in our room with two cakes and lots of presents after a horrible dinner at Bert & Ernie’s Deli. (I had mayo all over my pastrami sandwich!) Everyone came to the party and we had a few beers and almost polished off the entire quart of whiskey we had given Jan as a gift. I fell asleep even before everyone left and Mike had a hard time waking me up to get ready for bed.

September 20^th – Tuesday, it is hard to believe that I am 27 years old today. We got up at 7:00 for a 10:30 school show that went really well. The kids were little angels. After the first show, George, Chuck and I walked downtown for lunch. Mike didn’t want to come because he still had his make-up on. The second show went even better and we were packed up and ready to leave in no time. We went with Leslie, Jan, and Betsy to go look at a Cathedral—it was gorgeous. We even found a liquor store on the way back to the hotel. I washed my hair and rested until it was time for set-up at the junior high for tomorrow’s shows. George took us out for our birthdays to the finest restaurant in Helena—the Overland Express. I ordered steak and lobster and Mike steak and crab. It was all delicious and we had a wonderful conversation; George was his sweet, charming, generous, old self.

It was really a nice birthday and that doesn’t always happen. Usually I get very emotional and upset because I think everything should be so easy and perfect on a person’s birthday and it rarely is. But I had fun and tried not to think about how old I’m getting. Mike says odd numbered years are always good, so maybe 27 will be the best one yet.

September 21^st – Wednesday, we had an early school show and again the kids were good—especially for junior high kids. Helena is a really nice place. We ate and left for Sheridan, Wyoming, driving most of the rest of the day. I had fun reading “The Glory and the Dream”—I am up to the Eisenhower presidency. When we arrived, Mike, Leslie and I went to Jan and Betsy’s to hang out and get high. We had a lot of fun talking about our childhoods and about early Ballet Folk history. We left after midnight but Jan came back to our room shortly afterward to get Mike. She was feeling down and wanted to talk. Betsy came and sat with me so they could have some privacy. We watched Johnny Carson and most of the Tomorrow Show before Mike came back. Mike said Jan is very young and moody; he just wants to help but he’s worried he may be hurting more than helping.

September 22^nd – Thursday, we had off until 3:00. We slept late and then did the usual pre-performance routine. The show was a little ragged; everyone was a little off, including the audience. They really didn’t know how to take Debussy. ELP went over the best. George didn’t seem upset so I guess it wasn’t that bad. After the show a bunch of us went to Country Kitchen to eat and have a few drinks.

September 23^rd – Friday, we had a long, winding trip to Powell, Wyoming. The set-up was our hardest in years because the stage was so small and there was absolutely no wing space. We had barely enough time to make-up and warm-up but the show was a resounding success. They loved us, cheered us, bravo-ed us and even gave us a standing ovation. It was the complete opposite of the night before and it felt wonderful. We went back to our motel and had a terrific dinner and drinks.

September 24^th – Saturday, We had a short drive today to Worland—our first gym show. The set-up went like lightening and it’s a good thing because we had no time to spare. We stayed at the gym, made-up and did the show. It went really well and the crowd was nice—they clapped loud and often. We had drinks in our room after the show and went with the girls across the street to an all-night cafe. After we had eaten and gone back to the hotel, Jan knocked and took Mike away for another conference. I don’t know what they talk about all the time.

September 25^th – Sunday, on the way to Riverton, I got a migraine. I was working on my crocheting and suddenly I couldn’t see the little holes anymore. Luckily the drive was short and I spent most of it with my head-in-my-hands on the bed. Thank God I had my pills with me or I would have been sunk. I missed set-up to take a nap but couldn’t seem to fall asleep. When Mike got back, we walked to the café down the street. I thought the migraine was coming back so we didn’t stay. I worried all through make-up and warm-up about getting a migraine during the performance; but once I started performing, I knew I would be OK. After the performance Mike and I drank and smoked cigarettes until they were coming out our ears.

September 26^th – Monday, we were back in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and it felt good. We ate at Cache Creek, just like old times. We walked around looking at all the nice shops with all the nice clothes we couldn’t afford. A girl named, Penny, who used to dance with New York City Ballet and Ballet West took warm-up with us. Boy she was a weird chick—all arms. During warm-up I realized my right foot was really hurting me; I kept getting sharp pains on the outside of it. I knew it was from walking too much in my tennis shoes, but I didn’t know what to do about it. My mind immediately went to all those releves and hops in Debussy. I left warm-up to run my foot under cold water; Ben Gay didn’t seem to be helping. On top of everything else, I was having my first-day cramps and I had a terrible stomach ache from worrying. I was going to say, “I don’t remember ever feeling worse for a performance,” but then I remembered the migraine the day before. I hobbled through the show as best I could and was very relieved when it was over. From now on, I am wearing my sandals even if it is below freezing. Strike went fast and we went over to the Cultural Center for free wine and sandwiches. I still didn’t feel well, so I left right after I ate; sweet Kelly walked me to my door. Mike came in much later when I had already bathed and gone to bed.

September 27^th – Tuesday, we left Jackson Hole at noon so we spent the morning shopping. Mike got some great bargains—tan pants, sweater and sweatshirt. Girls’ clothes were way too expensive—I’ll wait for Sears. I slept most of the way to Twin Falls. For my foot’s sake, I was glad we had a day without dancing. When we arrived, we all went over to Bill and Kelly’s room to watch their color TV—the only one in the motel. At one point Hy Summers and George came in to say “hello”. Hy had driven in from Idaho Falls to see George. He was looking good considering he almost killed himself twice—once with drugs and once with a gun. He has a scar on the side of his face by his eye. Mike and I got a little high but were really too tired to enjoy it.

September 28^th – Wednesday, we drove to Boise arriving early afternoon. We went to Sears where I found some inexpensive sweaters that worked just fine. We stopped by the Bon to see Karen Esposito (who used to dance with us) and promised to come back the following day to see her again. We set-up at 4:30 and it seemed to take forever—we have always had problems at that high school. We didn’t get back to the hotel until 7:00 so we planned dinner for 8:00. The whole gang went to our favorite place, the Sandpiper. Unfortunately the restaurant didn’t have a table that could accommodate all of us, and I ended up sitting with Mike and all the women—I much prefer the men. The food was absolutely scrumptious—I had my usual teriyaki shrimp dinner and fuzzy Ricardo for dessert. When we got back to the hotel, I totally passed out on the wonderful king-sized bed at the Sands. If Jonny hadn’t stopped by for a few cigarettes close to midnight, we would have slept all night in our clothes.

September 29^th – Thursday, we had a performance at 10:00 for over 2,000 grade-school kids. They loved us! The TV station was there and did a nice little blurb on us—Barb did the talking because George couldn’t be found. In the afternoon we rehearsed a little of the new lecture demo. We stopped at the Bon to pick up Karen for dinner. We had a great time talking about the good old days at Ballet Folk. I always liked Karen; but her husband, Lou, not so much. That’s unusual for me.

September 30^th – Friday, we did our last show of the tour and what a bummer. Sixth, seventh and eighth graders are the worst—all they care about is sports. They had a pep rally before we started and they were bored to death while we were dancing. The drive home seemed interminable but, boy, was it great to be home!

October 1^st & 2^nd – Saturday & Sunday, work, work, work today; laundry, ironing, cleaning and sewing. There is always so much to do after a tour. On Sunday right after I got up, I took one of my little yellow pills for depression and it really helped. I planned class for Monday because George has a dentist appointment—I felt good all day.

October 3^rd – Monday, class went really well. When I have time to prepare, I am cool and confident. Jaye started rehearsing Beauty in the afternoon. The call was for everyone but only the three permanent monkeys did anything. I was glad I had my crocheting with me. We had off until 4:00 when the sisters started rehearsing.

October 4^th – Tuesday, we rehearsed Beauty for 5 ½ hours—boring. Barb taught Company class because my foot was flaring up again. We had a Company meeting and found out Carl has to pay us differently for rehearsal weeks than performance weeks. It will all work out the same in the end. We also found out we have another five nights of consecutive shows the next tour. It couldn’t be much worse. Leslie came over to watch Twyla Tharp but left early. Mike went to Jan’s and didn’t get home until late; I was already asleep.

October 5^th – Wednesday, we rehearsed the lecture demo in the morning. It is just a little bit different again for the umpteenth time. I will never be able to keep it straight. We got off rehearsal early. We don’t even have any school shows this trip, only lecture demonstrations. We watched the “Poisoning of Michigan” on TV—shocking!

October 6^th – Thursday, was our last day in town for awhile. We rehearsed until 6:30. We finished the lecture demo in the morning and finished Beauty in the afternoon with no time to spare. We watched the movie, “Papillion”, in the evening while ironing and packing. Mike went to Jan’s until late so he was up until 3:00 packing. JoAnn planned a few days off for us on the Oregon Coast before the performances start; it will be nice to have a vacation.

October 7^th – Friday, we left for Lincoln City at 8:00 and it was a pretty uneventful trip. It was nice, however, to be doing something sitting down after standing around all week. We had “Miss Bitch” as a waitress in Boardman, Oregon. She got mad at us for coming in all at the same time. We arrived at the Cozy Cove in Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast at about 6:30. We had kitchens so we decided to cook; my cooking is better than any restaurant anytime. We went with Leslie over to Bill and Kelly’s to get high before dinner. Jon, Nancy and Jan joined us a little later. When Mike and Jan left to take a walk on the beach, Jon almost threw a fit. He was acting really strange from all he had to drink in addition to the mood elevators he has been taking. He was sweet to worry about me being alone, but he was treating Nancy like shit. She almost had to carry him back to the room. I was in bed by midnight but Mike and Kelly stayed up until the wee hours of the morning playing cards.

