MoMa

I won't be given you profound reflections on each piece. I will just let you enjoy the view and form your own, as I did last Sunday.


Crockery chandelier in the design exhibit

'Cinderella' table

Holographic lamp

Marina Abramovic 'The Artist is Present'
(the exhibition of all her wackiness and wonderment prohibited photos)

Rothko Rothko

Hmm maybe blondes don't have so much fun

Never Mind the Pollocks

Steel sculptures, remind me of someone...

Girl before a mirror, Picasso

La Danse, Matisse

It must be ppppPOP. Roy Lichtenstein

Andy Warhol

Final thoughts:

xxx

I don't care if Mondays blue, Tuesdays grey and Wednesday too oh Thursday I don't care 'bout you its Friday...

Friday Friday...26th March.

Standard morning at the Art Farm...I know you've seen 'em all before but I just can't get over these frickin bunnies...
Dooooooh!

Afternoon at lovely Treehouse where I love them cos they let me eat in the corridor while watching Iris do her dance class.

Evening - theatre jazz with Peter Dehing. It is fair to say that he is slightly mental, in the good eccentric way that all artistes are. He is Dutch. He is cool. He was v. helpful. All the B'way Centre teachers are soooo into alignment which of course is tres good for misaligned people like me. So I had a great class with a super hardcore warm up - the toughest yet. Enjoyed it a lot and was told to come back to all his classes so he can work with me more, which is encouraging. Sadly found on my walk to the subway that I had strained something and it was getting stiffer and stiffer the more I walked (probably cos it's so flipping cold out at the moment). *Update - this has now gone away but the odd strainy feeling in the top of my right ankle remains, though is gradually depleting. Sleeping with frozen peas on seems to help.*

Decided Friday night to take a trip way downtown to Tribeca, to visit Duane Park (Marissa's restaurant that I went to on my first Friday here).

This was definitely the right decision as the place was packed and buzzing. Marissa welcomed me in and I met her husband who has been in Germany for a while. Then in walked a pair of their friends, who I knew immediately were British just by looking. Call me judgemental, whatever, its true you can totally tell if someone is English. Me and Lynne can anyway.

Anyhoo, after I was introduced to this very pleasant couple from London, it was revealed to me through snippets of the conversation that I was talking to Antony Gormley. Look him up if I haven't already bent your ear about having met him. Corrrrrr. Can't quite believe that one.

Anyway. My evening started here........................(Pictured: the oh-so-smooth Brian Newman with the other two members of his jazz trio and his fantastic voice)

...................................and ended up here. I'll let you make up your own details but suffice to say I am apparently very good at sneaking past doormen, I owe Michelle Chris and Patrick for a great time and I am so delighted to have met Tucker the dog. And what an interesting way to experience Chinatown for the first time.

***

Saturday was a special day - it was the day of the La Cage sitzprobe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitzprobe). And me and Iris were allowed to sit in and observe. V.v.v. exciting since obviously they all have such wonderful voices and also cos everyone was clearly v.v. excited. Also got to sit there being starry-eyed at Kelsey Grammer (yup, still) belting out his numbers. And him and Doug Hodge generally being funny - can't WAIT to see the full thing cos it is going to be a-ma-zing, your heard it here first.


This is my favourite orchestra member. Why? Cos he was only flute and oboe. Well, two oboes. Who else do I know who is flute and oboe? xxxxxxxx!!!!! (among other things, obviously)xxx

***

Sunday was an extremely cultural day. After eating pancakes with ice cream for breakfast (ahahahahaaaaaaa!This was not in the cultured bit) I braved the rain and walked to MoMa, the name commonly given to the Museum of Modern Art. It was packed out cos of the weather outside. But with a winning combination of expert knowledge, a great sense of direction and an instinct for avoiding crowds, I managed to get round every exhibit.
Not.
I did however spend a lovely few hours drifting through white corridors and gentle lighting with slightly damp feet. My favourite points were the paintings floor as it featured lots of Rothko, which I have liked lots ever since we learned about it in year 8! Also really really like some of the design exhibits, e.g. holographic light, beautiful chandelier made of broken china and 'Cinderella' table.
In photography my favourite thing was definitely the selection from 'From here I saw what happened and I cried'.
http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A7177&page_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1

And finally, the top floor was bonkers. Marina Abramovic is a performance artist from Yugoslavia who has been going since the 70s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Abramovi%C4%87
She is somewhat loopy but also very fascinating as she just gives these calm rational explanations for the mental performances pieces she does/has done.

