One song: glory!

I'm writing one great song before I....

I am SORRY I did not update about Linda Rondstat at San Jose Rotary. She was FAB! She spoke about how Music and Science go hand and hand (she was speaking about Art and Science, as they are supposed to co-exist, but because she is a singer, she focused on Music). I got to shake her hand and introduce myself. I plan on getting her notes from her talk to use in the dance and film class I am helping T.A. this semester.

So Class has been a shit factory and the state of the university is so sad, but I have my classes, and I am set for the first week, so number 1 is taken care of (as selfish as that is)....

BUT, VTA has called and e-mailed, they are VERY interested in my proposal for a "trolley dance-esque type dance event. That is the next assignment: FINISH THE PROPOSAL.

It gets late (ooo! 10:30!) and I grow weary, but I will be sure to keep the followers (anyone out there???) posted. I have a great feeling about the semester!

~Nat Q.

How do you eat an elephant?

When I was in High School calculus, my teacher was an Ex-marine officer. Right before he would dive into a huge, 20 minute proof, he would pose this question to the class... How do you eat an elephant???

The answer, of course, is "one bite at a time"...

So. the bite we took out of the dance project today was a two step process... we went and looked at a venue (GEM!) and Spoke with Mr. Fred and his wife about some people/places that might help us out.

The Gem I am speaking of resides right over O'Flaherty's bar and grill... I pub in san Jose which I used to frequent almost every thursday.... so when I realized where it was I felt silly that I never knew about it. Its a sweet setup, and the staff is SOOO friendly, so we definitely plan on keeping them in mind as a potential venue in the near future. I am STILL blown away that I didn't know of its potential even now. Regardless, happy to have found it...

Next stop of the day was a visit with Mr. Fred and his wife. It started a little frustrating because I was looking for answers to questions I hadn't yet formed, short of "How the heck can I pull this off successfully?" Mr. and Mrs Fred are very animated, and Mrs. gave us so much good information about who to contact next, and where to go. And what Marketing tactics we could use. So, after an hour of being bombarded with information, we thanked them relentlessly, and scampered back to the Laboratory to debrief and organize our strategy.

Tomorrow's assignment: Go to San Jose Rotary. I was so generously invited tomorrow to go see what they are all about... I am unsure of what good this could bring to Operation Dance Event, but I feel like I will get some opportunity just by showing up.

I only wish San Jose would have told me BEFORE I got my degree all of the theaters in the area. Maybe this can be added into the program, now that I know that it's missing.

Until tomorrow!

~Nat Q.

Another Mammoth adventure... and a lead?

Hello!

I promise one day I will get good at this blogging thing. One day.

Sometimes I feel like it is going to confession... "Hello readers! It has been 14 days since my last blog... I digress.

Things are looking up! Since my last blog, It has been crazy. Because of my early return I was blind sided by my overly concerned father.... who seemed to misconstrue my early return for irresponsibility and laziness (perhaps he missed my last blog). And what's worse when I disclosed even the smallest bit of information about my hopes to bring dance to the south bay he rebuttled with a "that is not financially stable". I know! No one is in Dance for the money!

So, I left for Mammoth once again, this time for fun, to clear my head and hopefully find some inspiration, direction, and all those romantic ideas people think happen when they Thoreu themselves into the wilderness...

ANYWAYS, once I got back I went to get my Jeep from my father's house. While I was there (its a long story I will spare you) I ran into my grandmother. After a brief discussion again about my ideas of bringing my dance to the south bay, she gave me a lead.

She thought it was a WONDERFUL idea and said (as grandma does) "Well you know who you should talk too..." And she gave me the name of a man, who I remember growing up AND coincidentally, ran into his name on another website I was researching for non-profits. WHAT LUCK... no no, not luck... WHAT SUPPORT! she said she would call him or get in contact with him to ask him to set up a meeting with me...

Fast forward to this morning.... a DAY later... not EVEN 24 hours, I woke up (shamefully late) to a voicemail beeping. It was grandma. She had already talked to her friend, my LEAD, and he would be delighted to talk to me about my project. Well, Just like that I sprang into action, calling my partner in crime into mobilization. In an afternoon we had, not only an appointment to meet with Grandma's friend (who will now be known as Mr. Fred), but also to see a venue we had no idea even existed downtown, AND contacted many potential choreographers for an event, looked at a few venues, and called countless people about venues.

After an exhausting day (I did more non dance related things after this) I am signing off, with hopes of reporting more awesome things in the near future... I'll shoot for tomorrow

~Nat Q.