October 8^th – What a wonderful day off! We got up fairly early and took a short walk on the beach before fixing breakfast. We had a feast! The weather couldn’t have been more perfect so after breakfast Mike and I walked along the beach for a few hours looking for shells. Later Mike played football with the guys while Nancy and I sat on some driftwood, watched and talked. We walked with Lenore down to the water to show her the sea anemones we had found earlier. While Mike went to play some cards, I walked downtown to look for a present for Bill. I found some Budweiser salt and pepper shakers for Bill and some patchwork potholders for Christmas gifts. I ran into Kelly who had driven the bus downtown so I hitched a ride back to the motel with him via the fish market, grocery store, candy store and seagull factory. I sat on the porch in the sea breeze and read Time Magazine until time for dinner. We intended to go to Pier 6, an expensive restaurant, but ended up at the Surf which was absolutely wonderful.

October 9^th – Sunday, we were scheduled to leave around 1:00 but the bus wouldn’t start until almost 5:00. We took one last stroll along the beach in the morning and spent the rest of the day reading in the bus while Kelly and Jon tried to figure out what was wrong with it. The drive to Coos Bay was breathtaking; we even saw a real lighthouse. After dinner, Mike went to the boys’ room to play cards while I drank myself through Agatha Christie’s, “Murder on the Orient Express”.

October 10^th – Monday, we had a lecture demo at Southwest Community College in Coos Bay. I think everyone felt a little out-of-shape after not dancing all weekend. We didn’t have time to have a proper warm-up because we couldn’t get into the gym until noon and the demo started at 1:00. There was a pretty good crowd and they seemed to like us a lot. Chuck and I got into a little argument about the plie combination. He was acting childish because he was upset we couldn’t set up earlier. During the whole warm up he seemed to be deliberately trying to run into me.

Later, I had to go teach a women’s exercise class 20 miles outside of Coos Bay in a city called Coquille. Jim Love, who had booked us, picked me and Lenore up and drove us there. Lenore said just watching us dance all the time makes her want to do it. The class was 1 ½ hours long which I didn’t find out until I got there. There were about 20 women waiting for me—none of whom looked to be too “in shape”. They were very impressed with the things I could do. After the class I answered questions and was surprised that quite a few people actually thought we were from Moscow, Russia. One lady asked me if I was the only American in the troop. On the way back to Coos Bay, Jim Love couldn’t stop talking about what an athlete I was and how many of my movements reminded him of a great skier’s. It did my ego good.

As soon as I got back to the room, I gobbled down a hamburger that Mike picked up for my dinner and then we went to Bill’s for his birthday party. We had a fun time—especially eating cake.

October 11^th – Tuesday, we had a lecture demo at North Bend High for a dance class that the school offers. We rehearsed Pas de Trois first and I was happy I remembered it. We were all a little pissed when we first got on the bus because we hadn’t planned to have a rehearsal; we had planned to go to the beach after the performance. Luckily we had time to rehearse before the demo so it wasn’t that bad. George was in a sour mood, and we all bitched about him the whole time we were getting ready. I was especially vehement in my criticism—we all just want to know what’s going on a little sooner so we can prepare.

During the barre work in the demo, Barb’s knee gave out and we were all scared to death that she was really hurt. Luckily, it didn’t bother her much after that. We did ELP and the audience was a real dud. They either didn’t get it or were too inhibited to laugh or show any emotion. After the performance, we went to the beach which was a good 45 minutes away. Chuck, Leslie and Barb had to teach so the bus was going to drive them back in an hour and then come back for the rest of us. Chuck wandered off and wasn’t back in time to catch the bus so Mike had to teach his class for him. I was really pissed that Chuck would do such a thing; and when he did show up, he didn’t seem to care. The bus stayed for the sunset and then headed back to the motel.

George came by the room when Mike got home and talked about how mad he was at Chuck. I was glad George felt the same way we did. Mike went to Kelly’s for a little while to lose some more money but came back at 11:00 to watch Nureyev on Dick Cavett. I thought Cavett was especially rude—he didn’t let Rudy get a word in edgewise and told him he hated his new movie, “Valentino”, which seemed in very bad taste to me.

October 12^th – Wednesday, we had to be out of the hotel by 11:00 but we had nowhere to go until the performance that evening. We dropped some people off downtown to shop and went to the beach with the rest. It was a cold, cloudy, foggy day but the beach was beautiful. The waves were really rolling in and we just walked around or sat on logs and got sprayed by the mist. We went downtown for lunch when we were too cold to stand it anymore. There was a beautiful picture of Mike and me in the paper—we tried to get the negative but it had been destroyed.

Lunch was a welcome relief and afterward we drove to the gym to set up. Everything went smoothly and the audience was overwhelming. There were over 800 people at the performance—very impressive. We left right after strike for Roseburg, a 2-hour journey. We stopped for take-out food which was pretty greasy and “with mayo” even though we asked for it “without”. The trip was painful—my knees and hips ached and I couldn’t sleep or even get comfortable. I was really in a bad mood when we arrived, and I’m afraid I took it out on Mike.

October 13^th – Thursday, we got up early and drove to Klamath Falls. We stopped for breakfast and had a nice talk with the waitress about palmistry. We arrived just in time for our lecture demo for the entire school. I was still in my funk and I danced badly—forgetting steps and everything. We filmed Night in the City for a TV spot to be shown later that day. It was fun to watch and afterward we went out for pizza. Our motel was beautiful and in a great location; we were near everything but a liquor store. We ate with Barb, Ben, Jon and Nancy and, after dinner, had Barb and Ben over for a drink. It was a fun night even though we were all pretty wiped out.

October 14^th – Friday, we had another lecture demo at 1:30 and again we didn’t have time to warm up. It was in a lecture hall and a lecture was being given until 1:00. After the demo, Mike and the tech men went back to the high school to finish setting up. We had set up most of our stuff yesterday after the school demo, but we needed the floor for the demo today. As soon as Mike got back to the motel, we had to make-up for the performance that evening. It was a good show—one of my best, even with George sitting in the wings (he usually makes me nervous when he does that). After it was over, we celebrated just getting through another day.

October 15^th – Saturday, we had class and rehearsal for Beauty. For some unknown reason, Chuck didn’t show up. He taught that morning at 10:00 but Company class wasn’t until 1:00. George was upset but gave a great class even so. We had another performance that evening with mixed reviews. Barb and Chuck had an awful time in Sleeping Beauty but George didn’t say a word about it. I think he was refusing to accept the fact he made a serious mistake in casting. We went over to Bill and Kelly’s to talk but Mike ended up playing cards. Jan came over to give Kelly some luck but none of us stayed very long. Mike walked Jan back to her room and didn’t get back until a few hours later.

October 16^th – Saturday was a day without dancing at last. We drove to Eugene arriving at about 4:00. Our motel, the Rose, was a dump. It smelled and was dirty—almost unbearable. We walked around the University of Oregon the rest of the afternoon looking for Bell Hall which turned out to be Beall Hall. By the time we got back to the motel everyone had gone out to see a movie. We were surprised as it was only 6:00. It was depressing to think of spending the entire evening in that pit of a room.

We did laundry in a machine attached to the back of the motel while checking out the movies in the area. We decided to take a cab to see “Valentino”, figuring we would see the rest of the group there. The laundry was finished just as the taxi pulled up so everything was going according to plan. But when we got to the theatre, there was no yellow bus. We had barely enough change to pay the taxi driver with nothing left for a tip. The movie was interesting—lots of it was truly great but lots of it was almost unwatchable, even embarrassing. Nureyev was perfect for the part because of his charisma, but he definitely didn’t have an Italian accent.

When it was over we couldn’t decide what to do. Mike was going to call Kelly when I suggested asking a guy in a University of Oregon t-shirt for a ride. We were in luck—he took us right to our door. Everyone else wasn’t even back yet. We found out later they had gone to a double feature: “12 Chairs” and “Last Remake of Beau Geste” plus dinner. I was glad we had seen “Valentino”.

October 17^th – Monday, we checked out of the Rose at 11:00 but didn’t leave Eugene until 4:00.

We had breakfast, looked around downtown and had Company class before leaving for Florence and the beach again. I felt fantastic in class until George made some discouraging remark that ruined my mood entirely. It was 7:00 by the time we arrived at our dream motel—The Driftwood Shores. The three couples had our choice of 3 studios, comparable to motel rooms, or a 3-bedroom suite with 2 baths, living room, fireplace and kitchen. Naturally we chose the suite. We drove into town for supplies and then back for a drink and dinner out. It was so wonderful sitting around the fire listening to the ocean that we barely made it to the restaurant before it closed.

I was so drunk by the time we left that I really make a slip in front of George about nicknames. We all had one and we had one for him too—but no one had had the nerve to tell him his to his face. My nickname was Queeny; Mike’s was Bubba; Barbara’s – Two Scoops; Ben’s – Animal; Jan’s – Bambi; Leslie’s – Imp; Betsy’s – Sluggo; Jon’s – Fryer Fuck; Nancy’s – Rico Head; Chuck’s – Cat-Box-Charlie; Kelly’s – Jack Armstrong, All American Boy or Fritz for short; Bill’s – Nerf; Lenore’s – Flash; and George’s – Bags. George insisted on knowing his nickname—we made it sound so awful before we told him that when Mike said, “Come on, Bags, let’s go to the salad bar ,” George said, “That isn’t so bad and besides, it’s true.” I breathed a sigh of relief. Dinner was great—I had lobster tail and afterward we sat around the fire until we couldn’t stay awake any longer.

October 18^th – Tuesday, back to work again. We had a lecture demo and evening performance at Florence High School. We barely had time during the day to enjoy the ocean. Both performances went well and we cooked steak and artichokes at midnight. We had a lovely breakfast and walk on the beach early in the morning; but aside from that, it was just another working day. Florence gave us a reception after the performance but no one wanted to stay. We wanted to enjoy the little time we had left close to the water.

October 19^th – Wednesday, we drove back to Eugene but not to the Rose. George hated that motel as much as the rest of us so he had JoAnne change our reservations to the Broadway which was a little better but not much. We had barely enough time for lunch before leaving for Cottage Grove and an evening performance there. I had caught a cold two days prior when we were in Eugene the first time and I was feeling pretty wiped out. Cottage Grove High School was freezing which didn’t help matters. The audience was freezing too which put us into an awful mood. I think we put on the worst performance of the tour, but they didn’t deserve a good show.

