sleep-overs

No, not the adult kind. My girl's friend stayed over last night. Being my sleepless self, I'm thinking children wake up entirely way too early!

Pics from our adventures:




And, I even had time to do a lil dancing... you can hear them dancing around in the background :)

FALL OPEN HOUSE

Contradiction Dance
An Exchange Between Life & Dance

photo copyright Enoch Chan Photography


FALL OPEN HOUSE

Sunday, September 7, 2008
11am - 3pm

Learn more about
Contradiction Dance @ Echo Park!

11-2pm Mini-Shock Open Rehearsal
3-4pm FREE class for children & teens 7 and older

Registration Discounts • Meet the Directors
Speak with the directors, teachers, & staff

Contradiction Dance is a place where theatre, dance, and pop culture meet. The company's vision is to make dances that report on, reflect, and question the world in which we live. Nurtured on the belief that artists and audience members communicate in a dialogue through the chosen medium, Contradiction Dance fosters discussion, reflection, and change through live performance and dance education.

www.contradictiondance.com

Poetry on a bar-nap returns & 2am on the Metro

Went to a play last night w/ J.S. It was a lovely experience; well cast and well acted for the most part, great content, all-in-all a good first production of a play that I hope will have a long life in future productions... go see Theories of the Sun

After the play, we went for food and drink... of course I had to pop J.S.'s Poetry on a Bar Nap cherry. Here are the fruits of our labor:

Topic: Peanut Butter

Spread it, lick it
Spoon it, dip it
With
Honey
Bananas
Jelly
mmmmmmmmm
Peanut Butter
(not that soy shit)

- k.k.

Rich and thick
Texture that stays on the mind
Density that stays in your mouth
How sweet it is doesn't matter
What it's made of isn't important
As long as it sticks to your fingers
Goes well with opposites
And reminds you of all the qualities
Of love

- J.S.

Topic: Lamp

Tall ones
Skinny ones
Ones you read by
Ones you throw rocks at
Some that record imperfections
Or keep you from being scared at night
Some that look like Minnie Mouse
Or, that you turn out to say,
"Goodnight"

- J.S.

A guiding light
A torch
A flame

Your flicker
Brings reprieve
From this pain

Radiant and clean
You draw me near
Warm and comforting
Steady and calm

You are always near
And ready
Until

Blackout

- k.k.


2am on the Metro

I was a zombie by this point - totally exhausted. (Some of us can't hang with the big kids so well) BUT, these kidz woke me up enough to flip-out on the metro!

REHEARSAL FOOTAGE

Yesterday marked the beginning of the season (and the training!) with a 10-5 rehearsal... two new dances down :) As I wrote to the poet:
I always find myself in the dances - they are my sanctuary, my madness, and my home.

Sway: Version 2.0
k.k., em,. flo
music by sub-z





Emerge
k.k., em, flo
working music by
jane birkin

The Pisces Woman...

What do we think, kids? I got a great laugh out of this.... I think some of you with think this is me to "T" and some will wonder how in the hell this could remotely describe your dear k.k... ENJOY~

‘Well, what are you?” said the Pigeon. “I can see you’re trying to invent something!” “I-I’m a little girl,” said Alice, rather doubtfully.

She found herself at last in a beautiful garden, among the bright flower-beds and the cool fountains.

The line forms to the right. And please don’t crowd. There may not be enough Pisces women for every man, but that’s no reason to be unruly. You’ll have to take your turn, and hope for the best.

Even without astrology, rumors have spread about the charms of a Pisces female. She has her negative points, to be sure, but at first glance she’s every man’s grade school valentine, with maybe just a touch of a Playboy bunny to add some pepper. We might as well admit that the modern, emancipated woman, with her cast-iron image, has made the Pisces girl’s value shoot even higher. With all that free­dom from the feminine mystique clouding the air over lover’s lane, the demure, pretty, helpless Neptune creature has to beat off the men with big sticks.

It’s hardly surprising that she’s at a premium. The Neptune female seldom tries to overshadow her man, mar­ried or single. She hasn’t the slightest hidden, neurotic desire to dominate him in any way. He can pull out her chair, put on her coat, whistle for the taxi, light her cigarette and talk about how wonderful he is to his heart’s content. All she wants is that he should protect her and care for her. She’s happily content to lean on his big broad shoulder and let him know, with wide-eyed wonder, how strong he is, and how much she needs him in this scary world. Just think of all those wolves out there, waiting to devour Red Riding Hoods. It’s enough to make a girl get out her smelling salts. Even if she isn’t quite as Victorian as all that (though plenty of girl fish are), she’ll be a charm­ing listener to all his troubles, and what is referred to as a good egg through every crisis.

A Pisces woman thinks her mate, lover, boy friend, brother, father-in fact, any man-can lick the whole world with one hand tied behind his back, and it takes a surprisingly small amount of her touching faith to con­vince them of the same thing, men being the way they are. And you wonder why she’s so popular? The Pisces girl is a cozy, calm haven of tranquility for her proud male, far from the noise of the frame and the ticker tape machines. The lights in her fish pond are soft and dim. They soothe tired eyes which have been blasted by neon and all those silly little figures at the stock market she couldn’t understand to save her life. (Though if it would really save her life, she would sharpen her pencil.)

