Where has all the summer gone?

Seriously. Where has the summer gone?

I really just feel like it was yesterday that Kevin and I got married and were on our honeymoon. It's hard to believe that it has been almost two months now. Kevin and I both came back to lots of work - he has been working 50-60 hour weeks and I have been splitting my time, less evenly than I would like, between Imagination Stage and my high school.

Most of the summer I have been teaching dance classes and working on fall planning for the HS, but two weeks ago I started my directing job and my life has been completely consumed. Summer Showcase, the program I am working on, is not a book musical, essentially we are creating a revue to existing music around a theme. This year the theme is identity. So in the span of four weeks, we actually create a plot, write a script and produce a very detailed revue. I use the term "revue" loosely because while that technically is what it is, we really try to develop a fleshed out and interesting plot line with 14 characters with each of them having a story arch. It is definitely more interesting for them as actors to do so; however, making a story that interesting and fleshed out is ALOT of work.

Don't get me wrong - I love, love, LOVE this project. I really enjoy working with Debbie and Kierstie, and with this year, Don. I also love working with the kids - it's such a unique project and experience. Admittedly though, the intensity of the project has made the last two weeks fly by more than I could have imagined. I have pretty much spent my time: wake up, do Showcase work, get showered/ready, drive to Bethesda, do Showcase work, rehearse Showcase, meet about Showcase, go home and do more Showcase and finally go to bed. You can see how the time might fly... but it is really rewarding work and I clearly love to be able to do what I love and get paid.

Nevertheless, with intensity comes some freaking out. On Tuesday, I had my personal flip out moment - I realized that our design run is next Wednesday for SHOWCASE and we still hadn't fleshed out the plot outline let alone start doing all of the improvisations we needed to in order to start developing the script. You can't exactly block a show as a director when you don't have a script yet. On a bright note, now we have our plot figured out and have worked on most of it, so by Monday most of our script should be done.

Nonetheless, this Friday it definitely hit me that in two weeks SHOWCASE opens and then the next day I get on a plane to go to Scotland for two weeks with 8 of my high school students, and as the only adult chaperone. My HS students are performing at the American High School Theatre Festival in Edinburgh. (This is a show I am not directing, Lauren is). So you can see why I might be a little stressed...

With this I also realized that I have two more weeks of summer in the USA, because when I get back from Scotland I have one more weekend, but school starts that Monday...thank god for the three day - Labor Day weekend that follows- but really, how is it August already? How is it that I am already thinking about September...

So on that note- I am off to transcribe more video scenes so that hopefully I will have a script to start blocking on Monday... [sigh]

Superman Was an Actor?

So I started working on Summer Showcase - the show I am directing at Imagination Stage - last week. I got there today with all of my baggage - yes I do look like a little hermit - but I need a lot of crap for rehearsal. (Working on condensing...) I was also wearing my usual director/choreographer comfy attire of dance pants, t-shirt and baseball cap (nothing out of the ordinary).

Just in the front of the building I stopped and was talking on my cell to Kierstie and a woman pulled up in car, rolling down the window and tried to get my attention. Once I had ended the call, she asked me "Can you get me a program for THE NEVERENDING STORY?" (NES is the show currently showing on the mainstage at IS).

First of all I though it was funny she assumed that I worked there to begin with, and I replied, "Well, I don't really work here on staff, I am just contracted."

Apparently, she was bringing her children to see the show Friday and wanted a program to review with them before bringing them. (Not sure how much a program was going to help, a book might be a better idea...but I obliged).

Seeing as no one was in the Box Office window at the time, I told her I would ask the receptionist, but if she didn't have one I couldn't really help her out. Luckily, Ronni (the receptionist) had one and the woman was very grateful when I returned with one in hand.

Then she said, "I just thought you might be able to help me. I figured you were an actor because of your Superman shirt."

Really? I mean...
a) to assume Superman shirt wearers are actors and
b) to assume I was an actor working on this show...

Interesting how the minds of people work. Guess if I want to get work as an actor I should just wear my Superman shirt for auditions.

The Dark Knight on Friday Night

So now that I have discussed Dr. Horrible, I need to to discuss THE DARK NIGHT, which I saw on Friday night with Kevin and his friends. It was the movie we were waiting for all summer and I have to say I drove like a bat out of hell (but not like Batman) to get to the theatre in time from Bethesda.

It was well worth the wait and the crazy driving though (where's a Batmobile with a Bat-pod when you need one, anyway?). Also, I wanted to thank Kevin's friends for changing the time because it was one of the highlights to my insane week.

First and foremost, I have to say

WOW!!!!

There are not many words to convey the brilliance of the movie. It was extremely well cast with a star-studded cast. The hype about Heath Ledger as the Joker is true - he is phenomenal. There is no trace of Heath in that movie, he IS the Joker. It is entertaining and yet disturbing at the same time and in the way it should be, I believe. It is really tragic that he died at this point, as you can only see the potential of where he might have gone beyond this movie. I do hope he gets at least an Oscar nomination for his work, as it is well earned.

The rest of the movie is also pretty amazing; it is like getting two movies in one. Admittedly, it is pretty overwhelming on a first view (especially with a crappy sound system where you miss tons of dialogue) and definitely garners a second viewing. Definitely several layers and psychological depths to the piece and I cannot wait to see it again to catch all that I missed.

Definitely 5 stars - everyone should see it...

"That's the plan, rule the world, you and me, any day.."

