(photo curtesy of Jumpbrush, centerpieces I made with Tanya)
For me Jumpbrush was more than a fun dance intensive I was taking part of, it was a weekend of opportunity and experiences. I wanted to get absolutely everything I possibly could out of Jumpbrush and I, in many respects, sacrificed things a normal person would never give up to do so. I know I can come off as cold and less than inviting to the average person (and to my friends and family) because I will always put dance first. I made the decision, without realizing it in many ways, to choose dance over the people I care for. I don't take that back and I definitely don't regret it, but I understand that it can make an enemy out of me to those around.
The actual events of Jumpbrush were eye opening for me. I have taken huge intensives before with choreographers from across the country and world before but not as an Adult (yes that required a capital A) and not as a dancer looking at a career in professional dance. I am a perfectionist and my hardest critic which makes me a good dancer, I never give up and always want to find more. Which is why it was good to start with Jude, she calms me and teaches me more about my body and spirit that I would never have learned otherwise. Jude is like my spirit guide in many ways, I know when I'm around her to just shut up and listen and my answers will come.
Next was tech which involved my first experience with the PAC stage... wow, that stage is like a punch in the chest. It knocks the wind out of you and makes your body feel so small and insignificant. Therefore my challenge was to make my tiny frame fill every ounce of the space around me. I wanted to command the stage and ooze into every crevice of the audience.
(photo curtesy of Jumpbrush of VV tech)
I failed... at least for my first time in the space. I felt like a drowning rat, then a cat in water, then maybe a dog, and finally a frog... not graceful but not dead or drowning.
Next was Swany's class which was my first Jazz class since 10th grade (that was 5 years ago... holy shit!) I loved his class and the combo was badass to say the least... however I have a BIG bone to pick with the way he conducts the class. It became an audition, not a master class. I understand pointing out and clarifying the things you like, but the last 20 mins of class should not be dedicated to the 6 people out of 25 that you like the best and only letting them perform the combo. Personally I was not one of his top picks but I did get chosen for a couple of the small groups. I don't really care if he likes me I just had to remind myself "this isn't an audition and I don't need a job just to do MY best." I could visually see the people around me having their moods change though. I still respect Swany and I admire his work and I would consider auditioning for him in a few years but that left a bad taste in my mouth and I know that not everyone took it as neutrally as me.
Thank goodness for Angie to bring back the joy in the next class. She teaches traditional modern dance in many ways, Limon technique etc. I enjoyed pushing myself and seeing how precise and clear I could be and really MOVE. After the class we chatted and I got her card because I know she will be a great help in my search for Grad school. She lifted mine and many other's spirits.
Next I went to Composition with KT, possibly my favorite part of the entire weekend other than performing. I wish the class had been much, much longer. I love composition and creating work. The phrase she taught us was unusual and quirky, then adding my own quirk to it and creating a whole new phrase was beyond rewarding. I loved my phrase and when I found out I was got to work with Harmony I was double excited. We created a piece together that in my opinion was ready for the stage. It felt good to do and was dynamic and interesting.
(photo curtesy of Jumpbrush of Harmony and I performing our phrase with another pair)
After comp we all ran to the pavillion for a Convergence rehearsal. Convergence was the final piece of the Finale show. It consisted of all of the companies and teachers "converging" for the first time. It was a structured improv dance that, to be honest, was in no way an improv just structure. However it turned out beautiful and was an event.
The last official part of the day was the Moving Mural. The idea was for the dancers to completely circle the Cohan Center in a structured improv (a real one) with the help of live musicians. It was a fun way to just clear your brain and de-stress from the day. To quote my friend Leslie the moving mural was "Oh getting-out-of-one's-head happiness!"
The best part was the media coverage, I actually made the cover of the SLO City News (pictured below) from the moving mural!
After the Mural there was Salsa dancing (like every Friday at Cal Poly) Brittany, Megan and I decided dinner and a bath was a much better idea. We headed to Natural Cafe in downtown SLO and grabbed some nutritious and filling food for our tired bodies. Then it was bath time! I don't have a bath tub in my hipster house, but megan's place has 2 bathrooms and her roommates are currently not living there, so I borrowed her spare bathtub. It was wonderful a long bath with music and epsom salt followed by a lot of arnica.
DAY 2
Day 2 began with me oversleeping and not making it to Ryan Beck's Yoga class... which was probably a good thing since I was performing that night and my body needed rest. My first class was Drew's contemporary jazz class which I was really excited for. I've never met Drew or taken his class before this weekend but I have always heard a lot about him.
His class was fantastic! I had a lot of fun and felt like it could have been longer.
(photo Curtesy of Jumpbrush: Me in Drew Silvaggio's class)
After that it was time for Diana's Bollywood class. My body was sooooo sore and to be honest I was in a fair bit of pain. This physical condition caused Diana's class to be a bit rougher than usual for me. However the class was rockin and I was so excited to be there and represent VV.
During lunch we had the final rehearsal for Convergence and my final time to adjust to the PAC stage. I needed that! After we converged and became slightly comfortable in the space with the piece it was time to move on. For me that meant home to pack and prep.
I decided to skip my afternoon classes in order to get everything done I needed to and to save my body for the performance that night. I went home, packed for Idaho, cleaned my dirty dishes (a week gone with a sink full of gross dishes wasn't going to happen), pack and prep my stuff for the show that night, pack a "dinner" etc...
I made it back to the theater with time to go and observe KT's comp class, which was really interesting since that class did things mine did not.
After that VV met to run both our dances for the show that night before the warm up.
While we ran our dances Daniel and KT from ODC watched, to be honest I should have marked it more than I did but I wanted to impress them. By this point my body wasn't in so much pain and moving around a lot helped so very much!
Next up was warm up! The ballet dancers and modern dancers all warmed up separately, we were in the pavilion and I believe the ballet warm up was in Spanos. KT led our warm up with Daniel's assistance which was one of the best warm up's I've had in a while. I LOVED it! It was reminiscent of the warm ups Leah gave before Balance shows.
After warm up we got in to costume and did hair and make up, which was a little more intense that our normal because the PAC is so large.
(photo curtesy of Jumpbrush: Variable Velocity receives notes after Tech )
we slowly migrated to the hallway to jump around a bit and shake off some nerves. Then it was go time and as we say "I'll see you on the other side"
Daedal went ridiculously well. I didn't feel like a drowning rat (ok there might have been a holy shit moment) and I felt big on a little stage, not little on a big stage. I'm not necessarily the tallest or biggest person you will meet but I try very hard to dance big and move larger than life. That way I'm always pushing myself to project more and fulfill the movements to my greatest extent.
After intermission we had Viscera, again pre dance jump around the hallway, wake the body back up, say hello to my sore muscles and beg them for just 5 more minutes of hard work.
Viscera went swimmingly! It was a lot of fun... which is why I love VV. I work so hard at dance and I put all of my effort into it, from rehearsing for hours several days a week, conditioning on my days off, watching what I eat (less cheetos more fruits and veggies etc), giving up alcohol for weeks and months at a time (it's hard hanging out with friends when they just want to play drinking games or go to the bars during your only time off). When I perform dances with VV I feel a kind of joy that I get no where else in my life, the people around me are my family and the work I do is a miracle to me.
Someone said during a speech at Jumpbrush that there was happy, then there was Dance Happy... I know exactly what they mean.
After the performance was the dance party where I found my new friends from the noodle house, Paul and Patrick, as well as old friends and Variable dancers. It was so nice to be around so many people and hearing such great things from random strangers about the show (ok I eavesdropped a little, sue me!).
If anyone reads this and took part in Jumpbrush in any capacity please leave a comment with your thoughts on the event! I'd greatly love to hear what other people experienced and thought about everything!
Again these are all my personal opinion and in no way related to Cal Poly, Jumpbrush or anyone else involved so if you don't like what I wrote tell me directly (below in comments is best)
I LOVE DANCE!
For more info on Jumpbrush see my previous post as well as their:
