The Heat is On!

So the past few days have been unbearable. I'm talking temps in the 100s. Well, honestly, it hasn't been that bad, but then again I have been super lazy. I've mostly sat on the couch with the AC on playing on Facebook. I did go see 2 movies - The Hangover and The Proposal. Both were rather good. I also did the Davis Bike Loop with Jamie on Saturday in 107 degree heat. I faired well. Jamie on the other hand had a little heat issue and blacked out about 2/3s in. It was pretty cool to watch. Okay, am I a bad person? I can only say that because she's fine and didn't get hurt.

Since I have a slower bike, Jamie waited for me when we got to the top of a small hill. She said that she was a little nauseous and followed it by an "uh-oh." I asked her if she wanted to get off her bike, but she kind of ignored the question. She took a sip of water and then we were ready to start off again. However, as she started to pedal, she then stopped and put her feet down on the ground. I asked if she was okay, and she proceeded with her round of "I'm okay." She then crumpled towards the ground and rolled over. There was an odd slow motion quality. So graceful. Her bike fell and then as I got off my bike, mine fell, too. We then sat for about 10 minutes in the shade and drank water. Jamie rolled up her JEANS - Yes, she was wearing jeans. She took off her shoes and socks and then poured water on her head. Once we resumed our ride we stopped every few minutes to check in. It wound up being a really lovely afternoon. Full of apologies, but nonetheless it was a great way to see Davis. I cannot believe I never did it before.

Luckily today it's a little cooler. A high of 97. Right now I am lying on my bed with my back door open and it's quite nice. I need to go into the department to sign some reimbursement forms, pick up a check and the projector. Hip Hop history presentations start today. Then I need to head into the studio to whip out 6 counts of 8. I'll probably teach 3 today and 3 tomorrow, but since I teach workshops at STC tomorrow and Wednesday, I will have limited time prep.

I also need to get started on the clean-up for the move. I had a little scare yesterday when my landlord dropped off a moving out checklist on my door. Since I don't leave for 2 months I got a little worried that she forgot and expected me to move out this weekend. That would have sucked since I know that my apartment is rented. I called her this morning and all is well. Actually it's better than well. She accidentally said that I would be moving out on 8/15 and I said that I need to stay until the 25. She then corrected herself and said 9/15, but then caught on and realized that I would be out by 8/31. It turns out the guy who is renting my unit wants to be in on the first, but is waiting until I leave. So it's better all around. Now I won't have to pay double rent the first half of September.

I have been searching Craigslist regularly, but it's still too early. Hopefully Tony will have a bit of time to go and look with me in two weeks or so. He will be gone the first 2 months that we room together. I know he's bummed about that. I have a feeling that I will be, too. It's nice knowing a friend is around to make this transition.

My butt hurts!

After a week of dance classes it would make sense that my body is in a little pain. I am doing push ups and sit ups in both classes and I am just moving non-stop. However, that is not the cause of my aching ass. It's because I have spent most of the day sitting on the couch. It's getting hotter outside and while I did do my dishes and scour both my microwave and my toaster oven I have been playing on Facebook and reading online newspaper articles for most of the morning.

For some reason I feel back that I am not more productive. Why do I feel that? I have been going non-stop, my body deserves a little break, right? However, I look around at my messy apartment and realize that for so much time on my hands, I should live in a spotless abode. Especially since I am ready to move into roommate mode.

Therefore, I am going to get up and make some ice coffee and then clean up a bit. Then I must tackle my expenses. I avoided doing my taxes this year and Sallie Lawrence put together an extension for me. I have no more excuses. I must get my paperwork in the mail to her tomorrow.

If I get that done today, I can spend some time in the studio tomorrow choreographing next weeks combo as well as staying out of the 103 degree heat my taking myself to the movies.

Heave ho!

End of Week!

Today is Thursday and I cannot believe it's already 11:15AM. Where has the day gone? I guess that's what happens when you wake up at 9AM. Well, have a cat pull your hair at 6AM saying, "Isn't it time to feed me?" but lately I have been going back to bed and waking up when my body says "enough."

Kinda nice.

I know it's not going to last, but my usual 6:30AM introduction to the day is not really necessary. I don't teach 2 mornings at 8AM any longer. I teach 4 afternoons at 2PM. TWO PM!! Crazy! How about a nice 4 day weekend?

My classes are going along really well. I am having a blast and my students are balls of excitement. Most of them arrive super early and they have already started to dance with gusto. I usually yell at them to not be wimpy. And they are totally following direction. Yesterday we did a little work in Laban. Feeling light/strong, sustained/abrupt & direct/indirect in the body. We talked briefly about pendular and bound/free, but for the time being they didn't seem as relevant. In both classes the students were pretty reticent about sharing. I find that going around the circle with one comment is super helpful. So, I asked them to share their personal categories of indirect/direct and light/strong one at a time in the circle and in my first class, I asked them to share one word about their body scan experience. In all of my classes I have my students walk around the room and do a scan of their bodies head to toe. I guide them through body parts, bones, muscles or joints. It depends on the day. With my acting class (and the Fundamentals of Movement class that I taught last Fall) I also guide them through their chakras. I don't think I will play with that in my Hip Hop class.

When I got home from class yesterday I decided to play with the News category on my bookmark bar. I removed those news sources that I never read and along with the NYT, CNN and the Washington Post I decided to add The San Fransisco Chronicle. While reading the New York Times I got tired about looking at articles about restaurants I may never go to or arts events that I cannot attend. I need to learn about my new city so I can take advantage of all it has to offer. Because there is so much unknown I am not frightened. I am prepared to take my strong and direct person into Fog City in August!

Baby's Got Back!

So I am excited to report that after day 2 of Hip Hop I am super excited to be back in class teaching. Both classes are having a good time and we are sweatin' and groovin'. We are currently doing a combination to Boom Boom Pow and we've gotten through the first 6 counts of eight. Four yesterday and 2 today. Since class is an hour and 40 minutes I am also bringing in some of my body awareness stuff. We started class walking around the room just noticing how our bodies moved in space. And today we played with Augusto Boal exercises. Completing the image and the one with the word and the gesture. I did these exercises for them to be aware of their own bodies and be aware of the movements of others. It's going to help them considerable (i hope!) when we get into our poetry and video presentations.

My body feels good, actually. I thought I would hurt a bit more since I have not been working out regularly, but it's just my hamstrings that are a little tight. No one really minded the push-ups nor did anybody complain of the soreness in the arms. I now know that I can push them a little further.

Tomorrow we will be playing with Laban elements. I have been talking about angles and curves in class with our combinations, but would love to add sustained, abrupt and pendular in there, too.

My brain is a little fried so I will end here. If anyone has any song suggestions for next week, just holla!

Lazy Monday

I start teaching another fun-filled summer of hip hop dance today. However, my stomach hurts and I just can't get out of bed. Granted it is only 7:40AM, but I wonder it's my first class nerves. I have not taught a dance class since last summer and I have not taken a class since then. I am keeping my worry to myself, except maybe my body is revolting. I went into the hot tub last night with Sarah, Jamie and Tony and I may have to make a repeat performance after the start of push ups and sit ups in class today.

I am a little miffed that I do not have a contract or access to my roster for the class I start today. I really don't know what the problem is. Luckily, I am ready to go in all other ways. My syllabus is updated and copied. I have the questionnaires and I have music for at least the first 2-3 days. I think all of my anxiety will melt away. At least that's my hope. And I will head into the department today to turn in my Dada receipts and check in about all things pending.

In terms of the move to the Bay, Tony came over on Saturday and we did a little craigslist search for apartments in the east bay. We made a few calls, but only one return phone call. In essence, we are looking too early for a mid to late August move. After a yummy dim sum excursion with Randy in SF's Chinatown, we drove Randy to AT&T Park and then headed over the Bay Bridge to the 580. We liked the Lake Merritt area in Oakland, as well as, the Dimond area. We also stopped in Berkeley on the way home and that is my favorite. I like the community feeling of it. There is BART access and plenty of amenities, walk-able restaurants and culture. As I considered my move to Davis from Atlanta, I think what eased my mind was that I was moving to a community. There were a bunch of givens - I would be in classes most days, my car would be parked on the street while I walked and biked locally. I am close to San Francisco and even closer to Sacramento. Luckily, going into the next move I know I am living with Tony, however since work is not guaranteed, neither is living. While we each want to make the Bay our home over the next year, if we had to leave for a job we would.

Hmmm. Maybe this is where my anxiety comes from...

The Return of Summer!

