I don't know who these people are but I love them. What a wonderful dance to share. Gives me hope and kinda makes me want to get married, :-) kinda.
I went to the Improv Festival with my trusty camera and captured a bunch of stuff which I will show you in the pre-futurist mode where it will live forever. Well at least for a very long time. Maida and I searched up and down G St looking and asking people if they had seen anyone falling down. We walked up and back and finally ran into Ken and then we saw Kathryn. She does a piece called Fall Girl and here it is just for you.
David sent me some music and I did some dancing. This time it is Delotah, whatever that means. Word.
I remember watching Marceau as a child with wide eyes and a big smile. He was a hero of mine who I only got to see perform live once. It was not the greatest performance because two of Marceau's two company members did way too much performing and did not have the skill or the status to keep my attention. When Marceau performed it was brilliant. I saw him on television all the time, The Mike Douglas Show, the Merv Griffin Show and a host of others. At one time I was going to go to Clown School for Ringling Brothers instead of the NC School of the Arts mostly because of Marceau. At Ohio State his picture is on the wall at ACCAD the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design and his movements have been motion captured which is just awesome. The Washington Post obituary on the front page is excellent a single photo of Marceau as his most famous character "Bip" with blank space, his name and the years he was born and died.
Kelly and I are performing a spicy dance tonight. This is us in rehearsal playing around with some ideas.
Join us for some 18 and over entertainment THIS Saturday! Refreshments will be served!
Saturday September 22, 2007 (1st of a three-part series)
Performances begin at 11:00pm
Joy of Motion Dupont Circle
1643 Connecticut Avenue, NW 20009 (Connecticut Street entrance)
Limited seating available!! To reserve seats call Mason/Rhynes Productions main office: 301-887-1078; or send an email to this address (staff@mason-rhynes.org). Reservations close at 5pm on friday! After that, you can purchase walk-ups the day of show (reserved seats will be released 10 minutes before showtime!) Must be 18+ to attend!!!
Want a late night alternative to the crowded bar and pretentious clubs? Join us for Expressions Series: Late Night!!!, where artists take risks, let loose and have fun! Join us for on the edge performances by actor Bus Howard performing excerpts from his one man show "To Tell the Truth", Christal Brown coming from New York with some strategically placed petals to grant us our "Wishes", Estela Velez of Furia Flamenca performs her deliciously flirtatious duet "Guajiras", Kelly Mayfield & Boris Willis of Contradiction Dance present "Stride", featuring spoken word, improvisation and a bound dancer! The show will also feature spoken word artists Jamilah Hogan and Secret Emotions performing their erotic, sensual, soulful poetry for the masses! It's going to be one hot time (and not from the temperature from outside!) With special appearances from other surprise guests!
Shows contain adult material (must be 18+ to attend!).
Admission: $15 (light refreshments included)
Call Joy of Motion Dupont Circle at: 202-387-0911; to get directions or additional information.
Holly Bass is a performer and writer who I have seen and read for many years. Somehow we have never formally met, at least not that I can remember until this night. Holly was performing her piece "Show and Prove" and she came over to see Jane Jerardi's performance video. I was hanging out with Kitty Clark and Beth Burkhart and we all went over to see Holly perform. Beth decided that I should ask her to dance because that is what the performance was all about. However, because I had not read any materials or instructions about what the audience was supposed to do I was scared. SO. Beth brings me over to Holly introduces us and I say "can we tape it" So. We go inside where there is more light and Beth and Kitty take turns behind the camera. I sent this to David Morneau and he made some music.
David Says
I love the window in front of Axis Salon. In my mind I saw Kelly doing a double solos there so one day when we were hanging out in Dupont I asked her to dance the by the heating earth, twice. This is but a small example of the kinds of things she will be doing in the new version of Abandoned Revolution. Of course when I hang out with Kelly people always come up and talk to us you can hear someone talking to me while she is dancing.
Yesterday I had my second waltz lesson at the French Embassy and things were a bit more relaxed as people were more comfortable with the dance and each other. I found it interesting that there were some people I danced with again and some I never came into contact with at all. I was approached more this time and I also felt little apprehension about going up to someone and asking them to dance. I was very aware of touch this time some women did not flex a muscle which made it very difficult to dance with them. There was a softness which made me get closer and closer because I had nothing to push against or guide. There was one woman who looked at me the whole time she was dancing and it was magical. She was such a good dancer and we flowed around the floor, smiling. It was all too brief, a little more than a minute was all the time I had with her. Luckily I was able to dance with her one other time. I did see that it was her ability to dance that made it so much fun because she seemed to be having a wonderful time with everyone she danced with. Thinking too much is the root of all bad dancing.
Is that a phone I hear, David Morneau thinks so and who better than he would know. This weeks collabo puts the phone in my hands, all 8 of them, let's see if the message is the same by the time it gets all the way around.
This dance was inspired by the light in and around the Hirshorn Museum.
Ivan Navarro created the florecent tubes, I don't know the other artists and I could not find them on the Hirshorn website. I will have to go back, get the names and update the posts soon.
I was at the Kahlil Gibran Memorial. His book The Prophet inspires me so. . . David Morneau made some music for my prayer.
Photos Here
Yesterday I took Viennese Waltz lessons at the French Embassy. There were easily 200 people there in a huge room, who were there to socialize and learn to dance. This was with the International Club of DC, a social networking group that I recently joined. At one point when they separated the men and women to work on the turns I realized that I was in a dance class with about 100 men in business clothes, who were dancing and loving it. Some of these men clearly were not getting the steps because they were thinking too much but this is true of many beginners in dance. Others were surprised that they were getting dizzy and wanted to have this fixed by hearing an instruction to do something that would not make them dizzy. They were a little disappointed that being dizzy was just what happens when you spin around over and over again. I was happy that so many people wanted to dance and I thought how come these people are not excited about modern dance in this way, well maybe they are, some of them. One lady said to me as soon as we started dancing, "I can tell you are a dancer" and that made me laugh out loud. In fact I was asked several times if I had taken lessons before. I was also interested in how well I danced with some and how difficult it was with others. We changed partners about every 30 seconds. One woman and I danced really well together, and she asked me to dance with her twice in a row. She said that she felt like a pro with me. Another woman did the steps right at all times even if I was wrong but that led to some problems because she was not letting me lead. It was awesome to be in that environment with my knowledge as a dance teacher but not being the teacher and doing a form that I have not formally learned. It was also awesome to NOT be around dancers because I learned so much about non-dancers who are interested in dancing. I am not quite sure yet what I have learned but my head is racing with thoughts. I remember seeing a large room full of people doing the waltz at Ohio State. If I taught the waltz and had a class of 200 at $20 a person, well, I can't wait for the next lesson when we turn to the left. :-)
I was out with my friend Karen Reedy and we just happened to walk by the Dupont Brass Band. I don't really know if that is their name but. . . Dancing had to happen and Dance-A-Day in all its pre-futurist glory was omnipresent.
