Well, it's done. What an amazingly intense couple of weeks. I am not dead, and isn't there some old adage about what doesn't kill you? I am filled with a strange mixture of relief and regret that our time at the pillow is over. I am already nostalgic.
On the bus to Hartford, the bathroom smells like the inside of a dead goat. It feels weird being spat out into the real world. Bone tired but happy. My face hurts from smiling and laughing. It's amazing to have been welcomed into this community. And for this little group of us to have bonded so intensely. I wonder what it will be like the next time we see each other.
To my fellow students who were so gracious and gave of their energy and help with material: A thousand thank yous. Your generosity is amazing. To everyone at the Pillow: Thank you for all you do for dance. It really is an amazing group of people who work very hard so that we can do what we do.
And to you loyal followers, thanks for reading. This has been kind of fun. I'm not sure that I could or would want to update this every day, but I may add to it sporadically, so check back in...
Ciao
M
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
32 Trenches
Oh man, I hurt all OVER. My sore muscles have spawned little baby sore muscles. The only thing not in pain is my hands. It's all Dale's fault... Well, Dale and Harold's Opus 1 choreography between them. Lots of up and down and hit the floor. Hitch kicks, trenches and over-the-tops. I am in pain.
A few of us have the night off tonight which is nice. No ushering duties that is. But practice is expected and needed. There are still plenty of places where I am shaky on the steps. Why-oh-why is it all so bloody fast? My body is still adjusting to the sheer pace of these routines, which is pretty peppy.
A few moments of being very on the spot today. Ray and Sarah both went around and had people do steps from the pieces solo. Now this wouldn't be that big a deal, but I think that those of us who are still leaning pretty heavily on the stronger dancers to carry us all through felt pretty exposed. It's one thing to be muddling your way through the steps as you learn them all together, quite another when 2/3 of the class are pretty strong on the material, and you are suddenly out in front where everyone can see you making up your own versions of things. That said the vibe is very encouraging and most everyone is quite supportive when someone is struggling. As is so often the case, a lot of the insecurity is in one's own head, and folks are very patient when helping each other with steps.
Today we did a big go-around improvising to the music we will be using to demo some ideas from Dianne and Paul's classes. Dianne chose soloists for improv breaks at the end of tomorrow's show. Fighting wanting/not wanting to be in that spotlight. No matter, the folks who will be carrying that torch are all rock solid, which is all for the best. Most of the time my desire to have the show itself be as good as it can be overcomes my ego's ambition to be featured, and at the end of the day, if I take a step back, I am just as happy to let others with more experience take center-stage.
I can feel the letdown of the end of the program coming at me full on. Tomorrow's our last day together. It has really been one of the more inspiring experiences I have had as a dancer. Watching everyone do their thing, being so totally immersed in tap headspace. I am itching for more. Looking forward to Baakari's class in the fall. Wishing we could go to Chicago tap fest at the end of August. It's such scene, so similar in many ways to the folkfest/trad music circles I have been in for so long, but with it's own flavor. I want very much to be part of this community. They's good people. I wish I could walk you all through this place I have landed in, introduce you to my new friends, who I feel like I have known so much longer than two weeks, let you see the sheer awesomeness that are these kids. Some of them are just infreakincredible.
Anyhoo, more tomorrow.
A few of us have the night off tonight which is nice. No ushering duties that is. But practice is expected and needed. There are still plenty of places where I am shaky on the steps. Why-oh-why is it all so bloody fast? My body is still adjusting to the sheer pace of these routines, which is pretty peppy.
A few moments of being very on the spot today. Ray and Sarah both went around and had people do steps from the pieces solo. Now this wouldn't be that big a deal, but I think that those of us who are still leaning pretty heavily on the stronger dancers to carry us all through felt pretty exposed. It's one thing to be muddling your way through the steps as you learn them all together, quite another when 2/3 of the class are pretty strong on the material, and you are suddenly out in front where everyone can see you making up your own versions of things. That said the vibe is very encouraging and most everyone is quite supportive when someone is struggling. As is so often the case, a lot of the insecurity is in one's own head, and folks are very patient when helping each other with steps.
Today we did a big go-around improvising to the music we will be using to demo some ideas from Dianne and Paul's classes. Dianne chose soloists for improv breaks at the end of tomorrow's show. Fighting wanting/not wanting to be in that spotlight. No matter, the folks who will be carrying that torch are all rock solid, which is all for the best. Most of the time my desire to have the show itself be as good as it can be overcomes my ego's ambition to be featured, and at the end of the day, if I take a step back, I am just as happy to let others with more experience take center-stage.
