The fourth day of Kwanzaa 2008 was celebrated today with friends and loved ones this afternoon at Dupree Park. Hosted by Project Row Houses, the neighborhood gathered together in recognition of the values of community, creativity, faith, unity, and responsibility.
The whole community gathered together on this sunny day to spend a leisurely afternoon together in the park. Everywhere you looked, there were smiles and skips and giggles. How lucky we felt to live in a place where we can have a wonderful outdoor celebration in the midst of Winter!
The kids in the park sported elaborate, magical face-paintings ranging from hello kitties to black panthers. The little ones also enjoyed drawing and sewing of African-inspired fashion garments, jewelry making, and above all DANCING!
Ghost Crew made quite a scene when they jumped up on stage to lead the crowd in celebration and artistic expression. Everyone was thrilled with their presence and cheered them on as they performed their latest routines.
Director Pat Garrett invited the littlest ones to join him on stage. Here’s a photo of one of the kids showing off his cool style. Photo by Whirling Hand Photographics.
To learn more about the history and Kwanzaa in houston, read about it at http://www.shape.org/.
Sunday December 21st, 2008 we went to a spectacular private holiday party where the stage and yard were set with beautiful lighting designed by Jeremy Choate and all sorts of other holiday cheer.
Dancers Mario, Jaramillo, Joel Martinez, Chris Gamez CoolCutz in SuckerPunch couture all of dance group Urge Works, Zheng Yifan, Mao Xian Fang [both of Dance of Asia America], Mike Baerga with Jessica Salvato and contortionist Olesya Webb gave some pretty amazing performances!
On this clear, cool night, you could see every star in the sky. Yet the real stars were the dancers.
Great. Just what we needed. Another dance show. (No really, we really did need another dance show.) Here’s the press release:
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., November 14, 2008 – NBC will broadcast “Superstars Of Dance” a breathtaking international dance competition led by executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Simon Fuller, two of the masterminds behind “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance” and hosted by Michael Flatley (“Lord of the Dance”). For broadcast in early 2009, the unique series will pit the masters of various dance genres from eight countries against each other. Equal parts sporting event, rock concert and artistic exhibition, “Superstars Of Dance” is poised to become one the greatest spectacles of dance performance ever seen on television.
The announcement was made by Craig Plestis, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming, Development and Specials, NBC Entertainment.
“This dance competition is very much like the Olympics,” said Plestis. “The physical feats these athletes and artists pull is mind-blowing, and we’re so excited to form what we hope will be the definitive dance competition to decide which nation has what it takes to be the best of the best in the world. With so much at stake, this is sure to be a roller coaster, and you never know what will happen next. Plus, with Nigel and Simon running the show, it will be done first class all the way.”
“This is the most challenging and exhilarating project I’ve ever done,” said Lythgoe. “Nothing of this magnitude has ever been attempted before on television. We will bring to America different cultural styles of dancers — each performer the best in their genre — and the sheer mosaic of styles and energy is going to be nothing short of awe-inspiring.”
Eight countries will participate in the competition with each team comprised of two soloists, one duo and one larger group. Viewers will get to know the competitors and the coaches through the trials and tribulations, both behind the scenes and on the stage. The stakes are high for these artists, as they are not only representing themselves, but also their dance form and their entire nation.
The eight countries currently scheduled to participate include: Ireland, India, USA, Argentina, China, Russia, South Africa and Australia. The dance styles that will be represented on the show will be announced at a later date.
“Superstars Of Dance” is from 19 Entertainment. Nigel Lythgoe (“American Idol,” “So You Think You Can Dance”) and Simon Fuller (“American Idol,” “So You Think You Can Dance”) are the executive producers.
The show will premiere on January 5th and air through January 26th.
Hello All, Genevieve here, with another point of view to ponder, pontificate and postulate. Last Thursday, December 4th, Andrea and I went to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts Brown Auditorium Theater to view a special screening of Dance Salad’s 2008 Festival. Dance Salad is hailed as Houston’s premier international dance festival and it’s name pretty much says it all. It’s a 3 day extravanganza held annually at the Houston Wortham Center over Easter weekend, featuring modern, contemporary, and dance performances from dance companies all over the globe. Last night was an edited, archival 1 1/2 hour snippet of the total 8 hours of coverage filmed. One exciting point that their Artistic Director, Nancy Henderek, made was that many of these companies perform edited, partial versions of their performances, thereby, making them unique and priceless.
