August 23 2013

Screen Capture 24 Preludes. Dancer: Maxim Tchernychev

Daily Stuff: Finally, woke up this morning and didn't feel congested and sniffly. Taught my company class. Added a fun releve fouette penche to a combination. And a horrible promenade in ecarte to an adagio that I rather liked.

Good hard work all around.

Then had a long planning meeting with Matt and Robin that was fruitful. Sent the brochure off to get printed as well.

It was cut a little short when I got some disturbing health news from a friend and had to zoom to the emergency room. Things seem to have worked out. but I wasn't able to walk the zoo today.

I did hook up with Candye tonight. We went to watch Sue Palmer play at Croce's. Candye is off on tour next week. She doesn't know how to slow down.

On the way I stopped by In The Heights. Saw the opening number. The ensemble was exemplary tonight.

July 18 2013

Screen Capture of 24 Preludes Online Ballet. #15

Daily Stuff: Went in this morning to help with Comic Con. There was a bit of trouble opening the oom to the How To session, but we got everything squared away.

Zipped to In The Heights rehearsal. Staged two duets and the Finale. Managed to do a rough staging of it. At first I thought it was a "stand and sing number" but I realized that it actually had some dance in it. So I did a fast staging in the second rehearsal studio with the ensemble. I was even able to incorporate a cool rhythm step from one of the ensemble.

Afterwards, met up with Candye at an Oceanside Street Market. Key Lime Cake. Mmmmm.

And a SUDS preview.

The audience loved it. Gave a few notes. And got in the car fo the long ride home.

June 20 2013

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: As the peasant wedding is a celebration, I decided to set a sort of Peasant pas de deux.

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: Sarah Nyfield and Chris Jovilar. Here are the "Celebratory Dancers" Kind of like the "official entertainment" at the party. It allowed to introduce a piece of music that had a bit of more classical Spanish flair, than what the peasants had been dancing to.

Daily Stuff: San Diego County Fair Day. Even though I am immune to the allure of big, fried food, then sun and the the food still managed to get me a little sick. Still it was a nice day. Good company. Candye was performing, so got to do the "Backstage Pass" thing. She did great and was in good voice.

And of course, the Swifty Swine Pig Races :)

June 18 2013

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: Max Tchernychev, Elana Lewis, Stephanie Maiorano. Looking at this, I am reminded of how quickly Stephanie had to change costumes. It really was only about 30 seconds to get out of the red "Dream" costume and get the white one on.

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: Matt Carney & Elana Lewis. The pleasant peasants. They are about to call Don Juan to Join in the Act Three festivities.

Daily Stuff: Sent out a few more contracts today. Had a meeting with Matt, our director of communications about an upcoming grant and a recent San Diego dance initiative.

Then went to have a late lunch/dinner with my friend Candye Kane. But eating was scrapped in favor of helping with errands. It was cool. She paid me in yellow lemon Starbursts. Anyway, I'll see her playing at the fair on Thursday.

SUDS rehearsal at night. We set one of the big medleys from the first act and two ballads that follow it. The first medley is fairly physical as it involves the women in the show terrorizing a washer repairman in the name of female empowerment. It is always the worst rehearsal for the male cast member as he pretty much crawls around on the floor for a few hours.

Afterwards, we reviewed the opening of the first act. Sarah (the girl playing the lead Cindy) is doing some very nice things with the opening song. As a matter of fact, the entire cast is doing exemplary work. We ran the second act in its entirety. Just need to keep encouraging them to simplify once they discover where they are going with their choices.

June 7 2013

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: Max Tchernychev & Stephanie Maiorano. So we are in the midst of the adagio section.

Don Juan in Tech Rehearsal February 2013. Photo: Manuel Rotenberg. Dancers: Max Tchernychev & Stephanie Maiorano. One attractive position to another. But always maintaining some tension.

Daily Stuff: Was supposed to help with a gallery show today, but I got a request from a dear friend to help her with a trip to LA. I was going to have to go up tomorrow anyway, so I quickly changed my plans to suit everyone.

Called in and got the staff and volunteers at SDB to take care of the gallery, also to help with a last minute request to loan a picture to the Women's Museum for their current exhibition on women in comics. They wanted Julie Warren's image of Candye Kane as Wonder Woman, so we did a quick facilitation.

As for me, I rented a sleek black Mazda RX3, and zipped to LA (complete with my Nat King Cole soundtrack).

I managed to get in a viewing of an elementary school's annual International Dance Festival. 3 hours of the Macarena, Mambo No.5, and even a Spanish language version of Achy- Breaky Heart.

I am up here for a dance summit tomorrow. So after I dropped my friend off at Union Station, I zipped into a Starbucks, got on Priceline and found a hotel. A bit overpriced, but only two blocks away from where I need to be tomorrow. And they gave me a cookie.

The one thing I am upset about is that I really wanted to attend the Technomania Circus's show Blacklight and Vaudeville tomorrow.

Check it out at www.technomaniacircus.com

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.

Pics from The Toughest Girl Alive!

Photos by Darren Scott.

Buy Some Candye!

Happy Sunday afternoon all!

A brief break from the ballet.

As you may know, I also do a lot of freelance work. One of the pieces that I am developing aside from the ballet is a theater piece based on a local vocal artist.

Candye Kane.



Candye is an amazing singer whose career has spanned punk, country and blues genres. She also had an "eventful" dramatic life from childhood through adulthood. A life that took her through the gangs of East LA, the controversial world of adult entertainment, physical abuse, and the premature deaths of friends and loved ones. Through all of this though, she has always kept an amazingly positive outlook and her artistic dreams alive.

We had a reading of the show in March to much positive response and are looking forward to the next step.

BUT...

Before that happens, Candye has just released a new CD. It is called Guitar'd and Feathered. And is available at Amazon.com.

Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com

You are getting sleepy... sleepy... you will go to Amazon.com and buy 20 CDs for your friends and family.



The album features a different guitar playing guest artist on each song. So it is like those Tony Bennett/Ray Charles/ Frank Sinatra duet CDs, but instead of singing with a guest singer it is a cornucopia of guitarists.

Anyway, you can listen to Candye on iTunes, if you want to get a sense of what she is about before you go to Amazon.com...

Go to Amazon.com
Go to Amazon.com

You can also visit candyekane.com (Make sure you put that "e" after candy) or you can visit her at myspace.com/candyekaneband and get her latest tour dates.

And let me just be clear here. Candye is not just an artist. She is an activist. You don't need to agree with her activism to enjoy her music. But she isn't one of those artists who is afraid of making political/social/cultural statements. You will see that if you visit her site. She is also a sweetheart and a true gentlewoman.

In closing, being an independent artist is hard. Buying a $20 CD or paying a $10 cover charge helps in ways that you would not believe.

Actually tomorrow, I'll talk a little about that.