I’m a fan of pictures with jumps. I feel like the only ones I’ve really been in touch with are my own and Lois Greenfield’s.
But man, this one is probably the most amazing one ever!
It’s called “dali-atomicus”, taken in 1948.
And according to neatorama.com, “it took six hours, 28 jumps, and a roomful of assistants throwing angry cats and buckets of water into the air to get the perfect exposure.”
Poor cats.
It seems like February is a particularly active month for top notch dance shows in the bay area.
Here are my top picks:
Jan 26-27: Trisha Brown Dance Company
Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
$26/$36/$46
Feb 8-18: Robert Moses’ Kin
Jewish Community Center of SF
$26
Feb 9-11: Takami & Mobu Dance Group
Project Artaud Theater
$22
Feb 9-11: Stephen Petronio Company
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
$39/$27/$15
Feb 22-23: The Forsythe Company
Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
$32/$46/$58
Feb 22-24: Loose Change Dance Company
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
$25/$20/$18
Feb 23-25: Kim Epifano’s Epiphany Productions/Axis Dance Company
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
$25
Feb 25: Levydance
The public restaurant and bar
(I can’t seem to find more info on this one…)
The only down side to it all, is that it costs money… $164 to be precise, to see all these shows at the lowest rate… We’ll see which ones I’ll really end up seeing.
I’ve been feeling like I want to get involved in the bay area dance scene a little more. There’s various ways for me to do that. I can take classes (which I am), or teach classes (which I’m not too excited about) or I can dance for a company (which would be my preference).
Normally, dance companies audition dancers to work for them, but I want to “audition” companies I would potentially be interested in…
So, the best way for me to know what to aim for…is to see them on stage. And last Wednesday, it so happened there was a showcase at SFSU presenting a wide variety of Bay Area dance companies… How perfect! And how FUN!
Amongst all groups, I was particularly curious about: ODC Dance, Robert Moses Kin, Janice Garret & Dancers, The McCarthy Dance Project, Alex Ketley & The SF Conservatory Dancers, Paco Gomez and dancers, and Soulforce.
So who made Stephanie’s cut?
ODC Dance
They presented a fun trio with great sensuality, playfulness and creativity. I definitely like their style (+ studios!)
Robert Moses’ Kin
All though, I think they’re out of my league, they were incredibly good, intricate and clever. The choreography was profound, emotional and dynamic. High quality dancing!
McCarthy Dance Project
They were a very modern company, with its dynamics and flow. The piece was energetic and interesting, although a bit dark…I definitely felt close to their body language, and could picture myself being comfortable with their choreography.
Paco Gomez and dancers
They presented a very creative piece with boxes of different sizes…even-though the concept was interesting, I felt the dancers or choreography lacked a tiny bit of maturity.
Janice Garret and dancers
They have a definite playfulness to their genre. It was modern with a circus flair. I love watching it, I’m not sure I would enjoy dancing it. But they’re doing a great job in their style, I would love to see other works!
SoulForce
Cute Hip Hop choreographed by Micaya, founder of SF Hip Hop Fest. The dancers were young, the dance had character, wasn’t very hard, but they were tight! Basically, the very entertaining part of the show.
SF Conservatory
They were my biggest deception! The dancers were young, but extremely strong and technically able. But the choreography was a “pretty chaos”. Everything was beautifully done in a big mess of movement that never stopped. I had to close my eyes at some point to rest for a second, because too much was going on. Why is more movement better? Often times, less is more!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really thought that all the companies presented were very talented. It has been a very educative night. I can now sleep on what I’ve seen, and focus my energies towards who I thought was worth trying out for.
Ma soeur vient d’apprendre qu’a 90% sur, elle va avoir une fille…alors moi, qu’est ce que j’ai fait? Je suis allee faire du shopping!!!
My sister just learned that she’s 90% sure she’s having a girl… so what did I do? I went shopping!!!