The Mammoth Adventure...in as much/little as I can tell

I've been putting off this story for a while because while I was there I was not in a very happy place, but I feel like now, after I've told enough people what happened I can share it... Here it goes:

I flew out of San Diego at 7:30am the day after the night performance. I landed in SJ airport at around 9 am and was picked up and put into a 152 plane and flown into Mammoth by 10:30. The whole way over I was stoked because it seemed like it would be something new and different and I would get to be networking with a bunch of amazing people from the east coast (the other students were coming from Julliard, Boston Conservatory, and Florida State).

So I flew in and tried to eat (remember I had been not feeling 100% in San Diego the day before, and plane rides always make me not hungry) and called my teacher (whose name I will omit) who was supposed to be picking me up. So the teacher came to get me... and I was a little nervous because he was not your most conventional looking guy. From behind the wheel of a big black excursion jumped a small toothpick of a man who, by the looks of his deep set wrinkles and smoker- cough, could very well have been the crypt keeper or every bad dream I had about death, incarnated. Nevertheless, the intensive had been going on for 2 weeks, so by noon we were driving back to the airport to say goodbye to Dave (who flew me there) and get my things.

As we drove back into town I was starting to get more excited, because teacher was talking about all the people he had gotten a chance to work with in New York. I felt like I was talking to my history book. Especially since the day I flew in was his 64th birthday. So after stopping at a small restaurant I finally inquired whom else I would be working with this next couple weeks, since we didn't seem to be in a hurry to get back to a group of other dancers...

"... You... you... you... and you... and two little girls they are 12 years old"

He proceeded to explain to me that out of his 12 dancers who were SUPPOSED to be there, 9 of them bailed (due to injuries or financial issues) and I was there with two 12 years olds... who were locals in MAmmoth..

At first I was stoked... I felt like Luke Skywalker going into meet Yoda and Study with a Jedi Master of dance, one on one.... or was that anxiety...?

"Let's get back in the car, I want you to read something..."

Ok, sure. I thought we might be going to a library because our conversation before I asked had a lot to do with the original labanotations of some of Harkins Ballet that existed on microfiche somewhere... maybe it was an article on the freshly deceased Pina Baush...

We drove to what I later learned is essentially Mammoth's Ghetto, maybe 3 complex's filled to the brim with Mexican families. It was not scary, just loud with lots of small children.

We walked up stairs to an apartment, which he later told me was his, without going in, he sat down and a table and motioned for me to sit down also, as he picked up 2 articles... one was the sheet, Mammoth's news paper, and the other was a californian newspaper. He pointed to the 2 articles he wanted me to read and unlocked the house.

... The first article was about California's financial crisis and how it is affecting mammoth... The second was an article about the man who I had been traveling with all day. Apparently, he was being charged with money embezzlement.

When I finished reading both articles he started talking about how he had been wrongly accused, however, mammoth was a small town, and the people pressing charges owned many things in the town: the studio we were to be working in, one of the pilates gyms... the motel I was SUPPOSED to be staying in.... So I sat there speechless, as he explained to me some nonsense about how "he had a commitment to me as a student" and (this is where my excitement turned to sheer panic) in order to make things work I would be staying there, with him.

Let's recap: I was too be staying, by myself, with the crypt-keeper, in the middle of mammoth's ghetto, in his one bedroom apartment.

Heck. No.

I felt so played, and never more alone in my life. I didn't want anyone to panic, because I was not technically in danger, and I was trying to think of all my options out. Once he left me to "settle in" I called in the most calm voice as possible and arranged an escape. So by the time my warden had returned I could tell him that I would not be staying. And by wednesday morning, I was back safely in a plane with Dave and my business partners.

It's not even worth writing about what I learned those 3 days. I had one on one training in ballet, ended up teaching and cleaning solos for the other girls, and slept with one eye opened every night, because "teacher" would roll himself a joint and get in his car to sleep under the stars (at my request) and I would be left to listen to fireworks all night in little mexico, CA. And when we weren't dancing, I was inhaling second hand smoke and listening to this yahoo name drop and complain about the american government.

But here I am, Safe and Sound, back and ready to take over the world, despite my 3 day set-back.

Tomorrow, an update on bringing dance to the bay area.

Almost 2 weeks of Catch- up!!

Hi readers!