I can feel the letdown of the end of the program coming at me full on. Tomorrow's our last day together. It has really been one of the more inspiring experiences I have had as a dancer. Watching everyone do their thing, being so totally immersed in tap headspace. I am itching for more. Looking forward to Baakari's class in the fall. Wishing we could go to Chicago tap fest at the end of August. It's such scene, so similar in many ways to the folkfest/trad music circles I have been in for so long, but with it's own flavor. I want very much to be part of this community. They's good people. I wish I could walk you all through this place I have landed in, introduce you to my new friends, who I feel like I have known so much longer than two weeks, let you see the sheer awesomeness that are these kids. Some of them are just infreakincredible.
Anyhoo, more tomorrow.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Hit the Deck
And I thought I was tired before. Oh well, sleep when you're dead right? Paul got wind that I play music and asked me to play some for class today to help him illustrate some 6/8 jumping off points for improvisation. Whistle jigs and tap dancing! I think this is my new favorite groove. Unexpected possibilities abound. It really feels like a match made in heaven.
Rays class today was fun, we started adding the theatrical element to his choreography. (With which I am still struggling intensely. That's some knotty stuff.) He is pretty inspiring as a teacher. Lots to learn there.
We watched Shantala Shivalingappa perform tonight. Holy South Indian Classical Dance Batman! It was amazing, maybe the best show I have seen here. She was graceful and so so strong. Talk about knowing how to take the stage. And her musicians were redonculous. Flutes, vocals and percussion. These guys were Hard Core. Seriously dialed into some heavy stuff. I don't know if I have ever heard anyone play the flute with that amount of intent. And I have heard some flute playing...
Well, "early to bed and early to rise, makes a man stupid and blind in the eyes." Or so my father has told me...
Rays class today was fun, we started adding the theatrical element to his choreography. (With which I am still struggling intensely. That's some knotty stuff.) He is pretty inspiring as a teacher. Lots to learn there.
We watched Shantala Shivalingappa perform tonight. Holy South Indian Classical Dance Batman! It was amazing, maybe the best show I have seen here. She was graceful and so so strong. Talk about knowing how to take the stage. And her musicians were redonculous. Flutes, vocals and percussion. These guys were Hard Core. Seriously dialed into some heavy stuff. I don't know if I have ever heard anyone play the flute with that amount of intent. And I have heard some flute playing...
Well, "early to bed and early to rise, makes a man stupid and blind in the eyes." Or so my father has told me...
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Three and a Break
I begin to type and realize I don't really have the energy for this. I am drained from a long day dancing in the heat. Hit the wall again and again today and just kept going. At this point I feel like we all deserve some kind of award for excellence in a bizarre extreme sport.
I had a few moments today wherein it was difficult to summon the cheery can-do attitude I have been carefully cultivating. This is pretty essential if I am to forge ahead and learn the shapes and weight changes even when not actually getting the steps themselves. There are moments that are discouraging. Like when our resident wunderkind (how do you plural that anyway?) launched into Ray's choreography tonight in the informal step drills that happen every night. Many of them totally have it. This is some of the densest choreography I have ever seen, and they learned it all in two days. And a few of them not only know the steps, but are putting the polish on it and look amazing doing the dance. I am not even close. And the part of me that finds a deep satisfaction in doing a step, knowing it, hearing it, doing it right until it gets easy, is just not getting much love here. Oy vey.
However it's not all doom and gloom. I am slowly hammering out the details and connections in the first piece Dianne taught us. I retreated to the small studio tonight which I thankfully found empty, and drilled hard by myself for about an hour, mapping out the choruses of the dance and solving problems. It feels good to have some of it sinking in. And I have moments in class when I can feel myself doing things I didn't know I could do. Or a step that I had learned in it's most bare-bones form suddenly fills in with the extra sounds and grace notes, seemingly all by itself. It's kind of an amazing feeling. You look down at your feet: "Good job guys, how'd you do that?"
Anyhoo, way past my bedtime. Signing off...
I had a few moments today wherein it was difficult to summon the cheery can-do attitude I have been carefully cultivating. This is pretty essential if I am to forge ahead and learn the shapes and weight changes even when not actually getting the steps themselves. There are moments that are discouraging. Like when our resident wunderkind (how do you plural that anyway?) launched into Ray's choreography tonight in the informal step drills that happen every night. Many of them totally have it. This is some of the densest choreography I have ever seen, and they learned it all in two days. And a few of them not only know the steps, but are putting the polish on it and look amazing doing the dance. I am not even close. And the part of me that finds a deep satisfaction in doing a step, knowing it, hearing it, doing it right until it gets easy, is just not getting much love here. Oy vey.
