Geoffrey Rush

I thought if I called this post Geoffrey Rush it might get your attention. And it worked.  And here you are reading it.  A few blogs ago I mentioned how much fun I had when I left the house to be a Real Person for half a day.  I attended an audition for Short + Sweet at this very strange dance space called Ministry of Dance.  It is a cross between a warehouse and various rooms which look like the set of chat shows or a posh hotel reception.  It was huge.

I asked the Clipboard Girl "what the hell is this place?".  It is apparently the largest dance studios space in the Southern Hempisphere.  Like The Place in London.  Only Five times the amount of space.

As I was walking towards my audition studio (along a corridor as wide as our house) I briefly looked at a group of people on their tea break from one of the other studios.  Then they all filed back into work behind closed doors.  Clipboard Girl very smugly told me Geoffrey Rush was in there rehearsing.  So if I had paid more attention to the people - instead of marvelling at the decor and size of the space - I would have bloody seen him!

But all I could think was who on earth could afford to run this kind of commercial dance space.
In Melbourne.  Only the big musicals could possibly afford to hire these studios.  So if Lion King or West Side Story needed a rehearsal venue it would be perfect.  I don't think the budget for Biserk Dance Company would stretch to the hourly rate.  I would be able to afford to run up the stairs and plug my iPod into the stereo.  But then I would have to pack up and leave.

A very exciting weekend coming up.  Many visitors staying.  The youngest cousin is having his 21st Birthday Party (they grow up so quickly). So another big family gathering.  Rehearsing in earnest (well more like frantic creativity).  And to top it all off - going to see The Forsythe Company on Sunday evening.  William Forsythe is my absolute favourite choreographer - EVER.

I am taking a group of ten contemporary dance virgins with me.  I have explained that it will be very modern and edgy - not at all the Swan Lake they may be used to.  But we will have a bit of champagne first - and that's bound to take the edge off.  What a pity I didn't get loaded the last time I saw Merce Cunningham in Oxford.....