May 31 2013

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: Elana Lewis, Max Tchernychev, Brianna Stewart. Having saved Don Juan from the depths of the ocean, our two sea nymphs deposit our hero on a sandy beach.

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: Elana Lewis, Max Tchernychev, Brianna Stewart. Where they tap him  on the noggin and encourage him to have one of those standbys of ballet... the Dream sequence.

Daily Stuff: Not much today. Got in a Letter of Intent to the Doris Duke Foundation. They give grants to organizations who promote jazz, theatre, and contemporary dance. Sounds like a fit for us.

Then I signed a couple of checks a zipped over to the bank to make sure I have enough in m account to cover my car insurance. Ah the glamorous life of an artistic director.

Thoughts about the local arts scene tomorrow.

May 30 2013

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: Brianna Stewart. And now Don Juan takes a turn to the fantastical. When I was looking at the Byron Don Juan, I was enchanted by the preposterous situations he found himself in. And the Deux ex Machina that would get him out of them.

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: Brianna Stewart and Elana Lewis. So as the victim of a shipwreck, what better way to be saved than by a pair of errant sea nymphs?

Daily Stuff: Started the day by taking a friend's niece to the zoo. And a very nice day it was. Did the Australian Outback. The koalas were in their usual "cute" mode. The rhinos, Galapagos tortoises, and the capaberas were very obliging by swimming their pools. The baby giraffe and baby panda were nursing. The birds and singing dogs were singing. And the Steller Eagles were magnificently soaring about their enclosure.

Then zoomed back to the studio to do some work and talked to the Women's Museum about loaning some WW stuff for their upcoming exhibition.

May 29 2013

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: Max Tchernychev, Stephanie Maiorano, Joe Hochschild, Chris Jovilar. At this point, Don Juan is left on the "ship" with the cabin boy. This whole section was done to a piece of music that had a different voicing than the rest of the ballet.  Rather than using Spanish guitars, this was set to a harp concerto. The new instrumentation really allowed us to "go" somewhere else in this sequence. Not just on water as opposed to land, but to see the passage of time in a different (more lyrical and episodic) way.

Daily Stuff: Had a nice meeting with Judy McDonald this morning at Chi Chocolat (a cafe close to the studio). Much good stuff was spoken of. Civic engagement and creating artistic communities. And better yet, we actually discussed some concrete things as well. In a nice sunny spot no less. :)

Dropped by the Women's Museum of California on the way back. They have a exhibition of Trina Robbins work opening on the 7th. Trina was the writer who's stuff I adapted for Eternally Bad. The show is entitled Wonder Women: On Paper and Off. Since the exhibit features Wonder Woman, I suggested one of Julie Warren's pictures that is hanging in the Mandel Weiss gallery. It is of Candye Kane dressed as WW. They seemed interested. We shall see if I can facilitate it.

Then went to In The Heights workshops at the SCPA. The show has A LOT of movement in it. So far we have set most of the background movement for the opening number "In The Heights," as well as a little bit of movement for the numbers "96,000", "Blackout", and "Carnival Del Barrio." The last number is kind of fun because the cast is going to be dancing with shirts and rags, as if they were banners and flags. So it has a lot of volume to the movement. We had over a week off, so there was a bit of review. I have three more days with them, so I am happy with what we have got under our belts.

Teaching my adult class at SDB tonight in about 90 minutes.

May 28 2013

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: Max Tchernychev and dancers of the San Diego Ballet. The 2nd Act travelogue takes us on a maritime world tour. And at each stop, we lose part of the crew due to either the wiles of the native women or being shanghi-ed.

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: Max Tchernychev and dancers of the San Diego Ballet. The Ocean Voyage also served to lighten up the storytelling after the big dramatic gypsy death.

Daily Stuff: I HAVE RETURNED. Life got a bit busy there for a while. It is still busy, but now I feel comfortable chatting about it.

So here is where we stand...
The San Diego Ballet is curating an art exhibit in Dance Place San Diego by local artist and all around good egg, Julie Warren. Come down and see it. It comes down in July.
SDB is putting out offers to dancers for the upcoming season. We have pretty much figured out the upcoming season's high points.
I have had a couple of meetings regarding next season's gala.

Taught my last class at Florence Elementary today. The kids were brilliant. They actually were quiet and attentive and showed how disciplined they were. We had two skirts all off during the recital, but they were dealt with without any tears. And one boy, who has a bit of problem focusing, was quiet and focused and smiling. Pizza and cookies for all. Thank you Assistance League for keeping the funding going.

I taught one section of Dewey Elementary School for the Liberty School rotation and then had to turn it over to SDB dancer Stephanie Maiorano. Just had too much on my plate. As it is these classes were supposed to be taught be company members to give them more $$$. It just never seems to work that way.

So the immediate stuff that is coming up is, I am directing a production of SUDS: The Rocking 60's musical soap opera or New Village Arts and then choreographing a production of In The Heights for the San Diego Rep.

Don't want to bore so I'll chat about that tomorrow... along with a visit to the AJA Project, The Museum of Contemporary Art, a glass artist's studio AND an "adult" puppet cabaret.

So much to tell.