Dancing

Up until Friday, my experience with Dance had been limited to what you see in clubs or certain churches (two very different things let me tell you...). A few weeks back, my friend Paz suggested that we go see the new performances that the Compañia Nacional de Danza was putting on. This particular dance troupe is possibly the most prestigious in the country. It performs what is usually referred to as Modern Dance, which is what ballet and other classical forms evolved into during the 20th century. It tends to be conceptual, though the levels of abstraction and symmetry vary.

I didn't know what to expect from it all. I consider myself to be fairly appreciative of most of the arts. I am undoubtedly a film nerd. I enjoy art museums, and delude myself into thinking that I understand some of the paintings. Architecture certainly fills me with awe and admiration. I love to read, and actually enjoy poetry. And music, ah... music, is where I see God. Even so... I wasn't sure how I would take dance. For one thing, I know nothing about dance. I am a complete philistine when it comes to that art. The two people I went to the performance with were both well versed in dance and choreography, leaving me at quite a disadvantage.

But most of all, I was a bit suspicious of dance because it is a performance art, a stage art, and the only other art form of that kind that I am familiar with is Theatre. I must admit, (be prepared to think less of me), that I don't like theatre. There, I said it. I know it is one of those things that cultured people are supposed to enjoy, but I can't. Perhaps this is due to the fact that I have mostly been exposed to poor college performances where there the few talented performances got swallowed up in the general mediocrity of the rest of the cast. Though, the few professional things I've seen haven't particularly pressed me to change my opinion of the stage. So, understandably, I didn't know what to expect from Dance.

But I was wrong. Dancing and Acting are miles apart, despite what some musical theatre has tried to convince us of otherwise. In theatre, you have actors who are taking on the role of certain role, while in dance, the dancers are the very embodiment of what they are trying to convey. In dance, you skip the whole suspension of disbelief step that is necessary in dramatic arts. Instead, the experience is something between music and (excuse my lame limited frame of reference here) sports. You are experiencing energy and grace. You are hypnotized by their movements, like the flicker of a candle. It is the pinnacle of the human body's potential. Distilled body language made into pure, organic, kinetic art.

In summary: if you have never seen a real dance performance, it is high time you did. While you are at it, pay the cash and see a good one.

Once

Well, it has been a while since I have written anything real on here. It has also been a while since I have reviewed a movie on ye ole bloge. This used to be a more common occurrence. And seeing as how I don't have much to tell you, I think we are about due another review.

finally saw the movie Once. It was initially recommended to me by Afshaan, who so far hasn't let me down with her recommendations of both movies and music (props!). But actually, I was intrigued by the film before she pushed me towards it. I had seen the posters and read some good reviews, but alas, I don't have cash to see every movie that interests me. But after my friend's recommendation, I just decided to buy the DVD. Risky, perhaps, to buy a movie you have never seen. But this is actually quite a common occurrence for me. But that is a discussion for another day.

So onto the film itself. First I will say, it isn't for everyone. We'll make a film personality profile for you right now. Was Lost in Translation too slow for you? No? Ok, good. Did you like Before Sunset or Before Sunrise? Yes? Sounds promising. Is witty repartee or a twisted plot-line a necessity for you? No? OK, you may like Once. Oh wait, do you like music? I mean, really love the experience that accompanies creating music? That is a must. If these things don't describe you, dont even bother reading this review or watching the movie.

Once is a story about the power of a moment, a meeting; that cross-point in time when two people's paths intersect for a moment and change each other's future from then onward. Like the title implies, it is about the uniqueness of these temporal relational experiences. In this case, the intersection occurs in Dublin, between two people who are unmotivated and lost, in a sense. Through their common interest in music, they are able to serve as catalysts for the other's motivation.
However, the original thing about the movie is that more than half of it takes place musically. This is not a musical in the traditional sense, where songs are scripted into pushing the story forward. These musical scenes are simply of the main characters playing, recording, singing and performing their tunes. In a sense, it is almost like seeing an extended "behind the scenes" video about a music album where you see the musicians talking and laughing and recording their music.