In the winter she wears fluffy angora mittens. In the Spring she wears dainty, full skirts. Summers will find her in a brief bikini. In the fall she’ll look adorable sitting be­side you at football games, with her hands in your pockets to keep them warm, and asking you the score. She is eter­nally feminine in all seasons. At the risk of making an un­derstatement, men are drawn to her like bumblebees to a honey pot.

A short conversation with her, and a man instantly re­laxes. He pictures a glowing, crackling fire on a chilly night, or he sees himself in a hammock on a balmy spring day, with no one to nag him. She makes it clear that she’ll never blame him for any problems in his career or any ac­cidental mistakes. It’s always someone else’s fault. Not her man’s. Shell never press him to get ahead faster. His own pace is perfect with her. Need I explain why the female fish makes the most dangerous other woman of all the Sun signs? Flash! Maritime warning: After marriage she may nudge a little. To be truthful, she may nudge a lot. In a way, it serves you right for letting yourself be so blinded by her charms. Lots of times she’ll even be bitterly sarcastic, but every woman has to have some flaws, and the Pisces girl will be gentle far more often than she’s quarrelsome. She has to be goaded by extreme cruelty or laziness in a mate to be a shrew-and who’s to say a cruel or lazy hus­band doesn’t deserve it? Not me. I’m with her.

Besides, her delectable femininity covers any minor defi­ciencies, and most of the time the typical Neptune girl is soft, dreamy and womanly. Since the fish swims in both directions at once, she adapts beautifully and quietly to conflicting situations that would turn other women into nervous Nellies. Of course, now and then, some cranky words and irritable chatter may bubble up from her nor­mally placid stream of thought. Occasionally a sensitive Neptune female who has suffered harsh treatment at an early age will allow bitterness to break the two symbolic fish of her sign apart-and this can be very sad. She be­comes a lonely, miserable Piscean, always swimming furi­ously, and meeting herself everywhere she dives down to escape-never realizing that the turning inward of her end­less love and sympathy toward herself is the real poison. Drugs and drink and false illusions hide the truth from her and blind her to the rocks in the river that might destroy her. But the average Neputune girl keeps both symbolic fish joined firmly together in smooth action, gliding softly first back, then a little forward, so you’re never quite sure exactly which way she’s headed. Pisces is said to be a deep, mysterious sea, into which all rivers flow. You’ll have a better chance of catching her if you know some of her elusive secrets. What makes her swim?

First of all, she’s subtle. Ask Nicky Hilton, Michael Wilding, Eddie Fisher and Richard Burton-each of whom married a Pisces. As a matter of fact, the same Pisces. She is not only subtle, she’s sometimes a bit deceptive when she practices her art of wrapping you around her emerald ear­rings. She’s delightfully vague and dreamy. She doesn’t know a thing about economics, but she manages to dress as though she was turned out by Sophie of Saks, cook frequent seven-course dinners for assorted grandchildren, pay the rent on time, and send exquisite gifts on holidays and birthdays- all on a monthly income about the size of one of Jack Benny’s tips. She has the open love and affection of two daughters-in-law, and an incongruous group made up of the librarian, the super, the owner of the comer delly, the fruit man, half a dozen stray cats and children, the butcher, the newsboy, and would you believe it, even the landlord. She may have one enemy. The man she turned down before she married her husband. He probably joined the Foreign Legion in disappointment, and now I doubt if she even re­members his name. Heartless females, these Pisces women. Subtle and deceptive. (But don’t try to tell their neighbors that.)

Like the March winds, your Pisces girl will have many a mood. She’s terribly sentimental, and when her feelings are wounded she can cry buckets. She’ll look at you so re­proachfully you’ll feel as if you’d just shot a small rabbit. Pisces females sometimes get the idea they’re hopelessly unequipped for the fierce battles and driving ambition re­quired to survive. Then deep depression sets in. At these times you’ll have to tell her she’s admired for her deep, mysterious wisdom and her blessed understanding by every single human she has ever graced with her friendship. It’s usually the gospel truth. The hardest lesson she has to learn is to overcome her timidity and her doubts. If the fears go deep, she’ll shut herself off from others, then wonder why she’s lonely. She’s often afraid of imposing, pushing too hard, taking advantage, when such thoughts are in no one’s head but hers.

Now and then a Pisces girl will cover her shyness and vulnerability with wisecracks, a sophisticated veneer and a frigid independent personality, but it’s merely a cloak of protection, worn to hide her uncertainty from the prying eyes of rough people who would bruise her genfle heart if she exposed it. I know one who pours out her real soul by writing lovely song lyrics with a secret message woven in the shades of her soft, very private dreams. When she’s not writing, she’s the picture of the brittle, callous, career woman she wants people to see. Yet, even this type of Pisces is unable to fight her Sun sign. With all her make-believe independence she waits on the curb and lets the man whistle for the cab. There are some things one just doesn’t do, as far as Neptune women are concerned; not acting like a lady in public is one of them. She fools a lot of men who could quiet her inner fears and make her take back her frequent claim of, “Who needs a husband? They only mess up your life.” Imagine a statement like that from a Piscean, who needs to belong to someone more than she needs to sleep, eat or breathe.