Ok - so now my true colors and inner-geekiness are going to show a little bit. I don't think I have mentionned my obsession with the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but it is definitely one of my obessessions despite the fact it is no longer on the air. If want to see me "geek out" (as Kevin might say) this would be the topic. Well some of you might be familiar with the musical episode that they did on Buffy called "Once More with Feeling." I am sure you can imagine what it is like when two of your favorite things in the world collide - in that case it was Buffy and musical theatre.

Joss Whedon (whom you might know from Firefly or from writing X-men comic books) is the brilliant man behind Buffy and he is actually quite brilliant as a composer and as a lyricist. So during the writer's strike back in the winter he got bored and decided to do a project to see if the internet was a financially viable option for entertainmnent. Thus he developed Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I must say that yet again Joss Whedon (and family) has demonstrated his brilliance. I cannot wait until he actually decides to start writing actual musicals for the theatre (which I hope is inevitable). If you like comic book superheroes and villians and/or musicals you will definitely enjoy this 45-min mini-musical event.

Besides the wonderful musical selections, with many tributes to Sondheim, Whedon and clan are particularly good at making at you laugh and then tearing at your heart strings. As he always accomplished with Buffy, there are plenty of snappy lyrics and witty lines.

Some of my favorites being:

"These are not the hammer... The hammer is my penis."

"I've got a PHD in horribleness."

"A lot of guys ignore the laugh, and that's about standards. I mean, if you're gonna get into the Evil League of Evil, you have to have a memorable laugh. What, do you think Bad Horse didn't work on his whinny? His terrible death-whinny?"

Without spoiling anymore I would say go watch it while you can.

Free viewing ends at midnight on Sunday, July 20th. Then you have to buy it off of I-tunes for $2 an episode/act (it's three acts). It is an extremely worthy cause and well worth the $6, so if you miss it I would say go buy it.

I've seen it at least 3 times at this point and am still planning to I-tunes it and then buy the DVD with musical commentary when it comes out.

The cast includes Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, How I Met Your Mother), Nathan Fillion (Buffy-Season 7, Desperate Housewives, Firefly) and Felicia Day (Buffy-Season 7).

Check out the three act musical blog for free (until July 21st) here: http://www.drhorrible.com/
Follow this link to check out the backstory and interviews about the project:
http://doctorhorrible.net/

Enjoy!

The Number 1 Dance Show on TV

So I am an avid So You Think You Can Dance watcher seeing as I have been a dancer for almost the entirety of my life. It warms my soul to see quality dancing on mainstream television.

I think the best thing about the show is that they highlight both technically trained and not trained dancers, challenging them to try different styles of dance and stretching them out of their comfort zones. I have to agree that talent and versatility do go hand in hand, which is why I don't like American Idol. You are not the best singer if you can only sing pop - I would have to say then you are only the best "pop singer."

I love SYTYCD because it actually applauds and recognizes several styles of dance as being notable (though I do wish we could see some more ballet and tap). The show continues to exceed my expectations though, and after seeing the pas-de-deux tonight I feel like they are continuing to broaden their horizons.

I love to watch the show for the choreography in particular - they have some brilliant and well known talent on the show. Mia Michaels (who I used to see judge and teach at dance competitions back in my dance team days) is one of my favorites as an artist on the show. I also love Wade Robson's work because it is so quirky and unique. (I would love to know where in the hell he is this season).

Tonight set new heights for the show though because Desmond Richardson was the guest choreographer who did the pas-de-deux. He is not a household name, but in the dance community he is BIG! Most people know Baryshnikov however, and Desmond Richardson is a ballet/contemporary dancer of that caliber. I am just so pleased as a technically trained ballet/modern dancer to see them continue to bring in such high quality talent even if most of the audience is not familiar. Yay Nigel Lythgoe!

I must say with our wedding and with my weird work hours this summer, it has made it harder than usual to keep up with the show. Kevin actually watches it with me and enjoys it (one of the thousands of reasons I love him so much.) Actually, last week I was driving home from meeting with Kierstie and Debbie about our show and knew I wasn't going to get to the TV in time to see the dance solos or results. I called Kevin, and was semi-surprised to hear him watching it without me. The best part though was the play-by-play he gave me of the solos.

"She's turning. Now she's rolling on the floor. She jumped. She did a pirouette. He's jumping. He took his shirt off. He did a flip...."

Now I have to admit, the fact that Kevin knew the term "pirouette"and in the correct context makes me a proud woman! Again, what this show is all about - and also why it should be the Number 1 dance show in America.

Dancing with the Stars and Dance Crew can take their geriatric ballroom and gyrating and grinding somewhere else...somewhere with American Idol for that matter...

New Niece! Yay - Welcome Piper Chloe!

Yay! Congratulations to my sister-in-law, Erika, and her husband Jason on their newest addition - Piper Chloe Hiles who arrived Monday evening. She is beautiful and has a very beautiful name. I am excited for Caroline and Bryce to finally meet their little sister. Caroline should be proud of herself for picking such a lovely middle name - have to admit I like it a little more than "Splinter" (one of her original name choices)

I know Kevin and I are thrilled to have another niece and I cannot wait to meet her!

The Week in Review

So this was a pretty busy week - overall a good week. As I said in my previous blog I was spending 95% of my week in DC teaching ballet and jazz technique to 3rd - 10th graders.

I have to admit, I haven't danced for 6 hours a day in a long time, so it was a pretty rough week physically. I don't think my body was quite ready for the shock of it. My calves were so sore on Tuesday that I wasn 't actually really able to dance (what I consider to be) full out again until Friday. Nevertheless, it was actually a nice change of pace considering I don't teach dance during the school year at my HS.