So yesterday here in sunny Davis, CA it was 97 degrees. At 7PM. I had a productive morning, but was a big lump on the couch for much of the afternoon. I be honest, I really needed a nap, but there was too much to do, or I needed to become one with my laptop!

I was having contract issues both with UC Davis and the Diablo Theatre Co. so after a bunch of kitty cuddle time, I headed to campus. Luckily all is well and I am teaching 2 hip hop classes for EACH of the 2 summer sessions and I am playing the role of Hildy in On the Town with DTC in Walnut Creek. I also spoke with Sacramento Theatre Co. yesterday in regards to their summer camp and am meeting with Lynn Baker today and will probably be teaching yet another hip hop workshop to their camp kids.

I spent part of yesterday looking for some good hip hop songs, but was not really inspired. There's a lot of crappy hip hop music out there right now. I decided to play with Boom Boom Pow from the Black Eyed Peas. And I will be shamefully stealing some of some fine choreography that I just found online today. I am starting to get excited.

Oh, I also got a clickable draft of my website yesterday. It's really coming along. I need to write some text about my teaching and play with my CV.

Lastly, in an early evening dip in Sarah's pool Tony and I talked about the move to the Bay. My guess is that we will gather next week and start looking. He wants to be moved by the end of August. I am going to see if I can get out of my lease early - September 1, instead of September 15.

Okay, let go! Boom Boom!

Catch up!

I am finally back upstairs in my parents house on their desktop. It's been forever since I used a PC keyboard, but there's some weird sensitive area on my Dad's laptop that makes typing emails difficult that I didn't even want to try to do a blog post. The cursor keeps shifting and I find myself adding characters to areas where I don't mean to be typing.

Anyway, the trip in NY is good. Yesterday my parents and I went to SOHO to have a piece of art that my parents bought fixed and then have lunch in Cipriani's. It was a fancy schmancy place but I am not really sure what all of the hoopla was about. They have EIGHT locations in NY but it was nothing outstanding. Fresh Italian fare. But our beet and asparagus salad with goat cheese was a whopping $27 and my Dad's veal was $40. I splurged and had a Bellini that was $14 which matched the price of my Dad's Bloody Mary. Again, all good, but I am not sure why we needed to pay $30 for Salmon with Leeks over rice. For lunch. I tried not to let the price bother me, but it was hard.

Afterwards we drove uptown and avoided the Puerto Rican Day parade to see the final performance of Exit the King by Ionesco. I didn't know what was in store, but was happy to see a little absurdist farce. Geoffrey Rush won the Tony award last week and that's the reason to have seen this show. He was truly fantastic. A real presence onstage. All of his choices were complex and interesting and fully realized. With the sheer radiance of his performance I really had a hard time with the lackluster showing of Susan Sarandon. I think it's mostly because she hasn't been on stage (or at least on B'way) since 1972 but her stuff was small. Boring. It was like she couldn't give two shits about being up there. She looked lovely, but so what? There was no drive, no objective, no interest. And for the love of pearl she had the last lines of the play and she couldn't even give it a good button. Okay, or even any button at all.

Whew.

The rest of the cast was okay. Andrea Martin was great, but as a schticky actress she indicated all over the place. Lauren Ambrose (as Marie) got better as the show went on. I think she just had to breathe some of Geoffrey Rush's King in and ride the wave. And she did. The actor who played the Guard, Brian Hutchison, was quite good. Very absurdy, but I didn't know why he did what he did. It was like he and Andrea Martin were in their own different plays. William Sadler was equally okay at the doctor, but I just sat back and kept saying - "oh that's the father from WonderFalls!!" Yeah, not a good thing.

After the show, my mother asked if Geoffrey Rush was a ballet dancer. I highly doubted it. But when I asked her why she thought that. She said when danced around the stage it was done with such grace that he must have ballet training. I did just do a little internet search and I cannot find ballet training, but he did do Le Coq physical training. I bet that's it. Watching him really made me value all of the movement work I've done and challenge all those actors who do not consider the physicality of their characters. Gosh, what a huge difference.

After the show, I saw Uncle Joseph who did not really remember me. It was a little painful, so I am moving on in the narrative. I then met up with Kristin Orlando at the Boat Basin Cafe on 79th and the river and after a yummy margarita hopped across town to hang with Mario Castro for the rest of the evening.

