Jacob's Pillow. Day Five: Dance,Drive,Drinks!

the last show was great. william isaac taught class. it was also his last show in concert dance and got a bouquet of flowers during the curtain call.lovely. everyone was ready to hit it and quit it.which is exactly what we did(except for me blanking in the middle of one of my solo's.oops).had lunch after the show and began the 3 hour drive back to new york city.the drive was beautiful. the hills and flowers and the green of the grass reminded me of england. guess that's why it's called new england. right? got back safely,returned the car and hopped in a cab to brooklyn.stopped off at my friend ryans place and had a couple of well deserved beers.

so here's to a wonderful end to a wonderful week. i've had so much fun and felt so much during my time at the pillow. i've always felt that it's important to be connected to history. no matter what community you are involved in, it feels like there is a necessity to look over you shoulder and recognize those who have gone before you on a similar path to yours. wave to those people once in a while. those ancestors.

Jacob's Pillow. Day Four: Archive sandwich with show bread

ahhh the double show day. what an enigma you are. it always seems like the second show would be so much harder than the first. not the case...this time around at least. so the first show was a little rough and tough to get through. it was cool, however, to see the sunlight pour through the cracks in the rough of the theatre. especially in the black outs which turned into sort of grey outs. the days have been gorgeous here. that perfect summer weather. warm but breezy with short bursts of rain.

so after washing off the first round of dancing i went to the archives. you can see in the picture(which my friend luke found on the jacob's pillow facebook page.random.)the touchscreen which has a sample of the archives dating back to the 1950's. i looked through all the era's picking out people as i went. so much fun!

then the second show. like i said i thought it was gonna be really hard but it was actually quite breezy. there was a cast party after the show.it was nice to unwind and talk to some people and get out of the groove of the past couple of days. last show tomorrow!

Jacob's Pillow. Day Three: Car.Drama.Good show

starting to feel the wear and tear of doing a show over and over again. also feeling the satisfaction of getting to have a "do-over"(so to speak) every night so i can make it that much better. i woke up on day 3 to go out and get food.key in ignition.turning key.clicking.....then nothing. the vans we have aren't holding up that well. the first day i had to get a headlight replaced....and now this dead battery. there is also i mysterious grinding sound in the engine that is relentless and recently the roof has begun to leak. this is why i don't own a car. so the stage manager(joe, super nice guy) and i went to the jiffy lube in town and got a new battery put in. kind of a pain in the ass but i got to hang with him for 20 minutes and talk and get to know each other. so after that fiasco i got some lunch and watched a bit of this awesome documentary called the buddha. a little nap to boot and then up and out to the pillow. previously we had rehearsals during the day and then the show at night.today though we had all day off til 5:30. it made such a difference to my body and i was really geared up to have a fantastic show. it went really well. started playing with some things in my solos and honed my focus in on some different things during the peice. repetition. there's something about it. walking down the same path but today it's wednesday, or you're sad or red. i feel really lucky to be having the experience that i am and eagerly await every show.

i'm still grazing through the graffiti on the walls. i found a signature of a girl that was here with tanya perez salas which is the company i am going to mexico to audition for.oh, i'm going to mexico.......did i mention that. no? oh ok. i'm going to mexico.

signed my name on the wall. thinking of something poignant to leave behind as well. busy busy busy

Jacob's Pillow. Day Two: Feels like day two

i slept terribly. i had nightmares about the piece we are doing which somehow turned into someone trying to kill me. at breakfast some others from the company also talked about their weird dreams so i guess it's in the water. we had a brief rehearsal this morning. double checking some light cues and going over some notes. nothing too heavy. and then we had some free time so kris, emily, marlin and i went to check out the archives. it's a little cabin with three or four screens and dvd players with multiple headphones attached. we only got a chance to look at some old armitage gone stuff because it was already playing on the screen, due to the company being here. there is also a lois greenfield exhibit in the gallery, which is really beautiful. other happenings:

marlin lost his camera and then found it, masayo stepped on a bee which consequently stung her, and the show was taped for the jacob's pillow archives...which i thankfully forgot about during the show. it went well. it felt better than last night. i'm really glad we have 6 shows so i can continue to tweek and hone. it's beautiful here. i may buy a tent and stay on the grounds for the rest of my life.

