Happy Friday Framers!
Keone & Mariel Madrid: “Is This Love” by Bob Marley Choreography
Dog sings to crying baby
Hey There Delilah…with a twist
Yep, you know you’ve been there….
Keone & Mariel Madrid: “Is This Love” by Bob Marley Choreography
Dog sings to crying baby
Hey There Delilah…with a twist
Yep, you know you’ve been there….
Thursday, January 16th at 5- 7 pm
Boheme Cafe and Wine Bar
307 Fairview St, Houston, TX 77006
Price: Free!!!
January 17, 2014
The Barn (formerly Barnevelder Movement/Arts Complex)
2201 Preston St., Houston, TX
12 Minutes Max! pops into The Barn with an exciting line up of choreographers showcasing all new work. Curated and produced by Dance Source Houston from participants of Fieldwork, 12 Minutes Max! features work by Rebekah Chappell, Sara Draper, Laura Gutierrez, Cori Miller and John R. Stronks. Performances will take place on Friday and Saturday, January 17 and 18, 2014 at 7:30pm at The Barn – Dance Source Performing Arts Space. Ticket Information: Dance Source Houston presents 12 Minutes Max! on January 17 and 18, 2014 at 7:30pm at The Barn, 2201 Preston St, Houston, TX 77003. Tickets are $10/pre sale general admission, $15/at the door and $5/Dance Source Members. To purchase tickets visit dancesourcehouston.secure.force.com/ticket/.
Price: $10/pre sale general admission, $15/at the door
January 17, 2014
Gates open at 6. Live racing starts at 7.
Sam Houston Race Park
7575 N. Sam Houston Parkway W, Houston, TX 77064
Live Thoroughbred Racing Returns with bigger purses than ever! Be at The Park Opening Weekend for our special TWO-DAY kickoff highlighting the best of Texas Thoroughbred racing at Texas Champions Weekend. Friday is 50 Cent Beer Night with more than $255,000 in purses! Opening Day is also Military Appreciation Day, with free entry for all Military with ID. Also don’t miss Master Sergeant Promise Harris performing the National Anthem, and the presentation of the colors by the Cypress Ridge HS AFJROTC Color Guard.
Price:
General admission starts at $7 per person
Children ages 3 and under get in FREE
Counter seats are available for an additional $4 per person
Box seats are available for an additional $6 per person
Luxury Suites are also available by calling 281-807-8750
Winner’s Circle buffet available starting at $22.95
January 18, 2014, 4 pm – 9 pm
Joe Kelly Butler Stadium
13755 S.Main Street, Houston, TX 77035
The MLK Battle Of The Bands Competition is one of the largest high school show band competitions in the U.S. Its purpose ist o promote racial harmony through music appreciation while providing scholarship opportunities to high school students.
The 2014 Activity will feature sixteen nationally acclaimed and award-winning high school show bands from across the nation as they compete for national honors.
Price: $10. Get your tickets at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/13th-annual-battle-of-the-bands-competition-tickets-6993221915?ref=ebtnebtckt
January 18, 2014, 11am-6pm
Saengerfest Park
2300 Strand St, Galveston, TX 77550
Yaga’s Chili Quest & Beer Fest will return to Galveston’s Historic Strand District on Saturday, January 18, 2014, featuring 100 varieties of craft and imported beer selections and over 60 chili cook-off teams. The fifth annual Chili Quest officially opens to the public at 11 a.m. when the cook teams begin serving their chili concoctions on the Strand. Other Chili Quest events occurring throughout the day include a washer tournament, margarita making contest, jalapeno eating contest, 5k fun-run and a Strand merchant walk-about. An awards ceremony will conclude the event with the announcement of the best chili on Galveston Island. Beer Fest will open at 12:00pm for those with a VIP Early Bird Ticket. There are a limited number of VIP Early Bird Tickets available to allow for shorter lines and more one on one time with the brewers and representatives. Beer Fest opens to the public at 1:00pm with an estimated 100 craft and imported brews from around the world available for sampling.
