Flashbacks: The Most Poorly-Thought-Out Photo Ever

Two years ago, I was kicking around my mother's house and decided to take a picture of myself doing a shoulder stand.






Unfortunately, I didn't think too much about where I posed myself for this picture, and the result...well, looks rather painful:

Let this be a lesson to you, folks: Christmas Trees and your Fancy Area should NEVER go together.

I hope you all had a very merry Crotchmas.

Trying to Class Things Up around here...

In October I started taking dance classes again, at Hope Stone. It’s nice, taking dance classes not as part of my workday, but just for fun and exercise. The fact that I enjoy being in the studio again is more important to me than How Well My Allegro Held Up during the hiatus (surprisingly: not too bad. Pirouettes are another story).

***

I have a bit of a biased opinion here, but I think dancing has got to the only most fun form of exercise out there. Really: Spend an hour an a half at the gym, then take a ninety-minute ballet class and tell me which was a more enjoyable workout. Moving, stretching, gliding to music in a beautiful way, or counting reps and running endlessly from your problems on the treadmill? I rest my case.

***

The hardest part about taking class again is actually getting there. I-45 hates the Bay Area in the mornings-- I need to leave at just the right time or I’m doomed to traffic hell (case in point: this morning I left at 8:15 and just barely made it to the barre by 9:30).

Class this morning was lovely. I saw my true-blue dance buddy E and my old dance partner R; as well a teacher of mine (a former ballerinas whose roles I got to reprise two years ago in Best in Ten) whom I haven’t seen in a few years. N. Glass taught a wonderful class _{(hey, that rhymes)}-- I haven’t taken class from her in a few years, either; and forgot how much I enjoy her classes. She gave me some really good pointers on how to keep tension from creeping into my shoulders when I’m working in the center. I had a pretty good class, despite it being my first class in well over a week (Thanksgiving/traveling/all that fun stuff)...I expected to be a hot radioactive mess and feel like a loser; but it wasn't bad at all. E and I got to catch up a little after barre; we chatted about what we experienced when we danced in the company together and what we're up to these days. It was great to see her again.

***

I mentioned that I hadn’t had class in something like a fortnight-- it was my first time going to dance class since before Thanksgiving.

It’s also my first time going to dance class since I got engaged on November 27th.

Cool, huh?

(My buddies congratulated me, Jane gave me a hug, Oliver wagged his tail, and I smiled and glowed my newly-engaged glow).

***

It's good to be back in class. It's good to get moving again.

Watching Dance: Visions of Sugar Plums- An Interview with Lauren Ciobanu

Christmas time is here... and with it comes Nutcracker season! The Nutcracker is a dancer’s tradition-- many begin performing as small children or mice in Act One, and “grow up” into new roles each year. For most girls, though, the dream role is the Sugar Plum Fairy: the pinnacle of Act Two, the epitome of all things sweet and good.

This season, Houston Ballet will be debuting Lauren Ciobanu as Sugar Plum Fairy. Lauren received her early training from the Phoenix School of Ballet, then went on to train at the Kirov Academy and in Stuttgart, Germany. She performed with Sarasota Ballet before joining Houston Ballet in 2009. I recently got to ask Lauren a few questions about what it’s like to dance this special role.

****

Notes From Upstage Left: Most dancers grow up with The Nutcracker-- either seeing it or performing in it every year as a child. Is there a particular production that will always be memorable to you?

Lauren Ciobanu: When I was three years old, my mother took me to see San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker. Even today, I remember seeing the dancers on stage and knew from that moment that I wanted to be just like the dancers on the stage.

NFUL: You are debuting as Sugar Plum Fairy this year with the Houston Ballet. Have you danced the role elsewhere?

LC: I ‘ve performed the role with Sarasota Ballet of Florida and in guest performances throughout the United States. While dancing with Sarasota Ballet, I had the opportunity to partner with ABT’s world renowned Jose Manuel Carreno! We not only performed Sugar Plum together, but he coached me in the role as well. It was an invaluable experience.

NFUL: I imagine you must have been excited to learn you would be dancing the Sugar Plum this year. Can you tell me what thoughts went through your head when you found out?

LC: When Stanton Welch told me earlier this season that I would be performing the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy, I was elated. I was so honored that he would trust me with the role and I was determined to give it the respect it deserves, after all-- it’s the role that got my career started!

NFUL: Who are your partners? Have you worked with these partners before?

LC: I will be performing with Principal dancer, Ian Casady which I am so excited about. We have worked together in La Fille mal Gardee, Sandpaper Ballet and Stanton Welch’s TuTu. He is a wonderful partner and a joy to work with! I will also be performing with demi-solosit, Peter Franc. It is our first time working together, and we’re both debuting in these roles-- which makes it extra special.

NFUL: You got a lot of your training at the Kirov Academy of Ballet. How old were you when you began studying there?

LC: I went to the summer program at Kirov when I was 11 and was invited on full scholarship to stay for the year-round program. It was a difficult move at such a young age, but necessary for my training. The final two years of my training were spent on full scholarship at the John Cranko-Schule Pre-Professional program.

NFUL: Tell me about how you came to Houston Ballet.

LC: I was really impressed with Stanton Welch’s leadership. I admire his choreographic style; and I have always thought Houston Ballet has one of the most interesting repertoires’ in the country. I was also impressed with the high caliber of the dancers-- from the corps de ballet right up to the principals! Working with talented dancers performing interesting work was what I wanted to be doing, so Houston Ballet was my first choice.

NFUL: What was it like to dance in the Tree Lighting ceremony?

LC: It was so much fun! To see so many smiling children and bring them some Holiday joy was so special to me! I couldn’t believe how many children were present and hope that it brings more families to see The Nutcracker this season.

****

You can catch Lauren Ciobanu and the artists of Houston ballet in The Nutcracker, running now through December 26th at the Wortha Theater Center’s Brown Theater. For more information, visit www.houstonballet.org. You can also check out Houston Ballet on Facebook and Twitter. Don't miss this wonderful production!

Tradition

For most of my life, the holidays weren't the holidays without a production.

I grew up with a youth theatre company that presented a different Christmas play every year; each with of a run of something like 25 performances in ten days. In high school, there were holiday vocal concerts and band concerts and dance concerts, and of course there was Nutcracker.

The tradition continued as I became an adult-- just a few months after I moved to Texas, I returned home to dance the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy one last time. During the time I danced with the contemporary ballet company here, I got to perform the title role in James Sewell's version of Amahl and the Night Visitors-- twice (and they're performing it again this year, too. They've got an all-new Amahl-- a lovely gal who performed with me in Letters You Wrote last year. She will be wonderful).

In the last few years, I've gotten to share that tradition with my students as well: Three years ago when I first danced in Amahl, a big group of them came to see me perform. Two years ago, three of my students (and myself) danced together in the Great Russian Nutcracker production here in Texas. And last year-- after I interviewed Elise Judson and Peter Franc about their roles in the ballet-- I went to see one of my own students perform as a clown in Houston Ballet's Nutcracker.

This year, the tradition is a little different. For the first time since Ireallycan'trememberwhen, I'm going to experience the magic from the audience and not the stage. It'll be a little strange for me-- this time of year I'm usually busy sewing up extra pairs of pointe shoes and stocking up on fresh tights and pan-cake makeup, not baking and planning my Christmas decorating scheme. But it will be a nice change: I'll have more time to travel and visit family & friends back East; and I can get out and see a bunch of different holiday productions in the city-- something I didn't do enough when I was performing-- and support my friends who are gracing the stages. My "Holiday production" tradition still continues; but for now I'm going to be on the receiving end of the performance.

In fact, there's a new tradition beginning this year: My boyfriend and I have agreed that we will go to see Houston Ballet's Nutcracker as a couple every year from now on.

...and speaking of my boyfriend: We're leaving for Louisiana in a few hours, so I better get going. Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Everybody Hurts

Last night, I watched the movie Center Stage --the cult film of bunheads everywhere-- for the first time in a couple of years.

I watched that movie about a thousand times in high school; always joking about how cheesy and ham-fisted it was. But when I watched it last night, I found myself identifying with the antagonist Maureen (Susan May Pratt). She was the top ballet student, the girl who got all the good parts, the weapons-grade bitch-machine... who was secretly miserable. She had everything but then burned out and quit, which makes you hate her even more.

Watching the movie last night, I realized that I have a lot in common with that girl. Much more than I ever would have imagined. So much that it literally brought me to tears. I found myself relating to this massively-unlikeable character: I had a wonderful performing career, got great roles, taught and choreographed everywhere... but eventually, the very thing that brought me happiness made me really unhappy. B-movie or not, that film hit me where I live.

