Performances Galore!

It's been so long since my last post!! Once you're in the groove of things here at ADF, you tend to forget the outside world and time passes so fast! I can't believe it's been over two weeks since my last post because it feels like just yesterday that the festival even began. I was planning to write a post over a week ago about the performances we had seen so far and give you my own personal in-depth analysis of all the companies, but now there are so many that I'm just gonna give you a few tidbits and some videos instead.

Rosas - ROSAS DANST ROSAS
Four women, a lot of repetition, powerful, eye-catching, really really liked it! Here's an excerpt of the piece...not sure why it's being performed in a room that looks like an institution, but we saw it on a stage obviously haha.

Yossi Berg & Oded Graf - Animal Lost
Well, this was special. Animal masks, Israeli, shaking their hips for long periods of time, random words (i.e. saying "sausages, sausages, sausages" over and over again). In general it was hilarious, but definitely not what I would call a good piece.

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company - D Man in the Water
Bill T. Jones performed three pieces, which were all beautiful. For some reason, at some point in each of the pieces I just wanted to cry because it was touching without you really knowing why. The highlight of the show was the last piece D Man in the Water that ADF had reconstructed for Charles L. Reinhart's last year. I wouldn't necessarily say that Jones' movement is extremely interesting but he really knows how to make use of his dancers and create a great piece visually and that is really powerful. Definitely loved this piece! Here's a clip of my favorite part.

Tao Dance Theater - 2
This is Tao Dance Theater's US premiere and the two dancer company is also in residence at ADF for the summer. They are certainly two very striking dancers with their sinewy movements and shaved heads. I love to watch them and was so excited for this show. However, even though their movement was very interesting, they utilized repetition too much and made their interesting movement really mundane because there were no dynamics or new ideas introduced. Also the music was a little hard to stand. So, beautiful dancers, not such a beautiful piece.

Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Evidence A Dance Company
So DCDC had great dancers but I didn't particularly enjoy either of their pieces. They definitely had beastly dancers but one of their pieces Vespers brought up the question of whether you can be artistic while also utilizing a lot of technique (i.e. turns/pirouettes in this case). It's definitely a fine line. Evidence on the the other hand, well they basically remind me of how uncool I am because their dancers are these gorgeous, funky, strong black dancers and they just put the rest of us to shame. However, even though their dancers are great, I'm not super impressed with their pieces. One of them was cute but just seemed like a dance party on stage. The other Grace was better and I had seen it previously back in DC. The most interesting part of Ron K. Brown's work for Evidence is his ability to be funky while also having a reverential quality. Not a great for me but definitely fun!

So, I tried to keep it brief but I was definitely getting more verbose as the post went on...oops. I've had many other adventures in the last two weeks but I'll share those with y'all another time. I'm just enjoying all my classes, which I love, and time spent on our porch reading and going out to dinner and having a beer with good friends. Great times!

Amazing Grace Philosophy: ADF Begins

life is a classroom. we are both student and teacher. each day is a test. and each day we receive a passing or failing grade in one particular subject: grace. grace is compassion, gratitude, surrender, faith, forgiveness, good manners, reverence, and the list goes on. it's something money can't buy and credentials rarely produce. being the smartest, the prettiest, the most talented, the richest, or even the poorest, can't help. being a humble person can and being a helpful person can guide you through your days with grace and gratitude.

 

This passage was given to me by my amazing dance director Stacie Zimmerman back in high school before my dance team was to leave for our nationals competition and it has continued to be important to me. It represents so many morals and ideals that I believe in and try to exude day to day. I wouldn't say I'm a religious person but I believe that by being a compassionate and kind person I will be guided in the right direction. So, it's my third official day at the American Dance Festival and we've already been through a lot. We've had preview classes, performances, award ceremonies, and, of course, auditions. When it comes to auditions, the above passage really comes into play for me. Everyone has so many hopes and desires to be cast in something offered, whether it's a repertory class or the more "lofty" Past/Forward pieces. But I think it's really important to not let things like that get away from you. If dancers do, I find that they become really wrapped up in themselves and self-involved vs. those that don't, who seem more calm and centered.

 

However, it isn't just the way people present themselves, but the way that they engage with their peers. There becomes a danger of putting down what your peers are feeling by letting the audition process get away from you. By acting superior or cocky, it becomes demeaning to your fellow dancers and de-emphasizes the importance of their feelings and hopes. So, as we go through more auditions in the next few days, I personally want to think of this passage and be compassionate, grateful, reverent, and kind to those around me and never put myself above the others that are around. Already, it's been a better process than last summer. Through all three auditions today, I left with no regrets and was merely happy to have been able to learn snippets of such great work that will be shown this summer. 