Anyway the top floor was a special exhibition of her past works, either being shown on video loops or being recreated by new performers. As bizarre as I find some of this stuff - sitting back to back for hours on end tied together by the hair unable to move, anyone? - you can't deny it takes a special kind of person to be able to do it. That level of focus is not something I possess in great quantities myself. Also, Marina Abramovic herself was actually present in the museum, in a new piece entitled, appropriately enough, 'The Artist is Present'. In this she had a table with one chair either side set up in the atrium, in a large cordoned-off square space lit by big stark floodlights, one at each corner. She sat motionless in one chair while the other was occupied by members of the watching public. It was open to anyone and I saw 3 different people in the chair while I was there...they just sat, as motionless as Abramovic, and looked at her. Again - don't thnk I could hack it. I'd laugh, or fidget, or fall over on the way or something. Was unexpectedly transfixing to watch.
It's an inflatable chair.
Yup.

I took a whole loada pictures so I may just be really lazy and put a bunch of them in a separate post. With no explanation. You should recognise them, we're all educated art connoisseurs here. Cept me.

***

My weekend ended with a roll through the Lower East Side. Got off the train at Washington Square Park, which was partly by accident but happily so because it led me to these guys:

Hoooooow cool! They were so sweet bless them, all bopping away and singing their little hearts out. These are the real live Gleeks. They were on tour from Ohio!

Walked further East and stumbled across Screaming Mimi's on Lafayette St, where I purchased my new most brilliantest thing:D Which I am sure will feature in some pictures soon. If it ever stops raining.

Walked Further East and found a little cinema that was showing 'The Runaways' in 5 minutes' time, so in I went, bought some popcorn, found a seat, spilled my popcorn and settled down to enjoy what was an ok movie. Lead performances were pretty good but really not that rock 'n roll - they occasionally took some drugs or like, drank some alcohol or whatever...but they had v. little attitude. I'm more rock 'n roll than Dakota Fanning. If anyone contests this I will gladly prove it. But hey, everyone loves 70s costumes and not giving a damn about their reputation.

funNY

I walked past a laundrette the other night and saw a bronze statue man doing his washing. His head and hair and hat were all entirely bronze. He looked like he'd had a long day of statuing.

On the same night an angry looking man walked past me with headphones on, muttering to himself. All I caught were a few words - '.....depressed......suicidal.....'

I have observed that in food joints, at least in diners, burger bars and others of that ilk, they bring you whatever is ready first, first. This can result in a sort of reverse effect. In brgr which is next door but one to our building, I recieved my vanilla shake - dessert, by all accounts - almost as soon as I ordered it. This was followed by a five-minute wait, at the end of which arrived my fries, followed by the actual brgr itself.
Same with my trusty diner pancake breakfasts(/late night snacks...elevenses...etc...) Order pancakes with fruit and syrup and an orange juice, and you will recieve it in a direct reversal of the order in which you spake it. Apart from the juice - that will still arrive inexplicably last.

On Friday I was walking home from jazz and suddenly there was a shriek in my ear and someone ruffled my shoulders from behind. Looked round and the cast of Hair was running past me on their way to make an entrance through the auditorium having exited the theatre via the stage door, and one of them had decided to do a bit of random passer-by participation.

There is a hilarious guy in Times Square who stands on the pavement holding a cardboard sign saying 'I need a beer'. He makes odd noises and now and then he pops another sign out from behind the first one that reads 'me too'.