We went to sleep super late - up giggling like little school children. Mostly when we updated my online dating profile. I'm a little bolder now. Let's see what happens.

Breaking of a Ritual

Okay, so I tried. I thought I could keep up my daily flossing, blogging and neti potting. I am now in New York without my neti pot. I got in late last night and not only didn't floss, but didn't even brush my teeth. Now that I'm blogging, I will also promise to floss before bed. However, I will have to return to nasal irrigation next Wednesday when I return to CA.

Now that I got that out of the way I can talk about the fact that not only am I an official Master of Fine Arts, I also was cast in my first show out of school. When I arrived in Denver for my lay-over I got offered the role of Hildy in Diabalo Theatre Co. I am currently working out the details but it looks like I will be teaching hip hop in the early afternoon and then hopping into the car to head to Walnut Creek.

Oh, I also met little David this evening after a jaunt to Lord & Taylor, seeing Karen Sebesse for lunch, a great sushi meal with the folks and running to the library to grab the video copy of On the Town.

A busy day with no nap. Off to floss!

I'm Blogging When I Should Be Packing!

and washing the dishes and calling Jennifer to remind her to look in on the cats. And yes, I am sitting on the couch, where I've been for hours. Today was rather unproductive. I met with Bella Merlin for lunch and I did my laundry. Then I got all crampy and irritable and went all prone on the couch. Actually some of my laundry is still in my car. I guess I'd better go and get that so I can pack in earnest.

Oh, wait, wanna know what I did today? I had to put out yet another DADA fire. Since I borrowed the piano from the Technocultural Studies (TCS) Department for DADA I decided to get it tuned as a thank you. I got the name of a tuner from Darrell Winn in the Theatre/Dance department and the guy never called back. So, I got another name from Erie at the Davis Arts Center. Larry Snyder has been lovely. Very responsive and direct. The yokles at TCS have been a pain the butt. We finally arranged timing and parking and then I got a message from my department today that any outside vendor must be approved by the university. Ah, insurance issues.

Once the original tuner did not call back and I arranged Larry, I sent his contact info to Darrell to give him the name of someone that may actually call back. Well, the exciting lack of communication hits again when I find out that I cannot hire who I want.

I am not sure I am making sense anymore, but the craziness continued when I asked the TCS folks how to handle. They kept telling me that they could not make any decisions because of the assumption that Theatre/Dance was going to pay for this. Needless to say, they did not read the messages I've been sending since the questions about Larry and if he's donating his services came up. NO, IDIOTS, I AM PAYING FOR HIS SERVICES PERSONALLY AS A THANK YOU FOR YOU LETTING ME BORROW YOUR PIANO. YOU KOW THE ONE THAT RAN OVER MY FOOT!!?

Ah, that felt good. All better now.

So the head of that department decided we should go ahead with it. Fingers crossed that when I arrive on campus tomorrow at 8:15AM, there will be a happy piano tuner who will accept my check. Then I can get on an airplane bound for New York. A day of traveling. Stellar!

Daily ritual

It's day 3 and I just satisfied the flossing and neti potting, but have yet to blog for the day. Yes, it's almost 1AM, so technically it's tomorrow. But I have not gone to sleep yet, so I can count this for today. I would like to write about my On the Town callback, but since I am full of a vodka tonic and a ton of buffalo fries, I decided to go with a blogthings survey. If I can actually keep Lincoln off my chest for a minute, maybe I will actually get this done...

You Are 30% Pirate

Ahoy matey! Ye can think o' yerself as a swashbuckler in trainin'. If ye study hard an 'do what the captain tells ye, ye may be gettin' part o' the booty. Get to work on yer pillagin', swordfightin', an' drinkin'. Ye dasn't want to end up in Davy Jones' locker, so make sure ye pipe down when the captain be around.

Would You Make a Good Pirate?

Thanks Antoinette!

Today I spent most of the day with Jennifer Chuang - the friend I met at the GSA bagel breakfast when I first started grad school. She turned out to be a neighbor and a good friend. She is in the process of doing this Vitamin E study and this morning she had another blood draw. She called around 1:30PM and said that she needed wine and I promptly invited her over. However, I had yet to get out of my pjs. I spent the morning doing the last bit of grading and catching up on - sigh - Ugly Betty episodes.