Which bothers me a bit. Dancing used to fill me with unsuppressed joy, and I'm really sad that that's no longer the case. I miss it. I really do. But how do you get something like that back?

*****

I have nothing to say beyond that. Here's your moment of Zen:

"All you need is ignorance and confidence, and the success is sure."
~ Mark Twain

Four Years.

On August 1st, 2006 I moved from Pennsylvania to Texas with very few possessions and very little money. I initially figured I would stay in Houston for (at most) three months, then head back to the Keystone State.

Four years later, I'm happy to report that I'm still here--and couldn't be happier about it. A lot has happened over the last four years: I got a great teaching job, performed with four different dance companies, and had my own dance ensemble for three seasons. I've also worked as a model, taught early-childhood music, and [briefly] ran my own "Baby Ballet" business. I had been fearful about moving 1,600 miles away from my family/my friends/everything I knew... but four years later, I can honestly say I made the right choice.

(If you haven't heard the story about how I came to Houston in the first place, you can read about it here.)

Happy "Houston Birthday" to me.

Remember When: Part II

and the reminiscing continues...

* Remember when I had my first performance as a professional dancer; dancing PADV's signature piece Returning at their 2004 ArtBeat Concert?
* Remember when I auditioned for [Awesome People] Dance Company and got offered the lead in their Christmas ballet? That same night, the class accompanist declared aloud that I had "a fire in my eyes" and "danced with so much happiness."
* Remember when V and I danced together in Bolt?
* Remember how I used to make the Pennsylvania-NYC commute several days a week just to work with a small, just-getting-started dance company?
* Remember when I danced Douglass with [Awesome People] Dance Company?
* Remember when I did that dance-on-film project down near Galveston Beach?
.........
......
....
...I do. And I always will. My dance career has given me enough happy memories to last a lifetime.

Remember When

Life after dance involves a lot of remember-whens. Remember when I was a dancer? Remember when I actually had a job, dancing for a living?

Remember when we did that film project where we danced in a live waterfall in Shawnee-on-Delaware?
Remember when I had my own dance ensemble?
Remember when a bunch of people from the dance studio came to see me dance the the titular role in 'Amahl'?
Remember when I got to dance Jose Limon's 'There Is A Time'?
Remember that night I danced at the Miller Outdoor theater and had the most wonderful night of my life?

Remember when I danced with [Multi-media Dance Company] and we did a whole show based on David Bowie's Concept album?
Remember when I had my ensemble, and we traveled to Pennsylvania to perform?
Remember when I got to do that "mattress dance" solo at the Hobby Center?

Dance has given me so many remember-whens. I will treasure them all forever.

The New Normal

I performed in Letters You Wrote in March and I haven't performed since. I've been on a self-prescribed temporary sabbatical from dance.

My life post-dance has been rather idyllic; having gone from being That Dancer Girl to being your average Gulf-Coast homemaker. I live with my boyfriend and our two kittens on a private lake near Galveston: I spend my days enjoying nature and keep in shape by swimming and hiking and dancing around the apartment like a crazy fool when no one else is there. I still teach two dance classes a week, and I'm forever making dances in my head.

I'm mindful about staying in shape and maintaining my strength, flexibility, and technique, because I want to go back to dancing when I'm ready. There's an audition coming up for a Houston company that I have danced with in the past and whose work I really love. I would like to go.

When I was younger, I pushed myself really hard so that I could begin my dance career as early as possible and do as much work as possible. I guess I succeeded-- I had a steady six-year dance career starting before I even graduated high school. The thing is, I think I might have pushed myself a little too hard (let's just say that I can check "eating disorder" and "crippling burnout" off of my bucket list). I needed this break to heal my sanity so that I can return to dancing as a stronger, more focused dancer.

You can take the girl out of dance, but you will never take the dancer out of the girl.

Swan Song

Hello, dear readers:

I'm sure you've noticed that, over the last six months, I have updated Notes From Upstage Left less and less...to the point where I stopped posting altogether. There is a reason for this.

I am no longer dancing.

...for the time being, anyway. I know myself well enough to know that I won't be able to stay away from dancing for long. I want to continue to teach/choreograph/review performances, but I need to stay off of the stage for a little while.

Upstage Lefters: I want to thank you for being a part of my dance journey; for following me through two and a half years of dance and art and love and laughter. It's been a great ride, and I'm so glad you got to experience it with me. Hopefully, this is not THE END-The End; and that one day I'll go back to dancing and blogging about my backstage adventures. That is my hope, anyway.

