blogness

house!

keryx — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:18:49 GMT

I never blog on Tribe (I do regularly as keryx on Livejournal, if you're there). So you kids don't know that I BOUGHT A HOUSE last week. Technically it's only a contract & not fully bought yet, but "I put a contract on a house" [note UNDER CONTRACT sign in blurry phonecamera photo, though!] sounds uptight and like it might've involved the mafia. It's 92, beautifully restored with its original hardwood floors and pocket doors, has three porches and what I'd call a disturbingly large backyard & is in rather a sketchy neighborhood. I love sketchy neighborhoods! I love my house! Cross your digits that the inspection this week goes well.

i'm in love

keryx — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:42:10 GMT

I just got this... painting (it's mixed media, really - part painting and part photo-transfer on canvas). I can't stop looking at it. I bought it, though I rarely buy non-wearable art, because I couldn't stop looking at it in the park, too. It's a Nepali woman whose name apparently is Pashmina, outlined by a Thai Buddha, captured by a woman from Maryland who radiated this wonderful sense of delight in her work. Mostly? It's just transfixingly beautiful. I had to share. Maybe you'll like it, too.

little teaching breakthroughs

keryx — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 02:45:28 GMT

If you've been through any kind of intensive with Carolena, you've probably heard/seen her "how dance & drum came together on the street" story of the 3/4 shimmy. It sounds so easy, right? And yet tons of students struggle with the step, even as they advance beyond the basics in other areas. A few weeks ago, in our fundamentals class, instead of even mentioning the mechanics, I just told what I remember of that story and walked around with them. And lo! If you don't know anything about the whole right-neutral-right-weight-shift thing, and are just being bouncy and womanly... it IS easy. They all got it in roughly 90 seconds. Because? Carolena is a genius. Also, our students are awesome. That might be a contributing factor! We've been having these tiny classes of committed people, and while that does make paying the studio rent a bit harder, it makes showing up to teach so much more exciting. Now, to figure out how to have big classes of committed people. Without leaving town. *grin*

Tribal Jam!!!!

keryx — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 23:40:05 GMT

Is this Saturday! Alright, so pretty much everyone knows this already, but I'm still excited.

wow!

keryx — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 23:39:29 GMT

just, wow. http://www.slightlywarped.com/crapfactory/curiosities/onemanstrash.htm see what i mean?

technical advice, please?

keryx — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 19:37:43 GMT

I'm shopping for a digital camcorder that will mostly end up being used to shoot dance - some practice, some performance, some inside & some out. So pretty much the full spectrum of lighting & sound possibilities. Right now I'm thinking just of shooting more video to develop better dancing/music, but I can imagine also wanting promo video from this thing - both web and DVD. What camera features will I want most? It feels like i basically want EVERYTHING, and I'm not sure what camera would have that.

out!

keryx — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:19:42 GMT

I missed national Coming Out Day yesterday. And since, as someone else said much more eloquently, it's really not so much about you as it is about all the people who hear it & the interconnection of people in general - I? Am still queer.

what a swell party this is

keryx — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 05:37:33 GMT

It's officially my birthday! I now have an enormous photo of myself (the one in this post) framed on the wall as you walk into the door of my apartment. AND an artist's rendition of myself on the facing wall. That's right... even my birthday gifts are apparently self-absorbed. And some are gay. Also, no one listens when you tell them not to bring presents. My peeps are fantastic. They moved my living room into my bedroom. And back. In the time it took me to have a conversation and a couple of cigarettes outside. That's some motivation! We also had a nice relaxed stage show at Gay Pride this morning. It was not, despite what everyone else in the tribe seems to feel, a bad set - it was just a contained set and on a stage, neither of which we do a lot [I'd also like to say our stage space rarely attacks us, as Garrity pointed out, but I'd be lying if I told you that. We get our fair share of kids, drinkers, heavy winds, the like.] Technically, it was much more controlled and well-executed than our usual performances; it was solid, one of the more consistent performances this iteration of the tribe has done. We've just done so many loud, limit-pushing, interacting with the audience things that a technically good set feels weird, less sexy. Lest you think it was completely dry, though, know that every musician wore sunglasses the entire show.

guess what?!

keryx — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:40:52 GMT

it's NATIONAL PUNCTUATION DAY! http://www.nationalpunctuationday.com/

i'm home!

