Welcome!
My name is Kaarin and I am an American ballet dancer living and dancing in Russia.
When I was in my senior year of high school every student had to pick a senior project and one of the options was a mentorship. I was passionate about history, so I approached a curator at The Virginia Historical Society. She agreed and I spent six months shadowing her in the afternoons. She was both a very talented Curator and an amazing woman, so the experience was quite a privilege. However, I did not go on to be a Curator, I am a ballet dancer, a field that on the surface bears little resemblance to curating, but the concept of curating stuck with me as I moved forward with my life.
Over time I have come up with an approach to life; it is to create a curated life. Just as I learned from my mentor how she built a museum exhibit through careful selection of a cohesive subject, choosing artifacts that best represented the story she wanted to convey, and organizing a layout for flow and clarity, I believe all aspects of life can be approached in this way. I want to create a curated life, thoughtfully selecting what enters my collection and what is laid aside. The most obvious application for this method is for one’s wardrobe or home, finding the perfect jacket or dress, the right table or piece of art to portray who you are to the world. But, why not apply this concept to health, food, friends, commitments, and culture? We cannot possibly do and be everything in life, so it is better to choose what holds meaning for ourselves, what feeds our souls.
This method of living, creating a curated life, of course, is a lifelong endeavor. What inspired me to want to share my story at this moment, was an international move and the idea of curating a culture for my family of two. I am married to a Russian man, named Andrey, and our life together naturally require a combining of two cultures. At first this just meant adding some Russian foods into our New York pantry, or a few Russian words to my vocabulary, but now we have moved to Russia. So I am immersing myself in Russian culture, which giving me the exciting opportunity to examine how our cultures differ and giving us the opportunity to create a new culture.
We moved to Russia, not as you might expect for my husband, but for me. I was offered the opportunity to dance with a Russian ballet company and decided to take it. This blog will be a record of my experiences as an American ballet dancer working in a Russian company, but it will also be a place for my observations of Russian culture, the process of creating a home here, and all the passions I brought with me such as finding health food and sustainable products, maintaining a healthy lifestyle through the long winter, and staying stylish even if its only under a parka. Thank you for joining me as I take up the challenge to combine all of these interests and create a curated life.
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When I was in my senior year of high school every student had to pick a senior project and one of the options was a mentorship. I was passionate about history, so I approached a curator at The Virginia Historical Society. She agreed and I spent six months shadowing her in the afternoons. She was both a very talented Curator and an amazing woman, so the experience was quite a privilege. However, I did not go on to be a Curator, I am a ballet dancer, a field that on the surface bears little resemblance to curating, but the concept of curating stuck with me as I moved forward with my life.
Over time I have come up with an approach to life; it is to create a curated life. Just as I learned from my mentor how she built a museum exhibit through careful selection of a cohesive subject, choosing artifacts that best represented the story she wanted to convey, and organizing a layout for flow and clarity, I believe all aspects of life can be approached in this way. I want to create a curated life, thoughtfully selecting what enters my collection and what is laid aside. The most obvious application for this method is for one’s wardrobe or home, finding the perfect jacket or dress, the right table or piece of art to portray who you are to the world. But, why not apply this concept to health, food, friends, commitments, and culture? We cannot possibly do and be everything in life, so it is better to choose what holds meaning for ourselves, what feeds our souls.
This method of living, creating a curated life, of course, is a lifelong endeavor. What inspired me to want to share my story at this moment, was an international move and the idea of curating a culture for my family of two. I am married to a Russian man, named Andrey, and our life together naturally require a combining of two cultures. At first this just meant adding some Russian foods into our New York pantry, or a few Russian words to my vocabulary, but now we have moved to Russia. So I am immersing myself in Russian culture, which giving me the exciting opportunity to examine how our cultures differ and giving us the opportunity to create a new culture.
We moved to Russia, not as you might expect for my husband, but for me. I was offered the opportunity to dance with a Russian ballet company and decided to take it. This blog will be a record of my experiences as an American ballet dancer working in a Russian company, but it will also be a place for my observations of Russian culture, the process of creating a home here, and all the passions I brought with me such as finding health food and sustainable products, maintaining a healthy lifestyle through the long winter, and staying stylish even if its only under a parka. Thank you for joining me as I take up the challenge to combine all of these interests and create a curated life.
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