"Lifted Wings" Sparrow Dance Premiere Performance

I had a delightful evening filled with contemporary dancing, some hip hop, and a lobster. If you don't know what I am talking about, it's the up and coming dance company in Burlington, WI called Sparrow Dance with artistic director Helaina Callahan.

Last night, I got the chance to see their performance, and I thought they did a very professional job. The show was a mixture of humorous and serious pieces throughout the evening, and the performance had influences from Ballet, Modern, African, Hip Hop, and Post Modern along with some live music. I really enjoyed the balance of entertaining and thought provoking works. It was wonderful production.

They have two more performances today which are at 3pm and 7pm. They are performing at Wilmot Union High School. Tickets are $12, and you gotta bring cash. I ended up digging out some change for I never am prepared.

Sparrow Dance is a treat to see, and I look forward to future events from them! Check them out later today or tonight as well as on Facebook.

Two Step, Line Dance, Gumbo, and Bridge

Back from Texas with some tales...

I had a difficult time finding places in Tomball where adults dance. In checking out the library which was apart of a technical college, I found that they offered dance as an elective - never heard back from them about non-students taking dance classes. So then I browsed a few dance studios in the area, and checked into taking classes.

Photo Taken from VPAC on facebook

They were all for children which yes the argument can be made that I am an over sized child, but I wanted a Danceworks reincarnated. I did however end up finding work with one of those dance studios, Velocity Performing Arts Center, teaching 3-5 year olds Ballet, Tap, and Creative Movement along with 7-9 year olds beg. Jazz which was a blast. Being my first dance studio job, it was a challenge. I developed my own rhythm though after some time, and by the time we found out we were moving back to Wisconsin, I was sore to say goodbye.

Getting off track a little... I still hadn't found a place to dance with grown-ups so I looked into the community center in town, and found that they offered a slew of classes in different subjects from Zumba to line dancing to needlework.... that should have been my cue for what was coming next. I joined in for my first lesson of line dancing, and was pleasantly surprised when I was the youngest person in the room. The gap was probably, oh, a mere 40 years difference, and they were some of the coolest ladies ever.

One of which, Mary Ann, adopted me as her Wisconsin grandchild right away. I still check in to update her on my life. She taught me to cook some awesome food including: chicken dumpling soup, jalapeno cornbread, lasagna, cream puffs (with 0 sugars), meatloaf, chili, and gumbo. If you have never tried gumbo, I make it real mean - the spice is almost entirely in the Italian hot sausage that I love so much, and it will make your nose run. I never liked to cook. I don't know how she got me to make all those delicious meals, but I now have a growing repertoire in my cookbook.

Mary Ann also introduced me to a card game called Bridge which I am now a junky. Bridge is probably one of the hardest card games to learn, and the most addictive games to play - thankfully it's not a gambling game. Playing bridge, I became pretty good, and could have went on to be great!

Bye Texas!

I also became heavily addicted to Karaoke on a regular basis. It has been difficult being back where I can't rely on there being Karaoke every night of the week... I do have a few spots where I can get my fix up in Wisconsin. Some good times with good people.

This is probably just half of the stories I've got to tell since I had 3 jobs at one time, and studied for a few months with Fred Astaire to teach ballroom where I learned how to Two Step -which is basically a casual Fox Trot. I don't make any promises that I will get around telling all the stories, but one can hope.

What's in a Name?

For the title of my business and my senior project at UWM, I came up with Pilgrimage Dance. It was inspired by various places that I perform in with this business including: libraries, schools, senior centers, and community centers. I find that I myself am on a journey not only to these places, but to share and encourage dance within many communities and learn something about myself at the same time. A pilgrimage for me is a search for knowledge, and at times, it is a spiritual search as well. In many religions, people often make a pilgrimage to a holy land.

Now, I'm not sure there is any particular place that is the holy land for dance! It seems to me that every place has inspiration from it's history to it's people to dance and create dance.

When I was coming up with the title, I also thought about how dance moves and a pilgrimage is specifically locomotor movement from one place to another. In my mind, I find it interesting that a pilgrimage is actually one really long dance! It's an abstract thought, but I think it describes my work. I am a nerdy dancer who interrelates dance with all areas of life and community. They are not interchangeable! There can be no growth without the freedom to move. There can be no life without growth. And there can be no dance without life.

Still Learning

My senior project for the Dance Department at UWM was to begin my own business that allowed the community to experience dance in a new light. The great part of this "assignment" was that it could potentially affect the rest of my life. I didn't know when I entered UWM as undecided that I would be where I am now with my studies and certainly couldn't have imagined the wealth of knowledge I would receive.