I have to say that it actually made me miss TAKING a dance class instead of teaching one all the time. I am hoping maybe I can squeeze some classes in after school starts in the fall. The other nice aspect of the class was that since it wasn't a Musical Theatre related class, I could choreograph dance for dance-sake. Since I am usually choreographing for a musical - what I do has to be in context with the show, the storyline and characters.

I really enjoyed pulling some ballet out of my back pocket, since you don't use plain ballet in musicals very often. My favorite aspect of the week was choreographing some jazz. There are songs I hear sometimes that I am dying to choreograph, but really have no forum to put them in. There is a song in the show SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, that is a really fun uptempo jazz piece. Unfortuantely, my students weren't loving it as much as me. So at the end of the week we worked on a lyrical jazz piece to "How to Save a Life" by The Fray. They enjoyed working on it and I wish that I had somewhere to keep developing it - oh well, maybe I will find an opportunity. Hopefully, Mia Michaels won't do it anytime soon on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. Clearly if she does it, it will be brilliant, and it's hard to follow brilliance like hers.

In other news, my new laptop arrived on Wednesday!!! Unfortuantely, I was in DC from Wednesday - Friday because I was staying in DC to save money on gas. Kevin went to pick it up from Jason and Erika's on Wednesday night - I was sad that I wasn't able to go and visit with them. Thank you Jason for helping me get it and helping me save some money :-)


Another high point of the week was that we finally purchased another couch to replace the one that didn't fit! We went to JCPenny's and didn't see anything outwardly that we liked, but discovered a very comfy brown leather couch. We liked the style, but not the color. Much to our surprise we could actually order it in black. The catch was that being special ordered it would take another 6-8 weeks to get...so it means we are back to sitting on the futon for awhile. (We actually need to get it back in the living room seeing as we have reverted to using the floor and pillows as seating.)

So that's the week - we ended it with a nice trip to Pizza John's on Friday night. Kevin spent all day working Saturday. I spent the day with Kierstie and Debbie working on SUMMER SHOWCASE, the piece I am directing, which starts Monday. SOOOO excited and cannot wait to start!

Today was catch-up day, the hightlights being laundry and McDonald's...and getting started on Thank You Cards. Am really looking forward to tomorrow when we will have a new niece and I get to start SHOWCASE...

Kindness in the Little People World

So this week I am teaching Ballet/Jazz Technique classes to both Grades 3-6 and Grades 7-10 in DC for ISI. I was already teaching the afternoon class with the older students, but Veronika called me last week to offer me the morning class as well because the teacher had to cancel last minute. I was hesitant at first for two reasons - one being the early morning commute to DC for a 9am class - the other being the fact that it was 6 hours of dance and I would have the little guys. Even though it was six hours and rush hour both ways, it was a matter of teaching the same class essentially and making twice as much money because I was already going to be down there. So I decided to take it on...

It was funny because when I was there the first week, I saw how hyper the little people were and I was glad at the time I wasn't teaching them. I know that these guys are not so little to other people. My sister actually considers them "big guys" on her scale. I just knew I had been working with high school students for the last 6 months so it was going to definitely be a readjustment.

My first surprise was that I had a boy in my class. It's not that boys shouldn't be in Ballet class, because clearly I support it, but a this age you don't expect it so much in a summer camp. So I had carefully planned out variations from the ballet SLEEPING BEAUTY to work on, thinking the kids could all be different fairies and create characters My ideas changed completely upon meeting little Howie** as I will call him. On the first day he ended up stepping on his own foot and ended up sitting out most of the ballet portion of the class. It wasn't until Tuesday that he started complaining about not liking ballet and it being too girly. It's funny because the boy claims to not like sports, and wants to be an actor in musical theatre when he grows up. He will need to change his tune real fast if that is what he wants to be.

So this was a primary case of why I generally avoid kids in grades 1-5. I find it is much harder to rationalize with kids that are that young. They generally just get whiney and difficult, which is why I tend to like dealing with the big kids. (But of course I know some people would tend to disagree and believe the opposite).

Nevertheless, once in awhile you get that one child (or a couple) that make teaching that age group worthwhile. In this case, the golden child was named Emily**. Emily was definitely the child you want in every class, granted she was one of the oldest and going into 6th grade. I told Kevin that someday when we do decide to procreate, I want a child to have her qualities.

She was always focused in every class and never wanted to take any breaks, being super eager to learn more. She always wanted to make sure she was doing things right and asked lots of intelligent questions. Emily was always optimistic and smiley, never complaining and getting along with all of the other children. (She was also just innately talented and apparently loves to dance and act.)

However, this wasn't even my favorite Emily moment for the week. There was another camp going on at the school run by other people. About 15 minutes before the end of our class a little boy who appeared to be a little confused came and stood at the doorway. Apparently, they let their children run around alone in the other camp because he was all by himself looking for the dance class that was coming in next. When he told me he was switching to dance, I said "You must be looking for the next dance class. They will be here soon."

We went on to play our freeze dance game at the end of class and during the first freeze Emily asked me if she could "unfreeze" for a moment. She came up to me and said, "That boy out there looks lonely. Can I ask him to come in and play with us?" I said "Of course!" and she proceeded to go out in the hallyway and ask him to come in and play, which he did. And that was the moment she became a little angel in my eyes, proving that little people really can still be kind towards others they don't even know.

**Names have been changed to protect the innocent - and just because I am a teacher

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

So we have been pretty busy over the holiday weekend, which is why I am just getting around to writing about our festive adventures. Our adventures started at 8:30am Friday morning when we were abruptly awoken by what sounded like 30 fire trucks outside our window.