keryx — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:28:18 GMT

Hawai'i? Awesome. Haven't slept since noon yesterday! I love traveling! *thud*

hilo

keryx — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 17:38:21 GMT

I? Am in Hilo now. No one is up and about in the house cause it's 7am on a holiday. And this is the view out my window. Everything is beautiful and amazing. I may not come back, and join the ranks of crazy unemployed white people living on the islands. Photos (of Kauai and Oahu so far) here: http://pics.livejournal.com/keryx/gallery/0000x34s

gracias por la danza

keryx — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:05:09 GMT

My noob flamenco class (and I think everything Latin Ballet teaches) says that "gracias por la danza / gracias por la musica" [thanks for the dance / thanks for the music] at the end of each hour. Narf. I've been meaning to post this, but got all absorbed in Pennsic and travel and what not. To the Earth is TWO YEARS OLD. For reals. Our birthday was August 6. A lot of the crew has been there the whole time - Erica, Tara, Dvora, Brett, Sarah & I have making art together for TWO YEARS. Not bad for a thing we built just to have someone to dance with. It's amazing to think how dance set off this chain of people and experiences, how fundamentally my life has been changed. Just. Wow. Not the life it was. Not just TTE, but the students I've met. The teachers I've had. The work of learning. The things I've been privileged to see other people create. So, yes. Gracia por la danza, people. Gracias por la musica.

oh, poor me!

keryx — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:27:31 GMT

Who said it was okay for me to spend three of six weeks travelling? I got back from Pennsic a week ago, and in a week and a half I'm headed back out. To Hawai'i. For twelve days. I'm not packed! I'm not ready! I don't even have a clear plan, just a seemingly random series of hotel reservations and flights, some of which I just made last week. I remember travelling with clear plans and packing lists in the past, like it's a distant dream. If you count it, that's three rental cars, something like 30 hours in seven airports (mostly alone), three hotels and a million strangers. But it's also three islande, 21 different climate regions, one volcano, no doubt several pounds of pineapple and fish, and two of my dearest friends. O, my life sucketh indeed. In that way where it totally doesn't. I'll just have to spend the last two weeks of September curled up in bed with my cats.

back from pennsic

keryx — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:55:34 GMT

We left Cooper's on Friday and got back home on Saturday (our travel arrangements were a little... complicated). I think everyone else has said this, but it bears repeating: that weather SUCKED. It was either oppressively hot or raining pretty much the entire time. But, you know, perversely fun. It meant fewer dance parties but more time in camp with cool people. It made the Wakefield Cycle plays (performed while walking all over Pennsic in 105 degree heat index) an adventure worthy of the "now I have a story that beats walking 5 miles to school in the snow" t-shirt I got for working overnights during Y2K. So. This year there was a lot less dance and music for me (and hey, more theatre!), but a lot of less intense fun - camp dinners, for one. I think second Pennsic may be the best one - you know more about what you want, know the routes you want to take, and can just relax and settle in with your peeps. I even did less SHOPPING than last year. PS - the delight of blowdrying my hair every now and then is just as thrilling as last year, perhaps even multiplied by the cute factor of the palm-sized blowdryer I got. I took photos (actually a mix of Tara's and mine): http://pics.livejournal.com/keryx/gallery/0000wg5g (Whores, there are a LOT more, and I can show you the racy ones if you want - everyone else will have to be content with scenery)

pennsic!

keryx — Fri, 11 May 2007 12:57:20 GMT

The To the Earth Pennsic contingent hasn't yet formally determined to attend this year, but we've... ah, stated our intent. Thanks to my lovely fellow campers, there aren't really camp-type things I need (though Whores, if there's something we could use at camp...?). But I have to think about wardrobe! Lovely Pennsic veteran friends, what garb pieces do I absolutely need (keeping in mind that I have no persona, and mostly just dress like a gender-confused East Indian who had a tragic pants accident... heh, maybe that could be a persona)?

junior certified!

keryx — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 15:58:25 GMT

We're back from the B'ham! [Someone pleeeease stop us from driving down there. Airplanes are our friends.] The long weekend was - argh, I can't think of words to describe it without reverting back to 80s slang. It rocked. 15 hours of happy, sweaty, humid bliss. And! Every hour we spend with Carolena (and Meg!) yields some new insight. It was so satisfying for the first time to really feel like we were building on what we knew. A year ago, the insights were more like "ARGH, everything we think we know, we don't". Now it's more "hey, that makes sense!" It's thrilling to have your mind blown, but having it not be blown is even better. PS, just to the awesome women who were there - I hope I didn't come off as too antisocial; I have to go away and process when I'm learning new things.

one week!

keryx — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 20:07:48 GMT

Wait, when did it turn into April? We [Dvora & I, plus one... and knowing her, maybe even a dog or something] are totally going to Birmingham next week, to the Fat Chance GS certification. How did that turn out to be just a week away? Whoa. In any case, it's exciting. Assuming I a) am no longer sick and b) even remember how to dance in the first place. I kid, but we really haven't been dancing as intensely the last few weeks. Anyone else going, o tribe friends?

yay!

