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Jun. 22nd, 2005 11:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bethlakshmiMix 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!!
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!!