As The Tables Turn

Today was the day that all of us IES students have been waiting for since we started: Integration day with the actual Gaiety students. Weeks of anticipation lead to the typical (and sometimes annoying) hysteria that comes from preparing for the unknown: nervous jokes, constant talk about how things are gonna change, repeatedly talking about who these people could be, what they'd look like, how old they'd be, etc etc.

Oh, before I forget, let me explain what integration actually means for us. Ok, we'll be working with 1st year Gaiety students for 2 classes a week (Devising & Voice). These students range in age, as the program is a highly intensive 2 year program, which I suppose is comparable to some grad school programs in the States.

Alright, so our IES group was invited to meet with the new Gaiety students at 10am over tea & coffee. I got there 15 minutes early (I'd love to say that I was trying to make a good impression, but naw, I just skipped breakfast in morning), so I proceeded upstairs where I heard people talking. Turns out that it wasn't the 1st years, but the 2nd year students, who were starting their first day back as well. They were really nice, but definitely had that seasoned look to em, so I could tell that I should just fall back & not try too hard. Other IES students show up & we wait upstairs until the meet & greet starts at 10am. You could see the nervous energy on everyone's face. It was kinda funny to watch for me, cause y'all know I'll just play it cool & low key before I get psyched out by my nerves (especially since I had got there early & already stumbled over my words already, so I couldn't of made more of an ass of myself, lol). After some akward introductions & some genuine laughs, we all headed downstairs for the meet & greet.

So we all gather in one of the classrooms. Its the 1st years (maybe 20 of em), 2nd years (another 20 probably), us (12 of us), & some staffers (like 6 of em), so we have over 50 people crowding in one of half of the room around a table with tea & coffee. You can imagine the quality of the myriad of conversations that were going on. It was basically, "HI, MY NAME IS...." (having to scream over everyone else, as you extend your hand to whoever is walking by), brief small talk about where people are from (all that I met were from Ireland, nobody know anything about MD or ATL), & other random chit chat.

The Program Director, Patrick Sutton (imagine John Goodman w/ Russel Crowe's demeanor & a penchant for wearing tieless suits w/ the shirt unbuttoned to show off some chest hair), cuts off the meet & greet at 10:30 am since the Gaiety students start class at 10:45 am. Morning over, but thats just half the day.

*Side note: I forgot to mention that Patrick introduced all the groups to one another (1st year, 2nd year, IES) & introduced us as the "American visitors", which didn't sit so well with a number of people in our group. It definitely made me feel different, but I didn't wanna take it as a negative, since technically we are the "American visitors". More on this later.

In the afternoon, we were split into our groups for Devising & Voice, since there too many of us to all stay together in one class. I was in the Devising group, which made me happy since that meant my schedule wasn't changed at all. Now I've talked briefly about Devising on here, just to give y'all a feel on it, so you should know that I enjoy it & find it to be a lot of fun. So expectations were high, especially with new students here which means that we'll be getting to know one another & playing games. There was a shift in tone though from the very beginning of class. Everything that our instructor, Antoinette said while giving instructions had more of an edge to it than usual. It had me think twice about everything that was doing, as if I was new, & I've been in her class for a month!

We quickly got up & started with basic games for focus, ensemble building, & cooperation. All of these activities, the IES students have done before, so it was comfortable for me. But as we worked on things, Antoinette was really sharp & serious about what we were doing in each game & started dropping a lot more knowledge than usual on us. I appreciated the knowledge, since I'm here for that, but the tone shift bothered me. I don't mind a serious, intensive program since I don't mind taking orders or direction, but it does piss me off a lil when people change out the blue. Antoinette talked to us about how the 1st years would be, but she could of told us that her teaching style differs when they're around. I think that's only fair considering the trust that needed to be built for a proper collaboration to happen. And when she started kicking deeper knowledge about the architecture of a space & knowing how frame a space to tell a story, it made me think, "Why she ain't share more with us before?" It just made me really feel like as the "American visitor", we weren't as worthy of the passing on of such knowledge.

Maybe I'm whinning (for the record, I don't think I am), but I wasn't alone on my feelings. The rest of class went well & there's no love lost for our instructor. Overall, it was a good day, just different. The Irish students were very nice & all at different experience levels, which bodes well for our potential as a group. I'll keep y'all updated on how things progress from here on out. More stories later on. I got a very special visitor coming on Thursday, so you know I'll have an update to give this weekend.

Peace & blessing!