Hoopla Eve

I suppose an update on May, June + everything in July before today (including my premiere with Nutshell Playhouse + preparing for LiquidBody‘s resonant streams piece at St John’s Cathedral) is out of the question on a night like tonight. So, instead I will share a moment with you on this Hoopla Eve. Yes, that’s right tomorrow is the 3rd annual Pittsfield City Hoopla event! My hoopla baby is turning 3! And wow she’s starting to really move. I almost cannot keep up with her. There are so many new and exciting additions to the festival this year and also the comfort and joy of bringing back some of the hoopla family such as Hooping Harmony and Boston Hoop Troop. Please go the Hoopla website and discover the schedule of events and consider hopping on over and hooping with us. Remember from 8-10p is the enchanted illuminated spin extravaganza! Live drumming with Aimee Gelinas and The Rhythm Keepers and fire dancing from a plethora of hot, hot, hot talent. It’s free!

too long, too little, too late?

wow. There is so much to tell you and I have waited too long, said too little and I really hope it’s not too late. I’ve just been so busy that I haven’t had any time to update in the proper-polite web manner. So, I’ll start by filling you in on what happened in April.  Here it is. A picture from the Alchemy Initiative Earth Day Fashion Show. The tutus were a huge hit and I am in the process of finding just the right (next) place for them. You can have your own too if you want for yourself or your group. I custom make them out of used and leftover garbage bags and packaging materials. Send me an email if you want to inquire about it. Special thanks to my beautiful models from Berkshire Dance Theater, Grace (pictured here), Samantha, Alyssa, and Oliva.

photo by Greg Barriere

That same weekend, my Creatures of Habitat Physical Poetry Performance Project gathered for a performance art lab entitled Spring Training. 14 of us gathered for a full day of movement art practice with guest teaching artists, Caryn Heilman of LiquidBody, Elana Davidson of Dance in the Air, and Jennifer Hicks of ChimeraLab. Stationed in a raw warehouse space in west Pittsfield, we liquified our tissues thereby diversifying our movement vocabulary, then hung in the air by silk fabrics, and walked our authentic walk via Butoh techniques.  Overall, the day was loaded with many interesting experiments geared toward the Creature performer. Bridgit Noone joined us and then later shared this beautiful image from the day with me.

hanging. by Bridgit Noone.

I’ll be right back with more info about cool and creative work I was a part of for May.

rhythm recipes (classes!)

Pittsfield is often my creative kitchen and so I’ll be offering tap sessions there this summer at Dragon Spice (upstairs) in the ballroom on North St.
Tap dancers and enthusiasts of all levels can come on in and whip up some rhythm with me. You are the main ingredient!

Weds in July and Aug

6-7p technique and choreography with multi-level adult tap dancers

7-8p choreography for advanced tap dancers with a lot performance experience.

Classes are $10 each and shoes can be rented for a $2 fee  per class if you need them.

If cost is a concern, please contact me. Work-study and barters are available too for those in need.

Yer not gonna throw that away, are you?

As it is usual for my action-based art making self, I have taken on another project. This one consists of transferring some of my handmade plastic-bag Creatures Of Habitat tutu designs (see photo below) into one lovely and model worthy “UPcycled” wearable art piece.

WHY? Because this organization in my hometown of Pittsfield, Alchemy Initiative, is hosting their annual Earth Day event and invited folks to design something from used materials, clothes, etc. Of course, my tutus are fabulous for this idea and they must be included! BUT I had to go the next step and challenge myself even further to create a complete outfit out of the bags that only a dancer could don as she burres on her tippity toes and tappity taps with her digging heels down the runway. To give you an idea of how far I could take this, how I humor myself when I have an hour to spare (or procrastinate doing my taxes) and to peak your curiosity about what I will actually be making and who actually will be wearing it….I made this little slideshow movie. You can tell by the dialogue that my recent experience as Sara in STOP KISS with the Town Players has heavily influenced my behavior here.

 

To view this video fullscreen just click here. If you are entertained or even dumbfounded by my silly movie, then come by the UP-Cycle Event on April 22nd in Pittsfield on Melville St. and see what all the garbage is about!  There is a lot to explore. The Fashion Show, a Silent Auction, Dance Party and a Clothes Swap (the next day) will keep you in the upcycle mood. You could even bid on my piece too! Enjoy!

bodies in motion

As the laws of Nature state, bodies in motion tend to stay in motion.

And they like it way.

(sketch by Esther Shin)

In the spirit of this, here is the first of a series of video clips (taken via cellphone) of me “playing” Gyrotonic® in Lee at Kinesphere Studio where I workout and train others in this amazing therapeutic and awakening fitness/movement technique.