It is indeed raining men

Well. Of sorts. The men to which I refer are the ones who were doing a last-minute audition for a role as a 'Cagelle' (name collectively given to the ensemble of La Cage aux Folles) due to injuries in the current line-up.

This is just a quicksmart post to record the wonder that was my Wednesday. I am of course sorry for the reason that the auditions needed to be held in the first place, but I'm also super glad they were cos it was SO MUCH FUN to get to watch! Thanks Lynne!!!

So the first round was just a short sequence taken from the show which they did in small groups. Then in smaller groups. Remember what show we are talking about: if you don't know anything about La Cage, you should at least know that the dancers are not just male dancers. They are male dancers dancing as female dancers. They are trannies. They are crossdressers. They are in drag. They are faaaabulous dahhling. So these guys all had to not only bring it in their technique, style and ability to pick up steps quickly, they had to bring it as their drag selves too. It has to be sooooo over the top otherwise what's the point?

Second section was learning and performing a bit of the contemporary ballet sequence from the show (which have watched on the DVD of the London show and love, can't wait to see it for real) and it was impressive how quickly this narrowed down the selection - it's been said a million times but strong ballet technique is what ya need, never fails. Then they had to do a demo of any tap skills they had - just basic steps. This bit surprised me - I assumed they'd all be wonderful tappers but some had no tap and some had very little. And only one person could do really good wings. Why do more people not tap?! It is clearly awesome!
Next Lynne asked to see any acro tricks they had to offer (by this point it's been narrowed down to like 6), OH I forgot also in between tap and acro they did a cancan test - 4 jump kicks, a stretch of their choice and a jump split. Oh. My. There was one guy who was literally elastic - I swear his legs went beyond his ears when he kicked and his side developpe was unbelievable - he went well past 180 degrees. Phew.
The last thing they had to do was an improvised 'walkdown' to 'It's Raining Men'. Anyone who watches the Pineapple documentary show may have seen this as they filmed the London audition in one episode and this featured highly. So so funny I couldn't stop laughing. It was such a great way to spend a couple of hours, probably won't ever get the chance to do that again so I'm glad I had it now!

Much very exciting news on the way. Stay tuned.
P & Lxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On such a high

I feel GOOOOOOOD. I am full of delicious takeaway salad and curry from Wholefoods Market. I am full of happy happy endorphins brought on my the out of control tap class I just did. I am going to officially adopt out of control as my latest superlative because I hear it so often.

Before I launch into rhapsodies over my class I am going to get a few observations down before I forget them.

1) 90% of people (and things) on the street in NY are so interesting because there is something slightly incongruous about them...like a game of 'what's wrong with this picture?' Like the smart-looking business man with a big plaster across his bottom lip. Or the middle-aged and somewhat downtrodden-looking lady with shopping bags merrily zooming along on a kid's scooter. Orrr the taxi that went past with a big TV screen on top instead of the standard lit-up ad box, looking something like a big yellow Duplo shark.
2) When I left the B'way Centre some of the ensemble from 'Hair', which is on a couple of doors down, came walking past in full costume hair and makeup looking awesome. Either that or they were just very, very dedicated Hair fans.
3) We are all speaking the same language and yet people often can't understand me - I know I have a different accent but it's not that bad is it? Though thinking about it people can't understand me at home either...I should just slow right down.
4) I leave the house at half past 9 and walk downtown. When we return home about midday for lunch and naptime, there is a hole in the street where there was not one before. How? When?
5) Pink ends are a bigger deal here than they would be at home...I swear noone would look twice in England wherever you go but I've had several delightful conversations with some hair colour enthusiasts in the past couple of days.
There was another really good one which I hope I remember soon.
Also a plaster = band aid...as someone pointed out to me, plaster is the stuff you us to fill cracks. Whatever, its also the thing you use when you cut your finger!