October 20^th – Thursday, we had another show tonight this time in Blue River. When we arrived, there was a volleyball game in the gym so we couldn’t start setting up for about an hour. The drive up there was beautiful though and Mike even talked about Blue River as a nice place to retire. It did have a nice feel to it. There were only about 75 people at the performance but there weren’t many more than that in the entire town. They were very responsive and someone even threw a wreath of marigolds onto the stage during ELP. It was Kelly’s birthday so Jon, Bill and I went across the street to buy pizzas for a party. Kelly got all sorts of useful gifts like “horrible foot”, a “miniature yellow bus” and a deck of marked cards. We gave him a mug with the saying, “Trust your mother but cut the cards.”

October 21^st – Friday, we had a show in Eugene so at least we didn’t have to drive anywhere. Mike and I spent most of the morning spending money. We bought lots of books and a maroon warm-up jumpsuit for me at the dance shop. I could have spent $1,000 in there easily. Everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong during the set-up. We almost had to cancel because we couldn’t get enough power. The audience was really big though and very enthusiastic. Our pas de deux in Watercolors went really well up to the point Mike ran into the wing with my leg. After the performance, many people came back stage for autographs—the most ever.

October 22^nd – Saturday was the last of the five consecutive evening shows—thank the Lord. We couldn’t get into Beall Hall until 4:00 so that barely gave us enough time. When we arrived, there were two pianos and a harpsichord on stage and no one of authority in sight. By 4:30, we were still waiting. I was trying, with the help of Chuck and Kelly, to dig a splinter out of my leg that I got while carrying a ladder—I need to be more careful. At about 4:45 the stage was finally cleared off enough for set-up, but there were holes and trap doors all over the place. It took another 15 minutes to patch those up the best we could with cardboard and tape. We worked frantically to get set-up done by 5:45, but there was no way we would be ready for warm-up at 6:15. We asked George when he wanted to have warm-up and he replied in a very insulting voice, “Whenever you’re ready.” I was burning up—he hadn’t done anything but teach warm-up all week; he hadn’t even been coming to the theatre until it was time for him to teach and then he had been leaving right afterward. Oh well, it was the last night and I didn’t want to let anything upset me.

The house was sold out which got us excited. George seemed to be in a better mood by class time. He told us that he had met a woman who used to dance for Ballet Russes. She had come to our performance the night before prepared to hate us and she loved us. She wants to work with us sometime. The performance was great; Watercolors pas de deux was the best ever. Chuck and I nearly landed on the floor during the serenade promenade in Debussey, but I don’t think it was too noticeable. It did upset me though since I was having such a perfect night and Chuck had ruined it. I felt that Chuck didn’t care when he wasn’t the one doing the nose-dive. Chris Dyer was in the audience—she had driven down from Portland with some friends. She loved the new rep—especially ELP.

There was a reception at a French restaurant called La Prima Vera after the performance but we weren’t required to go. I thought no one was going and I felt bad about that but Mike, Chuck, Kelly and I ended up going. It was really good—beer, wine, champagne, soup, salad and pasta—but I wasn’t so overjoyed when I found out we had to pay for it. Who ever heard of having a reception for someone and charging them for it. The woman who sponsored us told me she like the Watercolors pas de deux the best of anything so I was glad I had gone to the reception if just to hear that compliment.

October 23^rd – Sunday, we spent most of the day in the bus getting home. I finished square number 56 and had a beer to celebrate. We stopped at a little restaurant in Pasco for lunch and, coincidentally, Chuck’s cousin from Montana was eating at the same place. Can you imagine the odds? We arrived in Moscow at about 6:30 with lots of bills waiting for us. The plants looked great—Karen is much better than Wendy at caring for someone’s plants when they’re away. We went out to eat—there was no food in the house after 17 days on the road and we weren’t in the mood to go to the grocery store. We moved the TV into the bedroom and had a wonderful time just thinking about not doing a performance.

October 24^th – Monday and Dad’s Birthday—57, I think. I called him and he was really pleased. We cleaned house, did laundry and ironed most of the day. I finally got rid of all my old mini-skirts and now I have twice as much room in my closet. I made enchiladas for dinner and they were just OK. We went down to Tom and Karen’s with a bottle of burgundy to thank them for looking after our place. We planned to get together with them Friday night.

October 25^th – Tuesday and it was back to work in Moscow. It was really nice having class in our old studio again. A guy named Steve from Denver auditioned. I think he would be perfect for us. He looks right and he dances nicely. The only problem is that he is still in school until December. There are two more guys auditioning for Assistant Ballet Master; and if they like one of them, they probably won’t hire Steve. There are two more women auditioning soon for dancer positions—Pam Griener is one of them. Either way, they want a man and a woman and one of them has to be able to teach. I really just wish I could do it; but to get the grant, you can’t have worked for Ballet Folk in the past.

We went to the subway shop for lunch with Steve. He’s pretty young; we’re not sure exactly how young; but he has been married to his high-school-sweetheart for 6 years. I am afraid they would have a hard time being away from each other for so long if he’s hired. He told us this was the first time they had ever been apart. The only reason I hope they don’t hire him is that he’s too short for me. He is about Mike’s height but doesn’t look anywhere near as strong.

We rehearsed Beauty all afternoon and I think we all remembered it quite well (except George). He was cast as the Father when Chuck Bonney left the Company. We rehearsed it again the following day. We had reheated enchiladas for dinner and they were much better—I added more sauce. We found out from Mike’s Mom that Linda is pregnant again—expecting in June. Markarova was pregnant at the same time—for the first time at age 36. I thought, “There’s hope for me yet!”

November 14^th – Monday, we had a school show in Lewiston. We did our first Beauty with the new cast. It was for junior high kids and they were an unruly bunch. Jaye was in the audience making us all feel very uncomfortable with her icy stare. Everyone was a little shaky, but I thought it was pretty good for a first show. No comment from Jaye. We had a lecture demo for senior citizens at the college at 4:00. I hardly did anything as Pas de Trois was the ballet we performed. I spent the evening knitting slippers for Christmas presents.

November 15^th – Tuesday was another Lewiston school show. The kids were better and so were we. Jaye even mentioned it. I knitted more slippers in the evening—knitting is the theme of the week.

November 16^th – Wednesday, we had class after which I went grocery shopping and yarn shopping. I spent from 2:30 in the afternoon until midnight on my ass clicking away on those damn needles. I finished seven pair of slippers and started Carla’s legwarmers the following day.

November 17^th – Thursday, we just had class but it was a pretty depressing day. We wanted HELP and all we got was sarcasm. Actually both Mike and I were feeling pretty good physically. Barb was out because of a sore neck so George didn’t start his Vivaldi ballet. I knitted from 1:00 until midnight on the legwarmers. Chuck came over to pay me for the plant-hanger of Carla’s that he bought, and hung around and talked for hours. He reported that George was dissatisfied with us because we didn’t appreciate him—feelings mutual. Mike and I actually decided to try to find employment elsewhere. We felt we were at a crucial point in our dancing careers and needed to find a teacher who would guide us. We were tired of being treated like bodies—but, at that point, who knew what would happen?

November 18^th – Friday was “get-on-Dee-day” in class. George was disgusted with me and I didn’t care. I’m not dancing for him anyway; I’m dancing for myself. We watched some video tapes in the afternoon—I was pleased with how I looked in Strauss and Corelli but not so pleased with Tarantella and Watercolors. The video of the Pullman show was a bust—only Watercolors was taped because the machine broke. We went to Jon and Nancy’s for dinner with them, Barb & Ben and Bill & Lenore. The food was fabulous. We watched “Three Musketeers”, I knitted and got high.

November 19^th – Saturday, the dancers got together and rehearsed Pas de Trois all afternoon. It went really well and I hope we can rehearse again soon before I forget everything. We worked on letters and resumes to send to the Cleveland Ballet and the Ohio Ballet.

November 20^th – Sunday, I typed and gathered our information together to send to the two ballet companies. I also cleaned house and knitted. Ben and Barb came over to watch football. We have a Company meeting at George’s this evening. I am keeping my mouth shut!

November 21^st – Well, the meeting turned out to be strictly a party. No one even mentioned the fact that we were supposed to be ironing out our difficulties. We just ate, drank, and smoked to excess like we always do. The lasagna was scrumptious. Jaye was her usual weird self, scrutinizing everyone closely, trying to make us uncomfortable. She did tell us one nice thing she heard in San Francisco at a conference for dance companies West of the Mississippi. She said everyone had heard of us and everything they heard was good. It is nice to work for an organization like that.

Monday we started George’s new Vivaldi ballet. So far, I really like it—it’s quirky and precise as all of George’s ballets are. He was in a wonderful mood—pleased-as-punch with himself. I knitted in the evening and we went to the Micro to see “Allegro Non Troppo”. It was an Italian “Fantasia”; but since I didn’t see “Fantasia”, I really couldn’t compare.

November 22^nd – Tuesday, we had a Beauty school show in Lewiston. When we woke up, there was 3” of snow on the ground! It was really quite beautiful but cold and messy to be outside in. I felt the performance was really sloppy, but maybe it was just Betsy and me as the sisters. We were kind of lost because it was so hard to see on stage, but everything was well-received. It was dark by the time we loaded up and drove home. Mike and I had a humble meal of hot dogs and then went to Biscuitroot and blew $4 on dessert and coffee.

November 23^rd – Wednesday, we rehearsed George’s ballet and at 2:30 were elated to be on vacation for the next 4 ½ days. We went looking for Fabulon for Betsy but instead bought chocolate covered cherries. I decided to give her some of my Fabulon. We went shopping at the new Rosauer’s; we’re going to Thanksgiving dinner at Jan and Betsy’s and we’re in charge of the bread. We’re making Barb’s bagels. When we got home, we cooked up some as a trial run; they were so delicious, we decided to take them. We made another batch of whole wheat ones the next day.

November 24^th – Thanksgiving Day. We baked in the morning and I then ran all over town looking for cream cheese and jelly. I finally found it at Circle K. I also wrapped Betsy’s gift and knitted in my spare time. We went to Jan’s at about 3:00 and, surprisingly, we were last to arrive. Betsy’s friend, Kenneth, flew up from Salt Lake with a friend, Robert. Barb and Ben brought their friends Greg, Billie and the baby, Carrie Lee. Add Leslie and that was the party. We had a wonderful time although I ate and drank entirely too much. I must have had a 6-pack of beer.