keryx — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 16:41:43 GMT

Tribal Jam is this Saturday! That's all. I'm excited about seeing and playing with everyone. :)

something else i've never noticed

keryx — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 18:44:14 GMT

I drove past my old apartment (or well, past the cemetary across from it) and there was a fountain outside! It's a very whimsical little fountain that seems to have little regard for the sobriety of deathnstuff - one of the jets kept spurting much higher than the others and over the side of its walls. Was there always a fountain right there? Did I drive past that fountain daily for 3 years and never notice it?

where to find me/us/To the Earth this month

keryx — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 23:32:48 GMT

Since people have been asking... yes, we are back in season (ahh, after that whole MONTH of not performing - yay, breaks!). This month we'll be at Fourth Friday, maybe (Artworks, Friday the 29th) and Richmond Gay Pride (Farmer's Market, Saturday the 30th aka MY BIRTHDAY - spankings and off-key singing accepted after the gig). Plus there's a fire bellydance workshop on 9/23. Next month we'll probably show up down by Gallery 5 for 1st Friday (Friday 10/6), there's a workshop with Tempest & Ariellah in town (Tuesday 10/10), and this has nothing to do with bellydance, but SQUEE, the National Folk Festival is 10/13-15. It's a good time. Oh, also fairly certain Tribal Jam will be November 4 (a Saturday). Unless it's the 18th.

students rock!

keryx — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 02:06:21 GMT

If I must come back off my enormous week-long cloud... I'm glad I got to come back to our awesome students. I did everything I could tonight to kick their happy dancing asses, and they persisted in their awesomeness whatever was thrown their way. I had no idea when we started teaching how much they'd give back or how much I could miss them.

home from pennsic! yay, pennsic!

keryx — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 01:33:28 GMT

Despite everyone's doubts re: my ability to survive even the least primitive [unless my family's approach to camping - renting an air-conditioned cabin with hard beds and a tetchy show - is probably less primitive, but maybe not so much actual "camping"] camping, I had a delightful time. I kicked the pool's ass (there's a [joking?] pool re how quickly I lost my mind and insisted on going home) by staying not only the planned time but an extra night. Ha, I say to you, TUESDAY MORNING betters! I spit on Tuesday morning! Yay, Pennsic! Yay everyone I got to see, dance with (especially those of y'all who hosted & boogied at Orluk), and party with (my Whores! and Man Whores!)! Yay, dance peeps at home who took charge so I could tune out while gone! Yay, Russell & Tara for their excellent travel companionship! Yay, the funktionslust that comes from a week of walking and dancing! Yay, life! I'm weird in my jeans and t-shirt now. Wearing my dance stuff and moving/walking all the time emphasized a feeling of flow and grace that I like to imagine having in quotidien life, and now I still have that but my clothes don't Match my perception of my body. I have to go soak in a tub and pass out now before I start singing the 3 hours of sleep song that's writing itself in my head. Yay! YAWN. [PS - for those on LJ, more scintillating Pennsic deets will be there later]

just like pros... only, not.

keryx — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 03:26:54 GMT

The troupe did a photo shoot - thanks to our lovely soon-to-be-pro photographer - this weekend. It turned out, like most everything we do, to be an absolute blast. And! I've been told I was at my most glowingly photogenic *eyeroll*. Our photos aren't staged (for the most part), so there are a lot of dorky faces and unpolished bits. And I LOVE that. It's exactly what is most fun about being part of us and seeing us perform - we're goofy people having a good time. This Saturday will be our first birthday, too. Thanks, kids. It's been an amazing year.

is this week over yet?

keryx — Thu, 25 May 2006 02:20:26 GMT

We had an amazing time - both getting our butts kicked by Megha and taking a very long roadtrip through the lovely if sparsely populated Tennessee/Alabama/Georgia hills- this weekend. I wish we'd stayed in B'ham longer, since we missed the hafla for other Must Do Stuff. It would've been nice to, ya know, take a breath. Monday night, 15 minutes from my house, we were attacked by flying trees. Tuesday I drove to work & home, then hitched a ride to dance classes cause the car was so obviously broken (the flying trees bent 2 of my wheels and busted the band inside one tire - vicious tree monsters!). Today I spent the whole day working whereever my laptop and cellphone could take me (and walked about a mile) while the car got fixed, and then rushed off to class and practice. Whew! But the car is all better, and tomorrow night I don't have to do *anything*. Yay, rest!

alabama!

keryx — Thu, 11 May 2006 17:57:16 GMT

We're driving to Alabama next weekend! Yes, Alabama. We're doing Devyani's weekend workshop, trying to get more hands-on ATS instruction. Because. We were just last night struggling with one of the slow ATS turns - the tribe is slowly adding stuff into our own brand of tribal vocab, which takes a shocking amount of time. We've been spending so much time this spring getting ready for the Next Big Gig that we aren't drilling and playing together like we should be. So the next couple of months of practice will be that - drills, refining, and adding things in wee increments. I'm curious, for those of you who are part of troupes/tribes, where most of your practice time goes. Care to share?