 

 

And speaking of performances from this summer, already we've had one that was on Thursday night. This year, ADF is celebrating Charles L. Reinhart, who has been the director of ADF for decades now and actually moved ADF down south to Duke University. He's been an important force for the modern dance community and with his retirement as director, we'll be spending all summer making him feel loved! This began with the Thursday night gala performance where African American Dance Ensemble, Mark Dendy, Scottish Dance Theatre, Martha Clarke, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago all had some of their work performed. I was most looking forward to seeing Hubbard Street but was really wowed! by Scottish Dance Theatre. They took their partnering skills and floorwork to a whole new level! Loved them!! Here's a clip of the piece they performed (it doesn't give you a very good perspective but better than nothing!).

 

Tomorrow night, we'll be seeing Rosas, which is a company from Belguim and also something one of my modern teachers suggested I might like, so super psyched for that. It'll also be a day of more preview classes and auditions for those that got called back. More updates to come! To end this post, I'll leave you with two quotes I found recently that I think really define my life right now.

"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire."
- St. Catherine of Siena

"You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive."
- Merce Cunningham

Playing Catch Up!

Baaahhh!! I've had so much that I've wanted to blog about lately that this post is all about playing catch up, so I might be a little verbose. The last few weeks at home have been crazy with me hanging out with friends before ADF, running errands, and hanging out with my papa, which is why it's been so difficult to find time to blog. So, here's some things that have made an impression on me or been entertaining from the last few weeks.

The Bachelorette
Yes, I am a Bachelorette watcher. Although I have to say I began watching it only because I watched Bachelor Pad last summer and I thought it was hilarious! For those that don't know, that show had contestants from past seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette that didn't "find" love. It was pretty much just a ridiculous competition show and that's really how I saw all these shows initially, which is why my dad and I started watching the seventh season this summer for a good laugh. The first two episodes were just sooo dramatic and hilarious, but I woke up early this morning to watch the latest episode from last night and my opinion has changed a little. I still think the show is contrived, but I also feel like that there are a few contestants and the bachelorette Asheley who genuinely feel  invested in the process of the show.

Personally, I always felt like the show didn't allow for a real relationship to happen because they always have grandiose dates that would never really happen in life (i.e. jetting off to Vegas for a first date) and part of getting to know someone is seeing what they choose for a date. An average date allows you to see what the other person wants you to know about them and what they like vs. the show where they're forced to follow the show or the decisions of the bachelor/bachelorette, which is pretty one-sided. So, even though some pretty ridiculous and dramatic things happened in this past episode with a couple of the guys, I felt like it allowed the audience to really see how Ashley and the guys were thinking and feeling. This really came out for me when JP had his date with Ashley after Bentley left and they were able to just hang at her place and be homebodies.

JP - The Bachelorette Contestant

Even though I think the show is kinda ridiculous, I have liked JP from the first episode and I actually thought, why is such a cool and normal guy going through this whole thing, he could do so much better! But he's brought a level of normality to the show that the others don't. I initially liked him cause he reminded me of Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer) but his comments on the show show how he believes that real relationships develop when things are the most casual and I totally agree! It's nice to do something crazy or get fancy but that's not an everyday way of living. So basically, he's my front-runner, although I think he can do better than Ashley (despite how sweet she is)!

On the other hand, has anyone else noticed how awesome Chris Harrison the host of the show is?? I would not be surprised if someone on the show had fallen in love with him! His chat with Ashley before the rose ceremony showed real insight. In an article I read that included parts of an interview with him, you can tell he thinks the show can be overdone but he is also really invested in the contestants and feels bad for what Ashley had to go through. It was also interesting to hear him tell Ashley that the show has no rules and that they do what Ashley wants them to do, which is more than I thought they would allow her! Basically Chris Harrison is awesome and one of the best parts of the show!

