Support your local artists!

there are less than 3 days left. 81% there. $415 left to raise. we can do it!

if everybody can add a little bit (like $5) to their pledge, we might just make it. (thanks to those who have updated their pledge and welcome to the new backers!!)

space:
I cleaned & packed up & out of the Storefront on Feb 1st and left the key tacked to the wall. It was strangely easy to do. I felt ready to be back in our usual atmosphere of “not knowing where we will be and when”. Going back into hiding so-to-speak, out of the eyes of passer-bys and off the culturally marked grid. Since then we have resumed meeting in a few of our random places, one being Karen’s warm and welcoming studio/space in Lenox where she offers Pilates and her own special magic. www.karenleecentral.com

The other space is the Dalton Ballet school owned and operated by the amazing Michelle Furlong who is Kalei’s primary mentor. I have known Michelle through the dance studio “scene” since I was (what they now call) a “tween” in the Berkshires. She as a Cantarella dancer and I, Terpsichorean all the way. It’s a beautiful thing to share the connections and see how they have grown over the years.

sound:
Lance and I re-recorded some of the spoken words for Widows Walk and he has been finely tuning the section….prepping to add more. I chose “mystery song” from something we did this summer for the Interlude: Connected Through Lights section. Cosmic, primordial, gooey, open. This is one that is my offering to all of you. Gestures for givers. With special talent added from Lita.

We chose his song “the story of you” as our Entering/Overture music. A beautiful piece with a cinematic quality that I feel brings the listener into space and into heart. We are going to look closer at that piece as the choreography gets clearer. He is composing to us and can shift and morph to my changes…as opposed to Frederique’s music which came as a surprise at first into the piece when she sent me her newest arrangements/demo winter 08-09. This is music I listen to and dance to over and over and over again and never tire of. Complex journies over sand and sea. Rich tones that speak of a multitude of sacred and profane influences. I first imagined that her music would be live and the other sections (what are now Lances’; recorded) But getting her here from Barcelona isn’t going to work for our debut in April. I am excited to be working in more tracks off the original demo. She is in my heart. www.frederiquemusic.com

“Music alone can be the means by which the souls of races, nations and families, which are today so apart, may one day be united.” Hazrat Inayat Khan

movement:
A lot flowered via the seeds of the public movement offerings for the residency. Some of that has been carefully added into the garden of the piece. Feedback from the Open Rehearsals keeps me running from my notebook, to that source in my imagination, to the performers and back and forth refining and wanting to find the exact fit for this or that. What are we bringing to life? What is being brought to life in spite of us? Questioning from Lita in rehearsals makes me have to speak when I would rather free-fall, direct or move. This has been good though, I have learned that it is part of bringing us all into what is happening. AND Something is happening.

costumes:
it is a fabric thing at this point. catherine and i have to decide. some samples are in the mail on their way to me from Oakland. interesting things are coming of this as we now have the added extra creative challenge of working in Lita on stilts. and the cathartic finale which i cannot reveal to you, that includes a costume “thing” that may take some time to figure out. once we settle the fund raiser here we can purchase the fabrics and materials we need and get ON it.

action:
We have set the debut as April 17th at Jae’s Spice upstairs in the ballroom (thank you Joyce!)
We will have a 7p and 9p showing. tickets can be reserved on my website after sunday.
Friday the 16th will be our rehearsal in the space, which you are welcome to sit in on if you like. contact me if you do.
We are hoping to tech. everything on Wed.

There will be an aspect of the piece that includes the “audience” but it will be rehearsed. Stay tuned for details in your email about that if you were a participant in any of the free public offerings. I will be calling on those folks to come be a part of it if they are available and feeling brave.

that’s it for now, my apologies for not getting the free offerings movie done yet. I have been distracted by numerous activities seen and unseen.

be well all!

Cmon everyone – pledge a little bit to Stephanie’s Kickstarter project – she’s pretty close now! $10, $25 – Let’s go! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/539788822/creatures-of-habitat-for-sale/posts/6863?ref=email&show_token=277294cb4d61dee8