My favorite music was written for occasions that are irrelevant to me; music written for salon conversation and gossip veiled behind intricate fans. Tonight I gazed out the window, and enjoyed the breeze. I wanted perfect and appropriate music to compliment the glow of my lamp and the cityscape.

I knew the perfect piece.

I had pleasure of meeting and interviewing Kenji Bunch years ago, who wrote a work especially for the hours after 12 a.m. in New York. I bought a recording of “Swing Shift” about 5 years ago, but never played it so late at night in the city. It’s a very beautiful work, arranged for a string trio. The soft phrases convey an elusive emptiness about night time in the city that I’m just not beginning to feel.

It’s so perfect I can only sigh and wish you all were here.

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my fellow-blogger and friend, Tonya Plank!

I called Dione to catch up on ballet-gossip. She pointed me to the latest flux of Daniel Ulbricht videos on You Tube…

The first is my favorite, Daniel dancing alongside Misty Copland in David Fernandez’s “Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear.”

The other two are from Peter Martin’s“Gopak” and a Stravinsky piece, viewable here  and here.  Mobilians may remember him dancing “Gopak” for audiences, and getting a standing ovation and encore!

My life is so cluttered all the little details slip by. I woke up Saturday morning, and went through the whole day forgetting that I had graduated from college with a Bachelor’s Degree in Print Journalism.

Along with that, this blog has taken a backseat to other pursuits (they will be blogged about when the time is right). But for now, expect a flurry of posts soon. Especially after the ballet on Saturday.

I received a mid-week e-mail from Philip with some good news: Daniil Simkin is joining ABT as a soloist! He’s posted all about it here.

I was so excited when I heard the news that I called Dione up on the phone! When she comes and the season is in, we are definitely going to buy tickets to something he’s cast in!

So I got word tonight that the Bad Boys of Dance (yes, the one with Rasta Thomas!) will be coming to Mobile next season for a performance presented by the Mobile Ballet!

My sort-of-boss Greg sent me information on “Ward 9,” a show he’s directing with budding choreographer Matt Williams.

“Ward 9,” according to the site (viewable: here) is a full length dance play, set to Beethoven and based from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” They had a benefit and preview performance last Sunday at Steps.

I need to ask Greg when and where it will be produced, but I will definitely keep you updated on this blog!

Update: This just in from Greg, just in case you missed the comment:

The full length dance play will be presented in September as part of the New York Musical Festival (updates coming eventually).

There will be a short and “suite” version of it presented by the Eidolon Ballet Company June 21st.
Details:
A Glimpse of Sound (Summer 2008 Concert)
Featuring the world premiere of A Glimpse of Sound, by Melanie Cortier, providing a fresh perspective on the way dance relates to the cultural transition from early 20th Century folk music to its early 21st Century equivalent and challenging musicians to improvise the sound of movement. And The Ward 9 Suite, a darkly comedic 20 minute ballet by Matt Williams inspired by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The evening will aslo include the return of fan favorite Interchange.

Saturday, June 21 at 4:00 pm and 8:00 pm
Where: 92nd St Y, Buttenweiser Hall
1395 Lexington Avenue, 2nd floor
New York, NY

I was up late last night, and a friend at the NYCB gala ball sent me a text message, followed by an e-mail with all the details from the evening. They even met their favorite dancer, Adrian Danchig-Waring at the dinner after the show.

This person reported that Daniel Ulbricht and Sara Mearns were the highlights in an otherwise uneven performance of Robbins’ “Four Seasons.” Also noting that Robbie Fairchild was “a total triumph as ‘Tony’ in ‘West Side Story Suite,’” and that “the dancers of the entire company deserve high praise for keeping up with the improper tempi throughout the evening!” I like having friends with good eyes that I can live vicariously through.

Philip, over at Oberon’s Grove,  sent me an e-mail letting me know that tonight, the star from my hometown, Kathryn Morgan will be debuting in “Western Symphony.” Readers, please send her good vibes.

I’m little stressed at the moment, and a little busy with work. I wanted to see City Ballet in Saturday’s matinee to celebrate my graduation from college next week, but I doubt I’ll make it.

A light bulb turned on above my head last night. I was discussing “Step it up and dance” Bravo TV’s  latest reality competition show with Tonya.  In “Step it up and dance” dancers are given challenges each week like auditions, then split into a winning and losing team to learn choreography for their final challenge (or “call backs”).

The first few episodes were stale, and the final challenges were like casual rehearsals. The build-up during the show is tepid, and the endings always so anticlimactic.

As I was chatting with Tonya, I began to compare the other Bravo TV competition shows with “Step it up and dance” and realized that the formula is completely different.

In their other shows: “Project Runway,” “Top Chef,” and “Shear Genius,” the contestants have all been creators. In “Top Chef” contestants create their own dishes, in “Project Runway” designers conceive their own fashions to send down the runway, and in Shear Genius, hairdressers create styles revolving around their challenges theme.

To me, those shows are successful partly because of the drama, and partly because a lump of the show is watching each chef, designer, or hairdresser take their ideas from conception to final product in a short amount of time. We’re inside their heads for a few moments, and we watch their decisions effect their overall final result.

We don’t see this in “Step it up and dance.”

If I had my way the show concept would be overhauled, and redone to match those previous shows. Instead of just dancers, they would have budding and aspiring choreographers as the contestants. The challenges would then be revolved around what the choreographers/dancers create (alone and in teams) and how their music, costume selection, casting and other choices effect their work for the final challenge.

Watching a bunch of dancers rehearse, perform for five people, and squabble in an apartment is something anyone could do any day. I think “Step it up and dance” could be so much more.

I was invited by Terry Teachout,  the chief theater critic of the Wall Street Journal, for lunch and a viewing of “Thurgood” on Broadway. We met this afternoon at Citron on the Upper West Side. I hadn’t seen Terry since July, so he caught me up on the excitement surrounding his opera and his Louis Armstrong book “Rhythm Man.”

After lunch we caught a cab and raced to midtown. In the middle of a traffic jam, we ditched the cab and walked to The Booth theatre. Mr. Teachout was exhausted (read his blog and you’ll know he’s always busy) so he prayed that the play would be just 90 minutes with no intermission.

We were in luck, the play clocked in at 100 minutes. It was a one-man show with Laurence Fishburne, who you may have seen in films like “The Matrix,” etc., playing Thurgood Marshall. History books, (and teachers) have a way of skipping to the triumphs, so I knew nothing of his road to the Supreme Court. I’m glad I went.

After the show I waved Terry goodbye, and he was headed home before another play that evening. I’d be filling a theater seat again, Tonya  had invited me to so see the Akram Khan Company at City Center.

I raced home to change, as the temperature dropped a bit. I ended up eating a rushed dinner standing up, something I hadn’t done since Fashion Week. I arrived in midtown early enough to take a walk past Carnegie Hall.

I met Tonya in the lobby of City Center. I was going to the show completely ignorant to Khans company, the program, or the performers. They were a pleasant surprise.

The program was short, just one piece, “Bahok.” Conceptually, the work was fantastic. Eight strangers trapped in a layover. They wait, they interact. They tell their stories about home.

I was discussing with Tonya afterward that a lot of the movement seemed a little too loose to have been choreographed. Just moving to move is okay…sometimes. I found the choreographed portions with more defined movements and narrative more engaging. I also liked that the topic was deep, and easily accessible. I kept thinking back to my layovers, and the strangers I spoke to and connected with before parting. I thought about home. One of the dancers kept asking “where do I come from?” “Bahok” was profound enough that I turned it over in my mind on the chilly ride home.