Week 2 and Back to the Harbourside

Week 2 of rehearsals went well. We started and finished another show that will happen on the deck, it's called Sailing Away. That will be the first show performed on the ship! I am an understudying in that show as well.

Another exciting thing that happened this week was on Friday I had my costume fitting. I found out that I will be performing in a show we perform in the theater on the ship! The show is titled "Golden Mickey's." I play a few dancer roles.......:) !!!!!!! and also I make friends with Minnie Mouse and Belle! The dress that Belle wears is absolutely beautiful! It is a gorgeous gold formal gown, that looks like a wedding dress! I cannot wait to make friends with her in the show. ;)

Thursday night I took the streetcar to a different neighborhood in Toronto, on the northeast end. There seems to be a bunch of dance studios in that area. I found a really nice studio over there and took a lyrical class. It was nice to dance in the studio! I plan on taking class a lot while I am here.

On Sunday I went back to the Harbourside. It was an even more beautiful day than the Sunday before. This time I rented a bike, and I was able to go a little further along the trail...not to mention I got around a little bit faster. The photos I posted here were taken along the Harbourside.

This week at rehearsal we are working on a brand new show for the theater, it is titled "Believe." I think I will be an understudy for this show as well. :-/ So, I actually only had a half of day of work today because they were working with the singers! I plan on taking a dance class tonight at another local studio!

See you next time!

One Whole Week in Toronto

It has now been one whole week here in Toronto and I love it here. :)

The rest of the week in rehearsal we worked on the "Mickey's Pirates" show. We finished the entire 30 minute show. It was a lot of information, but it was fun! Saturday I actually didn't have to go into rehearsal until 2pm, which was terrific!

I got to sleep in a few hours more, then work out finally, gave myself class in our studio at our gym, ate lunch at home then went to rehearsal. It was a lovely day.

After work I found a market, the kind that I like!!! It was very similar to the Reading Terminal Market I usually shop at in Philly. They had stands inside one building, each stand selling something different. I go for the cheap boneless chicken breast and the produce! The honeydew was not the sweetest and the blueberries were a little too sour for me, but it was all very cheap!

Saturday night we all met at one of the singer's room to meet and greet with everyone. Then a bunch of us went out to some of the bars in Toronto. It was a good time and nice to spend time with people outside of work.

Today was by far the best day in Toronto. I walked to the Harbourside of town, which is two blocks from my apartment building. There were boats everywhere! Parks, baseball fields, bike trails, small beaches, a music garden, and even an amusement park. Later I found the pier with restaurants and shops. After having dinner right on the pier, I walked around the little mall with the shops. On the second floor there was a dance theater called Fleck Dance Theatre. I walked up there to see what it was and the usher was calling people for in the second half of a dance performance to start. I asked her if I could pay for the second half of the show and she said I could just go on up to the balcony! So I was able to see a modern dance performance for free! It was a pretty good show with live musicians, but I am looking forward to going to more dance shows in the area.

This week we have more character training and we are also learning another show called Sailing Away.

Here is a photo of the CN tower, it is a very famous free-standing building. There is a restaurant up there that rotates to view the city! I can see it right outside my kitchen window! :)

The other photos I took today at the Harbour.

See you next time!

Day #3 in Toronto

Just got home from day #3 of rehearsals...or work. I guess I can call it that now. Finally relaxing with my computer and a full belly.The rehearsals have been great, although a little tirering. Day #1 we had a lovely morning of dancing, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We had a nice modern warm-up and then learned three combinations. They were dance combinations from the shows we will be doing on the ship. They made "cuts" after each combination (even though it isn't technically cutting since everyone still has a job.) I think they were doing that to see everyone's ability. The rest of day #1 we went into Character Training. In character training we mostly talked about what it's like to be a character and watched some movies, such as biography on Walt Disney and a few others. Day #2 we tried on our costumes for the first time! I became friends with Minnie first! She is very cute and very girly! Her head is heavy ;) Uck! In training...The first thing we tried was walking with our character. Then we practiced traditional poses. Then we played around with interacting with other characters. :) Day #3 we did more of reacting and storytelling with our character. Bill, our character director, called out senarios for us to act out. "You see something you are so excited about!" or "You are walking on very hot coals!" That was hard because you have to over exagerate everything! It's pretty tirering. I'm sure I will get better at it. Then we played musical chairs, simon says, and danced to the salsa slide song. Those were fun! Tomorrow we start a show called "Mickey's Pirate Club." Should be interesting! I am an understudy. Overall, I am enjoying myself. Mostly I am just working on adjusting to the schedule. I am so tired from going into the costume and sweating then sitting down to watch some movies, shows, and training videos. We leave around 8:15 to go to the studios, then we usually finish around 6. I plan to go to bed early tonight! Last thing...I promise! I love Toronto! I have found myself breaking off from people here because I just want to frolic around by myself! The weather is beautiful and there are so many cool things to see here! Love this city! :) Here are some shots of Toronto outside my bedroom window!

First Night in Toronto

My flight was very short and sweet, about an hour and a half. It was probably the smallest plane I have ever been on. There were about 14 seats or so, that is why there were not too many people at the gate. They also asked all the women to sit it the back where the bags were.

Soo...it is my first night in Toronto, which is a lovely city by the way. Lake Ontario is surrounded by a bike trail with all kinds of attractions, restaurants, and even a public pool. I am looking forward to taking walks over there! There is also the film festival going on right now, just opened tonight actually. I heard Matt Damon was seen around town. I had dinner at a restaurant right across the street from the Tiff Bell Lightbox, which is a brand new building where all the films are being premiered. It's a pretty glamorous building!

My apartment building looked pretty glamorous itself when I first arrived. I first had to stop at the conference room to sign all the paper work and get the keys. My room was also nice; a lovely 2-bedroom apartment in downtown Toronto. However, once I got to the room, I found out there would be 4 people to a room, instead of the 2 to a room they originally told us. Bummer :( It would have been nice to have my own room. Although the apartment is rather spacious and relatively new; both good things.

There was only 1 girl moved in our apartment when I got there and she and I took the larger room. Her name is Tara and is returning for her 7th contract with Disney Cruise Lines. She is also a mouse height character. I am happy to be rooming with her because she can answer the 3,000 questions I have, plus she's nice. :) The two other girls in our apartment are also mouse height characters.

Tomorrow we meet one of the Toronto directors in the lobby at 8:30am! He is going to show us how to get to the rehearsal studios and then we will be working all day! They will be holding assessments to see where we all fit in the shows. Wish me luck!

Manchester Airport

I am at the Manchester Airport, gate #1. I don't know if I have ever been this far down at the Manchester Airport. It is very quiet; there must be 7 people going on this flight...

We are about to board. Next stop...Toronto, Ontario.

See you next time :)