Price: $8-35
From: January 18, 2014 – January 19, 2014 (Recurring daily), 8 AM-7PM
Reliant Park
The next stop for auditions are Houston (Jan. 18-19), Indianapolis (Jan. 25-26) and Los Angeles (Feb. 8-9). Additional audition cities will be announced shortly. For updates, registration forms, audition tips, venue information and to submit an online audition, visit www.AGTAuditions.com. “America’s Got Talent”is the only talent competition show open to any age and any talent. The auditions are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for performers across the country to showcase their talent in 90 seconds to the series’ producers, in the hopes of being able to take the stage in front of the “AGT” judges. Every type of performer is welcome: Last season’s competitors included musicians, dancers, magicians, contortionists, comedians, singers, jugglers, animal acts and everything in between.
Got what it takes? Register here: http://www.agtauditions.com/
Good luck!
Price: FREE!!!
January 19, 2014, 11-3pm
Urban Harvest Farmers Market
3000 Richmond
Houston TX 77098
Escape the winter doldrums! Enjoy a fun Tu B’shevat activity for the whole family with Big Tent Judaism, and check out the Urban Harvest Farmers Market! Learn about the “new year for the trees,” decorate a mini planter, and take home seeds to plant and grow! Enjoy a wide range of seasonal, sustainably produced goods from local farmers and vendors at this Farmers market.
Price: FREE!!!
January 19, 2014 – February 09, 2014
Main Street Theater
2540 Times Blvd, Houston, TX 77005
Main Street Theater once again teams up with Guy Roberts and Prague Shakespeare Company to create a new, intimate production of James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s now-classic take on everyone’s favorite storybook characters.
The story follows a Baker and his wife’s wish to have a child, Cinderella’s wish to attend the King’s Festival, and Jack’s wish that his cow would give milk. When the Baker and his wife learn that they cannot have a child because of a Witch’s spell, the two set off on a journey to break the curse. Everyone’s wish is granted, but the consequences of their actions return to haunt them later with disastrous results.
In 1988, Into the Woods won Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical.
Price: $20
While we are not diagnosed with Celiac or any other serious digestive issues, my husband and I are doing an experiment by eliminating gluten from our diet. I have never been one to consume very much of it, but he did and has been experiencing some digestive and allergy issues. To try to restore health back into his life, we are going gluten-free for the next couple of weeks. Hence, the new gluten-free recipe!!
These muffins are not too sweet, in fact my husband said they could use a bit more sugar. I, on the other hand, think they are fine just the way they are, so I will let you and your family make that judgement call.
To make these not too sweet lemon gluten-free poppy-seed muffins you need:
What you do:
Let me know if you know of any other good gluten-free recipes, I would love to try them!
Eat Well. Be Well. Live Well.
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Jill Wentworth is leading us Wednesday by Wednesday into making better food choices and being more healthful. Tune in every Wednesday to get some great recipes and advice from someone who really knows health. In an effort to fuel her passion to serve as well has enhance the lives of others through their nutritional choices, she started Eat Well SA(San Antonio). Her vision is to educate you on how to incorporate a healthy array of foods into your life. Eat Well is not a diet, nor does it embrace any one specific dietary agenda. She also offers customized programs that are educational and teach you the tools you need to maintain healthy, well balanced eating for your busy lives.
When you’re happy, you don’t count the years
Ginger Rogers was born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Missouri on July 16, 1911. Her mother, known as Lelee, went to Independence to have Ginger away from her husband. She had a baby earlier in their marriage and he allowed the doctor to use forceps and the baby died. She was kidnapped by her father several times until her mother took him to court. Ginger’s mother left her child in the care of her parents while she went in search of a job as a scriptwriter in Hollywood and later to New York City. Mrs. McMath found herself with an income good enough to where she could send for Ginger. Lelee became a Marine in 1918 and was in the publicity department and Ginger went back to her grandparents in Missiouri. During this time her mother met John Rogers. After leaving the Marines they married in May, 1920 in Liberty, Missouri. He was transferred to Dallas and Ginger (who treated him as a father) went too.
