#AVery305Christmas
Today was officially our 305 Christmas day. Even after having a late night watching SNL with our friends Pat, Andrew, and Tessla (not like last week when we were there until 4) we woke up at 10 to get Christmas going. Well maybe everyone else woke up at 10 and I just dreamed about waking up at 10, when really I made everyone late…
But anyways we hoped on the train and went up to FAO Schwarz. There we just walked around and played with toys and watched people jump on the piano. Everything felt really christmasy and really great. It was super crowded, but we got there just in time to beat the outside line (which was good cause it was freezing!)
Look at all the people!
After that we went down to 30 Rock plaza. It was crowded, but that tree was so pretty. During the lighting last week Dan, who is interning there, invited us to his office Christmas party. So we saw the show, but from very high up.
So we just kept walking around and being cold and looking at amazing store windows until we wandered back to the house. I was so happy I had a day to spend with all these wonderful people that I’ve met here. I couldn’t be more sad that I’m leaving them.
Here is one final picture of me and Rachel looking amazing and Christmasy!
I am going to miss this city like nothing else in the world.
Woller out.
Gallim Performs
Gallim has a show this weekend so things are really tense in the office. Lyndsay has been out of town for a while so things have felt weird, but now that she’s back things are running more smoothly. I am going to the show on Thursday and I am really excited to see them dance live. I’ve spent two months now looking at pictures and watching videos, but finally I get a chance to perform.
I know how hard they’ve been working and I think it’s going to be very good. Everyone should come! JCC the 8th, 10th, and 11th.
Woller out.
UPDATE: So the show was very different than I though. Andrea said she was trying something new, but I didn’t expect it to be so different. It wasn’t my favorite, but there is definitely something in it. I really hope she fleshes it out when she goes to the Joyce because it could be amazing. Seeing Mama Call, her past work, was stunning. It was a bit hard to see because of the seating, but it was beautiful and virtuosic and it was a great thing to see and experience.
I got to help serve wine to the patrons after the show, and even though I spilt some White wine all over the table I got to meet a lot of people. It was a great way to make connections and it was so fun to go to the show and represent the company in an official way.
Happy Sad
My whole family left today so I’m a bit bummed out. It was so fun to have them here. We went to Ellis Island and saw the Muppets and the Thanksgiving parade. We are all way crazier than I remember. We went to see Billy Elliot and it was great, but that movie means so much to me that there were a few bits I couldn’t get past.
My performance was also this week at the Ailey Citigroup Theater. The show was a bit funnier than I expected. Kat Wildish who runs the show puts it on as a way to give people who don’t usually dance the chance to perform. So a lot of it was cute, but not necissarily “professional”. Our piece looked really good:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZD8RsLE72w&list=UUfRu4NrnoI4XztAHca5Xn2A&feature=plcp
Everyone said our piece was a breath of fresh air. And I am so pleased that my movement blends so well with everyones because I was worried I was not dancing as well as I thought I was. But it looked good. Here is a picture:
I had a great time dancing on stage again and it is something that I wanted to experience while I was here. I forgot how much I loved to perform, but being on that stage is something I have to do. I love it and I will pursue it no matter what happens.
Woller out.
New York Generally
My family is coming into town next weekend!!! I’m getting so excited to hang out with my family. I love the city, but I really miss them when I’m here.
New York has offered me so much since I’ve been here. Dance, theater, and comedy shows I have experienced more since I’ve been here than I have probably ever. I am starting to be really home sick, but at the same time I’m getting really close to my friends here.
One thing we’ve started to do is go to a cable access show on Wednesday nights that is random and funny and wonderful. It is a tradition I wish I had started earlier. I am really starting to find my swing in the city, but I still can’t say if I could live here. I want to, but I don’t know if I could stay sane. I’ve been getting pretty self reflective and that is starting to weigh heavily on me. I know it’s good for me, but I think I am starting to go to a less happy place because of it. Instead I’m going to focus on my family and my performance next week and think of how great our costumes looks
Woller out.
Dance Time!
I got to go review something else for Celia, this time it was a dance performance that was amazing! It was something I loved seeing and really helped me understand how to make dances. Here is the review I wrote:
Laura Peterson explores the idea of nature and time in her piece “Wooden” at HERE. Upon entering the theater, the smell of grass hitting my nose came as a pleasant surprise. The seats, comprised of wooden benches, were located opposite the grass stage and surrounded by hanging pieces of driftwood.
