This was a dancing weekend (is a dancing weekend). First and foremost, I took class and finally made it through an entire one. I've had such a hard time keeping a class regimen in San Diego. I took class religiously in Chicago and was talking to John tonight over coffee from Claire De Lune's (the most brilliant coffee shop with plush couches and window seats and a balcony with desks for wireless users) about why I can't seem to get it together here. Class is the main way a dancer keeps her body ready for performance (and creation) and also keeps her connections to the community as a whole. When you aren't taking class, you fall out of the loop in many ways. I think I've been so disjointed here. I had so many stresses in my personal life the first three years I was here, plus I was working thirty hours a week for Malashock Dance, and when I wasn't dancing at Malashock I was working out of town. Life has been full of massive disruption - finding a class schedule that works is next to impossible. Class is like a diet . . . when you lapse, it's hard to jump back on the horse.
So anyway, I took Jean Isaac's class at Academy of Performing Arts (the only dance school in existance that makes its place in a glorified storage locker . . . there are huge garage doors that open up in each studio). Her class is relaxing to me. I get the way she moves. I think it was the first class of hers that I've made it all the way through since my appendicitis last year. She noticed; gave me a little one-person applause as I packed up my bag. I think she's an incredible mentor. She's always been nice to me, even when I was dancing for "the enemy." (Malashock's reputation in the community is not always stellar for reasons i care not to go into at this time).
Regardless, I felt like a somewhat overweight, older woman in class. Getting back into it is harder than I thought. My stamina is not what it used to be. I was inspired by dancers I saw in performance this weekend and now need to whip my ass into shape, but it's not easy. Class makes me realize why I was interested in making a career shift in the first place. I'm floating in this place of uncertainty right now. I'm not ready to give up performing.
So . . . performances. I saw Sadie Weinberg and Brittney Brown Ceres at the North Park Arts and Entertainment Center - a storefront gallery/performance space that has potential but is in bad need of some risers to make any show watchable. I was two rows back and completely lost all of the floor work. Tragic. I am obsessed with Sadie Weinberg as a dancer right now. I first met and worked with her in 2002 when Malashock asked her to dance with us for "Apologies from the Lower Deck," at Sushi, The picture above is of the two of us in our duet, "Culpa," from that concert. She and I had a rocky start but I gained more respect for her when I got to dance in her own work a year later. Her choreography is mathematic in nature - very organized and emotional only in spurts. It's the way it's performed that brings out its genius (a little like Merce methinks). This concert demonstrated this beautifully. She had two solos sandwiching a duet entitled "Stuck on a Diagonal: A Quiet Tantrum, 1 and 2." Each solo was a carbon copy of the other but performed by different people. I love watching Sadie dance; her movement quality is almost beyond words. She makes me well up to watch her....not many dancers do that to me.
I wrote on the back of my program, "Frenzied, nerve-tingling energy with a fluid, almost drone-like through line that makes her mesmerizing to watch." I think this is her. I eat up all of her movement.
Britney Brown Ceres didn't really get me, I must say. I actually hate saying that because I want to be supportive of everyone's work (just as I hope they are supportive of mine) but I just wasn't into it. I feel that same way about Amanda Waal's work that I saw tonight at Stage 7. Amanda and I were first introduced last month when we worked with Allyson Green. She is tall and funny and has a quirky movement style that made me always interested in improvising with her. The problem is that choreographically, I don't feel that she gets out of the improv stage and into the development stage. She has great ideas (the best one being her solo in black, white and gray, ending with her rolling on her side and then releasing a bright red balloon up to the ceiling. We don't see the balloon -hidden under her skirt - until this moment), but I need to see them develop more in order to pique my interest.
April Tra, who I know nothing about, blew me away this evening however. She was also doing a solo at Stage 7 and her movement and invention and heart and emotional rawness made me sit up and take notice. I'll be seeing more of her I hope and will comment along the way..
I am inspired. Seeing interesting work always inspires me. Class is the first step - so is going to see more work. Part of being an artist is being seen in the community; it's networking opportunities and means of inspiration (and casting). All I need to do is keep the momentum going and not settle back on my hands like I sometimes do....
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