We are in the center of historic Dundalk, which means we are also the center of town activities - such as the 4th of July Parade and the Heritage Fair. So as it happens the parade passes by our building and ends right down the block. After being awoken we gave up on sleep and went downstairs to enjoy the parade. Admittedly, it is pretty sweet when the parade comes to you and you just have to walk out your front door.

After the parade we headed down to College Park to spend the day with Kevin's friends Andrew, Mark and Brian. Kevin's friend Andrew works for a pharmaceutical company in Rockville and has to be "on call" every so often. Basically with being on call he has to be able to get to his job in 30 min in the case of an emergency; thus he was stuck at his house pretty much for the weekend (given that the traffic can really suck in DC).

We had a grand old time that day. Brian made some cheesy-garlic-y burgers on the grill and Andrew made a nice broccoli salad. Mark provided several options of beer and Smirnoff. Burgers, broccoli and booze go quite well together. Kevin and I were charged to bring entertainment, so we went to Wal-mart the night before and bought a croquet set, sparklers and fireworks. We played several rounds of croquet, while it was a French game we played in the American spirit with beers in hand. Because of the rain showers that kept descending upon us we also ended up playing a board game and watching a movie. I learned some poker, but we didn't play enough for me to really break out my new found "skillz..." (just waiting until next time).
After the movie we ended up going back out to celebrate our independence with fireworks home-school style, which was pretty enjoyable and lacked the whole having to drive and sit in traffic for hours, which was an added bonus. Overall a very splendid 4th of July Day!
Having gotten in to our apartment at the wee-hours of the morning, we decided to sleep through the hours we could have actually left our apartment to go couch shopping. You see Dundalk is quite proud of its heritage and clearly we are at the center of the heritage, where all of the classiest of Dundalk flock. Meaning that between the hours of 12p and 10p we couldn't leave our apartment without losing a parking place and having to re-park a mile away. Thus, all of our weekend outings were strategically planned for a return late, late at night.

On Saturday we decided we might as well celebrate our heritage since we were home bound and see what all the hub-bub was all about. My sister Erin and her boyfriend Kevin came out to join us at the mecca of Dundalk. I have to admit that for the $5 entry fee it was a little lackluster and we were a little under-impressed. So I have decided to include some of the highlights of the event:

1. The Fried Pepsi sign was pretty intriguing - not your usual festival food. I mean Fried Oreos were interesting enough...unfortunately, we didn't have the nerves or stomachs to buy any.
2. We watched some K-9 dog training (not actual police dogs but obedience training). It was pretty interesting actually until all of the dogs kept doing the same routine of run, jump and attack the hell out of the fake arm on the "decoy". Guess you can't teach different dogs new tricks.
3. One of my favorite events by far was the pig races. There is nothing cuter than little pink hamlets jumping hurdles. And the 6-8 week year old piglets in training definitely stole the show. (Though the "hot-dog dogs" were also a treat.)
4. The last highlight of the day was the kissing monkey. You gave him a quarter, he shook your hand and then kissed (really licked) you on the nose. Now, admittedly it was a little disconcerting that the man holding the monkey kept telling you what to do so the monkey wouldn't "play with you" or "get excited" which was probably loose terms for bite you and rip your hair out. However, Erin and I decided to trust the little dude.

Otherwise, we got some free books from a table (I found a book of plays and an introductory Italian language textbook) for our $5. The food was pretty good, but extra bang for your buck (or rather extra bucks spent). They had some decent music names, but we didn't see any. The carnival rides were a little shady, especially the haunted house with only a 6 foot wide trailer attached behind the entrance and exit. There were some arts and crafts, but nothing that really called our names to buy. So I have to say, it was good times for a day, but I think we will celebrate our heritage elsewhere next year.

Later in the evening we attended a "surprise" belated birthday for my good friend Erin in DC. (It was at 10:30p so we clearly got back in plenty of time to reclaim our valued parking space.) I was really excited to see my college friends that I hadn't seen since the wedding and was also happy to see other college friends and friends-of-friends I hadn't seen in longer. The girls in charge - Caroline, Amanda, Jessie and Jessie planned a very "Erin" tropical theme and Erin was DEFINITELY surprised (which was a large motivation as she continues to "claim" she can't be surprised). I mean who wouldn't be surprised to come home from performing all evening to find 12 people cleverly crouched in the dark in the corner of your room. And the planning of the mission was very well coordinated.

Through the evening we got to catch up. We were regaled with stories about everyone's busy theatre lives and we regaled friends with wedding and honeymoon tales. One of the definite highlights of the evening was Erin drinking rum and coke from a sand bucket (nice touch girls!) and dancing the robot in a puffy winter jacket from one of her ex-colleagues. (Wish I had a picture of that...)

The evening was great and it made me excited about hanging out and catching up with my DC buddies while I am working out there for the next 5 weeks!

Happy Belated Birthday E-Dawg!

So overall a fantastic weekend of independence, heritage, and booze! And thus I leave you with a video excerpt from our backyard fireworks extravaganza. They call this the Freedom Fountain...

Happy 6th of July! Wait a minute...

The Empty Hole in Our Living Room

So this past Wednesday, I stayed at home eagerly awaiting our new couch we bought from the Roomstore two weeks ago. We have been using our old futon as a couch for the last four months and were extremely excited about getting a brand new comfy leather couch since our futon is extremely uncomfortable. To prepare for our new couch Kevin cleared the futon out of the living room and moved it into our office.