However it's not all doom and gloom. I am slowly hammering out the details and connections in the first piece Dianne taught us. I retreated to the small studio tonight which I thankfully found empty, and drilled hard by myself for about an hour, mapping out the choruses of the dance and solving problems. It feels good to have some of it sinking in. And I have moments in class when I can feel myself doing things I didn't know I could do. Or a step that I had learned in it's most bare-bones form suddenly fills in with the extra sounds and grace notes, seemingly all by itself. It's kind of an amazing feeling. You look down at your feet: "Good job guys, how'd you do that?"
Anyhoo, way past my bedtime. Signing off...
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Faster Faster!
I cannot remember the last time I sweated this much. It is looking like highs around 90 for the rest of the week. The studio is not air conditioned. We are all guzzling water like we can't get enough, which is pretty much what's up. But I feel amazing. I forgot how fun an endorphin high is while dancing hard all day.
Ray Hesselink is a complete hoot. Amazing dancer and really funny guy. I feel a nonsexual crush coming on... His class was fast and furious, but he keeps the mood light and I like his focus not on the steps (although the assumption is that you will have them immediately) but on the character of the rhythms, the play, the connection to the audience.
Harold Cromer's class is awesome. We are learning a piece of his choreography called Opus One. I am fascinated by the body of traditional rep that exists in tap. Like tunes in Irish or old time, but recently composed and everyone gives props to the choreographers. I am itching to learn them all. I hear folks talking about Buster Brown's Laura, Leon Collins' 1-4. We started learning the BS Chorus and worked a bit on The Shim Sham and Cole's Stroll in Dianne's class. I would happily do just that stuff for the entire 2 weeks. Ah well, projects for the future.
In my room in a quiet moment, playing a few tunes on the whistle to get out of tap dance head. This could (and did) make me feel like a bit of a dork here in the land where cool is everything and everything is cool, until later when one of the ultra hip young tap dudes said, "Yo, that was tight. What was that thing you were playing?" My life is complete.
The mosquitoes here are the size of small dogs and they attack swiftly and without mercy. We are swatting constantly. You put on bug spray and you can hear them laughing at you...
Ray Hesselink is a complete hoot. Amazing dancer and really funny guy. I feel a nonsexual crush coming on... His class was fast and furious, but he keeps the mood light and I like his focus not on the steps (although the assumption is that you will have them immediately) but on the character of the rhythms, the play, the connection to the audience.
Harold Cromer's class is awesome. We are learning a piece of his choreography called Opus One. I am fascinated by the body of traditional rep that exists in tap. Like tunes in Irish or old time, but recently composed and everyone gives props to the choreographers. I am itching to learn them all. I hear folks talking about Buster Brown's Laura, Leon Collins' 1-4. We started learning the BS Chorus and worked a bit on The Shim Sham and Cole's Stroll in Dianne's class. I would happily do just that stuff for the entire 2 weeks. Ah well, projects for the future.
In my room in a quiet moment, playing a few tunes on the whistle to get out of tap dance head. This could (and did) make me feel like a bit of a dork here in the land where cool is everything and everything is cool, until later when one of the ultra hip young tap dudes said, "Yo, that was tight. What was that thing you were playing?" My life is complete.
The mosquitoes here are the size of small dogs and they attack swiftly and without mercy. We are swatting constantly. You put on bug spray and you can hear them laughing at you...
Monday, July 5, 2010
Playing Catch Up
Finally have a few spare moments to bring this up to date. Friday and Saturday were nuts, very nice to have a little down time yesterday and today.
Saw Camille Brown on Friday. If you ever the chance, run don't walk to see these folks dance, they put on a helluva show. The dancers are incredible; strong, loose, so full of energy you feel it crackling all over your skin as you watch them. A beautiful mix of contemporary dance flavored with African, jazz, swing. The dancers have strong character and personality that really comes across. They have a piano player and percussionist who add some very tasty music to the mix, and the dance and the music are (refreshingly) so integral to one another it's hard to say where one ends and the other begins. This is dance that seems almost as much fun to watch as to do. It's storytelling, oral history, music and movement all swirled together with artfulness, passion and vigor.
Saturday was a bizarre marathon. We hit class hard all morning, crammed lunch, and spent the afternoon on the Inside Out stage rehearsing. In the sun. Melting. We were all pretty wrecked by the end of it. And yet somehow, everyone pulled it out. I think it went very well, considering the short time frame in which we learned the material. Definitely quite a few places in the 4 pieces we performed where I was completely faking my way through, but hey, sometimes you just have to dive on in. Or as Dianne related in a story about one of her teachers telling her; "you better sell that shit!"
