Macy Sullivan (Camas, WA) is a New York City-based dancer, collaborator, and teaching artist.  She currently dances for Dance Heginbotham, The Chase Brock Experience, and Caleb Teicher and has performed the roles of Peter in Isaac Mizrahi's Peter and the Wolf, Marie in Chase Brock's The Nutcracker, and a featured tap dancer in Tyne Rafaeli's The Poor of New York.  Sullivan's own work has been performed at Judson Memorial Church, The 92^nd Street Y, The Tank, Jennifer Muller/The Works' HATCH, and The Juilliard School.  As a teaching artist, she has worked with the NYC Department of Education, Lincoln Center Education, Cayman Arts Festival, Juilliard Global Ventures, and Artists Striving to End Poverty.  She holds a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School (Martha Hill Prize, John Erskine Prize, Choreographic Honors). www.macysullivan.com

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From Macy: When Jill introduced me to her blog and asked me to contribute, I realized (in struggling to determine which week to share) that zooming out might offer more insight about the ebb-and-flow that comes with freelancing. So, I've written about 2 weeks that are 6 months apart. Enjoy!

From Blog Director Jill Randall: I appreciate Macy's detailed descriptions, taking us through two different weeks as a dancer in NYC in 2015. As you will read, commuting is an integral part of the scheduling, as well as planning for each day with food preparation and the daily gathering of dance clothing. Macy gracefully juggles it all, and her weeks include rehearsing, taking classes, teaching, and administrative work.

Monday, February 23rd

7:30am-10:30am: Wake up and eat breakfast. Pack 2 lunches and 1 dinner (1 lunch is for Tuesday). Pack dance clothes, teaching clothes, and normal clothes for today and Tuesday. Review notes from last week's meetings/rehearsals for Cubicle (a multimedia collaboration I'm creating and performing in through Juilliard's Center for Innovation in the Arts – CIA).

10:30am-11:30am: Take the A to 59th Street and walk to Juilliard.

11:30am-noon: Meet Phoebe (Cubicle collaborator) to briefly compose and cohere our thoughts before a meeting.

12:00pm-1:15pm: Phoebe and I meet with Edward Bilous (CIA Director). We update him on our most recent ideas for integrating the several layers of:

• video (some shot through frosted plexi-glass; some computer animated),
• sound (some recorded office sounds – highlighter, typing, sipping coffee; some recorded and warped violin/piano; some recorded reading of Daniel Orozco's "Orientation"),
• motion-sensing interactive elements (still figuring out the kinks…infrared cameras?),
• lights (tubular fluorescent lights; a grid illuminated on the floor, moments of flickering),
• and dance (which is the least developed because it relies so heavily on everything else).

1:15pm-1:30pm: Phoebe and I meet and delegate work between us based on our meeting.

1:30pm-2:15pm: Grab coffee and take the 1 to Penn Station.

2:15pm-3:40pm: Board the 2:15 Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) train to Ronkonkoma. While en route, write e-mail updates to the collaborators (videographer, composer, interactive tech designers, lighting designer, music tech designer, etc) who couldn't attend today's meeting. Eat lunch.

3:40pm-4:00pm: Take a taxi to the dance studio where I teach and arrange return trip.

4:00pm-4:30pm: Warm-up and plan class exercises.

4:30pm-9:30pm: Teach 5 levels of ballet classes (60min/class).

9:30pm-10:11pm: Take a taxi back to the train station.

10:11pm-11:40pm: Catch the 10:11 LIRR train back to Penn Station. While en route, eat dinner, resume e-mails and other administrative work.

11:40pm-12:05am: Take the 2/3 to Wall Street. Walk to Alexander's apartment.

Tuesday, February 24th

6:30am-7:30am: Wake up and eat breakfast. Coffee with Alexander.

7:30am-8:30am: Both Alexander and I head to the gym in his building. I do a light elliptical session with some foam rolling/stretching.

8:30am-9:00am: Get ready to leave for the day. Grab pre-packed lunch.

9:00am-9:30am: Take the 2/3 to Nevins Street and walk to Mark Morris Dance Center.

9:30am-10:00am: Pay for class and warm-up exercises.

10:00am-12:00pm: Take Ashley Tuttle's ballet class.

12:00pm-1:00pm: Stretch, eat lunch, change into rehearsal clothes, some administrative work.

1:00pm-4:00pm: Rehearsal with Dance Heginbotham.

4:00pm-5:00pm: Take the 2/3 to Fulton Station, transfer to the A to 175 Street, and walk to the dentist office.

5:00pm-6:00pm: Dentist appointment.

6:00pm-6:20pm: It's too cold to walk because I forgot my gloves and it's below freezing. Take the A to 181st Street and walk home.

6:20pm-11:00pm: Cook/eat dinner. Pre-pack 2 lunches and 2 dinners (1 each for Wednesday). Continue working on Cubicle correspondences; lots of e-mails between collaborators. Book space for a private lesson I will teach on Thursday. Read the script for a short film I will be rehearsing on Thursday.

Wednesday, February 25th

6:30am-8:00am: Wake up, eat breakfast, and get ready for the day. Pack dance clothes, teaching clothes and normal clothes for today and tomorrow. Grab pre-packed meals. Very, very heavy backpack.

8:00am-9:15am: Take the A to Fulton Station, transfer to the 2/3 to Nevins Street, and walk to Mark Morris Dance Center.

9:15am-10:00am: Pay for class and warm-up exercises.

10:00am-12:00pm: Take David Leventhal's ballet class.

12:00pm-1:00pm: Take the 2/3 to Penn Station, walk to Baryshnikov Arts Center, eat lunch, change into rehearsal clothes.

1:00pm-4:00pm: Rehearsal with Dance Heginbotham.

4:00pm-5:00pm: Stretch, grab coffee and walk back to Penn Station.

5:06pm-6:05pm: Board the 5:06 New Jersey Transit train (NJT) to Hazlet. While en route, review the pre-choreographed material I will be teaching later.

6:05pm-6:11pm: Dance studio owner's husband shuttles me from the train station to the studio.

6:15pm-9:15pm: Teach 2 tap classes and 1 conditioning class (60min/class).

9:15pm-9:30pm: Debrief with the studio owner while she shuttles me back to the train station.

9:40pm-11:00pm: Board the 9:40 NJT train back to Penn Station. While en route, eat dinner, write notes of choreography changes from Dance Heginbotham's rehearsal (we don't rehearse again for a week), some administrative work.

11:00pm-11:20pm: Take the 2/3 to Wall Street and walk to Alexander's apartment.

11:20-midnight: Spend the rest of the evening with him; we make gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.

Thursday, February 26th

6:30am-7:30am: Wake up and eat breakfast. Coffee with Alexander.

7:30am-8:30am: Alexander and I head to the gym. I do an intense workout because I won't have a chance to take class today.

8:30am-9:15am: Get ready to leave for the day. Grab pre-packed meals.

9:15am-10:00am: Take the A to 59th Street and walk to Juilliard.

10:00am-12:00pm: I have 2 hours of rehearsal space for myself for developing Cubicle material. It flies by.

12:00pm-1:00pm: Take the 1 to Christopher Street and walk to the American Tap Dance Center. Eat lunch en route. Change into rehearsal clothes.

1:00pm-2:00pm: Pre-production rehearsal with Caleb Teicher (choreographer) for the short dance film, Alientologists. I learn the main tap dance phrases and assist Caleb.

2:00pm-3:00pm: Take the 1 back to 66th Street and walk to Juilliard.

3:00pm-4:00pm: Phoebe and I meet with Ed again regarding Cubicle. Considerable progress had been made between collaborators and elements are finally starting to gel together.

4:00pm-4:15pm: Phoebe and I meet and delegate work between us based on our meeting.

4:15pm-5:30pm: I find a couch at Juilliard and begin writing another round of e-mail updates to the collaborators who couldn't attend today's meeting. Some administrative work. Eat dinner. Call my mom; she'll be traveling from Washington state (where I grew up) to see Cubicle!

5:30pm-6:30pm: Plan exercises for the private lesson I will be teaching. Take the 1 to 42nd street and walk to Champions Studios.

6:30pm-7:30pm: Teach a private lesson to a lovely Lindy Hop couple.

7:30pm-8:00pm: Take the 1 back to 66th Street and walk to Juilliard for the 3rd time day.

8:00pm-10:30pm: I have another 3 hours of rehearsal space for myself for developing Cubicle material. This rehearsal is hugely influenced by new information from this afternoon's meeting. However, I begin to feel exhausted at 10:00pm and call it a night at 10:30pm.

10:30pm-11:00pm: Take the 1 to 42nd Street, transfer to the 2/3 to Wall Street, walk to Alexander's apartment.

11:00pm: Spend the rest of the evening with him.

Friday, February 27th

6:30am-7:30am: Wake up and eat breakfast. Coffee with Alexander.

7:30am-8:30am: Alexander and I head to the gym. Again, I do an intense workout because I won't have a chance to take class today.

4:15pm-4:35pm: A student's mom shuttles me back to the train station so I can make the train.

4:37pm-6:09pm: Take the 4:37 LIRR train (with transfer at Huntington) back to Penn Station. While en route, review all of the changes I need to make as the interim choreographer during tomorrow's tech rehearsal of A Midsummer Night's Dream (directed by Tyne Rafaeli) at Classic Stage Company (CSC). Most of these changes are due to prop and set designs.

6:10pm-midnight: Date night with Alexander. We go to Pala, one of our favorite gluten-free restaurants and spend the evening together.

Sunday, March 1st

6:00am-7:00am: Wake up and eat breakfast.

7:00am-7:30am: I head to the gym and do an intense workout again because I won't have a chance to take class today.

7:30am-8:15am: Get ready for the day and grab pre-packed meals.

8:15am-9:00am: Take the 4/5 to Union Square and walk to CSC.

9:00am-12:00pm: Tech rehearsal for A Midsummer Night's Dream.

