United has Done It Again

Greetings from O'Hare Airport in lovely West Chicago. I am sitting in the terminal, waiting for a delayed flight on which I may or may not have a seat.

My flight from San Diego was delayed by 40 or so minutes due to weather issues in the Pacific Northwest. The psuedo-friendly man behind the counter there assured me that I would be able to make my flight in Chicago, as did the cheery, cheeky flight attendant once we sat down. They both told me to hussle myself to the gate; the plane had been notified of my late arrival and it would not be a problem.

Lies, all of them.

They buttered me up by upgrading me to Economy Plus, a crock of bull ploy to make you spend more money with the idea that you would have a better flying experience; a step down from business class, if you will. MY Economy Plus seat was in the front row of the plane, right next to the door. There was a draft at the door that nearly gave my feet frostbite, there was no place to store any of my bags because there was no seat in front of me (I did, I guess, have great leg room), and blankets were stored in the overhead cabin, and the service was no better there than all the way in the back of the plane.

Nice try.

Anyway, the advantage was that I got off the plane first and ran pell-mell down the B Concourse through the United underpass with those eerie neon lights and that annoying United music repeating itself indefinitely in a metallic sort of way, and pell-mell down the C Concourse. I got to the gate 12 minutes early.

They'd given away my seat and closed the doors. There were no more seats available on the flight. Sorry. They shouldn't have told you to run. We never hold flights for people; we're delayed all the time.

Yeah, maybe you ought to do something about that.

He puts me on a flight to Richmond, so I call Virginia Opera and they say they can't pick me up in Richmond because it's an hour away so I can't take the flight. I stand in line for an age, tasting blood in my mouth and wheezing from all the running, and talk to (I must say) a VERY friendly customer service agent who gives me a confirmed seat on a flight tomorrow afternoon but says if I want to fly out tonight I have to fly standby.

So that's where I am. My throat hurting, my feet hurting, screaming children sitting next to me, a lack of nutrients in my body, and no idea where in this huge city of an airport my checked luggage actually is. I'm hoping it's on this next flight to Norfolk.

Happy Holidays! In good news, I had a great holiday with John and we got some really great gifts. The pic is of Monty eyeing the wrapping paper with great suspicion. I was just joyous and am wearing a beautiful necklace to prove it.

Now if I could only get out of this blasted airport.

Merry Holidays!

Happy holidays to everyone, no matter what celebration you take part in. John and I are relaxing this Christmas Eve. I think we are both a little sad not to be back in the Midwest with our families, but, as you can see, our tree is full and we are looking forward to having a relaxing Christmas before I run off for a very long time.

I've always celebrated Christmas as a secular holiday. I was not raised with any particular religion and didn't really know the origin of Christmas (the story of Jesus and the Nativity) until I was well into my grammar school years. My grandmother always had a nativity set up under the tree with all of the animals and wise men and baby in a manger. When we went to Florida for the holidays, my brothers and I would play with it as we would any other set up; it was fun, we made the people talk to each other. It wasn't until much later that I understood why it was always there at Christmas time.


This picture is Stella and Monty staring at the tree. They've stayed away from it; we've been lucky. My mother's cat, Abigail, took down their 6 foot Christmas tree this year. I can't imagine. Our tree is a small table-top tree but these wily cats could still cause quite a mess if they really wanted to.


I've been prepping for Agrippina like mad. As you can see, Lucius is a big help in the process. He sits on the couch with me while I transfer one score's notes to the other and type up scene breakdowns, etc. He's a constant source of inspiration; my "mews" if you will (sorry...) . Monty sometimes joins him, but Lucius is the constant.

So, tonight John and I will play a game and watch a movie and open a present or two, we'll sleep in tomorrow, call our families and open gifts. It's a great time of year. I hope, whatever your traditions are, that you are enjoying a couple of relaxing days, you aren't stressing yourself out, and you have the opportunity to commune with those you really love. More soon from the Opera front!

Concert in North Park

The concert is over and done with; a HUGE weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. We had a small but incredibly appreciative crowd and I felt like the pieces went really well throughout the evening.

The photos were taken during rehearsals by Manuel Rotenberg. He came by to take shots as we were teching in the afternoon. I'm pleased with the photos. We had another photography during the concert; I'll post those when he develops them.

We opened the show with my solo called "What's In Store," a little political rant wherein, dressed as a janitor, I wadded up newspaper photos of various people who've done idiotic things in the course of history. It was a great release and great fun to put the piece together.

The second piece was my duet, "They'll Devour Me Too." My dancers, Kim Jensen and Molly Terbovich, did a beautiful job. They're in sweat pants in rehearsal, but are in little black shorts in their actual costume.

The last piece was a duet between myself and Dominica Savant-Bunch, a precocious six-year-old who played myself in the past. I was infinitely proud of how well she did on stage; she's beautiful and fearless and will grow into quite something in the next few years.

The two videos were huge hits as well. People had great things to say. I was a nervous wreck for weeks, but I'm really glad I went out and did it. This is my entire life. I wouldn't know what else to do with it.

Now it's Christmas and I have four days until I fly to the East Coast. I'm relishing every minute.

It's The Day of the Show Y'All!

I think Parker Posey's line in "Waiting for Guffman" always expressed preshow jitters best. Whenever I get to an opening night, it's the first thing I think of.

John and I spent our morning buying some cookie platters at Costco and a cash box at Office Depot, and then had a nice breakfast at Brian's counter. I needed big food this morning so I don't get hungry this afternoon. Costco is a nightmare no matter what kind of stress you've got going on, but I found it particularly heinous this morning. The platters look nice though so I'm happy about that.

We'll leave here with everything in about 45 minutes and then it's the point of no return (though I think I may have hit that quite some time ago). I'm looking forward to my next gigs because they don't involve me being in charge of any kind of marketing. I only have to think about the show. What luxury.

The pictures are of Lucius and Monty expressing their giddy excitement for their mom's concert. They are, quite obviously, my loudest cheering section: )

Publicity

That's John shooting in Budapest. Right now he's resting; he's smashed his thumb something terrible and the bruise is like nothing I've seen before on the palm of one's hand. Just as long as it's calmed down for the show..

Speaking of, calendars of all sorts came out today. I'm listed in Citybeat, North County Times and the Union/Tribune's Night & Day section. My New York friend, Brea Cali, has included me on her blog, and I'm shouting about it on this forum as well.

If you're in San Diego this weekend, come by the Arts & Entertainment Center (3026 University) at 7pm on December 17th (That's Sunday). Tickets are $12 ($10 if you're a student) and I'll be showing off three stage pieces and the two dance videos I've crowed about on this blog. The show should run about 45 minutes and there will be refreshments afterwards. It should be a great evening.

You can call 858-752-7560 to reserve tickets.

The Final Week

The picture is a screen grab from the climax of "Utazo (The Traveler)," my Hungarian dance-for-camera. The show is this Sunday and I am very, very ready for it to be here. Performing is one thing; choreographing is one thing; directing is one thing; but marketing and pushing for ticket sales, sending out press packets, etc, is a very hard, full-time job. I understand why so many small dance companies have trouble staying afloat when they are only one person trying to push their work and put butts in seats.

That being said, I'm finished with all of the pieces, done with costumes and am only looking for a couple of props. I had a rehearsal with my six-year-old today who asked me, "Why do we have to rehearse? Why can't we just DO the piece." I wish it could be so, but we're almost there, and rehearsals have been surprisingly easy-going and enjoyable despite my nerves.

Now people just need to show up and things will be all right. San Diego is a very last-minute city I've found. People don't like to commit to anything, they just show up. While this is fine most of the time - small performances don't sell out, it's nerve-wracking when you don't know if anyone will be at your show or not. I just want the assurance and have to learn to live with a certain amount of uncertainty.

Good news is that a dance company in Richmond, Virginia, Z Mullins Dance, is going to show "Utazo (The Traveler)" at their March concert. I am ecstatic to have my work shown on the East Coast. I'm hoping this might be just the beginning.

Other news...John and I finally became grown-ups together and bought a living room suite for each other for Christmas. It's a nice little set with dark wood arms and straight back, soft beige suede cushions, coffee table, end tables and a matching chair. It's funny what a high a big purchase can put you on. I walked out of the store hopping up and down and talking a mile a minute. The last time I did that was after I bought my laptop.

Christmas has actually been really fun this year. We put up a beautiful little tree and I got my shopping done early. Today I mailed out gifts to my new in-laws and I only have a few cards left to send. John and I were on a Christmas movie/Christmas music kick. We spent a marathon watching tongues on telephone poles, "You'll put your eye out," Cary Grant as an angel, Bishop's wives ice skating, George C. Scott yelling "Bah! Humbug!" and "God bless us every one..." We haven't seen the Grinch yet (the old, wonderful cartoon), or Rudolph or "It's a Wonderful Life..." there are a lot of good holiday films out there. "Elf" was the newest one in which we partook. As much as I don't want to like Will Ferrell in anything, I think he's charming, and Bob Newhart is a wonderful "Papa Elf."