In the meantime: You stay classy, internet.

Thoughts From Studio Rehearsals

Some assorted observations from our final rehearsals earlier this week:

* Did you ever have that teacher in junior high (it's usually a biology teacher, for some reason) who was kind of the "cool" teacher, who made the class laugh and pretty much all the kids got along with? Yeah, I think I've become that teacher. Only with ballet instead of public education.

* My dancers-- especially the ones who have been studying with me for a few years-- have learned to read my body language during rehearsals (then again: I make it really easy): If they see my grinning like an idiot, they know that things are A-OK. If I start crunching my fingers in my hair...they know that they're going to be getting some major Notes afterward.

* I got to see some students whom I haven't seen since last year...and my God, have they grown up. One of the men used be tinier than me; now I come up to his shoulders. Who used to be the "younger girls" are now teenagers. My former "beginners" are now doing double pirouettes. It's so cool to watch all the dance kids grow up year after year.

* At rehearsal yesterday, we were playing the music for the opening number (an edited-down version of "Replay" by Iyaz, if you're interested), and the studio owner came up with the idea that the teachers should pop out onstage, briefly, during part of the song. The other teachers and I decided that this HAD to be done. Oh, it is going to be so fun.

* Speaking of that...I work with some seriously magical people. I love them all.

* At one point, I poked my head into the small studio...and found my some of my older girls practicing their pointe piece together. Yay, motivated kids!

* I got to spend some time around the kids from the "baby classes," and they are all so headsplodingly delightful. I kind of miss working with the little-little ones; I'd forgotten how much fun they can be.

* If I may say something of my fellow teachers at this school: They know how to freakin' CHOREOGRAPH. And choreograph and choreograph. Every year I'm blown away by their dances.

* This whole process has been really fun and awesome.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Well, folks, it's that time of year again: recital time! My students are performing their spring show in three days, and it's looking all kinds of wonderful. We have two casts this year; Cast #1 had their final run-through on Monday, Cast #2 had theirs yesterday. At the end of rehearsal yesterday, I said to our studio owner "I can't believe that the next time I see these kids, it will be the big show. Didn't the school year just start, like, last week?"

The rehearsals went as swimmingly as swimmingly can be. The show is so tightly rehearsed that it just flies by; the dances looked great and spirits were high all around. It was nice to see the other dances-- and for me, it was nice to have other people see *my* dances for the first time (one of the moms who never got a chance to see her daughter's dance came up to me and told me how much she liked it and that it's "really pretty." Sweet). My Corelli Concerto-- as in, the one that I angsted over to no end/thought would never get finished/never look the way I wanted it to-- looks beautiful, and I got a lot of compliments on it. My littlest girls (beginner jazz, ages 6-8) just about stole the scene on Monday...they're dancing to "Say Hey" by Michael Franti, and their dance is almost cute enough to make your head explode into candy. Everyone just loves it!

What makes me happiest is seeing how much my students have grown. And grown and grown and grown and then grown some more. I've seen my oldest girls become more and more dedicated to ballet and to dance in general; some of them with big achievements such as performing in HB's Nutcracker or getting into summer intensives. I've also seen ALL of my students-- from the youngest to the oldest-- learn so much and improve by leaps and bounds over the year, and I'm crazy proud of them. I don't know if I've ever stated this explicitly, so I'll say it now: I have the most rewarding job and the best students in the world. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Also: Recital time means Mama-Butterfly-comes-to-visit-me time! The last time she visited was Alice in Wonderland last year; since then I've moved (again) (I know) (shut up), acquired a new boyfriend and a new kitten, and grew out my atrocious Hockey Hair. We are both so excited to see each other we're practically bouncing up and down. My mom still comes to see my dance recitals, even though I'm all grown up and teaching now. Sweet.

Dear students and faculty at my place of employment: MERDE! Have a wonderful show. :)

R.I.P., Golden Girl

Actress Rue McClanahan passed away this morning after suffering a stroke. Most people knew her as Blanche from The Golden Girls, but what a lot of people don't know is that before she started acting professionally , Rue McClanahan was trained in dance her whole life (On a "Lifetime Portrait" TV program, Ms. McClanahan stated that she did "toe and tap" and showed pictures of her dancing en pointe). Her dance training showed up in her acting-- McClanahan had an excellent sense of physical comedy and body language on-screen. She also brought her dancing abilities onto 'The Golden Girls,' performing tap dances or ballroom dances in several episodes.