The turkey was delicious and we had every other thing you could possibly imagine to go with it. Barb made a pumpkin cheesecake that was out-of-this-world. After dinner we got high and played a game that Jan and I just couldn’t lose. It was called “You Don’t Say”. It was a mixture of 20 questions and charades.

November 25^th – Friday, we did pretty much of nothing. We made another batch of bagels that completely flopped. I squeezed them after they had risen and they came out like little bricks. We saw the X-Rated “Cinderella” at midnight—it was pretty stupid.

November 26^th – Saturday, we rehearsed from 11:00 – 2:00 and I am really glad we did. Now I know I won’t feel quite as bad on Monday. Pas de Trois is coming along nicely with the second cast but I wish I knew I would get to do it someday. I finished my legwarmers but had to redo the crotch because it was way too big. It was depressing to have to finish it all over again.

November 27^th – Sunday, was the usual Sunday. I went to church and cleaned house. I finally really finished my legwarmers. Now it’s full-speed-ahead on the bedspread. We watched “3 Days of the Condor” in the evening. I decided to give Mom and Dad a subscription to Time Magazine for Christmas. I hope they like it. It will be good for them.

November 28^th – Monday, George was really down for class today and we couldn’t figure out why. We had a Company meeting and which helped us understand—he wanted to work on his ballet all week and Jaye wanted to work on the school shows for our upcoming tour. Consequently, George wouldn’t rehearse today or any other day before vacation—another childish display. So we had the afternoon off and I worked diligently on my bedspread. I hoped to have it all sewn together with all the loose strings tucked away by the time we left on Sunday.

Barb and Ben came over to watch football and brought some popcorn. We spent most of the evening discussing George. Barb had stayed to help me rehearse Pas de Trois in the afternoon and also parts of Debussy. I taught her my part in the final section so I could go into Pas de Trois with more time to rest. I wonder if I’ll ever get to perform it.

November 29^th – Tuesday, we had a Moscow school show of Beauty. We saw Jaye afterward but she didn’t say anything. That seems to be happening more and more often. The kids seemed to enjoy it. We were finished with the whole mess by about 3:00. That night was a repeat of the night before. Barb and Ben were over again and I worked on my bedspread.

November 30^th – Wednesday, pay day at last. We rehearsed George’s new ballet so I guess he had gotten over his tantrum. I still have my doubts, however, that his ballet will ever be finished. We also did Pas de Trois and, for the first time, it felt really good. We went to the hotel for dinner and had a good time. Mike and I are getting along better. My jealous nature is really surfacing a lot lately though. The more I fight against it, the worse it becomes. Jan is bothering me more and more. She is always depressed, half the time in tears, either about her dancing or her parts. Everyone feels sorry for her and it drives me crazy. I think what she needs is a kick in the pants, but all she gets is sympathy. I think the reason it bothers me is that I fight to be up and to dance my best, and I don’t think she does. I’m jealous that everyone lets her get away with murder just because she’s Jan. Mike sure wouldn’t let me wallow in self pity like he lets her.

Enough of that. We invited George over to watch Nureyev. Chuck came over too but luckily they didn’t stay long.

December 1^st – Thursday, we rehearsed Rainmaker with Jaye and she was surprisingly helpful and encouraging. I finished sewing the pieces of my bedspread together. Now all I have to do is tuck in the strings.

December 2^nd – Friday, we rehearsed Beauty and Watercolors. I let myself get down about my feet again. I wore new shoes and was having trouble finding my balance and feeling my toes straight. My calf was killing me. Lately I’ve been working on not curling my ties when I point; but for some reason, this tightens my calves up. We watched “Four Musketeers” on TV after dinner. Mike felt pretty bad with a cold so no one came over. I was glad because I was feeling pretty run-down myself.

December 3^rd – Saturday, in the morning I put the finishing touches on the bedspread and put it on the bed. I still have to crochet the border which will take me another 20 hours. I should get to it before we leave or while we are on the train. We went to the travel agency and made the train reservations. They are pretty similar to last year’s only we leave a little earlier in the day and arrive in Utica a little earlier. The connection in Chicago is much better too.

The rest of the day we cleaned and did laundry in preparation for our tour tomorrow. We went to the Micro and saw “Brother Sun Sister Moon” about St. Francis of Assisi. It’s a Zefirelli movie and was really gorgeous and sumptuous. We stopped by Biscuitroot for dessert on the way home and talked about the film.

We packed and I lamented the fact that we were leaving our homey little nest. One new development of the week that I forgot to relate was that the Toledo booking was cancelled. Toledo University just doesn’t have the money. They sure waited long enough to tell us about it. JoAnn suggested my folks underwrite the performance with TU sponsoring it. This means if TU loses money, Dad would make up the difference. Our fee is $1,600 which means we would have to sell close to 500 tickets to break even. Mom said “no way” and I definitely see her point. I am happy it turned out that way because I would be a nervous wreck if Dad stood to lose money on us. The same thing is happening with the Utica show. Mike’s parents are a little more optimistic so maybe it will come through.

December 4^th – Sunday, we’re off again, this time to Olympia, Washington, and a week of 10:00 and 11:15 school performances. I’m always so crabby in the morning but at least we get our workday over early. The pass we had to drive over was pretty bad but we arrived in Olympia only a little late. Luckily the folks helping us unload had waited for us. Set-up seemed to take forever. We didn’t get to the motel until 8:00 p.m. We ended up eating with George and Chuck.

December 5^th – Monday, we got up at the ungodly hour of 6:30 to go across the street for breakfast. The performances went really well. It was one of those days that everything felt really easy. The kids didn’t respond as much as we hoped although they seemed to like Beauty better than Rainmaker. We struck and then stopped for lunch although George and Chuck were the only ones that ate. We had a little party in the bus and even had music. (We aren’t allowed to sing or turn on music when George is on the bus.)

We drove to Tacoma and set-up in an old movie theatre run by senior citizens. They were all extremely helpful. Larry Anderson, the person from the Washington Arts Council in charge of our tour, told me the thing he really likes about our Company is how we set up. The dancers do more than just dance. I told him that’s the thing I don’t like about it. I would rather just dance.

We went to the hotel and I tried to call Mom’s friend, Katie Secrest. The number was no longer in service and there were about six Bob Morris’ in the phone book. I gave up. We went out with Jon and Nancy to look for booze and to find a place to eat. We ended up buying some coffee brandy and going to Tony C’s—filet mignon for two was only $8.95. Delicious! Nancy was even happy. When we were ready to leave, it was pouring rain outside; it was a long, cold, wet walk back to the hotel. We watched TV with Jon and Nancy and got pretty drunk; the brandy tasted so good. Mike and I told them about our plans to leave. Jan and Lenore came over a little while later—they had been playing beauty shop. Jan had plucked Lenore’s eyebrows, curled her hair and made her up. She looked real nice. Kelly nearly scared me to death. He was balcony hopping and I was reaching out the window to grab another beer. I guess I nearly scared him to death too.

December 6^th – Tuesday, boy were the shows hard today. I was exhausted after Rainmaker—the shows are always hardest on the second day. We had all afternoon to rest and we did just that. We took a cab to Spaghetti Factory with Barb, Ben, Bill, Jon and Nancy. The food was wonderful and inexpensive too.

December 7^th – Wednesday, the shows today were a little easier again. We performed to 1,600 kids each performance just like we did yesterday. I think they really loved it. We drove to Seattle and checked into the Tropics Hotel—what a dump. Our room didn’t even have a bathtub. We went to the Food Circus with Jon and Nancy and had bad German food. The horseradish made me feel like I was losing the top of my head. We walked over to the Opera House to check it out—it didn’t look scary at all. While Jon was talking to some man about lights, and Mike, Nancy and I were looking around, a snooty girl asked the man Jon was talking to if he was conducting tours. Andy Williams had a show there that night.

Nancy and I took a little swim when we got back to the hotel and we called Becky Mott. We arranged to meet her for dinner the next day. We went to the ritzy Jake O’Shanessey’s for dinner and had the Irish Stew and the Irish Coffee—both of which were delicious.

December 8^th – Thursday, the Opera House shows went beautifully. There were almost 3,000 kids at each performance. It was a treat to perform in a place like that. Imagine, I performed on the same stage as Eleanor D’Antuono! We met Becky in the evening and had dinner and went bar hopping. It was great to renew our friendship—we talked about everything under the sun.

December 9^th – Friday, Renton was bad news. Everyone was so tired by then, we just wanted to get it over with. I think the performance was less than inspired. Chuck sprained his ankle during Rainmaker and limped through Beauty. We saw “Looking for Mister Goodbar” with Nancy and Bill that evening after eating good old American food for lunch. Jon was in one of his moods and just wanted to be left alone. We did a little shopping later—got an Irish tam for Mike’s brother, Doug, and an Irish cheese dish for his brother and sister-in-law, John and Elaine.

December 10^th – Saturday, we had a lecture demo at the University of Washington in the morning. I didn’t do much as Pas de Trois replaced Watercolors because of Chuck’s ankle. Becky came to the performance and couldn’t believe how much better Mike had gotten. We were a big success. The drive back to Moscow went fast and we were home in no time. The tour wasn’t as awful as I had expected it to be.

December 11^th – Sunday, I rushed around all day trying to get everything ready for Pam Griener (a student of Gail Grant’s from Toledo) who was coming to audition. We had no trouble at all recognizing each other at the airport. Mike was instantly “in love” with her. I made steaks for dinner but no one ate much as we were too busy talking. We left Pam alone in the apartment for a little while; and while she was using her hair dryer, the circuit breaker shut off. She told us she wandered around the apartment a long time looking for the fuse box. Our neighbor, Tom, finally found it outside and got it switched on again. I felt awful that we didn’t think to warn her about that. We all went over to Carl and Jaye’s for Carl’s surprise birthday party. Jaye told Pam she was beautiful—a good start. Once again, we drank far too much champagne.