Ok, tap class.
Yipeekiyay brother pucker.
Taught by Dolores Sanchez aka Dola (covering for Jared Grimes). I FINALLY did an intermediate class - I've been doing advanced beginner in everything (cept locking where I did basic) based on the fact that yes at home I'm advanced but here the style is very different so it's like starting from a point much lower down the rankings. Tap however = no problem. This class was like, my perfect level - it was really hard, but as we all know the best bit about tap is when you conquer something tricky and then your feet just do it on their own. And luckily I conquered all the tricky bits and now my feet won't stop. This is some disparity in names of steps - what we would call a tap step they call a flap. They seem to use flap as a general term for any basic two-sound step (apart from shuffle), where we use it for one specific step. Also 'brush' was used in a context that we would more commonly use 'pick up'. A flap with your whole foot where the heel goes down is called a 'slurp' - I have a feeling I was actually sposed to know that but didn't. As part of warm up we did pull backs on the spot - argh! What?!?! Like, completely on the spot, not where you get to step forward in between so you don't travel. Just one after another in one place using the same foot each time. And then travelling back changing feet each time. Bitches of exercises.
And then we did the most rad combination ever, to 'Standing in the way of control' by Gossip. Fast fast fast, but after a couple of times it was rolling out pretty automatically. Actually pleasantly surprised - I'm proud of myself for how fast I picked it up especially the rhythm cos it was severely precise, like just-off syncopated beats. Like, I'm used to my great tap classes where there's only the two of us so we have plenty of time to break stuff down and also I can copy Izzy. But she went really fast. Though it was a small class, like at home - guess it's a universal thing that the higher you get with tap the smaller the classes get. I can't understand why everyone doesn't want to do it, it is clearly amazing. Good to have small classes though. The hip hop classes are all huuuuuuuge and I expect salsa is too.
Anyway I had a great time, my brain and body feel very well worked out (but not damaged in any way today - yay!)

No new pictures really. But since this is mostly a dance post, here ya go. Enjoy.



What time is it?
ShowTIME
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

...And now the skies are open.

It is raining, raining, RAINING. Bizarre sensation to be sitting in a 5th floor apartment and hear the rain on all sides...3 of our walls are outside ones, so it sounds like we are surrounded. I can hear rain to my far left, far right, behind me and right in front of me and it kind of sounds like it's falling in the corridor. Or in the apartment at the end of the corridor. Anyway there's ALOTOFIT.

I just got back from tap class and found myself for the first and possibly last (though I'm NYC, y'never know) opportunity to do the famous title scene from my all-time favourite movie. Had tap shoes in hand, a black umbrella that was just right for twirling jauntily, it was raining as hard as it is in the movie, puddles aplenty...I didn't, chiefly because I was trying to hang on to my coat, my bag, my book, my brolly and my shoes all at once and something would've landed in a puddle, but I did sing the song all the way home. And did a few highlights from the sequence.

It's 'Singing in the Rain', in case you didn't know or are a complete idiot and couldn't guess from the rain and the, well, singing.

Something I learned today: when some people first learn the alphabet, it goes like this - 'A, B, C, D, E, F, G...H, I, J, K, ELLEMENNOPEE. Q R S T...' etc etc. Ellemmennopee. Sounds like a town in somewhere like Michigan or Wisconsin. Understandable interpretation of L, M, N, O, P though.

***

I have not yet told of my expedition on Saturday night. I made yet another new discovery. Serendipity, it has been pointed out to me, has been a huge factor in what a great time I'm having. I had decided to just go for a walk, as I often do because I like the feeling of roaming around this huuuge place that I could walk around for hours and see only a fraction. So off I went, heading downtown for no real reason other than I was facing that way when I exited the subway. I like to make a sort of staircase pattern when I go roaming cos it takes you further out of your way...along a street, down an avenue, along a street, down an avenue, along down along down...so you kind of zigzag through all kinds of things. Anyway, walking this way for about 20 mins brought me to Washington Square park. Now I knew nothing about the rep of this place, only that it was where Washington Square Arch stands.

