Let's Watch Movies: Winter

In December, I went back to Pennsylvania and took a master class with the other dancers-- current and former-- of PA Dance Vision. We danced to Tori Amos' "Winter." Here is a clip of us dancing to it. Enjoy!

PA Dance: I miss you.

Cue up the Snow Theme...

May I have your attention, please?

It is snowing in Houston, Texas.

No, that is not a misprint. This happened last December, too, but here in Houston the very mention of "snow" sends everyone into a tizzy. As a Pennsylvania girl, I spent the first twenty years of my life seeing lots of snow every single winter. When I heard that it was supposed to "snow" in Houston, I was unimpressed and every kind of annoyed (it's cold, it's wet, it's slushy, ew).

But when I woke up this morning and saw the flakes coming down, I was actually pretty excited. Big puffy flakes were falling from the sky but not really sticking to anything, so it was just a pretty, Christmas-y scene. There was much excitement when I got to rehearsal-- everyone just kept talking about the snow the snow the snow, and did you hear? Snow! Our director would occasionally go open the door to see what the weather was, and all of us would crowd around her to exclaim about wow, it's really coming down!/hey, it's sticking to the palm trees!/isn't it pretty?/isn't it crazy?/what has science done? (that last one was me, as you can probably tell)

Rehearsal went well. I felt really strong today, and I feel like myself and The Mother have developed a strong connection in our characters. We had a pretty small group (a few out sick), but we were all in high spirits, and it was a productive rehearsal. Driving back wasn't as scary as I expected*, and Mr. Sozeberg and I exclaimed over how pretty the nieghborhood is and how we should totally watch Pine Barrens in honor of the snow day.

Know what else is totally appropriate to watch on a snowy day? The snow scene from The Nutcracker! Enjoy this version, from Walnut Hill's 2007 production.

Stay warm, y'all.

P.S. Needless to say, we aren't performing Letters You Wrote tonight. These are not ideal conditions for dancing barefoot on an outdoor stage.

*Look, it's been three years since I've had to drive in snow. I'm a little rusty, okay?

Let's Watch Movies: 'Within/Without'

This is from my dance ensemble's benefit in June of 2008. It's my "pregnant dance" that I made for September Love (when she was six months pregnant with her daughter Abigail, who turns one three days from now). I choreographed my own little section an hour before we performed this, which probably explains why my shoulders were next to my ears the entire time. It was a neat experience for both of us, and I've always loved the music of Corelli, so it was a great process!* Here ya go.

*It doesn't hurt that I look really skinny in this video, too.

Let's Watch Movies: I Know It's Not Christmas Yet, But Work With Me, Here

Look, I know it's only September and thus nowhere near Christmas, but this song is stuck in my head so I'm going with it,

In the Butterfly Family, we have two Christmas traditions. The first is going to church on Christmas Eve, then going to someone's house afterwards and exchanging gifts. The second is Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol. Mama Butterfly and I watch it together every year, and our favorite scene is "The Plunderer's March." I recently found it on YouTube, added it to my favorites, and proceeded to get it stuck in my head for a week. So I'm posting it here. Enjoy!

Let's Watch Movies: One Faith and One Hope

When I danced with Spirit Moves in Pennsylvania, our signature piece was to Michael Card's "One Faith." I loved that dance like crazy-- it was so much fun to dance, I loved the song, and of course the message. I came across this video on YouTube today, and wanted to share it with y'all:

_{Say it with me now: "There is one faith, one hope, and one baptism; one God and Father of all!"}

Yet Another Blog Post About Dead People

(Wow, I am a HIT at parties)

Today's blog post is brought to you by the letters W, T, and F.

Pina Bausch died today. What the--? Are you serious? I told you, famous people, quit dying already.

(That said, it was pointed out to me that this was probably my fault, since my last post was titled "Rocks fall, everyone dies." Oh, whatever.)

Anyway, in honor of Pina Bausch/because I am a gigantic fan of Le Sacre du Printemps, let's watch a movie in her honor:

(Yay, awesome)

Also: my old dance company did a project that was loosely inspired by her Fur die Kinder von Gestern, Heute und Morgen. I don't have a copy of the video, but I assure you that it was both awesome and amazingly fun.

There's also this great video from dancemedia.com. Oh, and guess what? That music that they're dancing to at the very beginning? That was the music for my Caterpillar dance. Whee! And, while you're at it: Here's a great story about Pina from Guardian.co.uk.

Hey... remember how yesterday, I blogged about a possible Michael Jackson tribute? Well, it's going to take place this Thursday (July 2nd-- as in, two days from now) at Discovery Green Park from 6-8pm. My very-awesome friend and colleague LP will be teaching the "Thriller" dance. It's sponsored by Discovery Green, Dance Houston, DSH, and A Certain Dance Company that A Certain Blogger happens to perform with. If you live in Houston and are cool, I expect you to be there. Come on, it'll be fun!

That's all I have for today, folks; and I'm off to bed. I would appreciate it if nobody else died between today and tomorrow. Thanks!

Let's watch movies: Michael Jackson

Oh, Jack-o. What can I say that hasn't already been said? Yes, he did a lot for our industry, should have cooled it on the plastic surgery a long time ago, was a great dancer. So rather than beat a dead horse _{(wow, that would have been a terrible pun if ever there was one)} re-hash the same things that everyone has already hashed, I'm going to show you this video. It's the famous Prison Video-- some 1,500 inmates all dancing to Thriller. It's......wow. It's wow.


And while we're on the subject of dancing to Mike-Jack's music... who could forget this?

(Drink!)

Phoning it in (again): Let's watch movies.

I could whine about how I'm moving soon, or how I woke up with a 103 fever today and have to miss work because of it and that totally sucks and blah blah blah emocakes, but I'll save it and show you a video instead. YOU'RE WELCOME.

(There will be a real post soon. Promise. Honest to blog.)

Let's talk about 'Alice:' Movies (Tim Burton + American McGee)

This Video = SQUEEE!

Performance Recap Reamble

I didn't really have time to write about Friday's shows, so I decided to make a quick video in between my photo shoot and our call time yesterday. And okay, fine: I wanted to show off my spiffy modeling-hair before I had to dismantle it and put it in a bun. It's a little rambly, so bear with me (that's why I prefer writing over speaking, folks).

Thanks to Keyser for taking the video.... and for coming to the show Friday and taking E, L, and I out to dinner afterward. We all had a BLAST.

Off- Topic Tuesday: I've got a present for you!

Quite possibly the funniest thing SNL has accomplished in the last ten years-- the full version.

Day Five: Sacre Times Two

Day Four: I F***ing Love This Dance (and other Mirth)

Yay to Blogger for finally letting me put up videos!

Video blog from UC Davis Intensive: Inspired

My video blog from Thursday, August 7th:
Day Four: Inspired

Day One: Bring on the Icy Hot

Video blog from UC Davis Intensive: 2,000 Miles & No Sleep

Edit: Now you can watch the
videos here!
This video is pretty hilarious-- I hadn't slept and had spent 7 hours on a plane. Yeeeeeeah.