Ginger won a Charleston contest in 1925 (age 14) and a 4 week contract on the Interstate circuit. She also appeared in vaudeville acts which she did until she was 17 with her mother by her side to guide her. Now she had discovered true acting. She married in March, 1929, and after several months realized she had made a mistake. She acquired an agent and she did several short films. She went to New York where she appeared in the Broadway production of “Top Speed” which debuted Christmas Day, 1929.
Her first film was in 1929 in A Night in a Dormitory (1930). It was a bit part, but it was a start. Later that year, Ginger appeared, briefly in two more films, A Day of a Man of Affairs (1929) and Campus Sweethearts (1930). For awhile she did both movies and theatre. The following year she began to get better parts in films such as Office Blues (1930) and The Tip-Off (1931). But the movie that enamored her to the public was Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). She did not have top billing but her beauty and voice was enough to have the public want more. She suggested using a monocle and this also set her apart. One song she popularized in the film was the now famous, “We’re in the Money”. In 1934, she starred with Dick Powell in Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934).
It was a well received film about the popularity of radio. Ginger’s real stardom occurred when she was teamed with Fred Astaire where they were one of the best cinematic couples ever to hit the silver screen. This is where she achieved real stardom. They were first paired in 1933’s Flying Down to Rio (1933) and later in 1935’s Roberta (1935) and Top Hat (1935). Ginger also appeared in some very good comedies such as Bachelor Mother (1939) and 5th Ave Girl (1939) both in 1939. Also that year she appeared with Astaire in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939). The film made money but was not anywhere successful as they had hoped. After that studio executives at RKO wanted Ginger to strike out on her own. She starred in her final film with Fred Astaire in 1949 in The Barkelys of Broadway replacing Judy Garland after Garland was suspended from MGM due to her tardiness.
She made several dramatic pictures but it was 1940’s Kitty Foyle (1940) that allowed her to shine. Playing a young lady from the wrong side of the tracks, she played the lead role well, so well in fact, that she won an Academy Award for her portrayal. Ginger followed that project with the delightful comedy, Tom Dick and Harry (1941) the following year. It’s a story where she has to choose which of three men she wants to marry. Through the rest of the 1940s and early 1950s she continued to make movies but not near the caliber before World War II. After Oh, Men! Oh, Women! (1957) in 1957, Ginger didn’t appear on the silver screen for seven years. By 1965, she had appeared for the last time in Harlow (1965). Afterward, she appeared on Broadway and other stage plays traveling in Europe, the U.S. and Canada. After 1984, she retired and wrote an autobiography in 1991 entitled, “Ginger, My Story” which is a very good book. On April 25, 1995, Ginger died of natural causes in Rancho Mirage, California. She was 83.
Fred and Ginger- Too Hot to Handle
Ginger Rogers and Lucy Do The Charleston
Fred and Ginger- Bouncing the Blues from The Barkelys of Broadway
Was given the name “Ginger” by her little cousin who couldn’t pronounce “Virginia” correctly.
Sort-of cousin of Rita Hayworth. Ginger’s aunt married Rita’s uncle.
She didn’t drink: she had her very own ice cream soda fountain.
Was Hollywood’s highest paid star of 1942.
Her first teaming with Fred Astaire, Flying Down to Rio (1933), was her 20th film appearance but only Astaire’s second.
A distant cousin of Lucille Ball, according to Lucie Arnaz.
She and Fred Astaire acted in 10 movies together: The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), Carefree (1938), Flying Down to Rio (1933), Follow the Fleet (1936), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Roberta (1935), Shall We Dance (1937), The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), Swing Time (1936) and Top Hat (1935)
Rogers holds the record for actresses at New York’s prestigious Radio City Music Hall with 23 films for a total of 55 weeks.
One of the celebrities whose picture Anne Frank placed on the wall of her bedroom in the “Secret Annex” while in hiding during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam, Holland.
Interred at Oakwood Memorial Park, Chatsworth, California, USA, the same cemetery as long-time dancing/acting partner Fred Astaire is located.
