SxSW / Return to Rehearsals.

First of all, WHY AM I NOT ATTENDING SXSW IN AUSTIN NEXT TUESDAY? I mean, seriously, have you LOOKED at this thing? The parties, the amount of cool people, and the panelists- all kinds of awesome writers and web gurus, like I Can Has Cheezburger/FAIL Blog CEO Ben Huh or Stuff White People Like's Christian Lander. Tuesday's keynote interview is Guy Kawasaki interviewing Chris Anderson of Wired magazine! Isn't this cool? It's cool.
Why aren't I going, then?
Take a wild guess:

...I'll be in rehearsal.

Which brings me to our next topic: Rehearsals! That's right, folks; our lovely dance company is back in action once again, this time for our annual spring show, which deals predominately with Hispanic culture, the legacy of Cesar Chavez, and the history of/plight of the migrant farmers (we also reprised this program last fall; I sadly neglected to really write about it last spring.).

We started back on Tuesday, and I was overjoyed to be back working with the group again. We're rocking it Paul-Taylor style, because we are in a brand-spanking-new, enormous, and truly lovely rehearsal space....a new space that is mirror-free. It brings back memories of U.C. Davis when Mr. Grenke made us face the back of the studio--- because if you want the real Taylor experience, you do not have a mirror (it also brings back memories of two days ago, when I was in the small rehearsal studio at the school). In fact, we were even told that we were the first dance group to rehearse in that space, thus "breaking in the room." Yay, us!

So, what are we rehearsing? Well, I started learning a ballet that I didn't dance in last season, and I'm happy I get to dance it now. The music is a lovely string piece, counted in very-fast sixes. I love the movement. It's fun, it's flowy, it's energetic, and it came into my body without too much resistance (it used to take me forever to get a grasp on some the movement vocabulary in our rep, but lately it's gotten a lot better. whee!). It's really lovely, too-- we are learning from a video of the last time the ballet was performed, and from the audience perspective it just. Looks. So. Beautiful. The combination of movement, timing, spacing, lighting, costumes, and overall aura of the piece fit together wonderfully.

I've got more to tell you but I MUST get going. Stay tuned for more about our spring show. Until then: adios, amigos; here's your Moment of Zen:

"I want to hang out with Tyce Diorio and Mia Michaels when they’re chillin’ at her house. I bet there’s so much pot and wine and dancing and nudity and it’s just like whoa."
~ Another quote by the always-hilarious brooding_soul. Remember him?