So the delivery men arrived around 10am on Wednesday to inform me they were here with our nice new couch. After about 15 minutes or so one of the men returned to inform me that the couch could not fit in the elevator or the stairway. I went down to see and I couldn't really argue with them seeing as we hadn't measured the height of the elevator, the stairs or our doorway. However, upon measuring it later Kevin and I both agreed we thought they actually could have made it fit up the stairs, but it probably wouldn't have fit through our narrow doorway. Alas, they took our beloved couch back and we were still charged with a restocking fee and delivery fee. (And resolving the couch drama took up our evening so I didn't go get to visit with friends and see 209 Live in Fells Point, which I had been looking forward to.)
While the stairs weren't technically our fault, the doorway would have been, so I guess we have learned our lesson. So now we are in search of a new couch to fill the big empty void in our living room where our new couch should have been. We don't want to go through the hassle of moving the futon in and out again so we are stuck watching TV in the green mushroom chair or on the floor with pillows. We actually fell asleep watching TV on the floor Thursday - upon waking up with a back ache - I can say we cannot WAIT to get a new couch...

Playing Catch-up

I haven't posted a lot this week so I am going to play catch up, first of all I am going to retract two of my previous statements. We went to see Wall - e on Tuesday night. I recommend that everyone see it. As was said by the critics, "Pixar has outdone itself again." It is amazing how they can give human emotion to inanimate/non-organic objects and really make you care about them.

Anyway, in Wall-e a rubix cube is quite a predominant prop, which could account for it becoming a more popular toy I guess. Also, while we were there I saw the Star Wars poster for the upcoming animated feature. So MAYBE that accounts for the expected popularity of the toys...I know I won't be seeing it though, and I am sure there are atleast 100 million other people who won't be seeing it either...

Christmas in July

On my pleasant drive down to DC today for my meeting for my upcoming show, I was listening to my favorite station Mix 107.3 (home of Jack Diamond). I don't get to listen to it much during the school year anymore since I have to be at work so freakin' early and I also live 10 minutes away from school which doesn't leave a lot of commute listening.

Anyway, Carson (the afternoon guy) put on Christmas music and talked about how they are already advertising the most popular toys of 2008. Really? Wait until you here what they are...


1) Rubix cube
What? I mean even if you make it electronic isn't it a little outdated. I think once you have solved it with your eyes closed using your tongue and feet and put it on You Tube it kind of loses some of the glamour.

2) Indiana Jones and Star Wars toys
Okay--Indiana Jones I get, but Star Wars??? Did a new movie come out that I am not aware of (maybe it really did and I am just that oblivious). I think George Lucas is just trying to ride on the coattails. The monkeys and prairie dogs were NOT a good idea George. Bad choice...

3) The Pen that Reads Books to Your Kids
I agree with Chili Amar on this one - let's give parents even less bonding time with their kids. I mean I think there are many merits to reading to your child, even it means reading "Go Dog Go" until your blue in the face. But technology has found yet another way to bond with your child and cut out the middle man.

4) Indiana Jones Whip
Ok this is my favorite. I know it looks plush and all, but all I see is an older brother pounding the sh*t out of his younger siblings with it for fun. I am not pro corporeal punishment, but I think the parents should buy it for themselves INSTEAD to use on their kids....::Sigh:: yet another Christmas weapon to go in the stocking for fun battles Christmas morning.

You know what - I got my Christmas in July today. Working at my high school minus announcements, bells, crazy kids and slews of distribution list emails was a nice gift to me. I LOVE the quiet and peace of the halls. I did see SOME kids today though, just enough dosage to satisfy my missing them.

Ahhh, who could ask for anything more....I am satisfied until December....

One Month of Marriage

On a completely different tangent...I can now say that we have been married for one month. (Not a lot in the scheme of things I know, but thought I would acknowledge it...) My how time flies... Happy 1 Month of Marital Bliss my hubby! I love you - here's to hoping for many more months of you not being "miserable."

Heath Ledger and Method Acting

So I was working this morning on gathering song material for the show I am directing in July/August. Since our theme for this year's show is "identity" we have to do a little more research than last year when our theme was "love" (which practically every musical has a song with this topic). This primarily meant looking up the lyrics to songs from every musical known to man and them some...and there are some interesting ones out there. While looking I happened upon PARADE (a Jason Robert Brown piece that several area theatres have recently discovered), and then I discovered on the site that Christy Carlson Romano was the original Mary in the piece. Now I am sure most of you don't know who she is; I wouldn't expect you to as my knowledge of her only comes from my tendency to watch the Disney channel at 2am in college when I was supposed to be writing papers. Anyway, seeing as I am in the process of becoming a "Carlson" with a double name as well, I felt intrigued and decided to check out her IMDB, which had an interesting comment about her thoughts on method acting and Heath Ledger.

Just last week, Kevin and I had seen the previews for THE DARK KNIGHT again during GET SMART. We are both really looking forward to it (as I know many people are) and we made the same remarks as usual about how brilliant Heath Ledger looks as the Joker in the previews. And how it was a shame that he was at the peak of his career when he died accidentally. But this time we got into a conversation about acting methods. I do think it was an accident and I do attribute it partially to method acting, which is why Ms. Carlson Romano's blog interested me. I hadn't heard anyone else at this point really attribute it point blank to the acting. I had just been having the conversation with Kevin about the differences in acting techniques.