So... I stopped blogging at the end of my San Diego trip because it was 1) becoming repetitive because of my dissatisfaction with the new works and 2) because I got sick with something I most likely gave myself (like an anxiety attack) either way, I had the spins for the duration of the program... and it was unfortunate because as an artist I think it is your job to create something new and exciting no matter what tools you get. For Example, my senior project was choreographed and set in about... 6-8 rehearsals... all of which were 2 hour rehearsals, but I almost NEVER used all 2 hours... which makes that project come together in essentially somewhere between 12 and 16 hours.... That is LESS than these choreographers got with us... and in many cases, I feel like these choreographers shorted us invention because they were pressed for time.

... No one is asking for an epic, 4 hour ballet... all art needs to do is evoke something that hopefully is exciting and maybe fun, at LEAST visually appealing... some of the choreography was a big flop and the excuse was because we were crunching time... I hope I never get to that point. I hope I am always inventing. DVD to follow.

I will post (soon) my thoughts on my mammoth adventure, (dance intensive: 2, adventure: 12) but get ready for a rant.

Currently I am working quickly to try and bring art to the Bay area. After my intensives have finished, this will be the newest thing to follow on the blog.

Signing off for now so I can work on the bay area take over! Stay Posted!

~Nat Q.

Living on a prayer.

Ok here's the update.
I always thought I just wanted to dance. For whoever, wherever, whatever. After doing this week, I know now this statement is false.

I hate technique classes that are only taught on the right side. That's not technique. I came to work, push me.

The new rep. Piece is, in my opinion, way better than last week's, but we'll see how the rest of the week goes, I still have 4 days. I was cast in the role that was originally played by a man, but they claim the dance is "gender neutral". On one side, this means they trust me to base for lifts. On the other, it means I have yet to play the part of the delicate female. Ever in life. Not that I want to be that ever, but i think to be versitile I need to be able to fake it, and it looks like I haven't fooled anyone yet.

I am still learning so much from the one new work about quality of movement. It's nice because the guy that teaches it reminds me of the teachers at home, without the favoritism bias. I am recievibg as much feedback as everyone else. And I felt really accomplished today when he said the duet I essentially made up myself was coming along. It should be cake by Saturday.

The part that is frustrating is still the piece at the end of the day. There is nothing even remotely interesting about it, and it kills me to know I was trained choreographically better. I'm not a moron, and while I get choreographing for a bunch of people in a week is a big risk, but guess what, we are trained. I stand in the rehearsal and think, doesn't he have any faith in my ability? Were we really that lame the first week that we are geting shit for steps now? It's making me question my ability as an artist.

So as I sink into my pillow, I can at least know I am geting strongr because my entire upper back muscles are fatigued, my sprained toe is just annoying, and I think the result of over compensation from my toe has resulted in a shin splint in my right leg.

... But if I weren't here, I'd be at home kicking myself for not taking a chance to learn.

And I'm super missing my roommates and friends. My new bf down here looks a lot like renae. Course, nothingnis as good as the original.

Dead tired. Quilici, out.

Chill out!

I have not meant to be neglagent, but when my routine ends, so does my blogging sometimes.

It was nice to have a weekend to clear my head and rest. Friday was spent after class at the shores for some snorkel time and than to fiesta island for some fireworks. The bat rays were out in full force in the cove, which was pretty cool, and seaworld has fireworks everynight from June to September, so that's cool. But after a full day of dance and half day of swimming, I was sacked out in no time. Good thing I had nothing to do on saturday because I was wiped out.

Saturday was A few errands and a lot of sun. We went back to the shores for some serious boogie boarding and football. The swimming was actually making my toe feel better too, to my surprise. Than we went to old towns, drank, and passed out. It was quite possibly a perfect day off.

I did some retail bonding with my sister. We learned very early that no one wants to shop with two sisters, because we pretty much have our own language. I really only do my serious shopping with other people, but so far my sister and jolie are my most trusted shopping therapists. Anyways, the hippie in me found great sandals in sun diego, sanuk brand. They are flip flop soles with canvas covers, and they are hand made, microfibered for durability, and the soles are made from yoga mat. And they are recycled materials. They are already super comfy, and I am highly supporting the brand starting now.

After the lazy day of shopping, laundry, and wii sports, I think I am ready to dive back in tomorrow. I think I have a shin splint also from all the walking this weekend, so when that heals I'll be even stronger. Woo.

On a side note, I am bringing jolie with me to new York. She sent me encouraging texts on Thursday and I almost cried. While I know there are always my dance girls for support, jolie continues to support me even while she is never fully sure what I am up to, and I don't tell people enough how grateful I am to have their support. And I truly think I would have given up by now if I were left to my own devices. And yet, it's Sunday, and my alarm is set for another day of floorburns and athletic tape...