December 12^th – Monday, Pam’s audition went very well. She is quick which is the most important thing to George. We showed her Pas de Trois and she was impressed. We went out to lunch and talked all afternoon. Lyn Gill (another Gail Grant dancer) arrived at 5;15 and we all went out to dinner at the Hotel. It was very interesting and brought back lots of memories of the early days with Gail. Lyn, however, is quite the bitch and heavy too. She doesn’t have a chance.

December 13^th – Tuesday, Pam left early. Lyn’s audition went OK but her body is all wrong. We didn’t have rehearsal but we did Pas de Trois for George. He promised we would get a chance to perform it. We went and saw the Woody Allen movie, “Take the Money and Run” which was hysterical. Afterward we went to the Garden for drinks.

December 14^th – Wednesday, we took Lyn to the airport and didn’t do much the rest of the day. Mike took Jaye’s class while I worked on choreography in the little studio. Balanchine was on and we had the usual crowd.

December 15^th – Thursday, Mike and I worked most of the day on choreography—it is coming along. We spent the evening at Carl and Jaye’s and got a lot of bitches out. We hadn’t even planned on bringing anything up; I was surprised at how aware they are of all the problems. I can see their side too.

December 16^th – Friday, we worked on choreography again and are about half finished. I don’t know if we’ll ever get any farther as this is the last day we can work. We found out that Pam is hired! Jon and Nancy came over and told us they found a new house and Nancy has never been happier. Ironically it is one of Jon’s old girlfriend’s apartments. We went to George’s to visit—Chuck was gone already and George was back to his old self.

December 17^th – Saturday, we packed most of the day and then went to George’s to say goodbye. He invited us over for desert later; he had a possible date for dinner. Barb and Ben came to our house to say goodbye but left early enough for us to go to George’s. Tomorrow, it is out of Dodge!

BALLET FOLK 5TH YEAR – JULY 4, 1977 TO SEPTEMBER 17, 1977

2010-11-02T13:16:00.000-07:00

July 4^th was a great day! We had lunch at the Country Kitchen with Beruti and George. George had been talking for some time about his friend and former dancer, Beruti, and the fact that he had persuaded her to come visit for a couple of weeks in Moscow. She seemed very easy; I felt I knew her after a few words. We had a lot of catching up to do with George and we got right to it.

George found Jed and Kathy in Chicago and Betsy in Salt Lake so we have our nine provided Jed gets his Visa extended. He is from England. We ate dinner at George’s with Carl—shish-ka-bob. Jaye is in Ecuador on a “Sister City” exchange program and Carl was getting lonely. I found out from George that Ross is working out-of-town and only comes home on weekends.

We went to the fireworks later—Moscow’s first. What duds! Saw Joe (Becky’s old boyfriend) and Barb and Ben. Joe is working odd jobs in Coeur d’Alene. Poor Joe. He told George the big secret is that Becky is working in a massage parlor in New York.

On July 5^th I started teaching bright and early and it went well. After my class, Beruti taught Company class and she was great—so much positive criticism! We spent $40 at the grocery; it is my resolution to save money by cooking more even if it kills me. Chuck came over in the evening and we got high—what fun.

July 6^th was a nice day. I taught class, took class and cleaned house while Mike tested the TV tubes. I am going crazy on the apartment—cleaning drawers that have never been touched. Slowly but surely, we’ll get the place in shape; it has been neglected for a long time. We ordered a new rug for the den. It will come on Saturday so we had better start painting. We had Pointe class again today—my poor feet. It has to get better. After dinner, we had many of the dancers over to watch Martha Graham on TV. It was fantastic!

July 7^th – We went with George and Beruti to see a performance of Cabaret done by the University of Idaho Musical Theatre students and directed by Carl. We were all a little high but could still tell Carl had done a wonderful job. Carl was fixing George up with the leading man at the cast party after the show, so we paid close attention to him and heartily approved. We had met Peggy, the leading lady, at Ballet Folk & Friends because she was a friend of Ross’s. She was OK in the show but she has an ugly body. Doris, one of the Kit Kat girls, was so awful she was perfect. Norma, Nan, Kathy and Vicki were all great—they’re all dancers from the school.

The party was so much fun. We drank 40 bottles of champagne and two cases of beer. It looked like George and Gary were hitting it off, but George and Terri were too; Beruti and I kept spying on them. Carl was pretty wasted and kept flirting with Beruti and me. I really like Carl without Jaye although he is going nuts because she’s been gone almost two months. He really let his hair down that night. We didn’t get home until 2:00 a.m.

July 8^th – I went to the doctor but saw Dr. Hawkins because Dr. Adams wasn’t in. My blood pressure was high so I have to go back in two weeks. He said it might be because of the pill. He also told me I should get off the pill for six months if I ever want children, but I can’t right now.

We stopped in to see Norm after Pointe class and promised to meet him later at the “Plantation”. We took Beruti with us after class and spent the rest of the evening at George’s with Carl, Terri and Gary. Carl was hysterically funny—I loved it. We kept joking about running away together.

July 9^th – Ross came over to visit at lunchtime. Since he is working out-of-town during the week, he has been pretty busy. He is the boss of a surveying team in Northern Idaho. Other than that it was a lazy day.

July 10^th – It was a gorgeous day for swimming. A group of us went to the Spring Valley Reservoir. We cooked hot dogs and had potato salad, chips and cherries. We took Jon’s 2-man raft into the middle of the lake and let it drift back to shore. Mike and I have to get some air mattresses before the weekend. Mike went over to Kelly’s, and Beruti and I went to Chuck P.’s garage sale but there was nothing but junk. In the evening, we went to see “Young Frankenstein” and had a few beers afterward with Jon and Nancy at the “Alley”.

July 11^th – We ordered paint, and curtains at Sears; they will come in on Thursday. Kelly came over after class and after he and Mike picked up the new rug at Ward’s. That rug will spruce up the den nicely. It looks like an expensive tapestry—but, of course, it’s not.

July 12^th – The Panov’s were on TV again. (Valery and Galina Panov are a Russian couple who were finally allowed to leave Russia in 1974 after much discrimination because Valery is Jewish. They were appearing as guest artists all over the world because, at that time, they were without a ballet company.) George, Beruti, Barb (Ben was out hiking), Mike and I went out to dinner at Sea Swiper’s first. George loved my Le De perfume and kept promising to attack me.

July 13^th – Pretty dull and boring day today. I can’t wait for rehearsals to start. Jed and Kathy are positively not coming. Jed yelled at Carl and blamed him for his papers not coming through. Cal said he wouldn’t hire him now even if he could and I don’t blame him.

July 14^th – Thursday, we dropped by Norm’s after class and had a little beer to get in the painting mood. Everything was there at the apartment waiting for us. We drank just enough to have no will power to resist an invitation to go to Tom’s and try some good Columbian pot. It knocked me on my ass! I have no idea how I made Sloppy Joes that night. After dinner I took a nap to stop some of the side-effects I was having from the Columbian—like not being able to swallow, breathe or stand up. That was some strong stuff. The nap helped and I was up painting by about 9:00 p.m. We got one coat completely finished. Mike sawed off what he thought was the bottom of the closet door so we could open it over the shag rug, but in reality he sawed off the top! The moral of the story, don’t smoke pot if you plan on doing home improvements.

July 15^th – Friday, George came over after class for lunch and stayed to help us paint. We worked almost solid until 10:00 that night. We went to George’s to relax after all that hard work and Carl, Gary and Terri were there too. We spent the next few hours talking, joking and smoking. Beruti was over at Mark and Terryl’s. They were back in Moscow taking their time moving to Milwaukee where Mark has a job with Milwaukee Ballet.

July 16^th – Saturday, we went to the reservoir with George. It was such a windy day that it took a lot of work to keep the rafts from floating back to shore. We didn’t stay long as the wind was too annoying. I invited Beruti for dinner at George’s request but she insisted she had to go with George and Carl. We met her later and went to Moscow Mining Company. Every time Mike danced with Beruti, some college kid would ask me to dance. I am sure they thought I was third man out. One freshman wanted to know what year I was. I told him I had been out five years and he said, “I just paid you a compliment.” Boy am I getting old!

July 17^th – Sunday, we mostly did laundry and cleaned. We dropped over to Barb and Ben’s in the late afternoon and promised to return after dinner and a movie. We saw “The Front” with Woody Allen and really enjoyed it. Back at Barb and Ben’s we met their friend, Greg, who is a real hick but awfully nice. We found out that Ballet Folk told Chris she could have her job back, but she was upset they had hired Betsy first. I think it’s silly; but if that’s the way she feels.

July 18^th – Monday, we officially started back to work. Everyone was a little depressed in class, probably because George’s teaching style is so different from Beruti’s. He wasn’t negative; he just wasn’t positive and we had all become accustomed to encouragement. We worked on Pas de Trois all afternoon. Jan, Mike and I are understudies and there is a good chance we will be performing it—especially Mike and I. Barb and Chuck are pretty tired of it after performing it for a whole year.

July 19^th – Tuesday, we rehearsed Rainmaker for a few hours. I conducted the rehearsal and really enjoyed it. It was fun being the “big cheese” instead of the peon for a change. Carl, Beruti and George came over for dinner. The food was good especially the Sara Lee cake. We all sat in the bedroom after dinner because it was cooler in there. Carl talked about remodeling his bedroom to surprise Jaye.

July 20^th – Wednesday, we watched the old video tapes of Rainmaker and Songs. We watched Rainmaker for the new people to help them get an overview of the ballet. We went to George’s after dinner as this was Beruti’s last night in town. We listened to possible music for George’s new ballet. Carl called but had to stay home waiting for Jaye’s call.

July 21^st – Thursday, George had a migraine so Beruti taught; we rehearsed Rainmaker all afternoon and got a lot done. We went with George and Beruti to the Hotel and had a few martinis while they ate. We met Carl at George’s when picking up Beruti’s bags; he was hysterical because Jaye hadn’t called. After we calmed him down, we drove to Spokane so Beruti could catch her train. We talked constantly; I am really going to miss her. She promised to call and write.