A Pisces girl will give all of her heart to her children, except for the large chunk she saves for you. She’ll love them all, but the ones who are uglier, weaker, smaller or sicker may have a slight edge with her. Only a Pisces movie star would pass up the little dimpled darlings and adopt a tiny, crippled tot with frightened eyes. Female fish are the greatest women in the world for understanding the shyness of small boys and the growing pains of awkward adolescent girls.

She’ll probably prefer not to enter the brutal com­petition of the commercial world, unless you desperately need her to. She had enough of that (if she’s a typical Neptune girl) when she worked for that big, confusing company while she was waiting for you to rescue her. Some, not all, but some Pisces women are a wee little bit extrav­agant. She may need some help figuring out why the bank’s balance doesn’t reconcile with her stubs, written in Sanskrit. Still, when an emergency forces her to adapt her champagne taste to a skim milk pocketbook, she’ll man­age.

She listens to the ocean, and it tells her things. In the> midst of the city, she still hears the waves of Neptune whispering to her Pisces heart more, perhaps, than she wants to know. Don’t forget her birthday or your anni­versary or the day you proposed. She won’t. hether she follows Neptune’s call as a dedicated nun in a convent or as a sultry songstress in a noisy nightclub-she’s a girl. All girl. One hundred per­cent.

REGISTER for FALL!!

CONTRADICTION DANCE @ ECHO PARK

photo copyright Enoch Chan Photography

Register now for Fall classes and workshops at Contradiction Dance @ Echo Park!
Visit us on the web: www.contradictiondance.com

Youth • Teens • Adults
Featuring
Stories in Motion • The Blend • Hip-Hop
Taiji • Creative Movement • Parent/Child • Jazz • Modern

www.contradictiondance.com

Proud partner of Culture Shock DC's Future Shock & Mini Shock Dance Companies
Please FORWARD! 

Cuddly Thing & Tid-Bits

First meet a.k.'s kitty. She's cuddly, sweet, elusive, and loving. A lot like her human, I'd say...

Let's see... the fall schedule's up, so take a peek, sign up for class, and I'll see you at the studio

And, I was frozen in fear by the largest spider I've seen in a long time - it was chillin in my bathroom... I threw shoes at it until I was successful. One of those moments I wish was captured on film to laugh at someday. RIP spidey.

An Open Letter...

photo copyright enoch chan

Dear You:

An Artist's Work Is to Make Art.

Not to explain it, write about it, build a model for it, etc. It is to simply make it.

See, most choreographers will never get to dance their own best work when they are most physically capable of doing so. It is a tragedy.

I can be a starving dancer for someone else's company and perform often, but in a way where I am using my instrument to say someone else's movement; and then choreograph my own work on the side. Or, I can teach, teach, teach, write grants, build a board, make marketing materials, build an audience, fund-raise, network, and STILL choreograph while training myself and others to perform my work. With the former, my work will be performed only as a commission in someone else's concerts - if ever. In the latter, I run the risk of building a reputation based on creating my vision on a fraction of the budget it actually needs to make the impact it should - meaning a reputation for the Wall-Mart version of my Rodeo Drive self. A clothing designer is not expected to make their designs on paper fabric with tooth-pics as thread. Most people understand that the materials matter. It is the same in choreography. Time with myself and with the dancers is my material - and it is expensive.

Either way, it will be years before my best work will be presented and performed.

In order to perform my own best work, I need to be in the studio a minimum of 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, not including class. Meaning I need 35 hours a week in the studio with myself and my dancers. The other 5 hours (to make up the 40 hour work week enjoyed by many) is spent managing dancer issues, taking care of props, supplies, costumes, rehearsal & performance schedules, venues, lighting & sound designers, musicians, Stage Manager, etc... oh, wait... that's more than 5 hours.

That is my work.

I suppose I'm sad and somewhat angry because I know it will take many years to generate enough revenue to make my work in that way. And by that time, I will not be able to dance it.

The sadness is knowing that reality. The anger comes from sitting at meetings with people who mean so well and knowing that they will never fully get it, because they are administrators and cannot possibly fully comprehend or appreciate the actual work that goes into the creative process of creating a concert. That process is expected to happen in my "free" time, grossly underpaid, and at the ultimate expense of my own vision. We are not paintings, we don't get better with age.

This process costs my soul. I cannot do what I see in my head and feel in my heart because I spend my most precious hours asking for money to make my work in a condensed and dysfunctional way - so that it can be properly documented, processed, and assessed - for someone else.

There has to be another model and I have to find it soon.

Help.

Residue

This silence makes me want to scream
Eggshells dripping from the sky
With a deafening roar
Of quiet
Crackling sounds of strength
Crushing frailty
Beneath its leaden feet
Only to carry the dusty remnants
On it's soul
Forever

The drummers

A Different Drum is hosting drumming circles in Takoma Park... Thursdays from 6-8... enjoy!