A full article about McClanahan's passing on People Weekly's website can be found here.

Rest in Peace, Blanche Devereaux. Have a spiffy eternity.

Watching Dance: HB's Emily Bowen tells us about 'Pecos'

On May 27th-- tomorrow-- Houston Ballet will open Pecos, a triple-bill involving Mark Morris' Sandpaper Ballet, Stanton Welch's Pecos Bill, and George Balanchine's Ballo della Regina (which was staged by Merrill Ashley). I popped over to Houston Ballet's studios and had a chat with Emily Bowen, a lovely dancer who will perform in all three ballets.

Notes From Upstage Left: Emily, I see that you're from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-- near my own hometown. Where did you train?
EB: Cumberland Dance Company It's a pretty small school, but we had a teacher from Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet who came in and taught for us.

NFUL: What role are you dancing in Ballo della Regina?
EB: I do one of the five solos, and I'm in the corps as well.

NFUL: Wonderful. Are you dancing any of Suzanne Farrell's old roles, by chance?
EB: I'm not sure. Merrill Ashley set the ballet on us; she didn't really specify whose roles we were doing. All we know is that the ballet was created for her.

NFUL: Just curious. Have you ever danced any of Mark Morris' choreography before?
EB: No. He set Sandpaper Ballet on the company two years ago, when I was in the school. I didn't performed it, but was lucky enough to be involved in some of the rehearsals with Mr. Morris...which was quite an experience.

NFUL: What was it like working with his choreography for the first time?
EB: Not what you'd expect. Sandpaper is not what you would expect as a "classical" ballet. It is so witty and clever!! Mr. Morris has such an amazing ear for musicality. As a dancer it is so refreshing to dance such a musical ballet.

NFUL: I see you also trained with Houston Ballet Academy. I know HBA trains mostly in the Cecchetti and RAD methods, and George Balanchine's "American" method is quite different. What was it like adapting to that style of movement?
EB:Adapting to the "American" method was particularly difficult for me. I felt as though my body always wanted to do what felt natural, but, to execute to the lightning fast steps, you have to use a completely different set of muscles. When we take class from Balanchine teachers, they put emphasis on the hands and position of the arms. Which is something I've been able to work into my own personal style of dancing.

NFUL: Are you performing all of the shows?
EB: I am! I'm on Ballo every night-- I do the solo opening night and the second night, and I'm in the corps for the rest of the shows.

NFUL: Wonderful. Can you tell me a bit about Pecos Bill?
EB: In Pecos, there aren't any overly difficult steps technically. What makes this ballet difficult is all of the acting. Each individual character has such personality that it's almost like being involved in a musical. It is a very "all consuming" ballet. Every part of you have to be committed and involved. It's a short ballet' very festive and light-hearted compared to the other two pieces.

NFUL: Now, I might be wrong here....but isn't Pecos the first ballet that Mr. Welch when he came to Houston Ballet and became Artistic Director? Is that correct?
EB: It was his first full ballet when he came here. He had created other dances in the past.

NFUL: How do you feel about a choreographer from a different country comes in and makes a whole ballet about the state that you live in?
EB: It's really interesting. Stanton's from Australia, and this is a Texas ballet and a Texas story, and he did such a great job of bringing us into the story and bringing us to our characters. He could tell each person specifically who their character is, how they would be during that time period, how they would interact with other people. NFUL: So a non-Texan guy creates the perfect Texas story for the stage.
EB: Yes! It's a really fun program.
NFUL: It sounds it. I'm looking forward to seeing it in action.

Postcards from Hiatusville

I wanted to explain why this blog has been on a hiatus so long. I used to blog pretty often, and then boom! Butterfly goes to the Bermuda Triangle. Here's what happened:

Over the last month or so, I've been dealing with a lot of creative frustration in terms of creating my own art. Whether it's what to choreograph or what to write jokes about, I keep hitting the same roadblocks: Is this what I really want to use as subject matter? Do I have any specific good ideas, or do I just have a vague concept with no clear direction?
I made a vow in January that this year I would start the process on my own work.* It's May, and I've been kicking around/constantly changing Godknowshowmany different ideas, it's gotten quite frustrating.