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Part 2 of 3
MFA dance programs bring teachers/professors/mentors rich with information, creative talent of course, experience, and support. These important individuals are more than a pleasant perk and can offer serious guidance (beyond school-real life stuff included) at times in a challenging program.
Once you finish graduate school and become a “master”, the re-entrance to the art/dance/performance/teaching/professional world can get very lonely.
Shyness
(note to self…don’t be shy)
I think one of the most difficult things for me in graduate school was the fact that I had a hard time, and I mean a really hard time putting any kind of work: be it written-choreographic-fragmented ideas or investigations “out there” for feedback. Sharing creative stuff can wreak havoc on the sense-of-the-artist-self.
I’ve had many a conversation with grad school friends (pre and post) regarding the vulnerability that is felt when sharing choreography or just putting work out into a public space/arena. Once it is out there it is immediately exposed to critique, praise, dialogue, exposure: in other words… it becomes a potential thing/entity for CRITICISM.
Feedback
It can be intense and can feel like one of the riskiest compromises of self and to self-confidence.
On Feedback
During the process of creating the MFA project my committee chair/professor and mentor Susan Rose reminded me that all individuals viewing rehearsals would have quite varied and different sets of feedback. I remember she said, “Try not to have everyone in the studio at the same time”. This was an interesting concept to me. Whispering to myself a thought: I actually could choose what feedback would work for the project. I did not have to absorb and utilize all of the notes that were offered to me? Susan reminded me to sift out what was necessary for the work. I could then insert that feedback into my own process.
Seek out feedback
In a year (second year thought) you will be out there on your own, so seek out mentors-teachers-professors during your grad school experience.
Experiment
Try something in your work and choreographic process you may not try otherwise. After all you are inside (where?) the safe walls of an academic institution.
This is the time to try something and fail.
Fail…I know that word is loaded with negative connotations, but graduate school is a space where those misses or failures can be discussed and analyzed and given some important time. The mentors love to be in on your process/project.
Luxury of time
Time goes by so quickly in this space: grad school place
My advice is to remain in contact with your mentors.
They will most definitely want to know what you are working on after graduate school.
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Sue Roginski graduated from Wesleyan University in 1987 with a BA in Dance and from the University of California Riverside in 2007 with an MFA in Dance (experimental choreography). She is a teacher, choreographer, and performer who has produced her own work as well as performances to benefit Project Inform, Breast Cancer Action, and Women’s Cancer Resource Center. In the past few years, Sue has had the opportunity to share choreography at Anatomy Riot (LA), Highways Performance Space (Santa Monica), Unknown Theater (LA), AB Miller High School (Fontana), Culver Center of the Arts (Riverside), Society of Dance History Scholars (conferences ’08 and ’09), The Haven Café and Gallery (Banning), Back to the Grind Coffee House (Riverside), Heritage High School (Romoland), KUNST-STOFF arts (SF), and Riverside Ballet Arts (Riverside). She also has been privileged to dance and perform with Susan Rose and Dancers since 2005. Sue teaches at Mt. San Jacinto College and Riverside City College and divides her time between Riverside and San Francisco where she had a ten year career as dancer and collaborator with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. Sue performs with Dandelion Dancetheater (Bay Area based ensemble) and Christy Funsch (SF dance artist) whenever possible, and in 2010 created P.L.A.C.E. Performance (a dance collective) with friend and colleague Julie Satow Freeman. Her ongoing creative process infuses choreography with improvisation.
20 Words We Owe to Shakespeare ( Forgot one…Green-eyed Monster)!
http://mentalfloss.com/article/48657/20-words-we-owe-william-shakespeare
In Celebration of the new season of Downton Abbey
A Touching Tribute to Chick-Fil-A
10 Famous Movie Misquotes
December 19, 2013 – March 09, 2014
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Roads of Arabia: Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia examines the impact of ancient trade routes that traversed the Arabian Peninsula, carrying precious frankincense and myrrh to Mesopotamia and the Greco-Roman world and allowing for a vibrant exchange of both objects and ideas. With the later rise of Islam, pilgrimage roads converged on Mecca and gradually replaced the well-traveled incense roads.