Turns out that as well as a popular tourist destination it's a haven and hangout for musicians, skateboarders, free and peaceful people and a few drunks. It was brilliant, as soon as I went past the arch into the main square it was like *WHOOOOSH, forces beyond my comprehension brought me here tonight*. All around on the stone benches that edge the square there were musicians - mostly guitarists, but a few violins and a saxaphone. And lots of people singing. All playing and singing over the neighbouring musicians but somehow as you moved away from one towards the next they didn't clash, you could hear one at a time.

My most special WSP moment was when I found these guys.

See, on Saturday night if I'd been in the UK, I would have very probably been singing 'No Woman No Cry' at Jonasz' farewell bash, backed by the indomitable TLOGs, at about the time that I took this picture. It was as if they knew, because at the moment I passed them they launched into their version - the real thing with a real rastaman. If that's not a tribute to J.O.S I dunno what is.

Anyway it made me glad that I have been drilled in No Woman No Cry, so I was happily and comfortably able to join their circle and sing along, every word. Thanks Toddy:D

I'm really loving the hot new thing on wheels, waveboarding, but I also really wanna learn how to do THIS vvvvvv (apologies for shit video, it didn't look this dark on me camera!)

Can you see what he is standing on? Like two little mini skateboards, each one smaller than his foot, and with a wheel that allows it to tilt all ways, and not strapped on or anything. Super rad.

***

Sunday I went to Central Park again (after my Weekend Waffle - this time with banana and an egg on the side. There will shortly be appearing a post that is dedicated to the wonder that is the Diner, and its delicious delightful delovely breakfasts). Hung out in a v. lazy manner for several hours with Tony, who is the music guy from the Art Farm (where the bunnies live!) As he's a native New Yorker (and neither a frazzled mum or an under-5, the people with whom I spend the most time) I'm thinking 'yeah he can show me around, tell me the good places to go'. Well firstly I am better at directions than you Tony and secondly you divorced me and I pushed you off a bridge. Dunkin' Donuts #1 was good though. Also there is a Castle in Central Park - who knew? And a whole stretch of woods that felt an awful lot like Hinton Ampner but with more rocks.

(I realise that the number of times I employed brackets in that paragraph was ridiculous and I am ashamed.)

(Increasingly so.)

Very excited about writing my diner tribute. How very, very sad I am.

P, L and L of Hsxxxxxxxxx

Sun is shining, weather is SWEET

Saturday me and Iris went to Central Park for the day. The weather was literally 'out of control'...so, so hot. I had a skirt and tights on and I was melting with every step.

Started the day with challah french toast with bananas strawberries and syrup though...WOW I didn't think anything could equal choc chip pancakes but that did! Mazing.

And we went to the park which again was like a holiday...but busier. So packed - I think the entire City had just flooded there to enjoy the sun. Our first episode of the day was when we entered the park at 72nd st, where you go straight to the John Lennon memorial.

On December 8^th, 1980, John Lennon was shot dead as he entered his home at the Dakota Apartment Building at 72^nd St. and Central Park West. A long time resident of New York City, Mr. Lennon had taken many walks with his wife and young son through the friendly confines of Central Park. Long a favorite son of his adopted city, John Lennon wasn’t simply New York’s Beatle. He was, for many, the embodiment of the spirit on which city had been built. One half urbane cynic and one half romantic dreamer, he unabashedly embraced the disparate parts which, as every New Yorker knows, combine to form a uniquely gifted, passionate individual.

