Dance Anywhere

I just recently participated in a worldwide event called dance anywhere and I wanted to share my experience/thoughts on it
First off you can get an idea of what it is by going here: http://www.danceanywhere.org/
Basically the idea is, on a chosen day/date people around the world would stop and dance at noon (noon here, so noon equivalents elsewhere) to celebrate dance and to bring a bit of dance into our lives.
The concept is a bit vague I realize. What actually never hit me before was that this is actually happening worldwide, we are dancing together at the same time. At this idea was brought up by a lady by the name of Beth Fein. Interesting that a simple idea can reach worldwide. It never ceases to blow my mind
I like it for dancing is good, sometimes we do need to be told to dance. There's actually been times where I felt discouraged and down in the dumps and I just danced it off. It was silly jiggles and shimmies and hops while trying to be quiet (it was 11pm and I was doing it in teh confines of my messy room while the rest of the house was sleeping) but it completely liberated me.
God did ordain and create dance. We actually do need to dance. It liberates us. It makes us let go. It makes us celebrate.
So that's why I have participated in dance anywhere.
Last year I danced at the berkeley art museum out on the grass on a beautiful spring day and it was I think a couple weeks after my surgery. I was nervous because my last memory connected to dance is a bad one for after a dance class I came home and ended up in the ER (I know it had nothing to do with dancing but you know how memories get strangely attached to things) and I was wearing a diaper (hello depends!) and and and....I was just so darn nervous
I ended up dancing for a half hour easily. It was beautiful. It was wonderful. It was creative. It was liberating. It was a time to escape and just focus on what I was doing. I noticed the green grass and the blue sky and the sun. I involved all of those aspects (not to be all hippie....but I WAS in berkeley you know haha) I apprecaited the beauty of it.
This year I danced in the ferry building. It was a rainy cold day. I was a bit nervous this time because I hadn't danced at all in over a year (since the last dance anywhere....) and I know the ferry building always has people in it.
But I enjoyed it. Honestly not as much as last time just because I felt like I was kinda just moving my arms and doing some random movements. But it did feel good.
And this year I got some pretty pictures of my dancing from it!! yaaaaaaay haha
So maybe make it a daily or even a weekly thing. At noon (or whatever time) just stop for a minute (most likely will end up being 5....) and dance. Nobody has to know. it can be utterly ridiculous (because that's the most fun!) But you might just need it....
here's a pic of moi dancing:

(I'm the one in the back)
Photo credit: David DeSilva lightpaintsapicture.com

Silent Screen

Not intentionally trying to turn this blog into a dance review place buuut I gotta tell you guys about the pieces I see!
Especially when it's by my favorite company in the world annd it was the first time I've seen them live because the company hasn't toured to the US in over 10yrs.
Who am I talking about? Nederlands Dans Theater.
Uh nederlands? Ok ok also known as Netherlands dance Theater. better now? Ok
They came to Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley which honestly I was a bit surprised. Having never seen a show at zellerbach I was skeptical, after all, it's in berkeley, not exactly a mainstream art place, and it's on a campus! But much to my surprise the theater is huge, the seating is ample and comfy (with leg room! sheesh theaters, no wonder people don't wanna go to shows, they barely have comfy leg room for people!)
While the lobby had much to be desired with being flat and sparse, it was made up for by a beautiful auditorium. I think it's a better space in the warm weather for there's more than enough room to mingle outside. Bathrooms are perfectly sized and clean and well stocked. (I have a thing about bathrooms ok? They add or subtract points to a place for me personally)
My ticket was for row ee and I only saw a row e, so I sat there, however during intermission I wandered further up and saw after row a there was a row ee. and guess what? It was a front row seat!
Now I realize I sound a biit dumb (I am blonde...) because I did click on a seat to buy it online so you'd think I would already know I had a front row seat. I didn't, ok? But after moving up to my rightful seat I sat by a delightfully sweet couple who were former dancers. She was perfectly at home in the theatre and I loved it. she was chatty without chatting my ears off, that's always nice. Meeting with new people who are kind and genuine even if it was just during intermission. They honestly made the viewing that much more pleasurable. I hate the awkward glances at the people next to you or in the row.
Anywho dancing, right?
NDT presented Whereabouts Unknown and Silent Screen.
Whereabouts Unknown is by NDT's main choreographer (til now) and former director Jiri Kylian.
Kylian is my absolute favorite choreographer ever. His clever yet almost obscenely simple use of movements can only be described as genius. Whereabouts is a piece that is influenced by our ancestors, (natives, aborigines, etc)
I'm gonna be honest here, as thrilled as I was to see the piece (especially since I had the chance to dance a piece of it many years ago through SF conservatory of dance)  I didn't "get" it.
You know what I mean? You know how you see some works of art, dance, music, photography, etc and you appreciate it's beauty but you just don't get it? It makes no connection? That's how I felt about Whereabouts. However one of my old teachers said, sometimes you don't have to get it. You can just appreciate it for the beauty that it is, like watching a sunset.
But there were some definite jaw-dropping dance sequences and I basically had a dance orgasm because the dancing was so raw and fierce and just animalistic. I just struggled because the influence (the "story) and the dance just didn't flow seamlessly. It just seemed to be a beautiful dance piece with a bit of a "native" influence to it
Silent Screen is choreographed by Paul Lightfoot and Sol León who are NDT's resident choreographers.
All I can say about this piece is HOLY CRAP!
It starts off witha couple facing a huge panoramic screen shot of the beach. You hear the waves crashing and everything. It feels like you're actually looking at people from behind at the beach.
The start dancing and it's sweet, very beach feeling dance. Then the screen transitions and so does the dance style. Everything keeps transitioning until you're in the middle of this very absurd and theatrical scence which feels a bit like insanity. Lightfoot/Leon's choreography boggles the eyes and mind for the dancers seem to do humanly impossible movements and yet here they are doing it! The words Alice in Wonderland came to mind for it's a bit like that; you're taken on a journey, you don't know why these absurd things are happening, or why more dancers came out but you know you feel alive and are experiencing every little thing. There's one pause where it was very serene, I thought if this is the end, it would be almost treason to stand up and clap for the moment called for absolute stillness and almost holiness. It went on however after than and then it almost retrcaed it's steps back and ended up back at the beach. A metaphor of a life perhaps? Only a theatrical version?
We all stood up with thundering cheers and applauses, naturally they deserved a standing ovation. It was the first show actually that I felt compelled to stand right up and clap and cheer wildly.
It was wonderful. Refreshing. Obscene, Absurd. Amazing