The baby is due for beginning of July, and right now there’s only winter clothes, so I had to pick almost only 6 months or 18 months sizes (otherwise she would get a sweater for summer!) Here’s what I picked at the children’s place…
Le bebe est sense etre ne debut juillet, mais les magazins n’ont que des habits d’hiver en ce moment, alors j’ai du acheter presque que des tailles 6 mois ou 18 mois (sinon, elle aurait un pull pour l’ete!) Voici ce que j’ai choisi au children’s place…
Alors, vu qu’on vient en France en mars, je demande a ma soeur de choisir (ou tout vouloir), comme ca je sais quoi amener avec moi!…. Ma biche (et Michel) qu’est-ce qu’il te plait?
Since we’re going to France in march, I’m asking my sister to choose (or want it all), so that I know what to bring with me!
(English speaking people, please refer to Justin’s post… I need to feed my french crowd)
Franchement le weekend dernier etait tres sympa! On s’est fait une petite soiree a la maison avec quelques amis et on a joue au DDR (Dance Dance Revolution). Ce jeu est trop drole, specialement avec beaucoup de monde autour. On a mange sur le pouce, mais on a fait des bonnes petites choses…. J’ai fait un cake aux olives, sans olive mais avec du jambon, des champignons et du fromage. Mmmm. J’ai aussi refait un saucisson au chocolat, mais cette fois sans marshmallows et des noisettes a la place, et puis avec un peut de barre praline importe de France. Grand succes! Justin a fait son pistou decompose, son hummus et des petits legumes grilles. On s’est casse le ventre. Mais on s’est tellement amuse, qu’on a oublie de prendre des photos… mais notre amie Joy en a pris.
Le lendemain, il faisait un temps splendide, alors on a fait une randonnee depuis le Golden Gate Bridge jusqu’au Cliff House.
Justin a fait une carte de la rando si vous voulez voir…
Donc voici quelques photos de nous par un temps magnifique, froid mais pas venteux (exceptionnel!).
Une vue pas comme les autres du pont celebre.
Probablement le meilleur endroit pour avoir une petite conversation avec son pere.
Les ombres, c’est toujours amusant!
On se croyait presque a Hawaii avec un coucher de soleil d’enfer! Rouge!!!
Last night, I dreamt about Saddam’s execution… And who killed him? Justin!
This is not even a subject I really followed in the news. A drawing of his face pre-hanging popped up in a magazine I was browsing through yesterday, which may have triggered this:
So, we were in a pretty deserted mall and Justin installed Saddam outside on a little wall. He prepared his high tech shooting gear, screwing together pieces of a gun, that came out of a metal suitcase. He aims and shoots in the head. Several times. All it did was drill a hole, with minimal blood in Saddam’s forehead, still alive and seeming to be bored.
So Justin decides to reload and sits him at a table. He tells me to move aside and not to look. He shoots the man many times, many places. I look over and see him collapsed on the table with a little more blood. Justin puts away his shooting gear, grabs me by the arm and says: “Damn, this man was hard to kill!” And we walk away, hoping he’s really dead.
I don’t know why my brain has created this story. But in an extremely weird way (according to the situation), Justin was very hot!
La nuit derniere, j’ai reve de l’execution de Saddam… Et qui l’a tue? Justin!
C’est meme pas un sujet que j’ai vraiment suivi aux infos. J’ai appercu un dessin de son visage pre- pendaison dans un magazine que je feuilletais hier, qui a peut-etre cree ceci :
Donc, on etait dans un centre commercial deserte et Justin a installe Saddam dehors, sur un petit mur. Il a prepare ses armes haute technologie en vissant des parties de pistolet, qui venaient d’une valise en metal. Il pointe et tire dans la tete. Quelques fois. Tout ce que ca a fait, c’est creer un trou, avec tres peu de sang sur le front de Saddam, qui etait toujours en vie et avait l’air de s’en foutre.
Alors Justin recharge son pistolet et l’assied a une table. Il me dis de me pousser et de ne pas regarder. Il tire sur l’homme plusieurs fois, a plusieurs endroits. Je regarde et l’homme est affale sur la table avec un peu plus de sang. Justin remballe son matos, m’attrape par le bras et me dit: “Putain, cet homme etait dur a tuer!” On s’eloigne en esperant q’il soit vraiment mort.
Je ne sais pas pourquoi mon cerveau a creer ce scenario, mais d’une maniere tres bizarre (suivant les circonstances), Justin etait tres attirant!