Method acting in some cases means that instead of studying the actions and behaviors of a drug addict, for example, an actor decides to take drugs to have the "real" experience. I had been saying to Kevin that I thought the acting methods Heath Ledger was using to get into character were probably ultimately to blame for his death. This is why we don't teach method acting to high school students (which is a whole other tirade I will spare you), because it can be dangerous. I am not against method acting as a whole - because heck, if someone wants to go wait tables to get inspiration to play a waitress, I'm not gonna stop them, that's good character work. However, it just shows that there are dangers to delving into certain places in yourself to play characters or to taking certain actions to play a character.

So here is her thoughts on the situation:
"Heath Ledger died today. That's real. That is not a movie. Though it may feel like a movie to many of us who never knew this person. I saw him in a bar once - sitting quietly next to Michelle Williams. When I heard that this talent fell victim to his own madness, I was deeply saddened. This world can be so cruel. Especially when everywhere you look there is the promotion of negativity and violence as a recreation.

I'll do you one more (for those who think celebrity blogging is pointless). Heath Ledger - a representative of the motion picture industry - recently did a movie where he played a man responsible for unloading terrorism on Chicago/Gotham/New York (The Black Knight). Now, I believe Ledger was a "method actor" - someone who put his entire self into his work for art's sake. In order to play this character, he was put in a place so dark, that he began the downward spiral to his demise. In short, I feel this current obsession with negativity is infectious and mid-evil. And it is claiming lives.

I feel that people need to be loved while they are on this earth and celebrate life! Not celebrate different ways to kill each other. I do not condone this trend of violence in movies. And I hope it stops soon."

Now, I do agree that Heath Ledger was probably a "method actor" which led him to a troubled time; however, I am not quite agreeing with her random attack on society's current obsession with violence and killing each other. There has always been entertainment, even back in Greek times, that was about violence and people killing. Really - I don't think making all fuzzy bunny movies is going to save lives. In fact, I think an actor could go equally mad trying to play a fuzzy, fluffy purple dinosaur or such.

Anyway, I know this blog was completely random, but thought I would share my opinions on acting...Heath Ledger your brilliance will be missed and you are ranking right up there with Johnny Depp in my books. Can't wait to see DARK KNIGHT!

When It Rains It Pours

So I have decided that Kevin and I must have that condition of "sympathy pains" where one of us is sick or injured, so the other one must feel that way too. Back in college when we were doing CABARET together, I managed to contract laryngitis, bronchitis, a sinus infection, an ear infection and pink eye all at the same time - that same weekend Kevin had kidney stones and we ended up at the ER. I couldn't even speak to tell them what was wrong with him. Impressive aren't we...

Yesterday, I came home to find Kev laying down in the bedroom. He had gotten sawdust in his eye at work and wasn't sure if there was something in it or if it was scratched. So we ended up heading to Patient First. I was happy to discover that this one was a lot closer than the one in Laurel was to our old apartment. However, I was really expecting to be there all night because I had always spent 2 1/2 - 3 hours at the one in Laurel getting treated.

Well Kevin was in and out in about an hour with a diagnosis of an abrasion of the cornea. He was given some antibiotics and some pain medication and sent home to rest. Thus we spent the rest of the evening (Kevin through a blurry eye), watching OCEAN'S THIRTEEN which had arrived in our recent Netflix delivery.

I should have known better and should have just put my name on that clipboard last night as well.

(Boys - feel free to stop reading now because I am going to go into a rant on UTIs / bladder infections - I am a theatre person, I have no shame. Besides we all have to pee).

Wednesday, I started feeling the all too well known symptoms of a bladder infection, but I tried to convince myself that I was just being a hypochondriac. A little pain but I didn't have to pee like a race horse every five seconds, which is normally how it goes. So, I didn't see reason to go to the doctor right away. I was also going back and forth to DC which made it difficult to schedule a visit. You see normally when I get these, it's like a lightning strike. Out of nowhere, suddenly I am in pain and am constantly running back and forth to the bathroom. Girls who have had these know what a bane of existence they can be. They also seem to happen at the most inconvenient times.

Anyway, Thursday I was preparing to have to make a visit to the CVS Minute Clinic, but alas my symptoms subsided. Friday was the same, so I thought I was in the clear. Clearly I was wrong because I woke up at 5:30 this morning to run to the bathroom and the symptoms had returned. My body must have decided it was jealous that Kevin got to Patient First last night, or that it wanted to join the company of his pain. I waited as long as I could because I was dreading spending three hours at Patient First - I thought Kevin just got lucky and couldn't see how I could be as lucky.

Well it turns out if there is anything positive about this, our new Patient First has come through 2/2. It only took me an hour to get there, get seen, get some drugs and get home. Ahhh, good service. At least I know I have somewhere reliable to go the next time my bladder can't withstand a 10-minute car ride.

And now I am going to get back to the day Kevin and I have spent doing nothing and healing together... this is what marriage is about...

My Savior - Hats, Skirts and Latin Accents

Since I have become a school teacher, I now have my summers "off." Well that is somewhat of a loose term, because we all know most teachers find other jobs to do over the summer to keep themselves busy and keep up the finances. I am lucky enough to continue teaching all through the summer, but I get to teach fun subjects like dance and musical theatre. My old employer Imagination Stage has been kind enough to have me back, which is nice because it's a change from my normal activities now and I get to see all of my friends and many of my students from my old job. (The only thing that is currently sucking is that my work is in DC and the current gas prices are insane, thank you George Bush and the oil industry!)

This past week started my first week of work for the summer and I was teaching at an off-site location in DC near my alma mater (American University). I taught one week of Musical Theatre Jazz dance to 7th - 10th graders, which was really only comprised of middle school girls. The class was 3 hours a day from Monday - Friday.