The first piece begins with perhaps one of its strongest images—light fades in and out on four dancers assuming different positions on the field. Smooth, indeterminate music enhances strong shapes and recognizable motifs created by the dancers and choreographer Laura Peterson. Watching the dancers run, slide and roll around looked like such fun; I could hardly hold myself back from leaping up and rolling around the grass myself.
After a brief intermission the audience returns to find benches positioned on the field facing the hanging driftwood. The mood changes dramatically. Costumes shift from an earthy blue tone to bone white while the music contains distinctly mechanical noises such as computer modems and white noise. One of the most captivating moments arrives when all four dancers come together in a diamond formation, moving in unison as the lights drop and rise, changing colors. It was mesmerizing making it impossible to look away as they thrashed their bodies in the confined space.
Company members, Laura Peterson, Kate Martel, Janna Diamond, and Edward Rice blend their movements together with ease, and though visibly tired towards the end, they manage to retain the same, high level of energy. Overall, the piece is enthralling and able to convey ideas through the growing landscape of their movements.
It was so amazing to get to go. It was something new that I hadn’t seen in the city yet and there were so many great images in it.
Being here in New York is really helping me grow as a dancer. There are still something I don’t know how to do like structure groups of people, but watching people that are so good at their craft is helping me develop mine.
Rehearsals for Mishi’s dance are going really well. We learned the whole dance in one rehearsal and everyone is so talented. It is actually a huge relief that I am up to par with some of the other dancers here.
I haven’t been going to as many classes, but I feel like I am improving.
Anyways, that’s it,
Woller out.
There is about to be a barrage of Posts here because I have journals due. So pace yourself
Oh Hi There!
I totally meant to write a post last Wednesday but it didn’t pan out. I had something really exciting too… but I don’t remember at all what it was.
Moving on now. It snowed on Saturday which I am not pleased about. It would have been better had it been real snow, but it was gross slush. That was also the day that me and some friends went out adventuring. We went to get tea at a place called Harney and Sons for Lauren’s birthday. It is this great place that has a tea bar and we got a pot Holiday tea to share, which basically tastes like Christmas in a cup. That tea plus the snow got my body all confused, because I knew it was Halloween weekend, but it really felt like Christmas… After tea we went to a museum that was interesting but would have been better had it not been so crowded. Every gallery was interactive so it turned into a gallery of lines. But there was a cool slide so that helped, but I felt bad since we went at my insistence. Then we got crepes and went home to warm up since we were all fairly unprepared for the weather.
In work related news I’m doing something pretty cool this week. Celia (my sponsor at Eye on Dance) got press tickets to a play on Friday, but can’t go. So she offered them to me on the condition that I write up something about it for the website afterwards. So I’m going to a play and then I’m going to write review about it that will be published online. It is freaking me out a bit, but I am excited. I am also going to a dance performance on Wed. which should be good. I am also going to the Halloween parade tonight which I have been told is essential for the New York living experience.
Rehearsals have been going well for the piece I’m in and I’m getting excited about performing again. It’s been helping me brainstorm what I want to do for my Spring Dance concert piece. I’ve got a few solid ideas, but I feel like they are too big to explore in ten minutes. And that is a totally new feeling so that is also exciting.
I have also been playing a RPG with some friends in the house and it is really fun. I’m pretty bad, but it is a fun creative exercise. I think my sister (JEANNIE!) would love this kind of thing. She would be super intense about it too.
Speaking of family I’ve been pretty homesick this last week or so. I just really miss my people. The people here are great, but then after talking to Jeannie or Bridget I realize how much I miss that level of comfort. I’m fairly close to the people here, but not in the same way. I’ve tried to reason out why, but I’m not sure. I can’t wait till Thanksgiving when my whole family is going to be here.
I think I need to go buy some Chinese food and watch The Walking Dead to take my mind off things. Grateful for the parade tonight though. I think it will be a good, if not cold, time.
I’ll leave you with this completely unrelated xkcd comic that pretty accurately reflects what I think is one of the largest gender equality issues.
Woller out.
UPDATE: Just realized how kind of depressing this gets at the end. I’m still having a great time!
Hip Hop…ish
So I went to a dance performance at BAM last night, well it was almost more of a music performance. It was called Symphony for the Dance Floor and I have a lot of mixed feelings about it.
