Tulsa awesomeness

Hi all! I am not gone forever, just a holiday hiatus.

So.... yesterday I made the drive up to Tulsa for my next gig.... nice drive, eight hours, stopped in Dallas for lunch with a friend... and as I was getting closer to my destination, I got a call.

Long story short, this is where I found myself a mere 45 minutes after my arrival in Tulsa:

I kid you not, this show was awesome. Lights, smoke, mirrors, hot dancing. It was like a Vegas dream come true. The stars*.... not so much... but the professional dancers were INCREDIBLE. I would never in 100 years have bought tickets to this shindig, but I am so glad I got to see it. The Tulsa awesomeness scale just tipped a little further.

photo credit

photo credit

*for the record: Lance Bass, Marlee Matlin, Toni Braxton, Maurice Green

Come see TITUS ANDRONICUS

Well I have some big news to share but first I want to take some pictures! In the meantime... this is what I am doing with my time this week:

Dominic Walsh Dance Theater
TITUS ANDRONICUS

It is a new ballet and it is one HECK OF A FREAK SHOW. Not sure if you are familiar with the Shakespeare play... but it is full of some insane happenings. And to see it in dance is a total mind-blower. Come see it. (This weekend only at Zilkha Hall here in Houston: www.dwdt.org)

ps. I am calling the show, not dancing it. heeheh

Sleeping Beauty

I have been notorious silent again. I guess this is just the nature of the beast, no? At least this time I have a good excuse... I've been in tech for Dominic Walsh Dance Theater's production of Sleeping Beauty, which I am stage managing. I don't stage manage a show very often... actually, in recent years, I only do it for DWDT, and I do it just seldom enough to make it kind of scary when I do go back to it. scary in a good way... stepping out of the comfort zone.

I think it is good for me for a lot of reasons... but mainly because it reminds me of what the backstage folks are doing when I am directing a shows and am out front freaking out (in my mind only of course) because the effect I have perfected in the "little theatre of the mind" is not going perfectly the first time through.

This show, like all shows, has it's challenges, but it is a joy, as always, to work with these talented and beautiful dancers. If you are in the Houston area this weekend, come on out to the Miller and see it!!

this is why i love dance

I am in rehearsals now for Dido & Aeneas (which I am directing for Mercury Baroque). I spend my days with the dancers (from Dominic Walsh Dance Theater) and then work with singers at night... and I tell you, it is just exhilarating sitting there watching them make beauty on a moment by moment basis. I have worked with Dominic on a few shows... stage managing...and it is such a different world than opera production. Their vocabulary, their timeline, their way of understanding space and their place in it.... it is like being on a different planet... a strange and beautiful planet that takes my breath away, and sometimes makes me laugh out loud.

I just discovered that DWDT has a load of videos on YouTube. Check out this clip from "I Napoletani", a show I stage managed for them last spring. This was one of my favorite numbers in the show. I love me some witty dancing, people.