Chris Harrison - Host of The Bachelorette

Midnight in Paris
On to other news, this past Saturday my dad and I had a day of fun running around Houston shopping and then we went and saw the new Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris. After seeing the trailer, I really wanted to see the film cause I feel like I share very similar thoughts to the main character, played by Owen Wilson, in the film. Basically, Allen's most recent film is about a writer Gil (Wilson) who is visiting Paris with his fiancee (Rachel McAdams) and her parents when he discovers 1920s Paris at midnight when he goes on a walk through the city. Gil is nostalgic for the past and believes he was meant to be born in another era, a golden age of creativity: the 1920s. So when he discovers this ability to go to 1920s Paris and meet the greats, such as Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Dali, he feels totally in awe! While there, he meets one of Pablo Picasso's mistresses Adriana (Marion Cotillard) and they begin having a relationship. However, Gil sees his own nostalgia mirrored in Adriana who dreams of living in her golden-age at the turn of the century. In the end, Gil realizes that everyone wishes for another time and most don't see the greatness that surrounds them in the present.

This film really resonated with me because, as you can tell by the title of my blog, I often feel like I was meant to have lived in another era and that I would have appreciated the lifestyles of past periods. I won't say that this film changed my view cause that's just way too cheesy of me, but I do think it was a really interesting concept for a film. Of course there was also a lot of great comedy in the film, especially if you're really knowledgeable about works from the 1920s and all the great artists because the references they make are hilarious!! It's in limited release but if it's playing near you, I highly suggest it!

Deep-Frying
Alright, we're coming to a close, but one last thing I want to mention. I was talking to a good friend of mine about my recent cooking escapades and she said I should write about it on here because she loves cooking blogs, so this one is for you (you know who you are!). My dad and I love to watch the show America's Test Kitchen (I've mentioned it in a previous blog) and we love to try the recipes that they show. Two of them were about making homemade french fries. Naturally we go out and buy a couple pounds of potatoes, a Dutch Oven, and a whole lot of peanut oil and get to cooking! We had so much fun with this recipe that we became obsessed with the idea of deep-frying and were constantly talking about deep-frying all foods (i.e. pineapple, shrimp, onion rings). The suggestions for what to deep-fry became more and more outrageous as time went by, but in the end, we only made french fries. Of the two recipes, my favorite was the Crunchy Potato Wedges, so go out and buy yourself some potatoes and oil and get to cooking!!

Crunchy Potato Wedges

From the episode: Family Supper

If you don't have buttermilk, substitute 1 cup milk mixed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Let the mixture sit 15 minutes before using.

Serves 6.  

Ingredients

3	large russet potatoes (about 1 3/4 pounds), scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch wedges
1	cup buttermilk
1	teaspoon dried oregano
1	teaspoon garlic powder
2	teaspoons onion powder
1/2	cup cornstarch
1/2	teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2	teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2	cups all-purpose flour
1/4	cup vegetable oil or peanut oil, plus 3 quarts for frying
4	teaspoons kosher salt
3/4	teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions

1. Combine salt, pepper, onion and garlic powders, cayenne, and oregano in small bowl.
2. Toss potato wedges with 4 teaspoons spice mixture and 1_4 cup oil in large microwave-safe bowl; cover tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave on high until potatoes are tender but not falling apart, 7 to 9 minutes, shaking bowl (without removing plastic) to redistribute potatoes halfway through cooking. Slowly remove plastic wrap from bowl (be careful of steam) and drain potatoes. Arrange potatoes on rimmed baking sheet and cool until potatoes firm up, about 10 minutes. (Potatoes can be held at room temperature for up to 2 hours.)
3. Heat remaining 3 quarts oil in large Dutch oven over high heat to 340 degrees. Meanwhile, combine flour and cornstarch in medium bowl and whisk buttermilk and baking soda in large bowl. Working in 2 batches, dredge potato wedges in flour mixture, shaking off excess. Dip in buttermilk mixture, allowing excess to drip back into bowl, then coat again in flour mixture. Shake off excess and place on wire rack. (Potatoes can be coated up to 30 minutes in advance.)
4. When oil is ready, add half the coated wedges and fry until deep golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer wedges to large bowl and toss with 1 teaspoon spice mixture. Drain wedges on baking sheet lined with paper towels. Return oil to 340 degrees and repeat with second batch of wedges. Serve with extra seasoning on side. 
   
   Make Ahead: Our Crunchy Potato Wedges freeze very well. Follow steps 1 through 4, frying each batch of wedges until they are light golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Do not toss with seasoning, and drain and cool potatoes completely on baking sheet lined with paper towels. Freeze wedges on baking sheet until completely frozen, about 2 hours, then transfer potatoes to zipper-lock storage bag for up to 2 months. When ready to eat, heat 3 quarts oil to 340 degrees and cook in 2 batches until deep golden brown, about 3 minutes. Toss with seasonings, drain, and serve.
   

   

   From America's Test Kitchen