Yesterday, laundry. Hanging out with Emily and Lydia, go for pizza. Lydia and I took a long nap while Emily went to the show and visited the archives. So very nice to sleep and snuggle with the Lil' One, been missing that...
We are all excited to get on it with the folks who get in today; Harold Cromer and Ray Hesselink. I am kind of hoping maybe the pace will be a little easier than last week. I would love to have some time to get with someone and make sure I have the material we have been learning in Dianne's class. Really have it. She would say "have it in your pocket." Right now I am still just getting comfortable with weight changes and there are still big gaps. And as I may have mentioned, I am completely dotty about that choreography. If that's the only thing I retain material-wise, I'll be a happy guy.
So yeah, going into week 2 feeling pretty rejuvenated, although I still feel like I would benefit greatly from a night or two of 10 solid hours of sleep.
Smooch.
Saw Camille Brown on Friday. If you ever the chance, run don't walk to see these folks dance, they put on a helluva show. The dancers are incredible; strong, loose, so full of energy you feel it crackling all over your skin as you watch them. A beautiful mix of contemporary dance flavored with African, jazz, swing. The dancers have strong character and personality that really comes across. They have a piano player and percussionist who add some very tasty music to the mix, and the dance and the music are (refreshingly) so integral to one another it's hard to say where one ends and the other begins. This is dance that seems almost as much fun to watch as to do. It's storytelling, oral history, music and movement all swirled together with artfulness, passion and vigor.
Saturday was a bizarre marathon. We hit class hard all morning, crammed lunch, and spent the afternoon on the Inside Out stage rehearsing. In the sun. Melting. We were all pretty wrecked by the end of it. And yet somehow, everyone pulled it out. I think it went very well, considering the short time frame in which we learned the material. Definitely quite a few places in the 4 pieces we performed where I was completely faking my way through, but hey, sometimes you just have to dive on in. Or as Dianne related in a story about one of her teachers telling her; "you better sell that shit!"
Yesterday, laundry. Hanging out with Emily and Lydia, go for pizza. Lydia and I took a long nap while Emily went to the show and visited the archives. So very nice to sleep and snuggle with the Lil' One, been missing that...
We are all excited to get on it with the folks who get in today; Harold Cromer and Ray Hesselink. I am kind of hoping maybe the pace will be a little easier than last week. I would love to have some time to get with someone and make sure I have the material we have been learning in Dianne's class. Really have it. She would say "have it in your pocket." Right now I am still just getting comfortable with weight changes and there are still big gaps. And as I may have mentioned, I am completely dotty about that choreography. If that's the only thing I retain material-wise, I'll be a happy guy.
So yeah, going into week 2 feeling pretty rejuvenated, although I still feel like I would benefit greatly from a night or two of 10 solid hours of sleep.
Smooch.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Ball Change
Almost 2:30, Derick and a few of the young'uns are jamming hard in the studio as I write this.
It just keeps getting more intense with each passing day. But alongside that intensity comes big helpings of inspiration, some new or (at least more developed) foot-skills, steps and a large dose of jazz. Also quite a few lightbulb moments where Dianne will teach a step that I positively recognize from sean nos dancing I have seen, or Anna Marley's English clog steps. Oh the connective tissue of the branches on the percussive dance tree!
Paul's friends came to play music for our class today, the sax player is none other than Charles Neville. Holy crap-for-crap. The Boston Globe did a nice article on Dianne and the program today, there's also a short video of the class.
aaand tomorrow is our first show. They are not calling it that, but they are expecting an audience of at least 500 people and maybe more like 800, so it's hard to think of it as a student showcase or whatever... I am a little nervous. But at least I am not alone. Quite a few others are in similar overload, so I no longer feel like quite such a goober/outcast. Which is nice.
Wish me luck,
Merde
It just keeps getting more intense with each passing day. But alongside that intensity comes big helpings of inspiration, some new or (at least more developed) foot-skills, steps and a large dose of jazz. Also quite a few lightbulb moments where Dianne will teach a step that I positively recognize from sean nos dancing I have seen, or Anna Marley's English clog steps. Oh the connective tissue of the branches on the percussive dance tree!
Paul's friends came to play music for our class today, the sax player is none other than Charles Neville. Holy crap-for-crap. The Boston Globe did a nice article on Dianne and the program today, there's also a short video of the class.
aaand tomorrow is our first show. They are not calling it that, but they are expecting an audience of at least 500 people and maybe more like 800, so it's hard to think of it as a student showcase or whatever... I am a little nervous. But at least I am not alone. Quite a few others are in similar overload, so I no longer feel like quite such a goober/outcast. Which is nice.
Wish me luck,
Merde
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