For those of you who don't dance, dancing for three hours straight is a long time for anyone. When I was at my performing arts high school, we had 3 1/2 hours a day of dance class and THEN we would have rehearsals. These week long camps don't often attract the hard core professional dancer wannabes - instead they often attract the kids who dance once a week for fun or those who have never danced and just want to try it out. Consequently, three hours can quickly feel like an eternity for both the teacher and the students.

When I came into class on Monday, I had just had a cavity filled that was still aching so I admittedly was in a "blah" mood myself. The kids equally seemed to lack energy and enthusiasm. The three hours seemed to go on forever and when I taught them the combination to "One" from A CHORUS LINE they still seemed unimpressed and bored. (This is usually a hit with kids when I teach it.) The only time they seemed to show a hint of excitement was when I told them to bring in skirts the next day for the WEST SIDE STORY combination I was going to teach them. So I went home that night dreading how I was going to get through three hours the rest of the week.

Well the next day I went in and my camp manager had brought in hats from Imagination Stage that we could use for our A CHORUS LINE dance. I walked into the dance studio with hats and it was like I had brought them each a pony. Suddenly, there was energy and excitement and they could not wait to put on their hats and skirts. In fact, they wanted to wear them through all of our warm-ups and floor work (really...), which I wouldn't let them do. When we got to A CHORUS LINE, you would have thought I taught a brand new combination. All of a sudden, it was like they were all hopped up on Red Bulls and Hershey Bars.

So then we got to learning a combination to "America" from WEST SIDE STORY, and they were equally thrilled to put on their skirts. Later in the week I made them create characters for this song, seeing as it was a musical theatre dance class. They all groaned when I told them it was a written project, but as soon as they got the questions you should have seen how excited they were to create new names for themselves like "Rosalinda" and "Carmelita" and discuss how they were sisters working as seamstresses and talked with thick Latin accents. (Some of them missed the whole time period aspect, and wrote about their cell phones and their diamond studded sneakers, but hey I guess you can't win them all.)

Lucky enough, the hats and skirts seemed to maintain the excitement through the rest of the week. (I didn't even have to add any props to the HAIRSPRAY combination they learned.)

What I can gain from this...

Clearly, when I am teaching a class of middle school girls, I just need to give them hats, skirts and Latin accents and a three hour class will be a breeze.

The Wedding (Part 1)

So even though it is in retrospect, I would love to go back and reflect on the amazing wedding we just had and equally amazing honeymoon. My incredible husband, Kevin - yeah, it is still strange to say and write it - and I have now been married three weeks now as of yesterday. We actually "celebrated" our old anniversary of six years yesterday with a simple movie outing to Get Smart. I have to say it is a little strange to have a new anniversary after celebrating this one for all this time. It's almost like you "forget" all the time you were together before you get married. Anyway, regardless that we have a new wedding anniversary, we decided we would still acknowledge our old ones.

So for those of you who don't really know the back story, Kevin and I were engaged for three and a half years before we got married, making it a long awaited event. As the bride I have to say it was well worth the wait. We wanted our wedding to be unique and reflect us as a couple. We also wanted to have a wedding where everyone had a wonderful time. I don't believe we could have asked for a better weekend and for a nicer turnout of all the work everyone put into the event.

Admittedly, I was a little bit nervous about the thunderstorms that we had that day. I hadn't really worried about the weather until the day before. As fate would have it, the morning of the wedding after we got our hair done, it was pouring! We had to go to Macy's to get plastic bags to put over our heads (and there are some fun lurking photos of those moments somewhere). Yes - I did shed a few tears over the rain and over other small details, but overall I am happy to report that I was no "Bridezilla" and wasn't a basket case. I like to believe I was anyway. (Man, I felt zen compared to some of those brides on those reality shows.) I think I can attribute my peace and sanity to my wonderful bridesmaids (Christine, Erin K., Nora, Amelia, Deidra and Caroline) and maid of honor (Erin W.).

It did end up being a "Miracle Wedding" as many people called it because it stopped raining right at 3pm just in time for pictures at my house. And lo and behold, the sun actually came out at 5:00pm for our 5:30pm ceremony. That was all I could ask for...but then it got even better...

The ceremony ended up going off without a hitch. Our wedding had a theatre theme since we met doing theatre and it still is a very important part of our lives. We had several very important people play a part in our day - our bridal party consisted of several close family members and friends from over the years. My maid of honor was my sister, Erin, and Kevin had two best men, Andrew and Mark, friends from his childhood. (The other groomsmen were Philip, Adam, Brian, Fulvio and Mike D.) Our flower girl and ring bearer, were Kevin's niece and nephew, Caroline and Bryce who did a wonderful job at 4 and 2 years old. We also had Kevin's sister Chrissa, and our friend Ryan read selections in the ceremony.

Our officiant was one of my mentors and college professors in theatre from American University, Caleen Sinnette Jennings. She delivered a beautiful ceremony and I am thankful for her contribution to this day in our lives. We had our bridal party speak quotes about love and then Caleen expertly crafted them into her dialogue about how "marriage is like good theatre." We were lucky enough to have ceremony musicians comprised of friends and family, who were equally brilliant. We chose some non-traditional wedding music ranging from the Beach Boys, to "Beauty and the Beast", to songs from A Mighty Wind and Love Actually. I believe it was a nice selection that really reflected us a couple.

(While I am on non-traditional items, I have to say "I told you so" to all of you who gave me funny looks when I said my wedding colors were red, purple and yellow...many of you changed your mind when you saw it together!)