July 22^nd – Friday, lazy day today. We just had class—no rehearsal. I lay in the sun all afternoon while Kelly and Mike worked on George’s bike. We walked to the doctor’s at about 3:30 and this time my blood pressure was fine, thank God. We went to a “Crazy Days” street sale and went crazy. I got three pair of pants for $12 and two halter tops for $14. Mike bought a pair of pants for $6. I took them all up in the evening while watching “The Omen.” We were in bed by midnight.

July 23^rd – Saturday, what a glorious day at Spring Valley; it was 95 degrees and no wind. We drove out on the motorcycle and met George and Chuck in the middle of the lake. They told us they had taken two hits of acid each and were looking a little strange. We left early so I could go to Mass at 5:00 p.m. We arranged to meet Ross at the Garden Lounge after the play. “Tavern” wasn’t very good, but then it’s a dumb play to begin with. We had fun with Ross mostly talking about surveying, geology and dance.

July 24^th – Sunday, cleaning day again. We cleaned all the silver and did laundry. George came over for a few hours in the afternoon. A critic, Kathy Trautner, was in town to see “Cabaret”, and Carl and George met her after the play for a drink. According to Carl, the evening was a total disaster.

July 25^th – Monday, Valerie from Chicago was supposed to audition; but at the last minute, she didn’t come because of financial problems. Everyone was disappointed. Class was just OK; rehearsal went fast. We are almost finished with Rainmaker. George starts choreographing his new ballet tomorrow and everyone is excited.

July 26^th – Tuesday, We absolutely love George’s new ballet. He choreographed the whole first movement to Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle.” I always feel so sad when I hear that song knowing the singer is dead. . . there never was enough time for him. The Baryshnikov show was on again and the whole gang stopped by to watch it. Barb and Ben brought a cheesecake which was a nice treat. Chuck and Stan were moving into George’s house that night so they didn’t come—they weren’t invited anyway. Chuck has been getting on my nerves lately—bad start; it’s a good thing we are not partners much. It was so hot in our apartment that, after the show, we all moved into the bedroom where we have a small air conditioner and listened to more songs that George is thinking of using in his new ballet. It wasn’t very comfortable as our apartment isn’t equipped to hold that many guests—especially on such a hot night.

July 27^th – Wednesday, we had class and rehearsal as usual. Jonny and Nancy came over at 6:00 with a joint and Jon, Nancy, Barb, Ben, Jan and JoAnn all trouped down with us to the theatre to watch “Star Wars” most of us for the second time. It was fun—I made pizza for everyone afterward and, once again, we all nearly roasted from the heat.

July 28^th – Thursday – George is really getting into his superiority act and making everyone feel like less-than-morons. Mike got thrown out of rehearsal for having such a big ego. I don’t think anyone understood it but George. Bill, the tech guy, started learning Hoe Down. It is going to take a lot of patience from everyone, but he’ll do OK.

July 29^th – Friday, rehearsal with George from 1:00 – 3:00 was endless—the longest two hours of my life. We learned the third section of George’s new ballet which now has a name, Watercolors. Mike and I were supposed to start the pas de deux section at 3:00 but everyone was too exhausted. Ben was in Spokane so Barb came over and we had a good talk and lots of cold beer. We went home with her to wait for Ben to go out to dinner. Ben arrived with Bill, Jon and Nancy so we all went to the Moscow Hotel. We are really getting to like Bill; he bought a drink for everyone! I was dead-to-the-world by 10:00 p.m.

July 30^th – Saturday, was a beautiful day at the reservoir. It was so peaceful I even fell asleep on my raft. Mike and I both paid for it later as we ended up severely sunburned and with lots of bug bites. We saw Carl’s, “The Man Who Came to Dinner” and adored Forest Sears. He was fabulous. Gary was also exceptional as the Noel Coward figure. Jan had a party at her house after the performance. She had lots of snacks and “pink ballerinas” which taste a lot like strawberry daiquiris except they are made with bourbon instead of rum. It was a quiet party but nice and friendly. The members of the Company are hitting it off marvelously this year. I hope the two new people fit in—when we find them. We stopped over at Ross’s after the party but we didn’t stay long because he was really tired.

July 31^st – Sunday, I was feeling a little depressed today; and what do you do when you’re depressed—shop. I bought three pair of jeans for only $4.85/pair which, of course, I just couldn’t pass up. I hemmed until my needle broke. I walked over to George’s to borrow one from him and Gary was there. I like him more everyday; he seems good for George. George says he is nuts but I am thinking maybe George is the one that’s nuts—or maybe they’re both nuts. We smoked a little and it helped my mood considerably—I had a terrible time making decisions, but I felt great. I couldn’t pick out tomatoes, avocados, corn, or steak; and on the “Gong Show”, the ones that got gonged, I thought were great. I got terribly upset watching the news though, something I hardly ever do (the getting upset part not the watching part).

It got so hot in our apartment that we went outside to read. Our new downstairs neighbor, Astley, came by and we played cards with him until 10:30. Wendy came home while we were playing and talked about seeing Nureyev and Baryshnikov in London. We watched Cocteau’s “Orpheus” until midnight and I fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.

August 1 – Monday, was a boring day; it was hot and I was feeling really bad. I started my period and my back was killing me. We rehearsed until after 5:00. Bill was doing better; he will have it in another day. We dropped by Betsy’s in the evening to give her a house-warming plant. Michael insisted it was a ruby begonia even though the flowers were pink. According to him, they only turned pink recently. We watched tennis for awhile, but it got boring when it was obvious who was going to win. Thank God, tomorrow is another, different day.

August 2 – Tuesday, there still isn’t a lot of action in this town. We had class and rehearsal as usual. After dinner we walked over to George’s but he was at a play, so we went to Barb and Ben’s. It was so hot we just had to get out of our apartment. We only stayed about half hour because they were going to Jan’s to watch “Goodbye Columbus.” I can’t stand Ali McGraw so we hiked on home.

August 3^rd – Wednesday, we rehearsed at the new auditorium in the afternoon showing Rainmaker to George. He seemed pleased which doesn’t happen often. We also did Property and it went really well. We stopped by Norm’s after work and drank ourselves silly. We went to dinner at “The Studio” and ate a ton but it felt good. I was glad Mike moved quickly enough to pick-up the tab. It was nice to take Norm out for a change.

August 4^th – Thursday, everyone was pooped all day just thinking about the evening run-through. It went exceptionally well and we all felt great when it was over.

August 5^th – Friday, today was the beginning of a down period for George. He got so mad in class because we were all making mistakes that he told us to go home. We really didn’t mind. It was a gorgeous day for swimming so Chuck, Mike and I went to the reservoir. When George found out, he was furious. Later we went with Barb and Ben to see “School for Wives” at the University of Idaho Summer Theatre. It was really well done. I don’t care what Carl says about Roy; he may be an asshole, but he is a talented one. We went to the Garden for drinks afterward. We saw Ross outside and invited him to have a drink with us, but he had to go meet a friend. We all got a little drunk; and, fortified by the drink and the fact that there were so many of us, decided to stop by George’s. He had had a few drinks too and his anger had completely dissipated. We didn’t stay long as we had a big day coming up.

August 6^th – Saturday, we left for Coeur d’Alene at noon. Just outside Moscow, our retread started flapping so we went back to Princeton and had it changed. It was only a slight delay. We arrived at about 3:15. We ate, set-up outside in the park and ran through “Hoe Down”. We ended up doing it three times because Bill kept screwing up; he was nervous because George was watching. He feels the same way about George as we do. We put on make-up and had our class with an audience—no doors or curtains outside. A little boy about 5 years old came up to me as I was making up and said, “You sure have a little head.” I knew I did but didn’t know it was that noticeable. Joe came to watch—he is looking good. I think he’s going to New York to visit his uncle, and probably to try to see Becky. I don’t think that’s such a good idea.

The performance went pretty smoothly. There were about 300 in the audience. We drove right home afterward; I slept most of the way. Chuck insisted we take him home before stopping for dinner so he could take his make-up off—and then he wanted to get out-of-the-car if we went to Country Kitchen. He has to have his own way, and he takes advantage of everyone else to get it. I was pissed but the food helped me forget about it. We didn’t get home until 1:45 a.m.

August 7^th – Sunday, I got up early to go to Mass and clean house so we could take George and Chuck to the reservoir. When George called, Mike let him know we were going directly out there. We are getting fed-up with Chuck asking us to stop every time we take him some place. Sure enough, Chuck wanted to stop for Coke. I said I was getting tired of it, so George stormed into the house saying, “forget it”. I felt bad because I wouldn’t have minded stopping for George, but I knew Chuck was the one who wanted the Coke. We went but felt bad all day.

We played Rummy Royal with Astley on the front porch all evening. Chuck and George walked by and waved so I guess they weren’t mad anymore. It really was a foolish incident.

August 8^th – Monday, class and rehearsal went badly for me. It seemed I was constantly getting yelled at. I think George was still upset with me for what had happened yesterday. We did nothing during the evening except watch TV. There was a good movie on, “The Family Way.”

August 9^th – Tuesday, Jaye is back but we haven’t seen her yet. She hired Leslie Norton, a little 5-foot bullet. She arrives tomorrow. A guy named, Kevin, couldn’t make the audition because he couldn’t borrow a car. They are trying to decide whether to hire him sight-unseen. They really don’t have any other prospects. Pam Griener from Toledo finally wrote—now that it’s too late. That’s too bad. I got yelled at a lot again today so I guess I’m not forgiven yet. We went over to George’s after dinner and Jaye and Carl dropped in. We were all pretty high but it didn’t matter. We fit right in with Jaye’s mood. She talked a lot about Ecuador and the people. It sounded wonderful and awful at the same time. She looked great but Carl looked a little down. Back to being good for him—I think he was wishing he could get high with us.

August 10^th – Wednesday, Leslie arrived and I know I am going to like her. She is a regular girl, like me—down-home folk, as we say out West. She is very short though—just 5-foot even—and with bright red hair. We all look like giants next to her. It’s true what Jaye said; she has feet like mine—poor kid. We rehearsed with George all afternoon. Jaye watched class and then watched Pas de Trois rehearsal. It was kind of fun having her back. I wish I could have done Pas de Trois because I think Jaye would have been surprised.