The music which was all composed and performed by Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) and that was for sure the highlight of the night. All of his music was fun, had feeling and was really wonderful, but the dancing aspect was kind of odd. It was a mixture of Hip Hop and something, it was almost Hip Hop light. The only dance that I think worked well was the last duet where Millicent Johnnie, who was also the choreographer. She danced with him and on him as he continued to play his violin without missing a beat. It was interesting, physically intense and fun to watch. That piece rightfully ended the show. There were a few other dances, but they all felt a little contrived as in the female being the sex object and the man trying to win her. Or the two women trying to compete for the man. But I feel like a lot of my dislike of the movement comes from a pretentious modern dance place, because everyone I talked to loved it. It was a real crowd pleaser and a great experience for a general crowd.
It was a fun performance overall. I loved the lights and the DJ who was onstage. There was also a singer who was fabulous.
My favorite part was probably the free sliders afterwards though…
Movies, Rhythm, and Dance
Oh no I am out of money. I’ve always known how bad with money I am, but now I really have to lock it down. Frugality NOW! It twill be a party, just without the cake and pinatas and the rest of the things that make parties fun, but I shall survive. The last thing I will splurge on is Sondre Lerche’s concert here in Dec. He was in SLC this summer but it was +21, so I really want to go to this show. PLus I just bought his new album and he is for sure one of my favorite musicians.
Last night I went to a free movie premiere at the UBC east of a movie called “Freak Dance”. I was kind of in a bad mood, but the movie would probably be okay so I tried my hardest not to be snippy on the way there with no great success. But the movie was actually really interesting. That plus the Martha Graham reference in the Asscat show on Sunday is proof that my comedy and dance worlds are starting to collide.
It is a comedy that is based in Parodying the “dance movie” genre, which hit really close to home for me. While the movie still wasn’t amazing it hit on a lot of points that I really appreciated. Like they kept making comments about if they do it well their “dirty” dancing isn’t about sex, which is actually something that I think most dance movies avoid. Not that it is a bad thing, but a lot of that type of dancing is about sex (not that it is a bad thing, it is just honest) and they just pretend it’s not to gain a wider demographic.
Anyways the movie was interesting. After we went to Whiplash which was perhaps my favorite show so far. There were some funny comedians and a band called Langhorn Silver and the Law that were just really good. Then the show ended with Reggie Watts and I swear that man has rhythm literally oozing out of his body.
Both my internships are going well. At Eye on Dance we are working towards the public showing and Q&A with Yvonne Rainer we are having this Saturday (which conflicts with an audition so that’s a bummer, but worth it). And I’m bummed Kate is leaving Gallim. It’s going to be a hundred percent more boring without her around.
I also have been thinking about my project and I think I’m going to come up with a basic dance that I will be able to build around and off of for my piece in the spring. I already know that I want to use “Missed the Boat” by Modest Mouse. I’m not sure if Kim will go for it, but I have to try and win her over.
ANyways my computer’s about to die so I’m going to go.
OH! Also finished season 3 of Breaking Bad and I 100% stand behind the statements that it is the Best show on Television. SOOOOO GOOOD! I literally was freaking out and crying and my emotions went crazy. Started season 4 and this whole show is now my absolutely favorite thing.
Now that’s it.
Woller out.
Found This In My Drafts From Tuesday. Thought I’d share.
Remember back when I wasn’t even supposed to come in today and now I’ve been working for almost 5 hours. Now don’t worry. I am at work, but Kate needs the main computer because today is payroll day so I’m basically stuck here with nothing to do.
I’m going to see Cymbeline tonight, which is exciting, but kind of rough since it is very long and I am not in a Shakespeare set of mind. On the bright side I did get to see Jim Gaffingan last night and that was pretty wonderful. Also Emily is coming up to visit me next week because she won the Psych fan contest (like a boss). She may only be able to come up for a day because of school and learning and stuff, but I’m doing what any good friend would do and trying to convince her to skip class and hang out with me for a weekend!
But anyways working feels good. I did some intern-y things like run out and buy new ink cartridges today, but mostly there is a lot of picture finding and email sending. It does make me feel good that they really need me here or else somethings wouldn’t get done. That makes me feel awesome about me.
I’ve been bad about spending money though. Really bad. Part of it is because I need to go grocery shopping, but haven’t yet, but also that there is just so much good food here. And when I can get a full meal of pizza and a soda for less than 5 dollars it is so hard to resist. But all this pizza makes me need to dance more, which I haven’t been doing. Ever since I started working more the classes I want to take haven’t worked out. But my goal is two classes a week then maybe work up from there.