Clearly the music is more important than any other element in this movie. The actors were/are musicians first, and this movie was really their first acting job. Perhaps because of this the acting is quite natural and easy, it is barely acting and acquires that "behind the scenes" feel I mentioned before. Another cool thing is that the two lead characters actually did write the music that their characters perform. As for the music, it is that irish singer songwriter style that Damien Rice has popularized. It is that busking friendly, melancholy acoustic sound, accompanied by a female singer. Personally, I like Glen Hansard's voice better than Damien Rice's. It is less whiny, which has always turned me off from DR. The girls voice isn't as good as DR's own Lisa Hannigan, but is adequate. The songs themselves, are less contrived and more visceral, which works quite well.

In my opinion, this movie is worth a view or two if you aren't bothered by non traditional story telling and you aren't a music snob (if you can't enjoy the music, then you won't like the movie, clear and simple). It does capture the magic intangibility of music performance though, and its power to bring people together somehow. It also captures the way people move people, and how sometimes all we need is for someone to step into our lives and breathe a fresh breath of music, art, love into us and put us on our way.

Weird Stuff goes on

Weird, like this. I don't understand hypnotism.

2008 so far...

The past couple months have been pretty terrible really. Actually, this year so far has felt that way. First I spent a month and a half without work and without being able to sing. This took away my ability to stay busy working and also to keep occupied with music, which is my leisure and love. Then, February came and my dog died. Then my friend Paco died. All the while I was draining my bank account dry because of my work situation. All of these things put together have amounted to 2008 looking like the worst year in a long time.

Of course, just as all good things must come to an end, all bad things must also, or so I hope.

Fortunately, I have been overloaded with work during the last two weeks. I finally got another screenplay translation. The nice thing is that I do this one from scratch, instead of heavily editing a poor translation. It is more work, but it is twice the pay. I also found out that one of the projects I have been involved in has been taken up for and will be produced. It will be done in spanish, but my translation was used for overseas promotion of the project to investors. The important thing is that the producer I work for is finding success with his projects, which hopefully means a more stable working environment for me.

On top of that, my other job has started to set in. I have been hired by Kenny's company, Ashoka as a writer. The way that works is that each regional branch finds candidates for Ashoka to sponsor and after a long selection and interview process they send each candidate's profile to the company headquarters in Washington DC. Unfortunately, many profiles are poorly written by non-native english speakers and their candidates often get rejected merely because their work isn't properly explained. That's where I come in. I am in the middle of finishing up a few profiles for the Spanish branch, and if all goes well I will be helping out other european branches as well. So far I know they are sending me to Germany in June. I have to be there for the final candidate interview process, which usually takes a week.

So at least work has been going ok (finally).

As to my voice, I finally went to a specialist yesterday who took a video of my vocal cords. Apparently I have two problems. Fortunately, I have not injured them with nodules or anything of that kind. What I do have, however, is a congenital malformation where the cords don't close fully. This leads to vocal fatigue and straining. Normally, this would just be a mild irritation, but because of my several monthlong bout with Acid Reflux, the cords are sore and swollen. So I suppose the cure is twofold: get rid of the acid reflux (which I have so far been unable to do), and do physical therapy to get my cords back in place. I am quite afraid though, because the people who I know that have gone through this kind of therapy usually have their voices changed by the end of it. I quite like my voice now. I like the timbre and range. People say I have my own sound. I am really scared I'll lose that. Then again, maybe the process will make my voice richer and my range larger. I don't know.

But at least there are steps to be taken towards singing again.

And while friends can never be replaced, at least new ones can be added to enrich your life. This past weekend my mom bought a new portuguese podengo puppy. It is different from the 3 labradors I have been used to. It is a smaller dog, for one. It is a different breed type (a hunting dog, believe it or not). Therefore it has a very different personality than our previous dogs. It was the runt of the litter and is still getting used to its new home, so it's still a bit skittish, but it's pretty cute.
As to its name, I wanted to call it Idea. that way you could say "good idea!" when it was good, and "bad idea!" when it misbehaved. But our friends thought it was an ugly and cumbersome name, so that was that. I suggested "kitty" for the dog's name, but they didn't take to that. Neither did they like "batman". In the end we settled on Tessa, which is a bit boring, but is a safe name.




And in a few years: