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Choreography doesn't get any better than this!

Tags: music, video, OK Go, treadmills, choreography.

We're stuck in some motor inn on the main road of Ballarat and so were only required to fill out a Personal Form.  Ripped off, we only got to answer questions
 about ethnic background, education, employment, and whether or not I did unpaid domestic work (yes, I did tidy up my hotel room that day when I slept in 'til lunch...)  There was that optional question about religion and, not wanting to seem all 2001 and put "Jedi", I just went for the "no religion" option.  Possibly the hardest questions were about how many hours I worked last week (how long was that flight to Hobart again?) and where was I living five years ago (what's the post code for Menora again?) but, besides that, it was disappointingly straightforward.

JPB back home had a more interesting experience:  what is the status of our relationship?  Just eight days shy of our first-date one-year anniversary, his suggestion was to have me down as "rent boy".  Cheeky.  Anyway, it didn't seem enough to cross the "de facto" box; although a simple cross-reference to an earlier question would uncover just as much, it seemed more appropriate to exploit the "other" box to state clearly: "same-sex defacto".  Sure, this is tainted slightly by the notion that such a relationship is an "other".  But what else is there to do?  Apparently there is no questions specifically about orientation so this is it.

In any case, its better than "rent boy": my limit is only five hours a week of domestic work...

On second thoughts, I think we should have just went for de facto.  A computer better understands a marked box than handwritten letters.  Oh well, better luck next time.

Technorati Tags: Census, Gay, JPB, relationship status

Anatomy for Beginners (SBS)

Stop cutting
I said STOP CUTTING

But it was no use. After a brief segue to the live model, being drawn on to make sure that the audience knows EXACTLY what we're talking about, Doctor Gunther had completely removed the entire reproductive system from the cadaver. He had to saw through pubic bone to get it all out and even then it all came with "extra" bits, like the bladder...

What else didn't I need to see? Oh yes: the dissection of a testis, the incision into the erectile tissue, the entire long and stringy vas deferens... with the organs splayed out on the tray with the prostate and seminal vesicles exposed, it looked less human and more like something out of Alien and yet when I look down into my lap I know that that's what I've got down there...

Trust me to tune into this series when they were discussing the reproductive system. Horrible to look out but like the proverbial car crash...

But that's nothing compared to the Doctor himself. Sure there's little he could do about his accent but he could have at least ditched the black hat to try to make himself look less like a mad German scientist. And lets not mention the accusations made against him about the illegal possession of dead bodies from Siberia, Kyrgyzstan and China. So we won't. But you can read about that in Wikipedia, not that anyone would suggest that it was 100% reliable! Doctor Gunther denies these accusations in his site.

Interestingly enough this show, when first televised in the UK, was implicated for being partly responsible for the fall in the number of cadavers donated in the UK.

Funniest moment of the show: when Doctor Gunther fondled the live male model and made his testicle move up and down. A bit of full-frontal male-to-male tickle isn't a new thing on SBS but in an educational context it was quite novel. Having an artist draw vas deferens and fallopian tubes on your nether regions also earnt a giggle.

Tags: Television, Anatomy for Beginners, Gunther Von Hagens.

Its not all sandstone in our second oldest city!

I didn't end up venturing far from the centre of town. On the morning of our departure I headed down to the Salamanca Markets to get two more balls of wool for my fluffy scarf; in the end my total spending from three visits to the Tasmanian Woollen Co was $52, which I guess isn't too bad considering the amount of wool I ended up with. The real bargain was the rather large hank of wool that still smells of sheep for $15. I don't know what I'm going to make out of it. There wasn't much happening at the markets but I guess everyone's still hibernating. My casual meandering meant that I got back to the hotel a bit late for our call to the airport; I don't know there must be something in the clean fresh air that slows you down...

But a few hours later and a couple of coffees at lb just off Chapel Street and I was back in big-city mode, impatiently power-walking past the big-label shoppers.

Tags: Hobart, Photos, Salamanca, wool.

It was a bitch getting to the airport. I had to drop my car off at PT's place again but had to pick stuff up along the way which took longer than expected. Made it with forty minutes to spare, not before witnessing the aftermath of an accident where a truck's trailer had toppled over. At the very least I made the flight, unlike some ;) but when we got to Hobart I realised that I had left my flexy bowl (tupperware) at home, my breakfast bowl. Bugger. Also left my razors at home, too.

Anyway, Hobart really is quite lovely. The people here have been so nice, recognising that we're Bangarra and wishing us luck (break a leg, which really isn't the most appropriate thing to say to a dancer but the sentiment was appreciated). Its not even that cold here; Canberra was worse. Anyway, on the first night I wandered down to Salamanca Place and Battery Point via the piers. There are some very cute looking shops, not least Tasmanian Woollen Co, but I also want to check out Astrolabe and Klektik. And the fairy lights on the trees are delightful. Oh how quaint! After wandering around taking random photos I stopped by Fish Frenzy to find some of the Bangarra mob finishing up dinner.

We had rehearsals at St Michael's Collegiate, a school well-decked out for the performing arts, before heading off to Theatre Royal for spacing. Australia's oldest working theatre, like the rest of the place it was small but oh so cute! Its a bit of a squeeze onstage but at the very least we're not flying rings, light boxes and sheets of corrugated iron in and out, and we're not stringing the place up with elastics and dancing under thick mats and balancing tins on our heads whilst chucking bags of flour across the stage...

Technorati Tags: Dance, Bangarra, Spirit, Hobart, Travel, Tasmania

Filatura di Crosa, Cambridge. Do you have any? Shade 4 Lot 20.

No. She took my number down and promised to get her manager to look in the store room and call me back by Friday. Bugger. If i'd have known that this crochetting business was going to be so much of a hassle I may not have taken it up. In Sydney, JPB took the wool label to the Tapestry shop on York Street to no avail. At the very least down here at the Tasmanian Woollen Co they have it albeit in a different colour. Finally I might be able to get my green scarf finished.

She joked about the "manly pursuit of crochetting" and, considering I already belong to an exclusive group of enlightened males, those kind of comment even meant in a negative way rolls off me like water off a duck's back. But then she goes on to tell me that knitting was started by men anyway, sailors stuck below deck needing warm clothing and something to pass the time. Seems reasonable, really - men are always at the forefront. Knitting and crochetting is basically glorified knot-tying and it is the most red-blooded of men that are good at that, especially the sailing types that like to make knots in their ropes.

So everyone stop knocking me when I get excited about wool stores. Its so appropriate that I'm staying in an old converted woolstore.

Tags: Crochet

A couple of days after I had seen it, YB asked me if she should go and see Douglas Wright's Black Milk. Normally I would have wholeheartedly encouraged her to go because it is important for dancers to go out and see what other dancers are up to, especially when the work is in complete contrast to what we do. And, besides, Sydney Opera House are having a two-for-one deal, which is a bargain! But at the time I just wasn't too sure if I should recommend her to go. Since then, after hearing TB's opinion (and a few others) of the show today, I'm glad to hear that YB has gone out and bought tickets for the show.

But that doesn't change the fact that I really hated it.

I usually like to approach a dance work knowing as little about it as possible. I put off reading all the promotional material about him and the work and I don't even like to read program notes. A piece should be able to speak for itself. Besides the title of the work, all I usually know is who's choreographing and who's performing, and even then that's alot of information because it comes with expectations based on previous works. (Then again, how does one decide to outlay cash in the first place if one doesn't have any information? I guess you could get extremely caught up thinking about this situation, its a wonder that I go out and see dance at all!) I had seen one of Wright's self-performed solo dance film, read his bio and seen his work work DV8, and all this led me to being quite enthusiastic about going in the first place, not to mention the cast that he's been able to gather for the project.

There was one final piece of information that I had about the show that was unavoidable: the WARNING: Black Milk contains nudity and some scenes may disturb. It really does get quite up-front and confrontational but, considering the level of violence and sex you can see on tv and at the cinemas, it really doesn't matter; I'm not going to leave just because I'm offended or horrified. But I don't want to be confronted for the sake of it; there's got to be some reason for it, a story or a point-of-view or something like that. The girl gets raped, the Iraqi soldiers are forced into humiliating sexual activities, there's a painfully drawn-out scene of I guess you could call "reverse birth-giving". Why are we seeing this?

The ventriloquist and his annoying dummy have a conversation about meaning in dance. Its a pertinent sentiment, to see dance for what it is and nothing more, that the dancer is merely "biting the dust", running in a half-circle" or whatever. On its own, I don't have a problem with that idea but in this context, what to make of it? I just feel like I'm being taunted for a response and that really annoys me!

Oh did I hate that dummy. If I had a better connection with that sad bit of wood I may have enjoyed the work better. The real people did a much better job.

I'm not usually prone to such an extreme negative reaction to it but maybe I've just played into Wright's hand: I actually felt SOMETHING for this work, the fact that it was negative is irrelevant. This, however, is why I would recommend seeing it, if only to get really annoyed. Or you might think its pure genius, who knows? If so, you most certainly won't be alone with that sentiment...

Tags: Dance, Douglas Wright, Black Milk, Contemporary Dance.

I had just gotten back from Lismore and was driving home from PT (who had kindly allowed me to leave my car at his place). As I was driving down Cleveland Street I notice that the garage where I normally take my car for servicing was totally gutted out. Crazy. Very annoying because I now have to find somewhere else to take my car in. Oops! How rude of me... I hope no one got hurt and I'm sorry for the owner's losses, they were quite good to me.
Anyway, more changes: Sydney Dance Company are in need of a new Artistic Director. I know, this is extremely old news but I've been away! This Sydney Morning Herald article places just about all the blame on the lack of government funding for dance. I really don't know where to begin commenting about this, its such big news for our neighbours and I hope the dancers are all okay... not a situation I would like to be in.
However, I am interested to see who the company will get to replace Murphy. I'm having alot of trouble imagining the company with a different director, then again the dancers took to Narelle Benjamin's choreography really well, and I really did like the company performing Stephen Petronio's Underland. Never underestimate a dancer's ability to cope with change, just ask me! The change in directorship of the company is big news but I don't think it will necessarily be down hill from here.
Oh, and there's a local Woolies now, on Bourke Street. How convenient! Change is not always a bad thing.
Tags: Dance, Sydney, Sydney Dance Company.

Tomorrow will be our last performance of Clan and though we get a ten day breather, its not the end as we have to pick up another show and take that on tour.

Its a shame that its ending, though. Apparently Lismore was just about our best performance of the show, helped greatly by an extremely appreciative audience. Everything is running pretty smoothly and, because I've been swinging in and out of various roles, and because we've had short doses of the big smoke on this extensive tour, I'm not really sick of it yet. In fact, it has been quite eventful: I've recovered from an injury, launched this site, taken up crochet...

And there's still alot to look forward to: wine-tasting in Hobart, JPB and I's first year anniversary, and a tour to the UK with a possible first-time trip to Paris for our week break. Exciting!

In about six hours from now I have to get in a cab to the airport to fly to Brisbane from Cairns only to get into a bus for a three hour trip to Lismore. Can't really keep us down in one place at the moment. Then again, we're dancers - we're constantly on the move.

Tags: Dance, Bangarra, Photos, Contemporary Dance, Performance, move,Rations, Unaipon.