School has taught me to be versatile, and has trained me to be strong in adversity. I have had opportunities to take classes with brilliant teachers, and meet guest artist from around the world. As friends and colleagues, my peers have been competitive and supportive in the same instance. I have made many close friends from all over. I experienced life in a completely different culture than my own through a study abroad in Morocco. I will always take with me the people I have met throughout my life whom I have had the pleasure to call my friends. So now what do I do with the lessons I have learned and the connections I have made?
I form my own niche! Creating my own business that involves all aspects of my education, I feel that this project showcases all that I've learned these past four years of study. It also gives me a chance to work with many different people.

Working through college has allowed me to make mistakes and learn from them financially. Every position has had it's challenges, and I have had many great coworkers filled with advice and good company. How do I become more than an employee, but self-employed?
I become aware of business and personal finances along with marketing and licensing.

My family may not always understand my aspirations and goals, but they try their best to be there for me. I have learned from them to respect everyone I come in contact with and always keep intact my backbone. We most certainly have our arguments, but we always work through them. How can I repay my family for all their years of love and care?
I love them right back, and make them proud. Maybe one day they'll let me buy dinner!

My husband has his hands full with me since I tend to complicate life. Being in love with a man who works harder than anyone I know, you can be sure, I learn a lot from him. If his love has showed me anything, it is that I cannot let my fears rule me. Can I handle the obstacles to come?

With a great love by my side and a lot of hope, I can't look back. All I can do is try, and continue learning.

A look at Frederick Ashton

Photo Taken From Barnes & Noble

Frederick Ashton was a dancer, choreographer in love with Ballet. He lived from 1904-1988, and while he was born in Ecuador, he is most famous for being the artistic director of the British Royal Ballet. I am currently reading “Reading Dance” edited by Robert Gottlieb, and it includes an excerpt from the famed choreographer as he describes what he believes a choreographer to be… “First of all, he is to the ballet what a playwright is to a play; but whereas the playwright writes his play and generally hands it on to a producer who animates it for him and puts it on the stage, a choreographer does all this himself. Usually he is his own librettist also, so that in a sense the whole fount of the creation comes from him.”

Now, it is my opinion, and I state this with the deepest respect for this man’s work… But what about the dancers, the musicians, the lighting specialists, the costume designers, the people who have affected the choreographer in some way shape or form?

I realize he is trying to raise awareness to the actions of choreographers in the production of a piece of art work, but I think he forgets about the world around him for a second in this statement. Choreographers are people who take the world and wrap it in dance. They can sometimes seem in full command in the fact that they give direction to the work that they do, but they have dancers with varying capabilities and talents. They have musicians and composers that they collaborate with to fill the stage with sound to draw in the audience even more. They have so many people behind the scenes who dedicate themselves to their art of lighting and staging magic. They have designers of set and costume who tie the movement to an even more visual theme. And they have life experiences from people that have entered or left their lives.

Photo Shoot with Nora Tadic

Photo Taken by Nora Tadic for more photos visit Pilgrimage Dance on Facebook

Houston Ballet presents Contemporary Masters

Photo taken from our seats at the CWM Pavilion

Last Friday, my husband and I went to see the Houston Ballet perform it's "Contemporary Masters" ensemble at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. whew... that's a mouthful! It displayed beautifully the company's range of classical, traditional ballet along with the very inventive, contemporary forms of dance.

My favorite piece of the evening was called "Falling Angels" choreographed by Jirí Kylián. It was profound and provoking. I felt like I was watching a montage of the beauty and ugly in all of us. The dancers were so graceful and elegant, yet, they pushed the image of the pretty ballerina in a very human way. They went through discoveries on the stage for instance showing movements where they put their arms inside their leotards resembling bearing a child. It took the audience on a journey through a life and the strife for perfection one feels. With the women on stage fighting themselves for something unattainable, I watched a theme for perfection come alive.

The lighting was simple, but magnificent. I am not entirely sure of the how, but I know Joop Caboort the lighting designer did a fantastic job. There seemed to be strips of light on the stage in different locations at different times of the solo sections. It helped highlight the soloist, but more interesting actually was when the other dancers moved in the darkness with bits of them slipping into the light. It was so simple, yet, radiant. The light bounced off the dancers when they would enter the light adding a heightened awareness to the performers in the background along with the soloist.

It was such an enjoyable evening. I find that going to the ballet turns me into a kid at Christmas. When we first arrived at the pavilion, I was nearly jumping with excitement. The seats were free too! We sat in the grass seats just on the outskirts of the pavilion which is huge. I wasn't so sure at first how it would effect the view of the performance being so far from the stage, but I soon realized with the first piece what amazing seats we had. As the dancers on stage twirled and dipped, the kids that were sitting all around the grassy area of the arena got up and began dancing on their own. It certainly wasn't expected from the performance, but watching the little girls and boys look to the stage and then try their own moves was very touching. I felt so lucky to have the opportunity to see the Houston Ballet perform, and would gladly go again.