(Carnival LA Footage/immabeast Auditions, Erica Sobol Show "Runaway", Dance Camera West Film Festival, Dana Foglia Dance Mentorship Showcase, Adrenaline Phoenix Highlights)
Carnival LA Footage
In one of my last posts, I described my experience at Carnival LA's April show with the immabeast company. It was such a fun night of dance - here is video footage of our performance. It was so fun to dance alongside everyone and honour MJ!
immabeast 2014 Auditions
In June, Willdabeast held live auditions for his 2014-2015 company. There were literally thousands of on-line submissions and over 500 dancers attended the live audition held at mL in North Hollywood. It was an exciting day with so much talent wanting to be part of immabeast company. I am honored to have been selected with the "Women" this year. I cannot wait to dance beside all these amazing talents! Thank you Will, I'm a proud immabeast!
"Runaway" Contemporary Show
On May 20th, I attended the second performance of Erica Sobol's show called "runaway". Erica was the 2013 Capezio Ace Awards Winner with her production of "Black Flies".
The Cast was comprised of all male dancers - Miguel Antonio, Brandon Dumlao, Jason Gorman, Keenan Johnson, Benjamin Ritter, Wyatt Rocker, Alan Salazar, Martin Sedgfield, Austin Spacy, Ryan Spencer, Derek Tabada, Teddy Tedholm and Jose Boyboi Tena.
They had a beautiful set with paper banners that dripped slowly with coloured paint from the ceiling as the dancers moved on the stage. The tables in the audience were set with books, pillows, antique vases and feathers to reinforce the bohemian feeling of the evening.
In the show program, Erica described Runaway "(as) a love letter to the underdogs, from the underdogs. One for those who wander, who are often lost. One for travellers and the lovers and the fire starters and the wild-dream chasers. ultimately, our story is mostly about compassion. We all face adversity, we are all lost. and we can all dave each other everyday."
Congratulations to Erica and the Cast - it was a beautiful show and it left me inspired by the talent in the dance industry.
Dance Camera West
Dance Media Film Festival
June 6-8th, & 13th
The evening began with an outdoor performance by BODYTRAFFIC a non-profit repertory dance company from Los Angeles. The cast danced in, around and on a large installation by Gustavo Godoy, choreography by Victor Quijada and music composed by Jasper Gahunia. The piece was commissioned by Dance Camera West and The Music Center.
Following this performance, the audience went inside to view films in the Music Center's Eva and Marc Stern Grand Hall. There were 13 films presented in total.
I went specifically to view "Today's The Day" Directed by Daniel Cloud Campos and Choreographed by Tamara Levinson-Campos. You may recall from reading my blog post in August 2013, this film premiered at the mL show following the summer workshop. The story centres around Cloud Walker, a "self-doubting intern who lacks the courage to follow his dreams...until today". The movie was 14 minutes long and was very well-received by the audience! I was so happy to see the full film after a sneak peek of it last summer. Congratulations to Cloud and Tamara on such an amazing project!
My second favorite film of the night was called "Snap Into It', Directed by Devin Jamieson and Jillian Meyers; Choreographed by Jillian Meyers. The film was described as "a gleeful digression from anticipated outcome, in favor of savouring the pursuit of whim//Following a renegade train of thought with dimension, texture, and amplitude//A staccato attempt to trace the digressions from an iconic Langston Hughes poem".
Jillian Meyers, as you may know from reading my blog is one of my favorite dancers. This piece was performed in Juliette Iron's show in March 2013 and I loved seeing how she transformed the piece for film. And of course it's always great to see Devin, a dance talent in his own right but now wearing the cap of Videographer/Director. With Jillian's unique, quirky movement and sense of humour, her film was a hit with the supportive audience.
One thing is for certain after witnessing the 13 films - dance for film is the future of dance. It is a means to prolong the life of a dancer's work and share it with a larger audience. It's also a way to highlight the creativity and multi-disciplanary strengths of so many dancers so they become the star rather than play a back-up role to an entertainer.
Dana Foglia Dance Mentorship Program
I can't believe three months passed so quickly and that June marked the end of my experience with the DFD Mentorship Program. I have loved every minute of training alongside Dana, my mentor Mishay, DFD Company Members and the dancers from all over the world who came to learn, grow and dance alongside other passionate and motivated dancers.
Thank you Dana for this opportunity - I will never forget my amazing partner Chris, the friends I've made, the challenging repertoire and the fun I had dancing alongside everyone each day. Thank you to DFD Company members (especially Martel for sharing barre with Maria and I every day!), Shani, Chris Stuewe, Chris Smith, Amar, Brianna, Christin, Manon, Mui, Natalie, Maria, Kate, Irene, Sandralee, Megumi, Sophie, Kelsi, Lara, Dionissia, Nick, Matthew, Sabina, Clarice and Mariah for not treating me like a kid, for the support and friendship you've shared the last three months. I can't wait to see what the future holds for each of you.
I loved each of my Mentor meetings with both Dana and Mishay. We always met at different locations in Noho to chat casually about life, my dancing, observations from class and goals for the future. I feel fortunate to have a life-long friend in Mishay now...I can't thank her enough for the kindness and support she showed me throughout the program. And sometimes Guero Charles would crash the party.....
At the mL Studio on June 20th at 7:15pm, the Mentorship Students performed two shows, premiering their work from the previous three months. Everyone worked so hard and we were excited to share our experience with the large, unexpected audience.
The demand to see the Semester 1 Students was so great, that Dana did an impromtu second show to accommodate all the people lined up out the door that came to see us perform! It was such a great opportunity to dance again and share our love of the program with everyone in attendance.
A huge thank you to Will, Moe, my mom, Kate, Morgan, Leigh and Patti for coming to watch the show!
A second semester is planned for Fall 2014...check out the DFD Trailer and news about Dana's new week-long Heels Intensive at two locations (New York and Los Angeles)!
Check out www.danafogliadance.com for more information about her Company and upcoming show. Here is footage from our performance at Dancescape LA where Mentorship students shared the stage with Company members. It was my first live performance in heels!
Adrenaline Phoenix
The last stop on the Adrenaline regional tour was Phoenix, AZ. I had such a great weekend meeting new dancers and crossing paths with friends like Chris. I hope Staff, Faculty and dancers had an amazing time in Las Vegas at their Nationals event! I hope to see you somewhere on the 2014-2015 tour!
Thank you for reading my blog. I look forward to sharing more of my experiences with you from the summer. Until then.....