John and I went to see The Roches sing a holiday concert with two friends the other night. These three sisters are incredible a cappella singers, their most famous holiday tune is a three-part arrangement of the Hallelujah Chorus. It's incredible. John came home and ordered their holiday album and it put us on a rash of Christmas songs. My two favorites are "Carol of the Bells" and "Sleigh Ride." John loves "Silver Bells" and "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues. It's funny: I haven't a religious bone in my body but there's something about Christmas music in December that makes me giddy.

Right now? Watching SVU and sitting in betwen my cat and my husband. I only have two more weeks of these pleasures. I need to soak them up.

Mentioned in the News

Janice Steinberg wrote an interesting review of "One to Echo," the concert I went to last Friday, in the San Diego Union Tribune. Here is the link. The best part, selfishly, is that she mentioned me at the end of the review as a young choreographer who is showing her work in the next couple of weeks. There are a lot of us right now. She also mentioned Collette Harding, who is performing on December 9th, 4x4 (Liam Clancy's pet project at Bluefoot Bar that has various dance artists showing their stuff in a 4foot by 4foot space), and Sadie Weinberg, who is performing the Friday and Saturday of the weekend of my concert.

If you live in the area, you could enjoy a whole holiday month of emerging choreographers. It's nice to be recognized.

The photo? Jillian Chu by Elazar Harel. She's the force behind Bound Contemporary Dance, who curated "One to Echo." The pic was on all of the postcards.

Dance Weekend

John and I spent the whole weekend seeing and supporting dance. We haven't done that in a while and it was nice to take the time, get a little dressed up, and see what San Diego dancers are doing. We saw "One to Echo on Friday night, a curated show by Bound Contemporary Dance with A.S. Peterson Dance, Buffy Swallow, Amanda Waal and a video by Company of Strangers (edited my Monica Gillette, who was one of the dancers in Love and Murder lo those couple of years ago).

On Saturday we went to the Butterworth Dance fundraiser called "The Happening." They had a silent auction and performed a few of their pieces along with a piece by a new company called Tangocentric. John won me a beautiful brown beaded necklace to go with my new obsession with brown. I wore black for so long and it seems the tides are shifting. Don't know what that says about my emotional state, but it sure is spicing up my wardrobe.

We were supposed to see Allyson Green and Nadine George's site-specific work as well, but we got the dates mixed up and thought it was tonight instead of last night. I don't know what it is about John and I making plans together and our inability to properly read calendars; it only seems to happen when we're together. I was sad to miss the performance, but glad that I went to Butterworth, supported Molly Terbovich, who is one of my performers on the 17th, and ate some good grub.

Favorite moments of the two evenings? Amanda Waal, in a more extended version of a piece I saw during a "Ray at Night," rolling on her side and releasing a tiny red balloon into the air, her soul passing, and then later throwing lanky, fluid movement through a sound-score made up of different people discussing the last things they saw before they died. The three dancers in Alicia Peterson's piece finally coming together in a satisfying bit of unison after sitting in incongruous juxtaposition for so long. Monica Gillette's mad editing skills in making Hassan Christopher look as if he was doing one movement in three different places without stopping. (I've watched John put those moments together in the editing room; I know what kind of intuition that clarity takes). Jillian Chu's choreography. Period.

Twon's deep, M.C. voice. The fluidity and togetherness of Traves Butterworth's dancers, a lovely bit of dragon imagery in "Silk Road," Seeing Jessica Reed perform again. Getting caught by a board member as I stood guard over my necklace at the silent auction. BDC's espresso cake which was clearly fattening and decadent but impossible to walk away from.

Today John and I went into the studio to put the final touches on "Weiblich Ist?" and "Utazo (The Traveler)." We made several copies so we can send them out to a lot of people and hopefully get people watching. Going to concerts this weekend inspired me for my own, plus I got my first seat reservation yesterday and it made me feel like I wasn't doing all of this for absolutely nothing.

It's dry as a bone today with Santa Ana winds blowing, but my Christmas shopping is done and Lucius and Stella were sleeping together on the couch when I walked in so things are not all bad. Tonight I'm making quiche and we will watch a movie and enjoy being together; that's really what the holidays are all about.

As Traves Butterworth said last night, "Go support the arts this Christmas." We need it; it's every man for himself.