July 28th

Ok, I’m getting my sea legs here -things I did expect, a bit of jetlag , 12 hour time differences will do that. Things I didn’t quite expect slow internet and no Facebook (or you tube either)! 

This morning I taught my first Open Source Forms workshop . There were about 20 dancers who participated, in a studio with all of the windows open and fans blowing. (did I mention it is HOT here) It was a very interesting experience to teach OSF to dancers who, for the most part, did not have english as their first language. I am so very thankful for my translator, Jiao Ching, who had to work hard  to translate all of my instructions, many of which involve metaphor. Not an easy task at all. There were a few moments with confused looks, but we were able to navigate our way through things.  I think that we would have been really lost in translation without her! All and all a great workshop, I have a better idea of what to expect for my next one on July 30th. Taking away all I have learned today, I’m going to tweak things a bit. I am excited to see what happens. 

The epic search for the perfect chair has also begun.  For those of you not familiar with the piece Fading Shadows/Returning Echoes, it  is centred around a chair. We don’t like to lug one around when on tour – so we always source it when we get to the theatre.  It seems like such a simple task, find a wooden chair, use it in performance. It is becoming clear that it is a much more complicated than that!  Anther and Shee Hoe (the TD of the Festival and TD of our program) have provided a few chairs for us. Laura also had the Canadian Consulate source a chair, because  at one point the theatre wasn’t sure what they could find that would be suitable. The first chair which I saw  at the theatre with Laura looked like it was ok, but needed to be painted. We even stood together on it to get a general idea of things. Later at the tech rehearsal I realized that this is a good measure of stability, but not accurate for making sure both Robert and I will fit!  The theatre also had a really funky old chair, with chipped paint, it was so great looking that I wanted to bring it back to the hotel for Robert to see.  Laura carried the chair from the theatre to the hotel – poor girl is always lugging chairs through strange cities when we go on tour, our running joke. I show Robert the chair, he sits on it and his knees are up around his ears. Not quite the fit we were looking for – not to mention Laura was covered in paint chips. The chair from the consulate has a rounded back, so it is also not ideal. Robert suggested that we use the chair we rehearsed with at the school, which was perfect. There is some hesitation on if we can borrow it – we’ll have to find something. We need a chair that fits.

Tech and show tomorrow!