Riverdance in Binghampton, NY and Erie, PA

April 9, 2010

Laura Yanez, Soloist, Boyne Company

Hi everybody! As Kevin mentioned, he’s taking some time off so I will be filling you in for the next few entries. On Monday, many of us spent the day in New York City, meeting up with friends and catching shows and concerts. Tuesday morning, we all piled into cars and headed up to Binghamton, New York. We were greeted by a very rainy sky, but with a theatre situated just across from the hotel, that wasn’t much of a problem. To make things even better, a cozy restaurant and coffee shop, the Lost Dog Café was located directly in between the two. The entire company spent most of our time there, sipping coffee, eating delicious food and cruising the internet. It was a very relaxing way to spend our few days in Binghamton.

After we arrived via bus to Erie, our company manager Jesse White had arranged for a bus to take us to the grocery store for supplies since we had kitchens in our rooms. I love to cook and miss the pastime while on tour, so I took full advantage of the shopping trip. In fact, a few of us decided to have a cooking competition while we were in Erie. Modeled after the UK Channel 4 program “Come Dine with Me”, we divided into three teams and created themes, menus, decorations and ‘light entertainment’. It felt a little bit like “Top Chef” as we rushed to finish preparing meals after the shows at the Warner Theatre each night, but once everyone was eating, it was safe to say it was some of the best meals we’ve had all tour.

After each dinner, we rated the evening based on each aspect of the dinner, and on the last night, we announced the winners: team ASBO. I think everyone involved would agree that it was a highlight of the tour so far.

After all that good eating, we had Sunday off for Easter…and of course a big Easter meal! A group of us headed to local churches for mass in the morning, and then headed back to cook yet another sumptuous feast. I spent the afternoon hopping from room to room, sampling everyone’s meals and relaxing on a whole day off.

Sunday was even more exciting because everyone was keeping up with the results of the World Irish Dance competition in Glasgow. One of our own dancers, Meghan Lucey was competing and placed 5th in the world in her category!

It was a wonderful end to the week and we looked forward to congratulating her as we all headed to Utica, New York for our next few shows. Talk to you then!

Laura