A mix of everything

Since today is a lazy day (because everybody else is busy.....haha) I thought I'd update and tell you guys my thoughts on the ballet I saw last night. I saw program 3 of San Francisco Ballet which consisted of Yuri Possokhev's "Classical Symphony" Helgi Tomasson's "Nanna's Lied" and William Forsythe's "Artifact Suite"
Now I've heard of Yuri's work a bit and was kind of curious to see it since he is SFB's resident choreographer. Honestly.....it was huge let down. It did have some very pretty moments that were unexpected in the use of certain movements but on a whole the piece felt like a newbie choreographers exploration in pushing the boundaries of classical ballet which a lot of choreographer's do however his felt like a classroom exercise (personally I've taken numerous classes like that) with movements that felt overly contrived and were in there just because they were "cool tricks" and movements that looked sloppy and rushed. It may partially have to do with the dancers not being very clear but I felt it was the choreographer's weakness that caused that to flail arms and do weird body twists that were an obvious take from swan lake just "modernized" plus the music was just there was a random backdrop, had nothing to do with the choreography.
Now Tomasson's Nanna's Lied I was very curious to see because I've heard of it so often and had never seen it.
It's a very interesting piece. Not quite what I was expecting; I was thinking it was gonna be a modern day interpretation but instead it was a bit of a period piece. It's the story of a girl named Nanna and her loss of innocence. Tomasson isn't an amazing choreographer who wows you but he is good and can evoke feelings and does the story justice by implementing the right movements to spur the right emotion. I didn't care too much for the way it started for it starts off bare and almost randomly, it just jumps into the story, I wanted more of a journey with Nanna. but my friend with me discussed it and he said, "I got it, it was a very simple beginning. It starts off with a girl a new big city who doesn't know her way around. Then some prostitutes come by and invite her to join them but she says no. then a guy comes along and takes advantage of her"
Which is the basic storyline. Sarah Van Patten is a gorgeous dancer, not the most emotional but is adept enough to where she evoked the right feelings with her movements.
There was one dance scene where it felt like an obvious "filler" because Nanna (Sarah Van Patten) dances around and for the most part it just seems like choreography with some random emotion filled movements as opposed to telling the story of her emotions. But the piece ended on a good note.
Now I was highly anticipating seeing Artifact Suite for I am a huge Forsythe fan (almost anybody who knows and appreciates ballet in today's world is a fan of his, he is today's version of Balanchine by changing the dance world and having a influence on every modern day choreographer)
The first half is a tad jarring, the dancing is actually a bit slow (Forsythe is usually frentic) and I surprisingly didn't care for it too much. Perhaps I can blame the dancers this time (wow I sound mean! haha) but the 2 main couples who danced center stage were a bit of a yawn. I could barely see half the movements due to the shadows caused by the lighting and they just seemed to be executing movements as opposed to really stretching and pushing the boundaries. I was actually more interested in the corps since they were doing interesting arm movements guided by a "drill instructor" in unison in different formations across the stage. Now the jarring thing is randomly a dark black curtain would slam down loudly in the middle of a section only to go up again revealing a new formation of the dancers. Then there was a long pause where even the house lights dimmed back on. then the second half....ahh yes! The Forsythe I knew and loved. Frentic movements that almost put you in a trance after a while (it had that effect on me! it was a glorious wonderful weird sensation where I felt the dancing would go on forever and I had no problem with that) interesting formations combined with beautifully simplistic movements that charmed you.
Elana Altman who was "drill instructor" had some moments where she dances by herself in more modern style choregraphy and I felt like she was too balletic, a typical view of a ballet dancer who tries to do "modern" dancing, it produces a strange almost awkward effect.
Nonetheless the ballet was wonderful and satisfied me at the end and had a most glorious ending that crescendoes and then releases. Wonderful

(Yuan Yuan Tan and Damian Smith in Artifact Suite) (found image on google)