So, I hung up the phone and quickly got into the shower. Jennifer didn't show until almost an hour later so I got a good bit of dishes done and the Three Blind Moose Chardonnay was nice and chilled. After we chatted and drank the ENTIRE bottle, we had this great idea to check out the going out of business sale at Gottshalk's. The department store in University Mall. I had never been there and the store was pretty empty. We each bought some clothes and I also replaced my umbrella and after a quick jaunt to The Old Teahouse for milk tea, we went back to Jennifer's house to cook dinner.

I have to say I love cooking with friends. I always wind up cooking things I never would cook on my own and it's usually super tasty. Jennifer had some frozen mahi mahi filets that we marinated in oil, shallots, onions, cilantro and ginger. I also made some soft polenta and used an old bag of veggies and sauteed them in sesame oil, soy sauce, marsala and garlic. I also had an old yam that we threw on the grill while the fish defrosted and got all yummy in it's marinade.

The weird thing is that once everything was done, I still was not hungry. So we decided to take a walk in the Arboretum. When we arrived at Jennifer's house we ran into Dave Moschler, the musical director from Oklahoma! who just happens to be her neighbor. He reminded me about the Tony Awards. I never knew, but the award is named for actress Antoinette Perry who founded the American Theatre Wing.

Anyway. Once we returned to Jennifer's we packed up the food and returned to my house to watch since she does not have TV. It was a lovely smorgesbord, but the entertainment was not that great. I usually cry like a baby watching the award show. But not this year. The sound was bad, the clothes were just okay and the performances were lackluster. Neil Patrick Harris did have a great closing number and the cast of Hair was pretty stellar. But that's about it. About halfway through I got a text from Dave that he was looking to watch as well. So, soon enough we had a little party.

By the end of the evening, I agreed to take Dave into the Bay tomorrow and in return he is going to help me prep for my On the Town callback. Hopefully it will be more inspiring than the Tony's!

A little documentation

One of the greatest lessons of grad school has been documenting our work. How do you create the art you present and what are the steps to get there. The exciting thing about this blog was documenting my journey from Atlanta to Davis. I am glad I started early - or at least when I knew that changes were a-comin' because I really got to see the transition in action. As I finish up grad school and get ready to move to the Bay Area, I decided to blog regularly again.

It was nice to have all of the readers in the beginning supporting the transition, but in my need for a little selfishness, the documentation is largely for me. To see where I am and where I'm going. To look back once I've gotten there to figure out how the heck I did it. I regret a little that I didn't keep up with blogging during all of grad school. The big hiatus that I took from December 2008 until now was largely because I didn't have time. But in actuality, I documented that journey through my class work, my students, my thesis, the performances of John Jasperse's Beyond Belief and the big bad musical, Oklahoma! Or maybe perhaps Facebook took over my documentation.

My time in the Davis/Sacramento area was not as grounded as Atlanta, so I don't know if I need to create the same to-do lists. Things I must do in the area before I head further west. I know this summer I would like to explore more of SAC and go camping. There are also a number of fine dining restaurants that I want to try. Hopefully those will be satisfied on date nights!!

In terms of what I do know, I will be teaching hip hop dance over the summer here in sticky Davis, CA. Two classes for each summer session. I will get my groove on, stay in shape and actually make a decent salary because I have my degree. Quite a number of my former classmates will be around working either on campus teaching or at Music Circus, so hopefully there will be some good friend time, as well.

As of now I am moving to the Bay with Tony Shayne. My friend and lighting designer in my year. I have lived by myself for about 6 years now, that it will be a little weird having a roommate. But I don't think I can afford to live alone. So there may be another round of purging before I load up and head to the Bay. Once I get there, is the complete unknown, right now.

I would like to perform and teach, but I have nothing secured. I have a callback for On the Town at Diablo Light Opera Co. on Monday. It's being directed by Mindy Cooper (of Oklahoma! fame) but the songs are just a hair out of my range. I did a little work on them yesterday and will continue today around the Farmers Market and lunch with Jon Shaffer. I have also spoken with MaryBeth Cavanaugh, our movement professor about doing some teaching artist work through Berkeley Rep. But due to the timing of UC Davis classes, the schools will already be in session by the time I am done with hip hop.

So, again I throw caution to the wind. I present my affirmations to the universe and trust that all of the hard work I've done will come back multi-fold.

Wish me luck!!