Wednesday, May 26, 2010

goodbye and hello







Yesterday was very sad because Julia (our co-choreographer) went back home to Portland, OR. Her work and contributions to the BAAD Kinetics Tour are complete.




Twas a sad affair indeed when my fellow Italian Stallion departed. We all desperately wanted Julia to come on tour with us. She is a fine human to say the least, and I really enjoyed working with her in the studio and chillin' with her outside of studio time. We always had ourselves a good chuckle! Saying goodbye is a pain in the patella, and much to my dismay I suspect this is the first of many goodbyes to new friends I will make on this tour. Ciao Julia!









After Julia left our costume designer, Amy Fries of Vaunt Designs(http://www.vauntdesigns.com/), drove in from Philadelphia. Amy is a very talented artist who has the challenge of creating costumes for us that are very light (they must be light so we can carry them on our bicycles) yet crazy and appealing to an audience. It was nice because yesterday Amy went on a bike ride with us! Our bike ride yesterday was especially fun because we went on a fat kid field trip to the Big Dipper, which is the local ice cream stand! The ice cream was delectable and it was a good ride for our new guest to accompany us on. I am looking forward to Amy fitting me for my costume and letting the production of "Hot Mess" fall into place.


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At Alfred University I think it is safe to say that everyone knows everyone! Every time we walk somewhere Layla and Alexis bid hello to passerbys and we have many stop and chats. It is a very cool university and even though I go to Penn State, I feel as though I am an honorary Alfred student. I have a temporary Herrick Memorial library card, I have a full understanding of why Nana's is THE best place to eat, and I know to only grocery shop at Kinfolk (the best grocery store I daresay!). The locals are really great! In fact, one of Alfred locals, Billy, even helped me to come up with a name for my new bicycle! He wrote down a whole bunch of names for me on an index card with a pronunciation key included! It was quite funny.






We still have lots of work to do in to studio and our first performance is in Alfred this Friday! Ahhh! Where does the time go? I am looking forward to performing with Layla. We set out for the tour on our bikes officially this Saturday! Time is of the essence.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

A lil' struggs











Being in the dance studio is really exciting, and the dance studios at Alfred University are BEAUTIFUL! It's awesome working with Layla and Julia (Julia is the co-choreographer for "Hot Mess" and a fellow Italian!). Their style of dance and ideas are very different from what I am used to. The style of Julia and Layla is more gesture and pedestrian based rather than traditional dancing that most people might think of. It sounds like a simple concept, but it is actually really difficult, especially for someone like me who is used to Jazz and ballet which consist of very dance-ie movements. It is quite difficult to execute pedestrian movements and appear natural. You can't make a natural everyday movement (like bumping into someone on the street, or standing really close to a stranger on the subway) look purposeful, or overly rehearsed, or too exaggerated. For example, today as part of the dance combination we had to run really fast then come to an abrupt halt and act like we just banged our body into a wall. I kept trying, and trying to execute this movement, but I just looked so unnatural. So, I actually physically ran into a wall numerous times to see how it felt so that when I acted it out in the dance, I would look realistic and not so forceful. I must say that repeatedly running into a wall so I could learn how to execute the movement more realistically did hurt a bit, but I improved! I still have some work to do on this movement that may sound simple to you, but I'm telling you, it's hard! Nevertheless, it is exciting to have the opportunity to dance in a forum that is outside of my comfort zone.

















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Recently in the BAAD residency we have experienced a bit of frustration and stress because one of the dancers in the production quit. Now, instead of having three performers, we only have two (and those two dancers/performers are me and Layla). Despite the loss of a dancer I have full confidence that Layla and Julia will make the production look just as awesome, and the BAAD tour will prevail! As of now we have three people all together on the tour. Me, Layla, and Alexis (Alexis is our totally awesome tour manager) are currently the only three on the BAAD tour, which may sound like a little to you, however, School House Rock tells us that "three is the magic number," and this I strongly believe!

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If I were a passerby and I saw myself riding a bicycle I would laugh really hard. I thought I was good at riding a bike, but turns out riding your bike from your dorm to your academic building at school does not count as actually being able to ride a bike. So far I have been chased by two dogs, and an 85 year old man passed me going up a hill. I am chronically last every time Alexis, Layla and I go on rides. Thus, they have dubbed me "The Caboose" of the group. It is really quite amusing. The three of us have made a bet that whoever falls off their bike first on the tour (which is bound to happen) has to lick their tire. So far, Alexis and Layla suspect I will be the first to have to lick my tire. Despite my inability to ride Paul (excuse the sexual pun) gracefully, biking through upstate New York is truly a beautiful experience. It is so mountainous and green. Alfred is surrounded by breathe-taking farms and countryside. Just having the opportunity to bike out here and connect with nature while attempting to ride Paul with two awesome women accompanying me, is truly an amazing experience. I feel honored to share with great people.

H.O.M.E.S

As I waved good-bye to my parents from the car headed to Alfred, New York for the BAAD(Bicycle Awesome Adventure Dance) Residency, my eyes were swelled with tears and I felt a lump in my throat as I tried to fight back and swallow the next set of tears. I was sad to leave home and watch my parents bid me farewell. I generally never have trouble leaving home, or saying good-bye to my family, however, this time leaving home was different. Right before leaving to start my BAAD adventures, my dad had a stroke. This was his second stroke and it was worse then his first one. When I hugged him good-bye as I departed, he cried and expressed to me how he was useless because his mind was gone. I wished I could have spent more time with him and the rest of my family before I left. Saying good-bye to him, and saying good-bye to the rest of my family for that matter, was so hard for me. As I left, my dad slurred, "Be good and work hard!" I hope I can do just that while on this tour.

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Even though it was difficult to leave home, I was reminded of home on my first full day at Alfred. To kick off the day, Layla and I went on a fifty minute bike ride to begin our bicycle training. This bike ride of ours did not go very well seeing as we both have very old bicycles that are not sufficient enough for a fifty minute bike ride, let alone an eight-week bike tour. Thus, later that day we went to see Layla's friend, Jamie (who is a bike aficionado), who assisted us in purchasing beautiful new bikes for our tour. Jamie lives in the Rochester area, and he was gracious enough to take us to many bicycle shops all around Rochester until we found the shop and the bike and the price that was right for us! We discovered, thanks to Jamie, that the most bangin' bicycle shop in Rochester is "The Bike Zone." The manager, Chris, gave us discounts and assisted us GREATLY on how to tour and train for an adventure such as ours. Chris was so helpful. We were so pumped about our bikes that we had to name them of course! Layla named her bike Priscilla, and my bike is named Paul. After purchasing and naming our bikes, Jamie, Layla and I dipped into Lake Ontario! On our way to the lake, I expressed to Jamie and Layla how very excited I was to see a great lake because as I child my mom used the acronym, H.O.M.E.S (Huron. Ontario. Michigan. Erie. Superior) to help us memorize the Great Lakes. They giggled as I expressed my excitement and explained my H.O.M.E.S acronym.
We had a lot of fun at the lake, and I was excited to connect my home life with the people I was currently with and the adventure we were currently on. It made me discover that even though I am away from home and sad to not be with my dad, I have created another home with the cool people I am meeting and spending my next six weeks with. This H.O.M.E.S experience has led me to believe that I could be in a shithole and still be content so long as I am in good company.