bethlakshmi: (Default)
[personal profile] bethlakshmi
Mix of good and bad.

Get the bad out first - saw mouse droppings last night in kitchen.


Damn, damn, damn! I hate mice. They don't scare me, it's just the hassle of getting them to leave, and the destruction they do. Having to be super careful with all possibly edible things, laying down poison or traps, cleaning up mouse crap. Shit. I'm tempted to hire an exterminator now. Trying to battle centipedes is one thing. Centipedes AND mice is getting to be a little much. I just want someone to fix it.

Worse so as I was doing a massive trash-take out - taking out some basement trash that has been long overdue to go - stuff from dying projects, spare boxes, laudry soap containers, etc, etc. And then did a run of the downstairs trash recepticles and all recycling. Made vast improvements to both basement and kitchen. And then to see the stupid mouse crap. ARGH. whine, whine




But the good stuff is pretty good, and thinking about it will surely cheer me up. There was...


Wow! Totally blew my doors off. I went mostly to support my friends in the troupe - ie, most of the troupe - the friends far outnumber the friendly acquaintances. Don't get me wrong - I like Commedia, I think it's really neat, and I admire the gang for doing it. But usually I see a little more Commedia than I'd usually see if I didn't also enjoy seeing my friends on stage. That double perk, plus getting to see them for coffee and ice cream after, is usually a valid draw to get me to come and also help out with strike and/or cleanup.

But this was damn cool. The show was done in conjunction with Vox Luciens - a talented and well-known medieval vocal group. They had dug up a series of songs about Commedia del'Arte, which tell a story of a scenario (a commedia play) - all by one composer, meant to be sung together. So you could call it a light opera, but the original idea was that it's just a vocal performance - no actors. The songs are in the third person, rather than the first. But where does iSebastiani come in? It was like a rock video - as Vox sings, iSebastiani comes out and acts out what they are singing.

This was so cool! Now, admittedly - it's an understatement to say I have a soft spot for storytelling through dance - ie, anything with music and a person doing some sort of "mime" to tell a story. After all - that's a huge part of Indian dance. But... wow... I mean... wow... They were GREAT. The movements were good - a combination of big moves like walking and dancing, and little things like eyes, and mouths, and hand moves. The female makeup really accentuated the actresses' face movements, and the guys with masks did a great job of emphasizing emotion in other ways than through the obscured face.

The really impressive thing is that the troupe, as a whole, does not do "dance", and I'm pretty sure none of them have done the storytelling-dances, their strongest suit as a group being medieval/Rennaissance dances, which are done as a group experience. They do physical stuff with their characters - working out characterized walks and movements. But this was a whole step beyond that - telling the ENTIRE story with body only, while Vox provides words... in Italian!! Yep. No English. Not a bit. So this was a big leap for them in terms of unusual medium to work with.

And they were funny! I laughed, I followed the story, I felt compassion for the characters who were sympathetic. It was awesome! Just so damn cool! I felt elated it happened and I got to see it, and hope that if they ever do it again, I can come and play too.


Got up early enough today to practice. I'll be doing the Mandariva Slokum with a little story-bit in front of it. This is a pretty neat peice - short attention span length, neat gestures, and I can do it without auditory help. The last segment needs some practice, and I need to be more "on" when I do it. This morning I was a little "ho-hum..." about it, and that's never good. But on the up-side, most of it is in my brain, so now it's detail-work.

Can't wait until Aparna gets back. Really starting to miss class with her, even if it will further hose a alreadly hosed schedule.


And, lastly, connected with Li Kung-Lo - aka Richie - who has a home-based sound studio and is eager to have musicians in to record with him. We have plans to set up an appt. in July, so I can make practice tapes for Pennsic class. How cool is that? Professional quality practice tapes!!

Date: 2005-06-22 06:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jdulac.livejournal.com
cats make an excellent Integrated Pest Management System...

Date: 2005-06-22 09:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wren13.livejournal.com
My thoughts exactly. Can you get a loaner cat? Mine is an excellent mouser, but does not travel well. With the centipedes, though, the exterminator may be more appropriate.

Date: 2005-06-23 03:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lakshmi-amman.livejournal.com
Cats are right out - I'm allergic. :(

I'm fine at other people's homes - because I don't tend to squish my face up to cat-laden upholstry, or pet the cat and touch my hands to my face. But the cat dander all over my house would leave me with constant cold symptoms.

Apparently cats will, also, go after centipedes... but that still doesn't help the Lakshmi v. cat dander problem. Plus the fact that I would be an absentee cat mommie. I'm not very good at regularly taking care of things. The roomate survives because she can feed herself, take herself to the doctor, and flush and clean the toilet. :) Anything less self-sufficient than that will probably perish.

Date: 2005-06-22 06:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rufinia.livejournal.com
Otehr than dance practice I've done ballet... and old school ballet is partially storytelling, down to a code of gestures that the audience understood (like when Odette explains how she got to be a swan, there's this whole thing in the original choreography of her (essentially) miming it). This system is not used in new choreography much at all... and I suspect is often left out of reimaginings of some of the classics. It's too bad, really, it's a neat skill.

Two quick corrections

Date: 2005-06-23 05:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] new-man.livejournal.com
Vox is not "well known". I Seb is significantly better known (and we're not very well known at all).

The singing absoultely is in first person. There are conversations, arguments, etc.

Re: Two quick corrections

Date: 2005-06-23 01:34 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lakshmi-amman.livejournal.com
Well... I'm only barely, tangentially involved in medieval music - and I had heard of them. And the way I heard of them was KWDS, where everyone was saying "Vox is coming, oh COOL! WOW!", so I figured they were well-regarded.

I can't speak to iSebastiani - I've known y'all too long and too well to have a good fix on your general fame, or even your SCA fame -- I'm too close to you.

Re: Two quick corrections

Date: 2005-06-23 01:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] new-man.livejournal.com
Oh baby. You can't get too close to me for my taste ;-)

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