On March 26, 1981, the city council adopted legislation introduced by then-council member Henry J. Stern on December 18, 1980, which designated the area, stretching from 71st to 74th streets, as Strawberry Fields. His widow, the artist and performer Yoko Ono, later donated $1 million to the Central Park Conservancy to re-landscape and to maintain the 2.5-acre tear-drop-shaped parcel of park landscape. Designed by landscape architect Bruce Kelly the ground breaking ceremony was in March 21, 1984. The name of the site is taken from the Beatle’s song Strawberry Fields Forever and was also, for John, an evocation of an orphanage in Liverpool by the same name. At the center lies the famous Imagine mosaic, donated by the city of Naples. There is also a bronze plaque that lists the 121 countries endorsing Strawberry Fields as a Garden of Peace.

Strawberry Fields opened on October 9, 1985, John's 45th birthday. Every October 9^th since then has seen an all day vigil of people of all ages from around the world; fans of his music and believers in his vision.

Location: West Side between 71st and 74th Streets

Details: Strawberry Fields was dedicated by Mayor Edward I. Koch, October 9, 1985, John Lennon's birthday.

It's a sad place, really - you turn around and you can see the building where he was shot, and the windows where he lived, and where Yoko Ono still has apartments.

But it's lovely. This guy stood up, introduced himself as the Mayor of Strawberry Fields and made a speech giving us all the information written above, very fluently and thoroughly with some nice touches about the flowers on the mosaic - he changes them regularly, always a different design but always incorporating a peace sign. Saturday's flowers were gorgeous.

Also saw this great sign, with which I strongly identified.
So after much strolling around getting very hot and sweaty, we went to Central Park Zoooooo! Ahhh I've been expressing my intense desire to go to the zoo for weeks now and now I haaaave! It's a very nice little zoo. It's really small so it's pretty cool the way they fit all the animals in. My favourite new zoo pals were the sea lions,

penguins,

aaaaand polar bears!

To top off a lovely day, we stopped to get Iris a balloon - well really it was a balloon sculpture with a heart on it. And the balloon man decided that this was his last one and he was clocking off after it. So he gave me his hat. In an instance of timing genius, Lynne appeared in front of us right at that moment. How do you explain that you are wearing a (not small) balloon hat without looking like a teensy bit of a fool? You don't, is the answer. Luckily Lynne did not start speaking to me very loudly and slowly as you might to a very dim person, she just laughed, a lot, and took pictures of me and this delightful green man. Like a little mini freakshow.

But I took this one too which is actually rather nice, it just has a green randomer in the middle.

There was a whole lot more to my day after this but it will have to be in another post cos there's tons more pictures and a few vids.

Peace and love and lots of hugs

Times they are a changin'

Nothing out of the ordinary happened on Friday, I don't think. We went to Art Farm, we sang songs, we travelled lots, we met Lynne at lunchtime. Oh yeah something vair cool did happen - we met her just as she was en route to the theatre where La Cage is going to be. So we tagged along. They were there to discuss various aspects of the staging with various techies, and had a lively debate over the flooring which had been designed to look fantastic but had tons of big gaps - not ideal for dancing on in stilettos and rollerskates. I was sitting in the audience front row with Iris, observing. Got to see the whole theatre stripped to its bones - no wings, nothing. Was weeeird - got so used to stages that are cut in half sizewise by big curtains at the sides. It's funny to see all the different types of people who make a show - you've got the go-getting creatives, the deliciously camp dancers and then these gruff, down-to-earth techies who look like they're from another planet compared to the bonkers Cagelles I saw yesterday. But they're all working towards the same cause. Lovely. (No pictures - strictly verboten.)

Then in the evening I did a great Broadway jazz class involving a hardcore warmup (the warm up alone was basically a Saturday limbering class, press ups and everything) and a combination to a song I don't know but it was all Fosse with some Charleston and lots of hips. Taught by a super cool guy whos name I can't remember cos he wasn't the regular teacher he was a cover...but he was wicked. So that worked me out a LOT and I walked homeward pleasantly tired...but not before stopping off for late-night chocolate chip pancakes with syrup and bacon. Is there anything in this World better than chocolate chip pancakes? I'm really not too sure.

And the other thing I did on Friday night was this.


Didn't have the guts to go pink all over.






TTFNXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sights n sounds

Another quick round of pics that don't really belong to any particular day or event. Just for funsies.

I went for a walk the other night, and had this urge to go to the far west side of the city, by the water. I went straight across from Times Square and kept going sideways til I hit 11th Avenue. I could see 12th across the road but it was obviously more used by pedestrians - the fact that there was not another soul walking down 11th kind of felt like it was unchartered territory - of course it isn't, but I doubt there's many that have walked down there at that time of night so I spose in a sense it is. The sense that I was not supposed to be there was the main source of its appeal. Here are some buildings that I saw on my wanderings.









Here is The Intrepid - a famous battleship that is now a museum and very imposing.







This is 26th street - my street. It's a bit weird that the grid layout of NYC allows you to stand on one side of the City and look all the way to the other side. Of course you can't really do that but it's a cool notion.







Some neon yellow trees outside a restaurant in Soho.








A notice in a Chinese takeaway that really made me laugh. Like, 'HE'S CHOKING! GET THE CPR KIT! Oh gooosssh, so sorry, oh what a silly mistake! Hahaha...sorry...yep, it's not choking it's a heart attack. Probably still need that CPR kit.' There's somewhere you don't wanna be for your first heart attack, or choking fit.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I WANNA BE A PART OF IT!

BAAAAAAH I've got so behind. It is Saturday and I need to do Thursday cos Thursday was IMPORTANT. *Consults pocket notebook*

Right. Thursday March 18th.

Lynne invited me and Iris to spend the morning sitting in a La Cage rehearsal room while they worked the rollerskating number. Aaaaaah! Of course I was beyond excited to get to sit in and see what went on and watch the dancers. And it fully lived up to my expectations. Here's what I wrote at the time:

Watching 6 boys on rollerskates waving huge ostrich-plume style fans. Makes a change from seeing them in high heels. They are most fabulous and some are astonishngly skinny. Bloody amazing though. Also vair good at singing in beautiful girly voices.
Errr...and Kelsey Grammer is sitting next to me. I am fighting the urge to take a photo to prove his proximity.

And that's all I could get out...was too busy watching the Cagelles gliding around the floor, batting their eyelashes and doing tits and teeth like the World was going to end tomorrow. Which just goes to show how good they are - they're boys, teeth they have but the other thing...
Anyway. Was brilliant fun waching them. Although obviously it's on a hugely professional and prestigious scale, the 'rehearsal' atmosphere was totally familiar to me. As was the way in which Lynne ran things - painstakingly picking through each tiny thing so that it feels like your brain is just going round in circles trying to find the point that is being made, but then you run it and something has clicked into place to make it that much better. Anyone who's ever been in any kind of decent dance show (and I'm lucky enough to have been in a number of very very decent ones) will recognise that. Rollerskates = cool. Also the guy who is playing the butch transvestite in denial. If you ever see La Cage aux Folles you will know the one I mean and you will laugh.
And Kelsey Grammer...woah! Lynne didn't have to introduce me because he introduced himself straight off. He held out his hand and said 'Hi, I'm Kelsey' which is lucky cos I had honestly not noticed him standing near the door in non-descript rehearsalwear and making no noise. And I did NOT get stupid and dizzy which made a nice change, I said in an unwobbly voice of regular human volume 'Hi. Tessa. I'm Iris' nanny'. And he said 'Ah yes I knew it.'
Kelsey Grammer knew who I waaaaaaaaaaas. Rispeck. He sang his song through at the end, the one that goes with the rollerskating. I was on the 3rd floor of the Hilton Theatre, and Kelsey Grammer was singing and dancing 3 feet away. It was a great morning.



Here's the good ol'ESB. I was up there. Yowser.

