August 30 & 31 2013

Screen Capture 24 Preludes Dancer: Camille McPherson

Daily Stuff: It's hot. Yesterday, taught company class again. Gave a lot of small corrections. It is nice when you have a responsive class.

Did the zoo in the heat. For those who don't know me, I don't really change the way I dress according to the season. Comes from growing up in Southern California. So I was in my navy blue sweats in the high heat of midday. Oh well, at least it made me feel as if I was working out. The bears were all in their swimming pools again. The reptiles all seemed friskier. I guess they like the heat, being coldblooded and all.

Will be catching up on house upkeep today. The neglected garden and such.

August 29 2013

Screen Capture 24 Preludes Dancer: Camille McPherson

Daily Stuff: Had a nice meeting regarding our new SDB webpage. It is going to be a lot easier to make changes to and keep current.

Then horror of horrors, my computer at work froze up. Turns out my hard drive is failing. So had to take it in to the Apple Store. And then to an Apple specialist. Hopefully they will be able to retrieve some data before they replace the hard drive. It will take about a week. So I'll be on the laptop for a while.

Picked up payroll and dropped off some deliverables to the Commission for Arts and Culture.

Anyway, made it to the Zoo in the evening and and it grounded me. It's nice to have the daily regimen. Hot though. The animals were all taking advantage of their pools. 

August 28 2013

Screen Capture 24 Preludes Dancer: Camille McPherson. Although most of the variations are in simple black and white costumes, I wanted to do a couple of variations with tutus. We still kept it simple though.

Daily Stuff: Company class this morning. Had more boys than girls, so that was a fun novelty :)

Regula admin stuff. Spoke to some artists to solidify the Fall program. We had to drop a venue for Nutcracker. Scheduling mix-up. It was a good thing that the brochure hadn't gone to print yet.

The zoo was nice today. Not many people, so I had it all to myself most of the time I was walking. 

August 27 2013

Screen Capture 24 Preludes Dancer: Camille McPherson

Daily Stuff: Put out the latest Prelude (Above) and weekly e-mail blast.  More office work.
Set up some meetings for later in the week.

Did my zoo walk again. Sat with the Okapi for a while. While I was there, admiring its beautiful coloring, a man came by with his teenage daughters. One of them kept commenting on how "ugly" it was. Ah well.

I spent the evening with friends, bidding goodbye to summer. Everyone had a chance to tell their summer exploits and it ended with a spectacular Powerpoint show of a 5 week trip to Europe. Well, that and Strawberry Shortcake :)

August 19 2013

Screen Capture 24 Preludes. Dancer: Maxim Tchernychev. I had fun with this solo. The steps are actually variations on the male solo from Les Sylphides. Since that is set to Chopin music as well... and was choreographed by Fokine... and Max is Russian... I decided to have some fun with it.

Daily Stuff: The school is closed for two weeks, so I can come in and get some stuff done without hearing the pitter patter of little feet.

Got the latest Prelude up and the e-mail blast.

Would have done more but sinuses are acting up.

Went to the zoo a bit later today. Much cooler but the aviaries were closed, so I walked the stairs instead. The rhino was in his pool twitching his ears and, miracles of miracles, a koala was actually moving around and walking instead of just being a lovable lump of fur.

August 17 2013

Screen Capture 24 Preludes. Dancer: Maxim Tchernychev

Daily Stuff: Had a nice male dancer audition for the company today. Tall.
Since the school is closed next week, I got requests from the dancers to teach class. So I'll be teaching a bit next week.

Went to the zoo earlier in the afternoon than usual. A bit too many people. Had to zig zag around a lot of strollers. The rattlesnakes in the Elephant Odyssey area were very active today. They have a slightly creepy enclosure, as the glass goes all the way to the floor. So you can stand right next to them. It is a different feeling than the old exhibit where they were at about waist level. It shouldn't be unsettling, but it is. Especially when you see small children sitting right next to them.

August 16 2013

Screen Capture 24 Preludes. Dancer: Maxim Tchernychev. Online now

Daily Stuff: Marketing meeting in the morning. Finished up the season brochure. I'll send it off to the printers by Monday at the latest. Firmed up a meeting with Florence Elementary School and the Assistance League for next week. Sent off some copy and photos to Young Audiences for our fall matinees,

Things seem to be charging along.

SUDS is still running. That's a shot from the Secret Agent Man number. Usually one of the cast's favorite sections because it is so silly.

Zoo walks continue. The rhino was kicking up dust. I decided to stop and stretch for a moment in one of the aviaries. It was pretty cool. I thought that I was just staring at greenery, and then things started to move. Like something out of some camouflage sci-fi movie. So birds that I hadn't realized I was staring right at came to life. A lot of them. And very large and brightly colored. Who knew scarlet and purple were colors that blended in so well in the jungle.

August 15 2013

Screen Capture 24 Preludes. Dancer: Maxim Tchernychev

Daily Stuff: Sent out an extra e-blast today. All about what I did during the summer. It had all the good SUDS and In The Heights reviews.  So a bit of blowing my own trumpet. Which I hardly ever do.

Did a bit more office work. Wrote a couple of thank you notes.

Keeping up with the zoo walks. Was much easier today. The uphill walk up Tiger River wasn't as horrible. Even jogged up a bit of it. The volunteers are beginning to remember my face. Today' animal all star had to be this odd Andean condor. He was standing at the front of is cave/nest looking like a fuzzy caveman. Not luke a bid at all. Very odd vibe.

August 14 20133

Screen Capture 24 Preludes. Dancer: Maxim Tchernychev

Daily Stuff: Grant writing. 'nuff said.

Nighttime Zoo again. The Desert Bighorn was even friskier today. He was butting hid horns against part of his enclosure. From the way it was rubbed down, he does it often. It was like something out of a nature program. And I have discovered that dusk seems to be a very frisky time for the Secretary Birds. One was way up in a tree,

Have also become very fond of my daily diet Kale salad. Who knew?

August 12 2013

Screen Capture of 24 Preludes. Dancer: Maxim Tchernychev

Daily Stuff: Got this week's Prelude up. I was having math anxiety as I knew there were 24 Preludes but I was only coming up with 23 videos. I had forgotten that Max had three solos instead of two. The one that went up today was a nice little folk dance.

Got the e-mail blast ready and scheduled for tomorrow.

Got some donor letters out.

Did my zoo walk in the evening. Since the Nighttime Zoo is up, I thought it might be a good change of pace, as opposed to the morning.The tapirs and okapi were very active and a gerenuk with large ears had me in its radar all along the way as I walked past its exhibit. Oh and the Secretary bird was nesting. A vey interesting stroll.

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.

March 21 2012

Rehearsal for Romance 2012. Photo by Manny Rotenburg. Dancers: Stephanie Maiorano and Lyndon Dou. Male dancer in penche arabesque.

Rehearsal for Romance 2012. Photo by Manny Rotenburg. Dancers: Stephanie Maiorano and Lyndon Dou. Female dancer in penche attitude.

Rehearsal for Romance 2012. Photo by Manny Rotenburg. Dancers: Stephanie Maiorano and Lyndon Dou. Just hanging out.

Daily Stuff - Well, the Florence kids got their ice cream yesterday. They did their dance combination to the right and the left. Never knowing what the kids like, I purchased 4 different flavors... Vanilla, Rocky Road, Birthday Cake, and Rainbow Sherbert. Now, given the developed palate of an adult, I personally would not have thought of all of those flavors being complementary. But such was not the thought of the kids. Most of them ended up with all four flavors mixing into a glorious, gloppy, sugary ooze.

Today, I observed an audition for the company and will be teaching tonight at SDSB. Even with the office work that I have, that leaves a hole in the middle of my day. Which means that I am going to zip off to the San Diego Zoo for a mid-day constitutional. Hopefully, the rhinos will be frisky. :)

Those Hazy Days of Summer

Back again!

So much has happened since I last wrote to you my little blog.

I went off to England to teach jazz dancing and have returned. Its an annual trek I do for friends.

Much fun was had and I had my favorite Indian dish at my favorite Indian restaurant in England. Allo Chat at The Prince of Bengal in Watford. Its an appetizer, but I always ask them to bring me 3 orders. It is a spicy, sour potato dish. Much yumminess.

The students were very nice and I caught up with a hip hop instructor from New York. James Jackson from Broadway Dance Center.



We make quite a pair sightseeing in London. He is black, over 6 feet and tres' urban chic. I on the other hand look like a slightly chubby, sweatsuit wearing version of the Devil (I am currently sporting a goatee.) And together we took the streets of London by storm.

Oh and it DID storm. The whole middle (center, heart) of England was flooded.



But that didn't stop us from visiting our fave English fast food place...



They have a brilliant idea, which I am sure would be a huge hit in the States. They have one kind of pasta. Penne. Which they give you in a Starbucks type cup (small, medium or large) and then you choose which sauce you want on it. Fast and tasty.

So now, I am back and teaching at our combined Dance Place San Diego Summer Program. Pretty much just teaching a choreography class. I am getting a headstart on the Joplin piece that will be premired in October. I already did a couple of pieces that were shown at our Intimate Evening performances and at our In Studio fundraiser.

And I am currently, as I write this, getting into a semi heated discussion regarding whether or not we should do a new piece for our LD that we take out to schools...

A discussion that is now over.

My niece is also in town, so I am dropping her and her friend off at various San Diego locations as I go off to work and then picking them up afterwards.

Today's location was...



The World Famous San Diego Zoo.



I love the zoo. Am a member and have been going ever since I was a wee small child. I even did a summer kids program there. But it wasn't a Zoo Camp. It was a Zoology course for gifted kids.

They would take us to the zoo every weekday for one summer.
We would be spilt up into groups of 4 or 5.
Be given worksheets and projects.
And then let loose at 8:30 and be told to be back by 12:30.
Unattended 10 year olds running rampant at the zoo.

A quite eventful summer, that included may trips to the sea lion pool, a brand new (not to well thought out) attraction called the Wolf Walk (that was closed within the year) and a tiny romance with the daughter of the zoo's offical photographer, Ron Garrison. Ah, youth!

And what is my favorite animal at the zoo?



The Snow Leopard. Such big paws! And that tail!