And that, my dear friends, is why I have been pretty quiet on the blogging front-- all you would read was "FOR GOD'S SAKE I STARTED THIS DAMN SCRIPT IN FEBRUARY AND IT'S GOING NOWHERE ARRRRRRGGGHH FAIL." I don't want to subject you to a blog that reads like a 3a.m. drunk-dial from Courtney Love, so... yeah. Upstage Left was temporarily dark.

However, I've missed this little blog, and it's that magical time of year where my kiddos are gearing up to do their spring concert-- and you know I won't be able to resist blogging about that (like last year and the year before). So, consider this website's little hiatus more or less over-- and I'll try to keep my creative-frustration whining to a minimum. :)

* "My own work" can mean many things, but we'll talk about that another day.

Explorations

For the last several weeks, I've been working as the assistant to the director of [Good Times] Dance Theater.* Several days a week I've gone over to her house to help out with mailings/publicity/data entry/phone calls/et cetera. [GT]DT has a performance tomorrow that features works by six different local choreographers. I've gotten a chance to see several of the pieces that will be performed, and they are all very intriguing in different ways. I will see all of them tonight...

...at dress/tech rehearsal. I'm also doing stage-manager duty for this particular show; so in a few minutes I'm headed down to lay the the dance floor with the rest of the crew, walk through all the set/prop pre-sets, tech the dances, and then re-group for a full dress rehearsal. The performance is tomorrow night.

Speaking of tomorrow, my day is hilarious. Witness: Leave by 8 so I can teach my classes, accompany a student to a pointe-shoe fitting, race over to another rehearsal, leave, go to the theater, do the show, strike. It is going to be a very active day.

In other news: My students are doing splendidly and progressing well; all the pieces for our spring concert are done and on their way to being performance-ready. I finally(!) finished my Corelli Concerto two weeks ago. I'm very happy with how the final piece came out-- I didn't have a really clear idea of where I wanted that piece to go at the beginning of the process, so I took my time with it, explored different ideas, and made lot of little tweaks and changes. My dancers are doing a lovely job with it, and I'm a happy choreographer.

In other-other news: It's mid-April in Houston, and you know what that means-- summertime! I dragged out my Daisy Dukes for the first time all season. This means that I can probably store all my knit dance warm-ups for another year, and that I better remember to park my car in the shade unless I want to lose skin (black leather seats, Houston, summer...well, surely you get it by now).

And now, here's your moment of Zen:
"Anybody remember when cigarettes were 50 cents a pack? Nobody does, 'cause those people are dead."
~ Dave Attel

*I considered dropping the whole "using fake names for everything I'm associated with professionally" thing that I've been doing for two years now... but I figured if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Version 2.0

In early 2007, I started my own dance company. We were small and low-budget, but we were one hell of a strong ensemble. We did a fundraiser for Frenetic Theater ('Save Frenetic Theatre!', August 2007), we were the very first Hopewerks residency ('The Mad Scene'), we toured to Pennsylvania in 2008 to perform in PADV's Mountain Dance Concert. We were a magical group-- in fact, we were pretty much a family. The only way to describe our rehearsals/performances is "great"/"fun"/"awesome."

And then the economy got bad. And then everything went wrong. In January 2009, I had to close down my company due to financial reasons (after crying. Hard. A lot). It was an awful and painful thing for me to do and I hate that it ever happened. However...

...one year and three months later, we're re-uniting. So far, that's all I know. We've got a superawesomegenerousesupercalifragilisticxpiali

docious donation of studio space (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU), I've contacted my former CSDErs, and tomorrow I'm asking two more dancers to join us (which I'll tell you about in more detail tomorrow).

I don't know what piece we're going to start with. We'll either add on to something from the "old" repertoire, or maybe we'll do something totally new. All I know is that the Cassandra Shaffer Dance Ensemble-- my baby-- is coming back. And I couldn't be happier about it.

Cross your fingers and wish us luck.

Flashbacks: Spring Break Oh Four

***This is an entry from my old blog, dated late March/early April 2004 (or somewhere thereabouts). I was a senior at the LVPA high school (about to graduate) and I had just signed my first contract with PADV. Enjoy this little slice of 2004-life and have a wonderful Easter!***

****************

Hey folks! What a kickass weekend. Lots to recap; brace yourself:

Friday the LVPA Performance Group brought the house down at the Moravian College Dance Concert. Talk about being the Real Deal. One of my dance teachers from outside school came to see it (Kathy M), as well as Joe Bigley (who I haven't seen in almost 2 years). All I can say is that our Tarantella kicked serious ass and we got a screaming ovation when it was over.