August 11^th – Thursday, Jaye watched us do what we know of Watercolors, and we had the rest of the day off. She said it would be our last so we had better enjoy it. We went out to the reservoir just me and Mike but we met Jonny, Nancy and Bill there. It was really hot. George and Carl took off for Seattle to find a man. It turned out that Kevin went back to Phoenix because they found some grant money for him. He already signed the contract. We went over to Jaye’s in the evening and just sat around and talked; Carl asked us to watch after her.

August 12^th – Friday, Mom’s birthday. I taught and had fun doing it. We listened to music in the afternoon for Jaye’s new ballet while she explained what would be happening during it. The music is by Emerson, Lake and Palmer and it is to be the Ballet Company version of a Chorus Line. It sounds like a wonderful idea and the music is phenomenal. It was payday so we walked to the bank and then over to Leslie’s. She lives in the little house that Jaye and Carl and then Jonny lived in at one time. We invited Leslie over after we ate dinner at the Moscow Hotel. We ran into Dave Johnson and he gave me back my copy of Gail Grant’s book. I wish we would have thought to fix him up with Beruti when she was here. We had a quiet, hot evening at our place with Leslie, mostly just watching TV and looking at pictures. I’m so glad she smokes as I’ll have someone to bum them from in the dressing room.

August 13^th – Saturday, we started working on ELP at 9:30 this morning. It was a heated rehearsal because Chuck was in one of his moods and I was in no mood for it. We are partnered in most of the ELP ballet so far, but nothing is set yet. We went to the reservoir with Chuck, Jan and Betsy. It was a hot, claustrophobic ride out there but well worth it. We went to Barb and Ben’s later to watch for shooting stars and play Scrabble.

August 14^th – Sunday, crummy, awful day. Mike took Jan up on Moscow Mountain on the bike while I did laundry and sewed toe shoes. It took me 5 hours to sew 6 pair and I was throwing them after the first 3 hours. I hate sewing machines!

August 15^th – Monday, a guy from Salt Lake, Doug, auditioned today. He reminded both Mike and me of Dale—a bad omen. George started working on the pas de deux that Mike and I will do in Watercolors to a song called Watercolors by Janis Ian. So far so good. We worked on ELP the rest of the afternoon. We had a warm-up in the evening so Jaye could see Doug one more time and then we rehearsed until almost 10:00. They didn’t hire Doug but he didn’t want to be hired anyway. “Too much touring”, he said. Mike and I were right again—just like Dale.

August 16^th – Tuesday, not much to write about. All work and no play. We worked with George from 1:00 to 3:00 on Watercolors—I love it! Later we rehearsed with Jaye from 3:00 to 5:00 and again from 8:00 until 10:00. Mike and I do a short, strange pas de deux in ELP. Jaye had me jumping on his shoulders, under his armpits, and other scary moves but luckily nothing worked.

August 17^th – Wednesday, George had a migraine so Chuck taught—what can I say but argh! He just doesn’t have the knack. We worked on ELP all afternoon and then again in the evening. Carl flew back from Seattle because his car still wasn’t fixed. (I neglected to say Carl’s car broke down while he and George were in Seattle. George flew back Sunday night to be here in time to see Doug.) We figured Jaye wouldn’t have rehearsal that evening because she would want to be with Carl, but no such luck. We dropped by George’s after rehearsal and he was feeling better.

August 18^th – Thursday, a woman named Cassandra arrived today to audition for Assistant Ballet Mistress. I disliked her immediately; she reminded me of Mary Lynne. She took class today and she teaches tomorrow. We rehearsed all afternoon again with Jaye and she had me hopping on Pointe all over the stage. My poor little tootsies. Jay didn’t need Mike or me in the evening so we finally had a little time off. We went to Sea Swipers with Leslie and then over to Chuck’s. Leslie told us how she heard from a friend at Butler that Cassandra was supposed to choreograph a full-length program for her Master’s Thesis using dancers from the department. She decided no one was good enough to do her choreography so she did an evening of solos. What an ego!

August 19^th – Friday, Cassandra taught today and was Mary Lynne to a T. She doesn’t like using records so she counted until George couldn’t stand it anymore and offered to play piano. It would have been “death by boredom” if it hadn’t been for George. She didn’t say anything either. We want someone who can help us not just give us combinations; Chuck Pizarro can almost do that.

George finished our pas de deux today and everyone was in tears by the time it was over—it really does work. George started his final section. Jaye finished the first section of ELP and we ran it. I nearly passed out it was so strenuous! I will have to build up my stamina.

Carl and Jaye invited us all to their champagne party for three friends—Thelma, Jay and Anne, who just got back from Paris. I got awfully drunk and then smoked in the bushes with Chuck. I was pretty high but had a great time. I even sat on Carl’s lap right in front of Jaye. I told him to loosen up and flirt more because Jaye sure was. Carl’s car arrived from Seattle driven by a friend of George’s who seemed interested in Carl. It was all a bit bizarre but maybe I was imagining a lot of it.

August 20^th – Saturday, we stayed up to watch Gene Kelly’s “Invitation to the Dance” this morning from 1:00 to 3:00. We were both a little hung over and groggy when we got up. We cleaned, shopped and started the laundry—all before 2:00 p.m. Two men auditioned—Antonio and Billy. Antonio had astounding technique but a girl’s body and Billy had a fantastic body but no technique. They didn’t hire either of them. We relaxed the rest of the day—we needed it.

August 21^st – We have mostly been rehearsing day and night. Today was the first cool, cloudy day in about a month. It was too bad because we had planned to go to the reservoir. Instead Leslie, Mike and I went hiking at Elk Creek. It was fun and we even took a little dip. The only pair of shoes Leslie owns have 3-inch heels and it was hysterical watching her hike through the woods. We didn’t get home until 6:00. Mike and I went to McDonald’s and then to the movie, “Fantastic Planet”, a weird little cartoon. After the movie, we got a sundae at Minsky’s.

August 22^nd – Dee Dee from Salt Lake taught today, auditioning for Assistant Ballet Mistress. She was only 21 and had just graduated from college. Jaye loved her personality but didn’t even watch class. Dee Dee couldn’t even count—I can’t understand that. She was nervous; she talked too fast, and she couldn’t give anyone a decent comment. If they hire her, we quit! I got yelled at by George today in Watercolors. He was really grumpy and sarcastic.

August 23^rd – We rehearsed day and night. Dee Dee took class today. We worked on the finale to Watercolors and George finished it. Dee Dee took notes which could be an ominous sign. We worked on ELP the rest of the day.

August 24^th – George had the flu today but taught anyway. He was vomiting the night before. He was so nice that we all commented under our breath he should get sick more often. Jaye finished ELP in the afternoon and we had the rest of the day off. We went for pizza at Karl Mark’s, picked up Leslie and went over to George’s. I think George and Leslie are going to be great friends.

August 25^th – George was sick again today so I taught. It went OK but I was nervous because I didn’t have time to prepare. We didn’t have rehearsal in the evening. Jan came over for a little while because Betsy was driving her crazy with her depression. Jan just wanted to be around some happy people.

August 26^th – Still working on ELP to tighten it up. I am hired as Temporary Assistant Ballet Mistress. I started Property late in the afternoon and it was a disaster. Everyone kept contradicting me and I lost it. I was mostly mad at Mike because I thought he should have been on my side. I was having enough trouble.

We went to the movie, “Silver Streak” in the evening and the whole gang was there. Betsy, Jan and Leslie came over for a little while afterward. We mostly looked at old pictures of me and Mike. George and Chuck came over right after the girls left. I had just gotten in the bath tub. George hadn’t taught that morning (Barb did) so I was surprised to see George up and around. He asked us what we thought about Leslie understudying the Sleeping Beauty pas de deux. I almost lost my teeth; I was stunned. Leslie is Jaye’s dancer—all tits, teeth and no technique. George never ceases to amaze me.

August 27^th – Jaye started choreographing Debussy at 9:30 this morning. It was one of those awful first rehearsals. Naturally Chuck and I are together again. I rehearsed everyone in Property after that and got in a bad mood. Two days of abuse in a row was too much for me. We cleaned and did laundry the rest of the day and then went over to George’s with Leslie in the evening. George confessed that most of his sickness was made-up. He was mad at Jaye. He also confided that he was going to be nice from now on. He said, “Being mean just isn’t worth it.” We got a real chuckle out of that later in the week.

August 28^th – At last, we had a real day off. We went to Biscuitroot for dinner and saw a movie at the Micro in the evening. The movie was dumb but it was still better than rehearsing.

August 29^th – All rehearsals from now until opening are in the new auditorium. We started cleaning up Watercolors. We also did ELP and a little Debussy. Leslie is the solo girl in Debussy and all she does is run around on her toes—poor kid. We had the evening off because Jaye had a tech meeting. It was payday and, to my surprise, I got a $75 bonus. How nice!!

August 30^th and 31^st – We rehearsed day-and-night. I’m getting skinny—down to 106 pounds.

September 1^st – We rehearsed all afternoon and had a run-through in the evening. Lenore took pictures. During ELP in the afternoon, I accidentally kicked myself in the left calf and was it ever sore. The run through went better than I thought it would. I am starting to feel really run down.

September 2^nd – Friday, we set-up in the morning at 10:00 and came back at 1:00 for class. We only rehearsed until about 4:00 because we had a dress rehearsal in the evening. The night before, we had tried on our Watercolors costumes. I was first to get fitted, so I put my costume on the chair right in front of Bonnie’s nose when I took it off. For some reason she didn’t see it and left it there. George bit my head off because he thought I had left it downstairs. I think he was still mad at me today, because he was on me for every little thing. He also had a fight with Jaye and wasn’t speaking to her. How childish! The run-through went fine (in Property I now have dirt all over my face and tights); we struck and didn’t get home until 11:00. I still had to pack and wash my hair.

