Escaped from the 60's and Dancing Through The Crowd

About last night...

We had a wonderful turnout at our Cultured Cocktails event. I saw a lot of faces from the Houston arts scene, including people I danced with in a previous dance company and in the Fringe Festival. I even got to meet one of the women who contributed a letter.

We dancers were milling around in our period-specific costumes the entire time, mingling with the crowd and getting people excited about the show. We began dancing at 7:30. Though we had space in the front to dance, we were encouraged to use the rest of the space as well, dancing through the crowd and interacting with patrons. S and P were completely adorable together, making the crowd laugh with their cutesy 1950's duet. A was absolutely beautiful dancing to her 1961 love letter, and did a hilarious "drunk" bit in the middle (her letter mentions something about attending a cocktail party). I was second to dance, and I had a great time. I used mostly balletic movements, and played up my character like crazy, which the audience loved. I also interacted with people as I moved through the crowd-- my character is a mother of six(!), so I'd wag my finger at people, or pretend to adjust someone's hat or pat someone on the head. Even though I was a little on edge going into to it, once I got up there I just had fun.

I met some wonderful people last night as well. I had a long conversation with a guy who works for a film and video studio-- I told him about a project I'm thinking of creating, and he told me to call him if I decide to take it forward. I chatted with some people I worked with last summer, and Frank and I had a long conversation about dance and our careers. All in all, it was a great night.

Thanks to all who came out and supported us. We enjoyed your company, and we hope to see you in March at our show!

Welcome to the Improv

I'm heading out the door to go teach in a few minutes, but I'll be leaving the studio a half-hour early tonight-- I've got to get to the [Good Times] Dance Theater's Cultured Cocktails fundraiser at Boheme.

Since our dancing space is limited, we won't be performing our exact 'Letters You Wrote' choreography. Instead, we'll be performing dance improvisation that is loosely related to our 'Letters' dances.

To be frank, I'm a little nervous-- I've always had a bit of a mental block when it comes to dance improv, especially in a performance capacity. That hasn't always been in the case; In the past I worked a lot more in modern dance and improvisation. However, I've spent the last year and a half with my brain set exclusively to "classical ballet choreography," so now I'm a bit rusty when it comes to modern/improv. I was a bit edgy going into our rehearsal yesterday; the first run-throughs of our improv stuff did not feel good to me at all. I collected myself and gave myself a little mental pep-talk, and the second run felt one hundred times better.

So: In about five hours I will face down my fear of performing improv once and for all. I think it's all gonna be okay, and our company is going to have a great night. Here we go.

Letters We're Writing

Hello, folks! It's been a while, no? Sorry, there just hasn't been a whole lot to write about--well, until this week, that is....

This blog will no longer cover my adventures with the [Awesome People] Dance Company. So, say hello to your mid-season replacement, the [Good Times] Dance Theater. If you blog-stalk me enough, you might remember that I started working with them in the fall....but then, the day we were supposed to premeier the work (on an outdoor stage), Houston actually had snow (I know, right?). The show is now re-scheduled to premier in March, and the first rehearsals of the year just started.

The great thing is that I get to dance with some great people whom I've worked with before-- including A, the great gal who played my Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors. And Frank is also working with [Good Times] Dance Theater (but in a different piece), so I saw him yesterday at rehearsal and we got a chance to chat and catch up. I miss dancing with that guy, he's wonderful.

I was really surprised at how quickly the material came back to me, and the movement seems to "flow" better in my body this time around (if that makes sense to anybody). SD made some modifications to the choreography and gave me really great feedback. I explored a few different ways of interpreting of my character, and I feel so much stronger in the role than I did last time. I can't really explain it, but the choreography seems to jive a lot better with my body, compared to two months ago. It was really, truly an awesome rehearsal.

Let's Watch Movies: Winter

In December, I went back to Pennsylvania and took a master class with the other dancers-- current and former-- of PA Dance Vision. We danced to Tori Amos' "Winter." Here is a clip of us dancing to it. Enjoy!

PA Dance: I miss you.

Special Day.

Bâsudei. Birthday. Twenty-Four. It was yesterday. And it was incredible.

Here's how it started: That morning, I was in Webster, Texas. I stood out on the balcony of a friend's condo and watched the sun come up over a lake. There is no more perfect way to start a birthday.

Mondays are my "long night" at the studio. Most people will complain about working on their birthday, but my workday was positively magical. My boss and I are collaborating on a piece together, and at the end of the hour-- after we all did a nice formal reverance-- she and all the kids sang "Happy Birthday" to me, and the kids all hugged me afterwards. It was really sweet and really special.

And do you know what else happened yesterday? I realized that I finally feel like myself again. I've been in a blind and burned-out funk for the last three months (as you've read), but over the last week I've been feeling better...and last night was the first night that I really felt like my old self; the energetic girl who isn't burned out in the least and it bursting with enthusiasm and love and energy. Realizing that made me so incredibly happy. Being at odds with dance is like fighting with your significant other: It's horrible and depressing, but once it's over and things are hunky dory again it's such a great feeling.

My "big kids" all shouted out "Happy birthday" in unison at the beginning of class. We had a really productive class, and after reverance I said "Students, today is my twenty-fourth birthday. I'm glad I got to spend it in here working with you guys."

After work, my boss and I had a nice, long talk about methods of teaching and the choreographic process. And the nice people at Tanglewood Mart gave me a free beer, and I stayed up until 1am watching awesome stand-up comedy.

I can think of a hundred worse ways to turn twenty-four.

Turnout

Most awesome moment to have happened in a ballet class in recent memory:

Instructor: Start forward, [this exercise] will travel you back....unless you have perfect turnout.

(small pause)

Everyone in class: ahahahHAHAHAHAHA!

...and this is why I love ballet classes around here.

First Rehearsal

"Dancers, when we start learning a dance, the first rehearsal or two is always a little tedious. I will need your patience and cooperation while I get everything organized."
(later)
"Thank you all so much for your patience. We got a lot done today."

...and so has been my mantra for every first-rehearsal since time immemorial (or thereabouts). I even joked to the Corelli Concerto dancers that "This is probably the third year in a row you guys have heard this spiel." It's true.

I started Corelli Concerto last night. Actually, to be fair, I started with the end of the piece, because I like to choreograph Quentin-Tarantino style. The beginning of the finale is "the complicated part"-- the first time the soloist, the corps, and the trio come together onstage. With three different entrances (one en masse), a lot of blocking and spacing details have to be worked out; strategically moving bodies in the space so that everybody fit just right and created just the right stage picture.... I'd say it's like playing chess; but I don't actually know how to play chess, so I won't.
At one point, I mumbled to myself "I didn't think it would be this complicated...oh, wait, no. I totally knew it would be this complicated."
But you know what? This complicated process of getting all entrances blocked on the same stage, dancing the right choreography with nobody slamming into each other/without a giant visual clusterbumble? We got that much done. In under an hour. Oh, yes, we sure did.

My dancers were all so patient. I thanked them for their patience at least Idon'tknowhowmany times while I was altering the same blocking for the third time/fiddling with the music/messing with blocking some more. They kept quiet, applied my hastily-blurted corrections, and worked on their choreography quietly if I was working with someone else. These kids, I tell ya-- I watch them grow as dancers all the time; and as their teacher, it makes me feel all glowy.

I left the studio in high spirits. I can normally tell what my mood is by how loudly I'm playing my music on the drive home-- and when I got in my car this morning, I just about blasted out my eardrums. In other words, we're off to a good start.