Instead of the traditional unity candle ceremony, we chose to do unity sand. I really liked the idea of having something tangible to keep from the ceremony that represented our lives coming together. We also chose to write our own vows - I think that was the most intimidating part of the ceremony. One of the best parts was finally seeing Kevin after waiting to see him all day. Being my best friend, it was hard to not share details with him ahead of time, like the dress. (Though I admit that I did break down and show him the veil ahead of time.) He was also looking very handsome in his black tux and purple boutonnière. (As much as I know he likes the color purple.) I mentioned that Caroline and Bryce did a very nice job with their flower girl and ring bearer positions. One of the funniest moments to me was that Caroline forgot to throw her flower petals during the processional, but she was quite original. Instead, she did the "reverse flower girl" throwing the petals in front of us on the way out during the recessional, paving the way to newly wedded bliss.The reception also had many wonderful highlights. We had several friends offer their talents in a cabaret during the cocktail hour. Kevin and I chose our favorite "love" themed songs from musicals and asked our friends to contribute their voices. Our friend Debbie also kicked ass playing piano not only for the ceremony, but also for the cabaret hour. (She also sang in the ceremony.) We were also lucky enough to have our friend Michael Sazonov emcee the event, and he definitely added some personal pizazz. At the end of the cabaret, Kev and I decided we were going to sing "There Once Was a Man (Who Loved a Woman)" from the musical The Pajama Game. I have to be honest that the singing was almost, if not more, nerve wrecking to me than the ceremony. (I have more nerves singing in front of family and friends.) But it seemed to go over well. One of my favorite moments though was a whole group of us singing "Seasons of Love" from Rent completely unrehearsed. It was just one of those moments that is unique in time, where everyone was a part of the moment in some way.

And there were many more moments during the evening that were memorable. Kevin's best men gave a very entertaining speech- or rather song- about who was truly the "best man." (Hopefully there will be a video clip in the future.) Later in the evening, my sister gave a very heartfelt speech, which meant a lot to me because I know how much thought she put into it and I know how hard it is for her to speak in large public settings.

Our first dance as a couple was "You Get Me" by Michelle Branch. It wasn't a highly choreographed dance, but the song definitely resonates for us as a couple, hence the blog title.

I definitely enjoyed dancing with my father and am glad that he chose the song. It meant more to me knowing that. Kevin and his mother also seemed to have a great time dancing together. Another part of the reception I really enjoyed was our hat dance. Stolen from the Polish tradition, we had people contribute money in top hats to dance with the bride and groom. I was thrilled to dance with so many people, even for short spurts, and was glad to see faces that I unfortunately missed later in the night.

While the whole evening stands out to me as being incredible, I guess the other major highlight from my perspective was our tango. We had worked for several weeks on a surprise choreographed dance to the tango from True Lies (choreographed by yours truly). Being a dancer all of my life, I wasn't nervous about this at all, but I know Kevin was a little worried. Fortunately, the wedding was the best time we ever did it. And we got rave reviews for it the rest of the evening.

I could go on and on about all of the wonderful parts of the wedding, but this blog really would get epic. I also know that is somewhat of a blur (as was to be expected) and that there were many other moments I missed along the way. However, I am happy to say that our wedding day was one of the happiest days of my life. Most importantly at the end of the day we were married and we were able to the share the day with soooo many family and friends. My only regret is that I wish we were able to spend more time with every individual there, but I know that reality is impossible.

As I said, the only other thing we did really want was for everyone to have a fun time and for our wedding to be a memorable event. I am thrilled to say that I think we were able to accomplish that, as many guests told us that it was "the most fun wedding," "the most unique wedding" or even "the coolest wedding" they had ever been to. Several people went back into our guest book and wrote additional notes later in the evening about the event and we even received "Thank You" notes from our guests after the event, thanking us for having them! We also had some family friends request that we have an anniversary concert every year to celebrate. I don't think we could ask for higher compliments.

There are many people we need to thank for making our wedding possible, as we never could have done it alone. (And we are starting to get around to those thank you notes finally since we are back in town). However, since this email is epic already, I am going to write a specific "thank you" blog later. However, I do want to thank all of our friends and family for being so generous. In particular, I want to thank my parents, Connie and Albert, and my new parents-in-law, Berlyn and Gene for all of their time and support on this event. It was incredible because of you! I also need to thank my sister, Erin, as well as Kevin's best men, Mark and Andrew for their continual help. As I said there are many other thanks to come..

We are still anxiously awaiting the professional photos from our photographer, but for the time being you can enjoy the ones from some of our equally professional friends. I will definitely be putting more up when we get them. You can also look forward to another blog novel soon about our Hawaiian honeymoon...

Again...THANK YOU TO ALL!

And to my new husband (and accomplice in my adventures) - I LOVE YOU!
Marriage suits us well I think...

The Adventure Begins

So I started a blog about three years ago, right after I graduated from college. I had wanted to keep up with it, but I got way too busy as an apprentice at the theatre I was working at (60 hours a week did not allow me leisure writing time). Then I was working full-time as a teacher/producer at the theatre and was acting and choreographing outside of work. And of course then we were preparing for the long awaited wedding.

Having read my sister-in-law, Erika's, blog for some time, I decided finally that I would try this again. It seems that life events inspire you to do these kinds of things. In the last 4 months I have managed to get a new job, move to a new apartment and get married. So join me as I venture this year into all of these new endeavors and hopefully as my life settles down slightly for a change...one can dream...