September 3^rd – Saturday, performance in McCall with Madame Petrick accompanying us. We arrived, set-up, ate, made-up, warmed-up and performed. I thought it went excellently. I was no-where near as nervous as I usually am for a first performance. George even said I looked “gorgeous” in ELP. We went to the Yacht Club for steaks later with Leslie and Bill. I was happy but exhausted.

September 4^th – Sunday, bus ride back; we arrived about 2:00 p.m. George invited us over for lasagna so I didn’t have to cook. I relaxed and enjoyed myself once we had shopped and started the laundry. We had a good time at George’s watching July Collins sing with the Boston Pops and watching “The Getaway”. There was a huge thunderstorm and all the lights went out for about 15 minutes. I decided I really like Chuck P.’s boyfriend, Stan, but it was very obvious that night that he was driving George crazy.

September 5^th – Labor Day, no rest for the weary. I had a list of things to do a mile long. We rehearsed Debussy at 7:30 p.m.

September 6^th – Tuesday, Brett Rafael was here auditioning for the Assistant Ballet Master position. He took class today and is really some fine dancer. Just the way he works in class makes me think he is a good teacher. He did everything to the fullest technically but seemed to be a little weak as far as movement. He would compliment George well. He is only 25 though which could have its drawbacks as that is the same age as most of us. He came to rehearsal in the afternoon but I didn’t talk to him. We did Debussy until 3:00 and then George started Sleeping Beauty pas de deux with Barb and Chuck as first cast and Leslie and Mike as second. I think putting Barb and Chuck together is a grave error. Chuck is the weakest partner in the Company and Barb is the heaviest woman because she is so tall.

We rehearsed Debussy in the evening. Jaye is working on the girl’s dance—2^nd Movement. I had a hard time, as usual, because it was a first rehearsal. It is really frustrating learning something new when Barb is involved because she is incredibly quick. It is infuriating but I can’t hold it against Barb; I just wish I could be more like her. Unless I know the arms, head, what’s on Pointe and off, and, of course, the feet, I can’t do the step. I took Jaye home and she wanted to know how I felt about Brett. So far, she loves him. She thinks he’s a genius just from talking to him; I hope she’s right.

September 7^th – Wednesday, Brett taught today and, it’s too bad, he’s not very good. He was imprecise and did everything either in five-eighths or three-eighths. George was playing and so everything came out all right but any other pianist would be lost. But we could put up with anything if he had just given some constructive criticism; we’re starved for it. But alas, he gave not one intelligent remark.

Jaye worked on the girl’s dance in Debussy again in the afternoon and choreographed 32 hops on Pointe on the left foot for me. I hope they don’t kill me. We did Debussy again in the evening because Jaye has yet to finish the 2^nd Movement and it has to be polished enough to perform Friday night at the champagne benefit at the Elk’s Club. The bosses are having a conference with Brett tonight so we will know the outcome tomorrow.

September 8^th – Thursday, George is getting his mean streak back. He keeps yelling at us for acting tired. We are tired, and paranoid and frightened. There’s a lot coming up in the next week mentally and physically; and I think we’re all wondering if we’ll make it. We rehearsed the parts of the show we are doing for the benefit in the afternoon. George was disappointed with Watercolors and he took it out on us. My calves are killing me from all the hops and releves in Debussy. Life is supposed to be fun; I’m losing it again. Not a word about Brett.

September 9^th – Friday, What a day! My biorhythms must have been at their lowest point. George started in on us in class about how bored we all looked and I felt like crying. No one ever says a kind word to us; I felt beaten-down. My calves were in knots so I kept stretching them between exercises. For some reason this set George off and he told me to leave. I cried all through lunch in the dressing room. Mike was wonderful and so was everyone else.

We had rehearsal at the Elk’s in the afternoon and I was fine by then. Carl clapped for my hops and I could have kissed him. He is the only one in management who ever tells us how good we look. I was exhausted when we finished and my feet were killing me. That is an awful feeling to have right before a performance. It went just OK—for me, that is. Watercolors pas de deux was a little shaky and so was Mike’s and my pas de deux in ELP. The ballet I worried about the most, Debussy, was the best. Ballet Folk made $2,800 on the fundraiser, so financially it was overwhelmingly successful. We even got a new tape recorder to replace the one stolen from the bus. Later Jaye told us we charmed the money right out-of-them. I felt such relief when it was over. I drank champagne until it was coming out my eyes. Fred Chapman, head of the Theatre Department at the University of Toledo, was there and we talked about Carla, Toledo and Moscow. He was very impressed with us.

We had a heavy conference with Jaye about George. Mike did most of the talking. I was feeling a little woozy by then so was glad when all the lights came on signaling the party was over. I drove home alone because Mike stayed to help strike.

September 10^th – Saturday, Mike had rehearsal with Leslie all day for their pas de deux in Debussy. I cleaned, finished the laundry and went shopping for Mike’s birthday present. We went to the Hotel for dinner and then met Jon, Nancy, Jan, Betsy and Leslie at the Micro to see “Casablanca.” Yep, it’s true—they just don’t make movies like that anymore. We went over to Jan’s after the movie. For no reason I was really depressed, but I started feeling better after a few pink ballerinas.

September 11^th – Sunday, we rehearsed Debussy all afternoon. We also tried on our costumes. They’re a little obscene—nude-colored body stockings with a little chiffon covering, but we wear pink tights underneath. The body stockings go over the Pointe shoes, and we’re all sure someone will eventually break their neck and Jaye will be sorry.

September 12^th – Monday, we started rehearsing at the U of I Performing Arts Center and we will be there the rest of the week. George was certainly in a foul mood. He yelled at us that we work our asses off for Jaye and don’t give him anything; that’s paranoia for you. We had a run-through in practice clothes that evening.

September 13^th – Tuesday, after last night’s run-through, Jaye was a nervous wreck. We did Debussy almost constantly for four hours. Naturally, it kept getting worse the more tired we got. This was the day my feet were ruined. The pain was worse than I ever remember. My two big toe nails were too sensitive to even touch let alone hop on. I was in tears most of the afternoon and evening. The evening’s dress rehearsal was a disaster. I can’t remember feeling worse about any other show.

September 14^th – Wednesday, it was Mike’s 27^th birthday. At least George isn’t yelling anymore. We have been having class at the PAC at noon. I have been following Mike’s advice and concentrating on George’s feet. When I look at him, my emotions appear on my face and I upset him. I guess it’s working because George hasn’t said a word to me in three days. Better no words at all than unkind words. I cried off-and-on all evening because I was in such pain. Every time I came offstage, I collapsed in pain. Luckily I danced better in the dress rehearsal than I did the night before so now I know I can make it through the performance no matter what. Jan had a birthday party for me and Mike after rehearsal. It is nice to have such a good friend. Jan gave me some decorative combs and Leslie gave us a vibrating foot bath; I had my feet in it the rest of the evening. Mike seemed to like his sweater from me and the book about plants from Jan. The ice cream and cake were soothing.

September 15^th – Thursday was Opening Night in Moscow. We had class at noon and George asked to talk to me afterward. We went into the Green Room and he demanded to know what was wrong with me. At first I said I was just tired, but he wouldn’t buy that. I finally told him I just don’t know how to act in class or rehearsal because, no matter what I do, he gets upset. He asked why I never look at him and I told him the truth that he always misinterprets my faces. I also told him that half-the-class is scared-to-death of him because he blows up so often. He seemed dumbfounded, and I think it was genuine. He really doesn’t realize how he affects us. He says no one gives him anything in rehearsal except Barbara. I told him it was because he never yells at her so she’s not petrified. He came back with she doesn’t give me any reason to yell and her, and I explained how everyone can’t be as fast to learn choreography. I told him he doesn’t want dancers, he wants quick studies. I went on to say I had even thought about getting pregnant so I could leave. He said, “That does it. If everyone feels that way about me, I’m leaving.” I was proud of myself that I had told him how I felt, but I was afraid Jaye would blame me if he left. I just stayed and cried until Mike and Jaye came in and reassured me of my worth and bolstered my confidence enough that I could leave. It was painful for awhile; but getting everything off my chest like that, did me a world of good.

George was his usual, stoned self when we picked him up that evening so everything seemed fine. The performance was a smashing success. Our pas de deux in Watercolors was off somewhat but Debussy (which on the program is called Intimations of Immortality) and ELP (called Viva La Company) were great. I don’t think any of us really understood Debussy until that night. Finally with costumes and an audience, it came alive. We realized how we were supposed to act, and people loved it. It is really a wonderful, charming, fairy-tale-kind-of ballet.

Opening nights shorten my life considerably, I am sure. After it was over, we all went to the hotel for drinks. We kept congratulating and complimenting each other over and over. I am sure it was as great a relief to most of the other dancers as it was to me—to know we had done it well. I think a lot of us weren’t sure we could pull it off, probably because we felt Jaye and George had doubts too. We saw Ross that night at the hotel and he promised to come to the performance the next day. Mike and I went home tipsy, tired and relieved.

September 16^th – Friday, the second night was often more nerve-wracking than the first. You have given your all, it went well, and then you realize you have to do it all again! You tend to try too hard and you rarely get the satisfaction from the second night that you got from the first. Tonight went OK; but when all three nights were evaluated, it came in third. I was pleased, but I slipped once in Watercolors pas de deux and stepped on the crack in the trap-door during ELP so I wasn’t at my most elegant. Ross loved it though and invited everyone to the hotel for drinks on him—he was a good fan. Pam and Mike were in from the Tri-Cities and liked ELP but hated Debussy probably because Pam couldn’t imagine doing it herself. I forgot to mention that Mike and I went shopping for my birthday gift in the afternoon. I got a cuddly, soft, brown jumpsuit—size three. I am really feeling skinny.

After we went to the hotel, Ross and I had an evening-long private conversation surprisingly enough about ballet. He was really bothered by Chuck in Sleeping Beauty. He is going to tell George when he sees him how nervous it made him feel. I absolutely don’t want to be there when he does that.

September 17^th – Saturday, finally the last night and it was the best by far. George had a party after the performance and we were all one, big, happy family. We ate and drank to our heart’s content. At that time, all the pain and effort seemed worthwhile.