So, the general vacation/travel market offers a number of different option… Fly somewhere and get a hotel, or fly somewhere and be part of an organized tour thing (which I have allergic reactions to), or fly somewhere and figure it out/backpack/work to get your way around/meet people/…complete adventure, or of course cruises (which I’m curious about but not too sure how much I would like it…maybe Alaska in the summer).
But how about renting your own private island? You can do that by the week and with many people. They basically range between $80/week to $230,000/week. I wonder who does that? But it sounds like a lot of fun…a sharp cut from routine for sure!
However, the prices sometimes didn’t make sense as I was browsing the various island options. For example, you can get Utter Inn in Sweden which is an art project by Mikael Genberg which offers an underwater accommodation for $1750/week.
Or you can get Vahine Island, in French Polynesia, Oceania which is a little corner of paradise…for $436/week!
Now, I don’t know about you, but choosing between an art project with an underwater bedroom looking into foggy brown water and a beautiful island in Oceania for much less…Very easy to choose! Plus, if the trip included say, 6 people, it would come down to roughly $72 per person for a whole week to stay on a private island…Who wants to come with me?
Guess what this is?
Devinez ce que c’est?
It’s our skin!!! And you know what that blue thing in the middle is?…A sweat cell!
C’est notre peau!!!! Et vous savez ce qu’est le truc bleu au milieu?… Une cellule de transpration!
You can see more throught the eyes of science.
Vous pouvez en voir plus aux “yeux de la science“
Fascinating!!
Fascinant!!
I took a dance break over the month of December and (a bit of November)…. It was too long! January came by and I needed to start dancing again. It was vital!
I have tried a few classes here and there, at SF Dance Center and City Dance, but they haven’t grabbed me. They were ok and challenging, but I’m more picky than that. I need to feel that the teacher/choreographer I’m taking from has substance, has a “thing”, has depth in what he/she is doing. You know what?…not many people have that!!!
Loose Change dance company
The only people I came across that had that “thing” were Jacqueline Lavielle (my ballet trainer in Fayence, France, who had a true passion and rigor for her art), Angelo Monaco (modern/jazz teacher choreographer in Biot, France, who has a deep philosophical approach to movement, as well as fun), Anna Sanchez (modern teacher from Spain who I took from in a workshop in Corsica. She had such a joy, simplicity, challenge and uniqueness to her style) and Mia Michaels (the only American teacher/choreographer I encountered who had a truly human approach to dance and movement. Very much in touch with emotions and being. I met her twice in a dance convention, and definitely stood out from the outrageously commercial styles promoted there).
And so this week, I went to an Urban Contemporary class at the ODC Commons in SF, taught by Eric Fenn, who also direct the company Loose Change. The studios are brand new and gorgeous!!! Lots was going on when I got there. The class? It was a mix of modern and hip hop, but practiced bare foot. The level was not super challenging, but it’s ok because I knew my body was going to hurt no matter what (and it did!!! Yey!). But the ideas and choreography taught to us were very interesting, flowing, conceptual and fun. I really had this feeling of substance and full under-layer of the work.
Eric Fenn
I may need to add you, Eric Fenn, on my list of excellent teachers/choreographer.
Looking back at what I did over this holiday season, I realized I did many things for the first time… I love it!
For the 1st time I…
- took the plane with Justin
- took the bus to the BART to the plane!
- go to Austin
- met Justin’s Mom and brother
- see such a big Christmas tree inside someone’s house (+ very well decorated)
- see so many Santa Clause figurines (Justin’s Mom -Kathy- is a fan)
- go in a supermarket with this many apple selection (Central Market, Austin)
- cut a cookie with a cookie cutter
- ice cookies… Lots of fun!
- make a chocolami (very good!)
- have a stocking (overflowing, I might add) Thank you Santa!
- was at peace with Christmas in a long time
- played DDR until I felt my body needed a great big stretch and my eyes were seeing the wrong arrows.
- took the plane to the BART to the bus home.
- went to William Sonoma in SF (sooo much fun!)
- most of the day in bed in a long time
- don’t go to a party for New Year’s Eve ( we had a wine/DDR/pesto pizza making night, which was absolutely awesome!)
I’m feelin’ good :)