 

If you want to come try the spiraling, lengthening, and strengthening stuff for yourself, drop me a message. I would love to show you just how great it is. We have 2 towers and so can offer duets as well as private sessions. It’s really a wonderful kind of habit to get your spine into, especially if you are athletic or find yourself tight and achey and sitting around too much or needing a lift after a slow, dark, cold and dusty winter.

For more about the Gyrotonic revolution go here. They also have a facebook page (of course) with the most recent posts and conversations.

stop in the name of…..

….love?  or hate?

As of March 18th at 8p the Town Players will celebrate their 90th year with the opening of the poignant play STOP KISS written by Diana Son and I’ll be making my “Berkshire Theater” debut in it.

Playing at the Barrington Stage 2 theater space in Pittsfield at 36 Linden St. our cast tells the story of two women in New York City who organically fall in love and suffer a nasty consequence because of it. As I said, this is my first time doing this kind of performance work here, so please, if you are coming…don’t tell me. I might barf.

Directed by John Trainor and Denise Roller (her directing debut), our cast includes the young (and very experienced) lions of the stage Kim Kirchner (Callie), Cody Miller  (George), and Jerry Greene (Peter); three newbies, myself as Callie’s love interest Sara, former political figure Denis Guyer as Detective Cole and wordsmith Cheryl Nelsen as the good samaritan Mrs. Winsley; and veteran performer Monica Bliss drops in as the Nurse (she also does the costuming for the show).

In discussion with theater critic Jeffrey Borak yesterday, we discovered that this is possibly the first time Stop Kiss has been produced in this region and it seems to be timely considering the climate of intolerance that is once again before us.

The entire schedule looks like this: MARCH 18, 19, 25 + 26 at 8pm and March 20 and 27 at 2p. Tickets are $15 for reserved seating, with $12 tickets available for students, seniors and groups of 10 or more. A dinner/show option is also available for $37. Dinner at Jae’s Spice will include soup/salad/entree/dessert/wine/tax/tip. To make a reservation for the show, please call Town Players of Pittsfield at (413) 443-9279 or email your request to townplayers@email.com.

 

comic relief

The Creatures of Habitat are gearing up for Spring Training with some incredible guest artists: Caryn Heilman of LiquidBody, Jennifer Hicks ofCHIMERALAB and Elana Davidson of Dance in The Air. At this point, most of this prepping is done by flexing the “scheduling” muscle. You know that one, right? Busy, busy, busy bees. Meanwhile, to give myself a moment of comic relief from the drone work of planning, I took a few of the photos that Zachary Stephens took this past summer (featuring mostly creature Karen Lee) and turned them into a short comic panel. Silly, I know. I should probably be working on my profit/loss statement, taxes and laundry. Not to mention, perfecting my lines for Stop Kiss (post coming soon….). But for today, I think i’ll exercise my strange-creative-task muscle again for a minute before heading out to stretch the real ones at the Gyrotonic studio. Enjoy!

9 small steps=1 big turn

i made 9 cool movements forward this week towards the creation of a hot HOOPLA

  • received sponsorship from the Office of Cultural Development again! (the name of that place sounds so Orwellian to me.)
  • began a dialogue with the Beacon cinema about a Hoop movie night.
  • changed the HOOPLA date to Sat. July 30.
  • HOOPSfest New England’s director, Maria, and I made phone contact and swapped stories about our visions and how we could support each other.
  • Hoop City is now a bookmarked daily destination and the festival is listed there.
  • my body is one step closer to returning to the hoop via a slow Gyrotonic practice mixed with Continuum, Qigong, Osteopathy and Acupuncture.
  • updating the HOOPLA site via the intermittent guidance of the mysterious Mr. Monotone.
  • began to plan for a schedule of master class offerings for hoopers to register for in addition to the free sessions on the lawn
  • sent word out calling for more performers and vendors.

that’s a great big turn taken in the spinning spiral of progression.

Tuesdays = Snowday

this is it. the new site is up. it’s not anywhere near done. but here it finally is.

let me know what you think so far. it will change a little everyday till we get to the right place with it.

♦

it’s snowing again today and i work on learning my lines for the upcoming Town Players production of Stop Kiss while the plows scrape by.

in the play, i am sara. here’s a picture from last night’s rehearsal. Director John Trainor works on a scene with Kim Kirchner And Denis Guyer.

traditional theater is different than what i have been doing these past 10+ years with performance, so it’s a welcome stretch and all part of the process.

and now another year….

this is it. 2011. the new site will be up in about a month or so. these things can never really be exact these days.

meanwhile, check out my newest project www.showusyourshimsham.com