Dissertations, Decorating and Dancing

It's all go at uni at the moment with the first draft of our dissertation in and awaiting feedback before the final is due mid July. It is driving me slightly mad at the moment because my academic writing has never been a strong point. Granted, I do always manage to pull it out the bag but it doesn't really come naturally to me so I need to get my head down and get stuck into it.

As always, the practical side of the work is rolling out no problem so I suppose I should be pleased about that. If you want an idea of what I'm producing have a look at Confessions of a Screendance Student. The work will be on display in Dundee this September as well as (hopefully) being programmed at The Arches at some point this winter as well.

Alasdair's been busy too re-decorating his flat. His flat isn't in the best area but it's a good flat with 2 bedrooms and a front and back garden which is great during the summer. Even better now he's got rid of the dodgy 80s decor that's been there since he moved in.

Finally, Lisa, Alasdair and I went to Club Noir this month for some old-fashioned, dressed up dancing. I'd been told that it was full of fag hags in their underwear so, of course, I went wearing my sparkly pants on the look out for new gay best friends to dance with. I wasn't disappointed. Lee, Lewis and Ricky certainly fit the bill and even came prepared with a feather for my sparkly headband - it was meant to be!

On the Upside...

Blaze @ Bacchus was brilliant. The dancers were amazing, so much more relaxed than usual, and the DJs were great with a full dancefloor for most of the night. I think the party/performance combo is definitely the way forward for Blaze but a bigger venue will be needed for the next one...

Suggestions on a postcard please.

DISI Rascals

At the beginning of 2005 I was involved in a pilot programme for YDance's Dance In Schools Initiative. The plan was that throughout the course of 3 years, 12 full time dancers would deliver dance to every local authority in Scotland which basically involved lots of early mornings (it has been known for tutors to leave at 4am!), lots of staff rooms and lots of carry on.

As the project has now come to an end, and 12 dancers are now looking for work, YDance decided to soften the blow by throwing a party for everyone involved.

I can't remember laughing so much in all my life. A room full of dancers, some of whom don't see one another from one year to the next, all having too much to drink and dancing like lunatics. At the start of the night everyone was on their best behaviour and looking amazing - we're an attractive bunch, you know - and by the end of it I was being lifted by Dan, the skinniest man in the world, being told I was the coolest person ever by Dan and my new GBF, Allan, (and people wonder why I'm such a fag hag) and dancing like a dafty to Windowlicker. Sarah almost had a fit when Wallace put that track on and ordered him to play it in full or risk getting all his records scratched.

The night ended with me, Sarah and Alasdair continuing the party back at his flat, much to the amusement of his (sober) flatmate who decided he might as well just get up and join us.

Me and Allan strike a pose!

Comedians, Coincidences and Copping Off

The weekend started with a trip to Oban for work before driving to Ardrishaig near Lochgilphead for an overnight stay ready for more work on Saturday morning. Lisa and I had been to the same place the previous week and had caused chaos chatting to the locals and managing to offend one man by asking if he had paid for this new wife from Thailand. With that in mind we were quite glad that there was a comedy night planned, entertainment and something to distract the locals from our big gobs.

The comedians were really good actually with only one exception - a local woman who thought a parody of Flower of Scotland would be a good idea, hmm. Wouldn't have been so bad if it was any good but it was rank rotten. Anyway, the rest of them were really good, particularly a duet who did a whole set of improvised sketches based on audience suggestions. The whole thing reminded me of the Neo-Futurists show I saw in Chicago and when I mentioned this to one of the comedians he told me I was spot on. Not only that but he went to see the Neo-Futurists a few years ago and was only disappointed by the fact that John Jughead Pierson, the man whose music introduced him to Neo-Futurists in the first place, wasn't there. He was on tour. In Glasgow. At a gig my brother organised and I designed flyers for.

Very small world.

And now onto the 'Copping Off' part of the blog. Perhaps a bit of a misleading title as it's probably a lesson in how not to cop off. To the young man from Bothwell in the Sub Club on Saturday night... when trying to charm a young lady with the intention of a kiss and a cuddle at the end of the night, it's probably an idea to establish whether or not she has a boyfriend before kissing her hand and maybe try to learn her name as well and, most importantly, the line 'if worst comes to worst I've got a hotel room booked, hen' is highly unlikely to result in anything more than a slap on the face.

Funniest thing was, about half an hour after I managed to shake him off I walked past him hassling some other girl and overheard him shouting 'HOTEL ROOM' at her face.

Smooth!

News of the Moves

All last week I was involved in dancing and filming for Angus Balbernie's research week. It was great to get back to dancing every day and I got some great footage from filming while dancing which I'm going to edit into a new dance film piece.

I've also been experimenting dancing in the dark with lights and slow shutter speeds to create cool images. I have a few ideas for new pieces and can't wait to get into the studio to try them out.

Then there was the Dog Walker Cafe film shoot this week. Jarprocess asked me to choreograph a piece for a dream sequence to be included in their latest film. We shot the scene in a frosty car park in Clydebank using car headlights for lighting - ooh the glamour!

Other titbits from this week include...

Tapping on Jonny
Clearing out my sock drawer
Flapping arms from La, La, La Human Steps
Deciding to have a HAG do
Re-living the wonders of MC Hammer
and
Planning my Spring/Summer look

Since last time...

It suddenly dawned on me today that I'd started a wee item in the sidebar about my day to day activities and not updated it for a week. So since last time I've been going to Death Disco, partying until the next day at John's, recovering all day, learning fancy DVD stuff, getting feedback from my PG Cert assessment, teaching dance, driving in the snow, watching dance films and planning lots of projects for the year ahead.

So you see, I have been busy.

Back to Business!

I've been off work and uni since the 10th Dec so it's safe to say I'm bored of being off and I'm ready to go back. Uni doesn't start until the week of the 14th but luckily for me (and you) Blaze classes start back next week. Choose from Contemporary - great for core strength, Street - killer ass and Tap - amazing legs.

Get the year off to a good start by joining a dance class, you'll get fit, meet new people and avoid the rubbish on telly at least one night a week!

Contemporary - Tuesdays 7pm-8pm from 08.01.08
A relaxed class where you can work on your body from the inside out, using your core muscles, and have an invigorating introduction to contemporary dance and the style of FireBox Dance Theatre. Suitable for beginners and intermediates.

Street - Wednesdays 7pm-8pm from 09.01.08
High energy and high impact. Incorporates elements of poppin' and breakin' as well as a few moves just for fun. This class is suitable for everyone so come along and get your freak on.

Tap - Wednesdays 8pm-9pm from 09.01.08
Sort your shuffles from your ripples and your beats from your taps, this is an intermediate class aimed to develop rhythmic tapping and combinations.

Each class costs £30 for a block of 5 weeks. You can save yourself £5 by booking any 2 classes, book all 3 and save a tenner. Bargain!

Also, for complete beginners there will be a one-off start up Tap class to cover the basics before joining the main class. See Blaze for more info.

Well, what are you waiting for?

After a start like that...

I don't know if I'll be able to keep up this year. We started the night having a few civilised drinks in Sarah's flat before getting into the Subby in good time for the bells, drink in hand with our spot on the dancefloor well and truly secured. We pretty much stayed there until 5am only nipping upstairs to the Classic Grand for a pitstop or a boogie to some disco music with my old/new GBF (old because I've known him since I was 3, new because I haven't seen him since we left school although he has been looking around London for me - yes, people still think I moved to London! I didn't.).

After a quick freshen up in Sarah's (you have no idea how grateful I was for a quick wash after a very sweaty night dancing) we headed back to John's where the delightful host plyed us with more drinks as well as several cups of tea before packing us off home for the best sleep of my life.

For the record, I did have the confidence to wear my sparkly pants and spent the night getting my bum spanked (mostly by girls!) then giggled as an elderly Asian man dropped his pizza while staring at my legs.

Heeheehee!

Fun & Frolics at Bestival

I was going to attempt to document the whole weekend but so many strange and wonderful things happened that the only way I can organise my brain around them is by using bulletpoints. Some will be self-explanatory and some are 'in-jokes' and just for my own amusement I'm not going to explain them. Have fun drawing your own conclusions.

Thursday

- 7 hour drive to Southampton, mini flip out from me when I spotted my friend's old house
- gorgeous sunset ferry trip to IOW
- manic driving trying to find Newport FC's makeshift campsite 'before dark' despite the fact I already had my full beams on
- tent up 2nd time lucky and a few celebratory drinks
- hunt the seat testicles

Friday

- 3 mile drive from Newport FC to Bestival site taking almost 2 hours
- 2 trips from car to campsite with booze and gear
- tent up 1st time and many celebratory drinks
- Bollywood Bar & Big Top for much dancing, laughing and chatting to strangers

Saturday

- pirate day
- Worzel Gummage drops his rollie
- Christopher Walken
- 'You're a pure pie'
- midnight pizza munching
- Big Top for much dancing, laughing, chatting to strangers and aarrrgghing

Sunday

- zzzip, ksssh, glug glug glug
- let's get married
- worst ale ever
- 'just a band'
- Big Top for much dancing, laughing and chatting to Grotbags

Monday

- 6.30am alarm
- to spew or not to spew
- £26 breakfast
- 7.15pm home safe and sound
- best shower ever

photos are on my flickr page x

Countdown to Bestival

I am getting very excited now. I have a tent, wellies, suncream, tickets and pirate costume all ready to go. A quick trip to asda (ok, maybe lidl) later on for booze and croissants (breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all) and we're all set. I even decorated the envelope with all the important things in it. Yes, I know that's possibly the most pathetic thing I've ever done but that's what happens when I get excited about things.

Now if everyone can join together in a little sundance for the weekend I will be most grateful. Thank you x

Save the Last Dance for me!

Today was my last day dancing in Chicago and I have to say I'm really going to miss it. It feels like I'm back in uni again, dancing for hours every day and working in small groups to help each other figure out the combinations and although I still have American voices shouting at me, this time they are all positive (DT needs to learn a lesson here from her fellow yanks, I work much better with encouragement than with criticism).

All this week I have been dancing with The Dance COLEctive headed up by Margi Cole. My flatmate Liz is a member of TDC so it was great seeing her do what she does best. It was also great doing partner work and being lifted for a change. I am always, always, always the lifter never the liftee. I understand why and I even do it myself when I'm choreographing. I'm tall and fairly strong so when I lift dancers they really fly through the air and it's much more impressive than a small person lifting me and my legs still dragging along the floor. Margi, who is 5'2", showed me different lifts where height differences don't come into it and she actually got me quite a distance off the ground. Something to bear in mind for future.

I also Fedexed my dance clothes home today. Mum, if you're reading this, I'd open the box in a well-ventilated area if I were you. Sorry. I went into the Fedex office yesterday to pick up a box and the address form and even after I asked if I needed an international form he still gave me a US airbill. I filled it in but didn't attach it to the box as I was pretty certain he'd given me the wrong form. Sure enough I took my parcel back in this morning and asked again if he was definitely, positively, without a doubt sure that he'd given me the proper form... "Oh no, you need an International form for that". Deep breath, Susan, count to ten.

After class I cycled my last cycle over to Mindy's house to return her bike. It was quite sad saying goodbye to her as she's similar to Sarah in a lot of ways, not least her youthful face, and I enjoyed hanging around with her. She's planning a trip over to Scotland at some point so fingers crossed we'll meet up again. This time I can take her out til 5am, although probably more like 9am if we're really in the mood!