Jacob's Pillow. Day One:History, Community, Mosquitos.

i was nervous about driving. i mean not driving a car but rather driving a car in the city. when i say that it was raining the day we left i mean that it was RAIN-ING. think monsoon. so that didn't help but it turned out to be a really simple route on the westside highway that didn't really leave me any city driving so phew to that. the drive was pretty....pretty long. i digress, i shall try and avoid terrible jokes. so once settled in hotel and unpacked and washed and fooded and slept, we went to the pillow(as most people call it). it's so beautiful. there aremany barn like structures nestled around and cabins that house the people there for the school. we're performing in the ted shawn theatre which is above in the picture. it's a huge oldbarn. so awesome. it smells wonderful. a really great combo of that dusty theatre smell, all lights and curtains and the barn smell: wood and sun. the backstage area is my favorite part. first of all, it's like a maze. not that it's huge or anything but it feels like a rabbit hole. a network of dressing rooms, small hallways, doors and little steps. so that was entertaining. opening a door and being somewhere entirely different than you thought you were going to be. second of all, there are millions and millions of signatures, notes, pictures and quotes written ALL over the walls, doors, bathroom stalls and ceilings. so many people. all the performers that have been there. so i spent a good amount of time wandering around finding people that i knew and admired that had come there before me(even found one of my best friends, jeff, and his unmistakable signature complete a little cartoony drawing of himself). it was astounding! as i was perusing i got an overwhelming feeling of community and an even stronger feeling of actually being apart of it. i belong to something. something other than my self or my family or friends. it was such a revelation to feel apart of something that was bigger than me. it made me happy.....then it made me nervous. all these people were here before me. dancing their little hearts out. and now i'm here. to dance my little heart out.what if i screw up? it would be like all those people would be watching!! this also was a new feeling because i don't get nervous before i perform. so with that in mind i went through the tech rehearsal. we had dinner outside by the pillow, the famous rock. the sky was so blue and the breeze was so gentle.great.calm.now for the show. i literally went over everything at least ten times before i went on...which again is something new for me. and then i danced. i danced in an old barn where so so so so many dancers had danced before me, and it was fantastic. well.....a little shaky but fantastic feeling none the less. the audience were so generous. so that's that. the first day here. i'm going to try and check out the archives either tomorrow or friday."The Archives at Jacob’s Pillow has approximately 6,000 films and videos from 1894 to present, 45,000 historic dance photos and negatives, 313,000 pages of unique printed materials, 27 trunks of costumes dating from 1915, and 2,000 books."

that.is.some.serious.history.

this side of the blue

it's snowing in Alaska today. It's beautiful. a bit surprising to see snow again. i thought my winter days were over. i guess that's a little naive due to my location. oh and i saw three moose yesterday. they were just kicking it in someone's yard. i got really close and got some pictures. they are hauntingly beautiful. they kind of reminded me of camels(though i've never seen a camel up close), maybe they are from the same family?

i've been here a week and have been teaching and rehearsing for Intersections. i can't believe i've been here for a week. it seems to have flown by. or sprinted by.

the work is fun and the people are great. i've been spending a lot of time with my friends Sarah and Brian. i even did a line dance to hip hop music at a gay bar......oh and a drunk woman poked me in the eye whilst frantically dancing with me. a little painful but a lot hilarious.

i'm still trying to get used to the way life moves through here. haven't been feeling myself lately but i'm putting it all down to a change of pace and a fresh outlook on things. i finally have one of my guitars! i picked it up from the storage unit while i was in Chicago. so i'll be spending some time broadening my skills.

still on the hunt for a place to stay for the sabbatical in August. i think Ryan will be joining us so that's great. i'm looking forward to it immensely and can't wait to find the perfect place.....or perfect enough place.

if you haven't listened to the new Joanna Newsom album i advise you to do so. it's magical.

and so are you.

there are many jewels, and if you polish them they shine.

.....and we're back.

After Chicago i went back to New York for one day and then went right back to the airport to fly out to Orlando, Florida. I auditioned for Orlando Ballet which went really well. There were no cuts which is always nice and my friend Katia taught the class. Spent some time with Israel and Katia which was lovely. Israels movie is playing soon in New York. Some of my music is in it. GO SEE IT!!Good people. Met some great new people as well.......one in particular.

So, while i was warming up for the audition i got a phone call from an unknown New York number. They left a message. I checked it and it was Karole Armitage, who is the director of Armitage Gone!
She told me she had an opening in the company and she was interested in me taking it. So, long story short, i start with the company in May! I'm excited. We perform in New York and also at Jacob's Pillow between May and July. The contract ends in July but there is the possibility of it extending into the next season. jams.

After that i went to the Tri-Cities in TN/VA. I danced in a benefit for an old theater there. Everything went well. With out a hitch in the get along.....as they say.
Then it was off to Fort Walton Beach, FL. I was dancing the Mazurka in Coppelia. It was the first time i did a character dance onstage. First time for everything, right? It was tons of fun. Saw all my Florida Friends and spent some quality time with Ian and Eleanor. They are touring with their show right now, which is doing really well. Check it out!. Good people.

Let's see......what else. I'm going to Alaska on Friday. It's going to be great. Good people, lot's of dancing, guitar practice, bike riding and money saving. Money saving? what for i hear you ask.
Well. Jess and i are going on a sabbatical. We are going to go somewhere secluded for the month of August and have a creative fest. We're still in the brainstorming phase. Working out details of when and where and how much. It's going to be a wonderful summer. y'all.

Really looking forward to May when CocoRosie FINALLY releases their album.
s'bout damn time.