I write sometimes.

Rihanna will be executive producing a show that will be on the search for the next fashion designer in Britain. The contestants will have the pleasure of designing for celebrities & musicians.The winner will get to design an outfit for Rihanna to wear at a festival in July. The show will be hosted by Nicola Roberts & is being developed for sky-living.

perfect 

(Source: access-popculture, via ohmyrihanna)

Commitment Issues

The number one reason why I don’t want to go back to school is because of commitment issues. 
Not my commitment issues, but everyone else’s.  

I, once upon a time, had a really wonderful idea for a fun piece that I actually finished choreographing for March. It involved a large number of people, and it would have been to a really fun song, and would have just been a really good way to lighten up the mood of my school and basically give me something of my own to work on and look forward to this semester.

I asked a total of 21 people to do this piece in September, expecting that 5 would say no, and I would have 16 people to work with. I sent many many emails begging everyone to let me know their availability, tell me their schedules, and basically keep me in the loop about what their plans were for this upcoming semester. Everyone was on board. 

In December, I got droves of emails and text messages from people, saying that they were “ever so sorry but they just were doing too much,” or that they “didn’t realize it was happening in March,” or “they just have so much going on,” or (my personal favorite) that “they would be out of town on the weekend of the showing.” The latest email I got was today. I’m left with 10 dancers out of the 21 that I originally had. 

Needless to say my entire concept is unworkable. 

I have so many other piece ideas but I just have no motivation or energy to work with anyone anymore. I’m over it. 

I’m not even at school yet and I’m already over it. I’m just exhausted from trying to put effort into a situation that no one wants, so I’m pulling it. 

Clearly this semester will just be about me going to class and sleeping. That’s not such a bad thing. At least I know I’ll get all As. 

Without it, we have nothing: A Review of Pina, the Movie

The international arts community received a serious blow on June 30th, 2009: Pina Bausch, choreographer, dancer, and director of the Wuppertal Theater in Germany, died. 

News of her death shocked many, seeing as Bausch had received news of having cancer 5 days before her death. 

The death of Pina, however, didn’t mean the death of Tanztheater, and it certainly didn’t mean the end of her genius. Wim Wenders managed to capture the tip of the majestic iceberg that is Pina’s work in his 3D movie, “Pina.” 

The film started out with scenes from the iconic work titled after and set to Igor Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring). From there, the film features other works by Pina (including one of my favorites, Cafe Muller), as well as other solos and vignettes of choreography developed by the members of her ensemble. Interweaved between the dance scenes are quotes from the dancers about their experiences in the company and what Pina taught them about being dancers and people. 

As a skeptic of the value of 3D, I have to say that this movie was worth the entire $17.50, and I found it so thought-provoking that I would gladly see it again in theaters. I was initially worried about the 3D being extraneous, a reason to charge IFC frequenters more to see a movie about a choreographer they didn’t even know. 

The 3D was so much more than that. It placed the audience in Germany, taking us from the Wuppertal Theater to the beautiful sprawling landscapes that the company members turned into their studio spaces. It took us between generations, letting us watch works as performed by veteran company members and newer members simultaneously. It was like taking a walk through Pina’s brain, learning about what she imagined and what she valued. The cinematography was absolutely stunning. 

The audience was left in shock at not only how stunning the visuals were, but how wise Pina was and how much her dancers respected her. She brought them out of their shells, slowly and carefully, finding ways to hone their talent, and become their fullest and most passionate selves. Not only are they all completely gorgeous beings, but they all have a very deep understanding of how they can use movement to represent feeling, nature, and express things that one can’t say. Their tributes to Pina were so fully thought out that it was impossible to not feel a visceral reaction to all of them. 

I like to call myself a modern dancer. I saw the movie with a ballet dancer and a non-dancer, and we were all equally blown away by what we had just seen. Even with completely different backgrounds, we were all able to feel something after seeing the film, and we all agreed that it had been an experience we could not put into words (and we all, bizarrely enough, seemed to want to cry for no reason at all). Even during the end credits, not one person in the audience made an attempt to say anything, go anywhere, or even applaud. We all just sat in a reflective silence, as though debating how and when we could go fulfill our biggest dreams. 

There is so much that I can say about how the movie made me feel. Even writing about it is making me emotional in ways that I’m not even sure I understand. All I can say is…see the movie at your local independent film center.

And keep dancing. Or writing, or playing, or doing whatever your passion is, for without it, we have nothing.