Friday, Jan 10, 2014 at 6:30 PM
Skate and watch or just enjoy the movie. The movie is free, skating fees apply. Smurfs 2 (PG) 2013, 105 mins.
Movies will be oriented towards the ICE rink. Feel free to bring blankets and chairs to view from the White Promenade and Lake House Deck. Food, beer and wine are available at the Lake House. No glass containers or outside alcoholic beverages, please.
Price: Free and skating is $12
January 11th at 8:00 pm.
Wortham Theater Center
501 Texas Ave.
Houston,TX 77002
Mercury — The Orchestra Redefined performs one of the Romantic period’s most accomplished works on period instruments during today’s Tchaikovsky Serenade concert. The four-movement Serenade for Strings starts with a stirring and highly accented 36‑bar introduction reportedly meant to echo Mozart’s style. The motif is repeated at the end of the movement and again at the end of the work, tying it all together. Serenade’s second movement, Valse, is often performed alone. Valse should be familiar to the most casual music fan; it’s been used in several film and television soundtracks. Mozart’s Divertimento in D, K. 136, and Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin and Strings complete the program. The concert features Antoine Plante, Mercury’s artistic director, at the podium and Jonathan Godfrey (seen above), one of the group’s co-founders, on violin.
call 713-533-0080 or visit mercuryhouston.org
Price: $10 to $65
Saturday January 11, 2014
Start anytime between 9 a.m.-noon; finish by 3 p.m.
Mosquito Cafe
628 14th St., Galveston, TX 77550
Event is non-competitive; walk, jog or run at your own pace. Trail leads participants along city streets displaying some magnificent turn of century architecture. After the event, enjoy fresh seafood and visit Galveston’s Strand Historic District.
Price: Free
Winterfest!
Saturday January 11, 2014 at 11am-4pm
Join us for 3rd annual Winterfest! Hear live music from Katy Rocks. A variety of bands will be featured playing everything from rock to country to original songs ! Skeeters mascot will be there! Vendor booths will be set up for entertainment and shopping. All proceeds will go to Katy Rocks a non-profit that uses music to mentor kids.
Price: Free
Sunday January 12th 11 am to 5 pm
1657 Westheimer 77006 at the corner of Dunlavy
Hosted by Pavement Clothing and Leopard Lounge Vintage. Find awesome digs at the Pavement, Sole Purpose, and Leopard Lounge sidewalk sales. Participate in free craft activities, poems for sale or barter by Traci Lavois, Juice Girl fresh squeezed juices, and free Buff Brew beer tasting. This month we’ll be making mobiles and garlands with free paint chips collected from hardware stores. Don’t forget to stop by Space Boutique for even more handcrafted design.
Price: Free
In the age of busy lives and jammed packed schedules it can be hard to find time to prepare healthy, wholesome meals for you and your family.
I am not usually a fan of convenience, prepared “fast” food, but I have a great product to share with you that will not only make dinner a bit easier, but it will also provide the nourishment from whole, healthy foods that your body needs.
If you are a Texan you are familiar with HEB, the dominant grocery store chain here. They carry some pretty healthy store brand items that are easy to prepare and are well balanced too.
Next time pick up a loaf of this Multi-grain Bread in the freezer isle. It is MULTI-GRAIN and has plenty of fiber and nutrients, thanks to the seeds, including flax.
This is a great staple item to keep in the freezer, preparation is easy, and a wonderful whole grain option. A much better choice than the traditional french loaf bread that is comprised of processed white flour and lacking the fiber and whole grain nutrients to help fuel your body.
Toast a piece and spread some hummus on it, served with chicken and unlimited veggies and you had an awesome well-balanced meal. This loaf is also works great with grilled cheese sandwiches, served along side homemade tomato soup. Yum!
Thanks to this whole grain bread find, I am hopeful that packaged, convenience food is moving in the right direction. Getting healthier, heartier, and full of nutrients.
BE WELL!