12:00pm-1:00pm: Eat lunch. Administrative work.

1:00pm-3:00pm: Tech rehearsal for A Midsummer Night's Dream.

3:00pm-3:30pm: Meet with Tyne to discuss a few things. This is the last rehearsal I can attend before opening night.

3:30pm-4:30pm: Walk to Forever 21 and Nordstrom Rack to begin shopping for a Cubicle costume. No luck.

4:30pm-5:00pm: Walk to New York University.

5:00pm-10:00pm: First Alientologists rehearsal with full cast, director, and choreographer. We do a read-through, learn more about the concepts behind the work, stumble through the scenes, and officially learn the whole dance.

10:00pm-11:00pm: Walk as quickly as possible to Whole Foods to shop for the next week before they close at 11:00pm.

11:00pm-12:15am: Take the M14 to 8th Ave, transfer to the A to 181st Street, and then walk home.

12:15am-12:30am: Unpack groceries and collapse into bed. Set alarm for 6:00am.

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On August 8th and 9th, Alexander and I moved into a 1 bedroom that we're flexing with a third roommate.

Monday, August 10th

7:00am-9:00am: Wake up and look for coffee cups, my toothbrush, dance clothes, ballet shoes, etc. Everything is still in boxes. We skip the gym; just getting ready for the day takes longer than usual.

9:00am-9:30am: Take the 2/3 to Nevins Street and walk to Mark Morris Dance Center.

9:30am-10:00am: Pay for class and warm-up exercises.

10:00am-12:00pm: Take Kelly Slough's ballet class.

12:00pm-1:15pm: Stretch, eat a snack, and re-learn a solo to Sophie Tucker's "Some of These Days" from a rehearsal video for another project with Caleb Teicher.

1:15pm-2:00pm: Take 2/3 to Chambers Street, transfer to the 1 to Christopher Street, and walk to the American Tap Dance Center. Catch up with Caleb before rehearsal.

2:00pm-3:00pm: "Some of These Days" rehearsal. I'll be performing this theatrical solo as an opener to the informal showing Caleb will be hosting for his larger work, Variations. Since we're rehearsing on a slick wooden tap floor (and this will be the performance floor), I bring several options of dance shoes to try. Also, because my solo includes floor work and the tap floor is heavily coated with black tap residue, I look like I've been rolling around in a fireplace by the end of rehearsal. Baby wipes help with the hands and face, but showering becomes a priority.

3:00pm-4:00pm: Take the A to 181st Street and walk to old apartment to collect the last few things that didn't fit in the Uber XL on Sunday.

4:00pm-5:15pm: Take the A to Fulton Station and walk home.

5:15pm-7:00pm: A long shower followed by a tiny bit of unpacking.

7:00pm-11:00pm: Alexander gets home. We cook and eat dinner together and glance over at the mess still in our "room," which technically isn't a room yet since we haven't built the partition to turn the living room into a bedroom + small dining area (common in Manhattan). We also don't have a closet yet. Clothes are everywhere. We spend the evening designing the closet we want and taking measurements for the wall.

Tuesday, August 11th

8:00am-9:00am: I sleep in since I'll be taking a later class today. Breakfast, coffee, get ready for the day.

9:00am-12:00pm: Call the wall/closet company as soon as their office opens to begin the process of describing what we're looking to have built. Six phone calls later, we agree on a construction day and a price. Take the A to 59th Street and walk to City Center.

12:00pm-12:15pm: Pay for class and frantic warm-up exercises.

12:15pm-1:45pm: Take Holley Farmer's Cunningham class.

1:45pm-2:30pm: Take the A to Fulton Station and rush home so I can take a final confirmation call from the wall/closet company.

2:30pm-5:00pm: Some unpacking, eat lunch, some administrative work.

5:00pm-5:20pm: Take the 4/5 to Union Square and walk to Trader Joe's.

5:15pm-6:00pm: Grocery shopping.

6:00-6:20pm: Take the 4/5 to Fulton Station and walk home.

6:20pm-11:00pm: Start cooking, and when Alexander gets home we eat and spend the evening together. I also look for the costume and make-up I need to bring to tomorrow's showing. A new private lesson student has been referred to me, and we spend 20 minutes on the phone talking about his goals and scheduling his first lesson with me.

Wednesday, August 12th

6:00am-8:30am: Wake up, eat breakfast, get ready for the day, clear space for the wall, and cover as much as possible with plastic garbage bags to keep it from getting covered in sawdust and paint.

8:30am: The wall company is late. I make some phone calls.

9:15am: The wall company arrives and determines that they need to go back to the warehouse to pick up some materials. In the meantime, I review the video from yesterday's rehearsal with Caleb.

10:30am: They return and begin to load in everything they need. Thankfully, our roommate is able to be home for the day while they work.

10:45am-11:30am: Take the A to 59th Street and walk to City Center. 11:30am-12:15pm: Warm-up exercises.
12:15pm-1:45pm: Take Lisa Boudreau's Cunningham class.