The tour opens with a film by Czech-born, Dutch-raised choreographer Jiri Kylian, a long-standing Dance Salad favorite and revered by Nancy as “one the most important and popular choreographers at this time”, who choreographed 3 of the pieces we saw. This delightfully amusing piece called Car Men was filmed on location in a Czech coal mine and it tells a story of 4 friends spinning wheels over hills. All is fun and games until the winner of the race is run over by a speeding car, some deliciously vintage, suave hunk of metal that I’m ashamed to say I cannot tell you the make or the model. Anyway, she is flattened into the ground and the silent shock is felt by dancers and audience alike. Until, she plumps up and storms away, dignity as muddied as her dress. Hauty disdain by a woman covered in mud, you do the math. Hilarious.
One piece that both Andrea and I agree to be the pinnacle of the festival, was performed by the Beijing LTDX Modern Dance Company entitled, “The Cold Dagger”. This morning, over our morning porch session, we each excitedly shared our respective opinions about the story, it’s conception, possible meanings and what we each took from the performance. I’m sure I would not betray office secrets to share that each of us were in tears throughout it’s moving liturgy. We each agree that its main theme centers around death and life. The dead’s remembrance in the memories of the living and the futility of Death and Life ’s inability to comprehend one another. Set on something resembling a chess board, 15 ish dancers are grouped geometrically, and with a BANG!, one female dancer is immediately shot and falls to the ground. What follows is a surreal, lyrical and haunting journey detailing grief; grief by the living for the dead, and even, I think the dead grieving the dead as well. At the end, all of the company members roll up the “chess board” mat and crawl underneath it, effectively giving the illusion of a space-time continuum grid made by computer spatial programs. As the mat undulates with the dancers movements, their hands begin to break through the mats grasping for life, ether or remembrance.
The National Ballet Theater of Prague performed a short version of a witty ballet originally choreographed by Petr Zuska called Maria’s Dream inspired by a bizarre dream had by Marie Taglioni. A debonair female ballerina in an all black suit and gorgeous black point shoes [Christmas is just around the corner guys! hint, hint] falls asleep on a park bench and dreams 4 men in white, long traditional tutus pirouette, lift her and the bench and dance around the stage, confusing gender roles in an amusing twist. Though we both found it comical, apparently someone behind us thought it more so and made sure everyone in theater knew with loud bursts of guffaws and gusts of wheezing. I couldn’t tell if they were laughing or dying. Andrea swears one of the male dancers wasn’t wearing underwear, but as I didn’t notice, I can neither confirm nor deny this allegation for all you inquiring minds out there.
Andrea and I are in complete agreement that dancer Marcin Krajewski was, quite possibly, the hottest dancer either of us have seen in a long time. Of the Polish National Opera Ballet, he performed an athletic, humorously dazzling piece, called Les Bourgeois, choreographed by Ben Van Cauwenbergh. Check him out in the video below, though it was made some time ago and he’s definitely gotten better with age. wink.
The screening concluded with another Jiri Kylian theatrical dance film, called BIRTH-DAY. With by Mozart, four dancers are seated in 18th century dress at a large table underneath a large screen portraying the same dancers in a previously filmed synchronization of movements with the live dancers. What follows is comical and quizzical as feathers fly, hair becomes disheveled and laughter ensues. Very funny, light and curious in that it’s not really a dance but more of a delightful, modern pantomime.
Kylian states, “Sometimes, when our birthdays arrive, we think of the day we were born, and also perhaps of the day we will die. It is all the same – the same cycle of a year that has just gone by – with buds and fresh greens, followed by flowers, heat and sun, full of ripeness and fulfillment, the delicious picking of fruit, soon to face the frost – the imaginary ‘end of time’, only to prepare all the forces of nature to be reborn again. Between our Birth-day and Death-day much time and energy, filled with creation, desire, love and confusion is spent… and during much of this time we make fools of ourselves.”
Apt, well-said and true, wouldn’t you agree?
Before this blog turns into an epic novella, this is me, signing off.