Jill Tarpey is leading us Wednesday by Wednesday into making better food choices and being more healthful. Tune in every Wednesday to get some great recipes and advice from someone who really knows health. In an effort to fuel her passion to serve as well has enhance the lives of others through their nutritional choices, she started Eat Well SA(San Antonio). Her vision is to educate you on how to incorporate a healthy array of foods into your life. Eat Well is not a diet, nor does it embrace any one specific dietary agenda. She also offers customized programs that are educational and teach you the tools you need to maintain healthy, well-balanced eating for your busy lives.
My mother gave me my drive but my father gave me my dreams
Liza Minnelli was born on March 12, 1946, the daughter of Judy Garland and movie director Vincente Minnelli. She was practically raised at MGM studios while her parents worked long hours there and she made her film debut at fourteen months of age in the movie In the Good Old Summertime (1949). Her parents divorced in 1951 and, in 1952, her mother married Sidney Luft, with sister Lorna Luft and brother Joey Luft subsequently being born. Her father, Vincente Minnelli, later married Georgette Magnani, mother of her half-sister Christiane Nina “Tina Nina” Minnelli.
At sixteen, Liza was on her own in New York City, struggling to begin her career in show business. Her first recognition came for the play “Best Foot Forward” which ran for seven months in 1963. A year later, Judy invited Liza to appear with her for a show at the London Paladium. This show sold out immediately and a second night was added to it. Liza’s performance in London was a huge turning point in both her career and her relationship with her mother. The audience absolutely loved Liza and Judy realized that Liza was now an adult with her own career. It was at the Paladium that Liza met her first husband, Peter Allen, a friend of Judy’s.
Liza won a Tony award at age nineteen and was nominated for her first Academy Award at age twenty-three for the role of Pookie Adams in The Sterile Cuckoo (1969). Other dramatic roles followed and, in 1972, she won an Oscar for her performance as Sally Bowles in the movie Cabaret (1972). The seventies were a busy time for Liza. She worked steadily in film, stage and music. She and good friend Halston were regulars at Studio 54, the trendiest disco club in the world. Marriages to filmmaker Jack Haley Jr. and Mark Gero, a sculptor who earned his living in the theater followed. Each marriage ended in divorce.
Over the past years, her career has leaned more towards stage performances and she has a long list of musical albums which she continues to add to. She teamed with Frank Sinatra in his “Duets” CD and Sammy Davis Jr. joined them for a series of concerts and TV shows which were extremely well-received.
She has had to deal with tabloid stories of drug abuse and ill-health and has had a number of high profile stays at drug-rehabilitation clinics. Her hectic schedule may have slowed down in recent years, but she still has a large following of immensely loyal fans who continue to cheer her on.
Liza Minnelli on the Judy Garland Show
Baryshnikov and Minnelli
Stepping Out
Her parents named her after Ira Gershwin’s song “Liza (All the Clouds’ll Roll Away)”
Says her mother gave her a sense of humor
1990: She received the Grammy Legend Award, making her one of the few artists who have won entertainment’s top four awards – the Oscar, the Tony, The Emmy and the Grammy.
Was briefly managed by KISS lead singer/guitarist Gene Simmons in the 1980s.
When she was young she befriended Marilyn Monroe.
Her mother, Judy Garland, and former father-in-law, Jack Haley, starred together in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
She and her mother, Judy Garland, were the first Oscar-nominated mother and daughter.
Godparents were Ira Gershwin and Kay Thompson.
Because Liza constantly traveled with her mother, she spent most of her childhood in hotels. She was the inspiration for the character of “Eloise”, who grew up in the Plaza Hotel. The books were written by Liza’s godmother, Kay Thompson.
While Frank Sinatra’s version of “New York, New York” is played at Yankee Stadium after every Yankee home win, Liza Minnelli’s version is played after every Yankee home loss.
Her favorite modern-day singers are Adele, Michael Bublé, Pink and ‘Lady GaGa’.
Sue Roginski graduated from Wesleyan University in 1987 with a BA in Dance and from the University of California Riverside in 2007 with an MFA in Dance (experimental choreography). She is a teacher, choreographer, and performer who has produced her own work as well as performances to benefit Project Inform, Breast Cancer Action, and Women’s Cancer Resource Center. In the past few years, Sue has had the opportunity to share choreography at Anatomy Riot (LA), Highways Performance Space (Santa Monica), Unknown Theater (LA), AB Miller High School (Fontana), Culver Center of the Arts (Riverside), Society of Dance History Scholars (conferences ’08 and ’09), The Haven Café and Gallery (Banning), Back to the Grind Coffee House (Riverside), Heritage High School (Romoland), KUNST-STOFF arts (SF), and Riverside Ballet Arts (Riverside). She also has been privileged to dance and perform with Susan Rose and Dancers since 2005. Sue teaches at Mt. San Jacinto College and Riverside City College and divides her time between Riverside and San Francisco where she had a ten year career as dancer and collaborator with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. Sue performs with Dandelion Dancetheater (Bay Area based ensemble) and Christy Funsch (SF dance artist) whenever possible, and in 2010 created P.L.A.C.E. Performance (a dance collective) with friend and colleague Julie Satow Freeman. Her ongoing creative process infuses choreography with improvisation.
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Part 1 of 3
At 40 I sent in my acceptance letter to the UC Riverside Department of Dance for the MFA in Experimental Choreography. I had been dancing in San Francisco for 17 years and was feeling the need for a change-shake-up-something new when I encountered an information session for UCR’s MFA/PHD program in SF.
The Unknown
It was a big deal to say the least to leave a community I was a part of for 17 years: a leap into the unknown. No worries about missing friends, community or city, graduate school sucked me in and under, and for two years I was immersed, overwhelmed, invigorated, challenged, inspired, overworked, and in desperate need of a comb or brush. Not that everyone does grad school the way that I did, but haircuts and daily moments of primping become a low priority when reading 300-500 pages a week become part of a dance experience. The program at UCR: “Critical Dance Studies” requires MFA students to take the PHD seminars. The four core classes blend cultural, historical, political and rhetorical “approaches” to the practice of making work as a choreographer. Rigorous in nature, theoretical and in depth, the program does not ask you to let go of everything you bring with you, but does require an open mind and sponge-like willingness to absorb what is covered.
The Uncomfortable
In a week I was IN, and there was no turning back. The first PHD seminar had us reading Michel de Certeau and Foucault, and in the MFA studio course dancing representations, we considered the dances that needed “program notes” and HOW to proceed in the making of a dance without those. “Representations” includes a series of choreographic studies. Create a gendered portrait. Such a good assignment, but the hard part of course was actually being exposed to performing a solo again, being watched, and the feeling of being under a microscope. You must be willing to put your self out there and at times embrace the failure. The class not only consists of receiving feedback after sharing the study, but offering thoughts in the moment after a colleague performs her/his study. Dance, respond, observe, articulate, think, move, create, absorb, share, expose, unearth, contribute – just scratches the surface of grad school tasks.
Graduate school seems to have many of those performing moments. In seminar imagine that you’ve done all of the readings, have a solid understanding of what was read, and can contribute articulately to the discussion in class. I cannot imagine that. That was never the case for me. I would have a hard time grasping the reading material and through seminar would think intensely about what I could add to the dialogue. During year one I couldn’t/didn’t speak. I wasn’t ready at the time, but didn’t realize that. I spent many moments in seminar trying to figure out what to say. It was debilitating. I almost forgot I had been OUT of school for some time at age 40. Everyone was so smart! I could have just practiced listening, being.
Side Thought
Graduate school is a ton of work condensed into a short amount of time, so there is a lot of doing and expectations always dancing alongside the doing.
Process
As a dancer and performer, there is much emphasis placed on product, the performance, or the “show”. I feel as an artist there is ego involved so you want to be praised or complimented. It took me about a year to settle into the concept of process as the crux of an MFA rather than “performing”. Of course, show up, be in the moment, be present, but don’t over analyze what you are contributing each moment that you’ve just contributed something. Experiment and investigate AND hold onto a bit of you while you are moving outside of a comfort zone. After all it is you who got into the program.
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