***

The evening of Thursday March 18th was as good as the morning because I went to see 'Come Fly Away', a new Broadway show choreographed by Twyle Tharp and set to the music of Frank Sinatra. I didn't know that it was going to be a dance-only piece - it was a little bit supernatural actually, how much and how hard they danced and yet didn't collapse. It was utterly amazing, absolutely stuffed with fantastic lifts and perfectly-executed turns. The best lifts were the ones that involved the girl literally launching herself with loads of power off the floor and being caught and swung by her partner, because there was always a certain momentum behind them that made you really want them to happen - it's hard to explain - like, the girl is dancing and it gets to a point where the only option she has is to throw herself in the air - anything else would be unsatisfying for the audience member. Or maybe just me. In the interval I enjoyed a healthy dose of Cagelles being bitches - it's so cliche you just have to believe and enjoy, and it was funny. One called Logan had decided that one of the guy dancers was too fat, and spent a while telling me and Kirsten (stage manager) about his 30-inch waist and how the guy in question could stand to lose 20 pounds. And how one of the main female dancers could stand to lose 10. And many other extremely rude things that were delivered in a hilariously (and unavoidably, I'm positive) camp manner. Oh yeah, another useful phrase I learned from this sentence - 'ok so, my friend is the ensemble girl with the blonde hair down, but the other one, blonde with the chignon, is shutting her down, SHUTTING - HER- DOWN!'

So, to shut someone down is to be superior to them in some way. I like it.

Performer of the night - and possible the decade - is Charlie Neshyba-Hodges (a Brit, we think!), who played a young waiter who is dizzyingly in love with a sweet young lady. He was EVERYTHING - funny, sincere, lovable, romantic, passionate, joyous. He was such a good comedian. And his dancing was just something else - phenomenal (or 'out of control' - a phrase I'm starting to hear as a description for dancers a lot). He was literally every choreographer's dream, I'm sure there's nothing he couldn't do. He did arials, tumbling, breakdancing, acrobatics, pelvic thrusts, the most wonderful pirouette I've ever seen with his head thrown back whirling at high speed - that's not human, I'm sorry but it's hard enough to turn as well as he did wth your head up. Then try with head back. Then try with head back and spinning. Then try a million times in on go. WHAAAAAT! But aside from all his fantastic tricks and stunts he was a beautiful, beautiful dancer with a lot of heart and soul which is the most important thing after all. The best bit in the entire thing was his awesome travelling path from USR to DSL that was made up of this brilliant floor sequence, including the biggest dive roll ever and a swim through box splits and backwards roll to handstand and many other things, all executed at great speed with perfect precision. I love him.

'Charlie Neshyba-Hodges has talent to burn. A powerful dancer who can project a dreamy fluidity, he is only 5' 5", with less than ideal proportions. The road for the performer with the muscular thighs and barrel-chest rib cage has proven anything but easy. “My size has always gotten in the way,” recalls Neshyba-Hodges, who, for the last five years has performed with Twyla Tharp. “I had done 14 auditions and all the replies were, ‘You’re great, but too short.’ I was getting ready to quit dance and go to school to become a biology teacher when a friend called and said Sacramento Ballet needed a firecracker dancer.”

And while he was given many opportunities in Sacramento, Neshyba-Hodges says he wanted to explore other options. Auditioning 41 times (but who’s counting?) for different companies, he became depressed. After hearing that Tharp was looking for men, he sent a tape and subsequently flew to New York to meet with her. That meeting resulted in Neshyba-Hodges not only dancing in the Broadway shows Movin’ Out and the short-lived The Times They Are A-Changin’, but also in assisting the iconic choreographer. “With Twyla I was perfect as I was,” says Neshyba-Hodges. “Twyla saw me for more than 5' 5".” With a healthy dose of irony, he says, “I am a walking oxymoron. People think that somebody this small shouldn’t be able to move that big, for my stockiness I shouldn’t be as limber, for my youth, I shouldn’t be bald. It’s all about perseverance and self-worth.” '

WE ARE NOT WORTHY.

Thank you Lynne for the chance to see that, and Nick and other La Cage types.

Say hello to Nick.

Dontcha just love my world these days?