I cannot remember the last time I was in a dressing room preparing to go on stage and did not know the people around me. Usually everyone in the Biserk dressing room had seen everyone else's bottom a hundred times before and we just got on with it. So last night I had to share a dressing room with complete strangers, male and female, whilst we all stripped in and out of sweaty costumes and underwear, leaning over to fix mascara, looking in the mirror at bar straps, knicker lines and hairstyles. And the girls were pretty fussy too.
Lots of male torsos and bits and bobs. Well readers I didn't know where to look! I did really but of course I'm a lady foremost.
Now "Chookas" is an Australian term meaning good luck. Where in England we would say Break A Leg. I have no idea where the word came from as it reminds me of chooks running around on a farm, which is the last thing I am thinking about in the wings before I go on stage. But whatever floats your boat.
Had a fantastic opening night last night. Which was a relief as we had a completely crap dress rehearsal (which always bodes well somehow) where we tripped on our props and we were dancing a bit like Mick Jagger - but in a bad way. Then it all magically came together for the real thing.
Hayley wanted to know why I was not nervous. I was just so relaxed and happy to be out of the house doing my thing, I had no time to be nervous. Imagine swapping dinner/bath/bedtime ritual (absolute bloody chaos) with dancing for an audience. Also the older you get.....
Thursday, 22 November 2012
Sunday, 18 November 2012
Shop Names Part II
I drive past this shop all the time and it always makes me smirk. "House of Recliners" on the corner of Toorak and Camberwell Roads. Hilarious! I swear they make these shop names up just for my own amusement.
Imagine the type of person who must visit such a shop. I hate to be judgemental but we know the target customer is going to be male and probably lists watching television amongst his favourite activities. I think Nachos would be on the list as well. A cross between Homer Simpson and Joey from Friends.
The tagline on the shop window reads "Your one-stop motion furniture superstore". Talk about a niche market.
Imagine the type of person who must visit such a shop. I hate to be judgemental but we know the target customer is going to be male and probably lists watching television amongst his favourite activities. I think Nachos would be on the list as well. A cross between Homer Simpson and Joey from Friends.
The tagline on the shop window reads "Your one-stop motion furniture superstore". Talk about a niche market.
Monday, 12 November 2012
Lighting Design
Bear with me whilst I explain. The other day I had a laugh out loud moment where I was making dinner in the kitchen and recounting the events of the day in fast forward (I often do this just to remonstrate with myself how little I've achieved in terms of career and creativity - fun isn't it?). I came home from teaching my morning adults beginner's class - WITH ONE PERSON, and was bemoaning the fact of lack of dance and career to The Accountant.
He was happy as he was working from home (i.e.laptop on the terrace, coffee on the side, gazing out at the sun and the trees). We sat there we two, laptops side by side - he earning money whilst tapping now and then, me earning none but desperately searching between loads of washing, feeding Jonty, putting Jonty down for sleep, re-putting Jonty down for sleep and fitting in job-searching for week into 12 minutes. And I wonder why I can't find anything to fit in with my routine.
I happened to mention that there was vacancy at Ausdance - the CEO/Director for Victoria. Well up leapt The Accountant, eyes shining and encouraging me to apply straight away. Seriously? Seriously I am a dance artist/housewife who has spent the last year settling a family into a new life and who - at a stretch - teaches no more than 4 hours a week. Lately I have been in the studio more, choreographing and now performing a duet, but before that - not a lot.
So in the space of ten minutes I am contemplating coming home at 10pm and staying up until 3am to get the fifteen points on the selection criteria addressed. For a job where I am not even certain I would get an interview due to the fact I know NO ONE in dance in Victoria. However I should not have been that put off as when I checked the last two people to get these posts recently in the ACT and NSW were former parliamentarians. Nothing to do with dance at all.
In a complete turn-around, I was nearly the oldest person at a production meeting for choreographers this weekend for Short + Sweet. It was not a short or sweet meeting. For two and a half hours I had to have a workshop in lighting in a small scale theatre and complete an intolerable risk assessment (I may or may not trip over in the dark on the way to the stage). I can understand why they do this. They do not want some undergraduate dancer/choreographer coming in with 30 lighting cues for a ten minute piece - complete with set, props, water, fire, mirror ball and haze machine. The rest of us just want to get on with it.
So instead we all had to fill out our own lighting designs to give to the technicians ahead of our technical rehearsal. I think it was the only time in my life where I finished a piece of written work way ahead of everyone else. And I even knew what I was doing. Now if I could only get my blue pants from riding up my bottom during the piece all will be well....
He was happy as he was working from home (i.e.laptop on the terrace, coffee on the side, gazing out at the sun and the trees). We sat there we two, laptops side by side - he earning money whilst tapping now and then, me earning none but desperately searching between loads of washing, feeding Jonty, putting Jonty down for sleep, re-putting Jonty down for sleep and fitting in job-searching for week into 12 minutes. And I wonder why I can't find anything to fit in with my routine.
I happened to mention that there was vacancy at Ausdance - the CEO/Director for Victoria. Well up leapt The Accountant, eyes shining and encouraging me to apply straight away. Seriously? Seriously I am a dance artist/housewife who has spent the last year settling a family into a new life and who - at a stretch - teaches no more than 4 hours a week. Lately I have been in the studio more, choreographing and now performing a duet, but before that - not a lot.
So in the space of ten minutes I am contemplating coming home at 10pm and staying up until 3am to get the fifteen points on the selection criteria addressed. For a job where I am not even certain I would get an interview due to the fact I know NO ONE in dance in Victoria. However I should not have been that put off as when I checked the last two people to get these posts recently in the ACT and NSW were former parliamentarians. Nothing to do with dance at all.
In a complete turn-around, I was nearly the oldest person at a production meeting for choreographers this weekend for Short + Sweet. It was not a short or sweet meeting. For two and a half hours I had to have a workshop in lighting in a small scale theatre and complete an intolerable risk assessment (I may or may not trip over in the dark on the way to the stage). I can understand why they do this. They do not want some undergraduate dancer/choreographer coming in with 30 lighting cues for a ten minute piece - complete with set, props, water, fire, mirror ball and haze machine. The rest of us just want to get on with it.
So instead we all had to fill out our own lighting designs to give to the technicians ahead of our technical rehearsal. I think it was the only time in my life where I finished a piece of written work way ahead of everyone else. And I even knew what I was doing. Now if I could only get my blue pants from riding up my bottom during the piece all will be well....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)