Saturday I had dance rehearsal in the morning and then ran around like crazy before picking up Ty for our pre-show warmup. C. Ballis was at the show that night-- I worked with her last year at Freemotion before she graduated form Moravian. I haven't seen her in almost a year, so it was really cool to run into her again. Donna B was also at the show...I can't believe she's graduating this year!

Sunday I had my first rehearsal with PADV....I signed the contract this morning so it's official now. I found out that my dance teacher Gina (who dances with PADV) used to dance with Miss L (our senior dance composition teacher] at Radford. The world gets smaller every day! Afterwards I went to Solehi to see Boys From Syracuse, but by then I was tired and speaking in gibberish. While I was there I ran into Kelcie, Julie (Hi Julie!), Senora Howard [and a couple kids whose names I don't know but who go to LVPA. After the show I got film developed, so keep your eyes peeled for pics.

I'm looking at PADVs repertoire list and wow. I mean, WOW. Some of their stuff looks amazing. And by amazing, I mean I want to dance some of this s**t right now.

I hope your weekend was a great as mine was.

****
That's all for now, folks. Have a wonderful Easter. < 3

This May Or May Not Count as "Phoning It In."

Fun fact: My friend A and I performed together for the first time in December with Amahl and The Night Visitors, where she played "my mother." Three months later, we performed in Letters You Wrote... where I played her "mother." It's a somewhat-amusing coincidence.

Hey, you know what else? We were reviewed for Dance Source Houston by N. Wozny.

That's all I have for now, folks. Until next time, here's your moment of Zen:
"New York is the only city where you have to say things like 'Hey, that's mine; don't pee on that.'"
~ Louis CK

"Dear Friends..."

Disclaimer: I'm not dead. Just juggling many many projects, the combination of which has put a dent in my blogging mojo. One of those projects was Letters You Wrote...

...which we performed last night. It was really a nifty and fun experience from start to finish-- our choreographer and myself are the only dancers left from the "original" cast (of the ill-fated December performance); the second time around we were joined by P (whom I hadn't danced with before) and A. Since most of the show was solo work, we didn't all work together at first...until it was time to block out the scene for my letter (affectionately known as "The Christmas Dance"). Once we all started rehearsing together, though; we had a blast.

A, P, and S played my character Beth's "children," and for being three adult women they were astoundingly good at being children. We played up the physical comedy aspect where we could-- I think our favorite "bit" was when I had one of the kids "blow her nose" into a tissue, which I then unceremoniously tossed at one of the actors on stage left (Later: "Hey man, thanks for letting me throw my fake-kid's fake-snotrag at you.").
There were also some segments where they would interrupt my solo dance with typical childlike antics-- trying to get Mom's attention, horsing around, harassing each other-- which would always disrupt Beth's otherwise-cheerful disposition. It was the choreography's way of contrasting the perky-perfect tone of the letter with the more realistic stresses of....oh, I dunno, HAVING SIX KIDS.

Cut to: Yesterday! We were performing downtown in the Magnolia Ballroom, which is A) a pretty popular destination for weddings, and B) HOLY HELL MICHIGAN GORGEOUS. We were performing with the windows behind us.....making our backdrop a view of downtown Houston at night. S gave us a warm-up class in the performance space, we walked through my scene, did our pre-sets, and disembarked to our hairspray tent dressing room to get ready (the most complicated part of that? Getting my hair up. I had to wear it piled on my head in a 60's-style pouf, which...is not easy when you have astroturf-thick hair like I do).

Cut to: Showtime! I wasn't on until the very end, so I kept myself moving and helped the other girls with quick-changes. Once it kicked into action, the show went amazingly fast...the next thing I knew, it was Christmas in 1961.

The kid scenes all went really well. I felt pretty good about my solo stuff, for the most part. There's a section in the middle where I do a lot of jerky, frantic movements standing in one place that...well, let's say it didn't feel as strong that night as it had in the past.

We had a lovely reception afterwards, and we all got some really wonderful compliments and feedback from audience members. I chatted with a lot of buddies from around the arts scene, met a very famous former ballet teacher from Houston, and one of my students came with her mom! That was pretty special (always is). I introduced her to S and the other dancers; she and her mother said they really enjoyed the show.

Before we went on, the four of us had a group hug and S told us that we were "so fun to work with." We all concurred that this project was-- in the interest of not mincing words-- fun and awesome, all the way around. I'm so glad to have been a part of it.