Thursday, July 31, 2014

Wherein chairs are moved

july 30

We moved a lot of chairs today; actually we moved the same 13 chairs many, many times!  But before that, the original DITTA troupe rehearsed DITTA.  And a good thing we did!  Knee crossings, hand raisings, the wave, counting....it's coming back, right?
Rag dolls

2 chairs down, 2 women ditto
We've brought Randy to his knees, showing us the dance floor that will be laid down.
Old and young

















 Wayne watches Ben











Here are the video links from today's rehearsal:
Moving of Chairs

Private Moments 

Monday, July 28, 2014

Where teens run & Ben tries to teach Nat & Phil some dance moves

july 27

19 dancers this afternoon...or was it 20?  Getting to know our places and spacing is a lot easier with a full complement.   As usual there was great hilarity.
Video link to running teens:  Run, Lola, Run
Video link to Ben & the Boys: Dancing with Ben

l. to r.: Diana, Maria, Ben, Melanie


 
Randy stands in for Stuart










And then there was jumping; who could touch the beam...
 Like daughter, like father!

Zak stretches!


Quiet moments and some not so quiet ones











Nat by Maggie-Rene




Private moments... a work in progress











Arms dance

Make 'em laugh





























The serious piece...
 
















And the reggae can't keep still piece













Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Smoothing rough edges / july 21, 23, 26

july 21

Only seniors today, with Randy standing in for  everybody under 19.  After a couple of stabs at Yo Tengo, which is really called Naci en El Alamo ( I was born in El Alamo ), we moved on to the Cell Dance.  A couple of us thought there was snapping of fingers in this piece, only to find out that the snapping is in Burlesque.  The Cell Dance has the clump section.  Nat got a lesson in keeping his head up while reaching out with his arms and Terry listened for the beat.
Randy demonstrates
Terry listens

Nat reaches while keeping head up


Student and teacher

























Randy worked on the chair piece with the guys; Sally and Grace standing in for Zack and Stuart caused some gender confusion with Phil but he figured out who he really was in the end.  Here is the video clip:  Walking, Talking, Falling  

Great hilarity ensued....















Pauline proved to be a fast starter in her 'looking for a chair piece' and had to be physically restrained by Susan.



Pauline finally sits down




Grace learns to slump
Wayne and Terry crack themselves up



Wayne not impressed by royal wave












This is the walking part:














We did get to the snapping fingers dance, otherwise known as Burlesque.  Here's the video link: Burlesque
                                The chief angel lost in thought, or possibly just lost.
uh, what do we do now?

july 23

Back to King's this afternoon with a few teens.  Randy runs the piece from beginning to end with a few unfinished pauses.
Here is the video link to the Cell Phone dance: Cell Phone Dance



It's all about the chairs







Add caption

Nat






































Video link for Burlesque:  Burlesque
Melanie & Maggie-Rene

Ben, Pauline, & Sally

5 young, 5 mature
The Teen Angel rehearsal was followed by a mercifully short DITTA run-through.  Randy said we had about 70% recall.  Hmmmm..... The stage left side of the wave disintegrated into a tangle of arms, Grace thought she was a man, Susan fell asleep on stage and had to be carried off in hysterics, so we have some work to do!

Prior to the run-through Randy brought everyone up to speed on our tour dates and the Kickstarter campaign.  Get your mailing lists ready, please.  If you have some potential close friend donors in mind, give them a heads up about the launch August 3.  The carrot is Wayne's beautiful luminous painting being offered to the first person to donate $3500 or more.

july 26

Visitors today: Pam's niece Sally and her 5 year old daughter Evangeline and Melissa's daughter Bronwen, who studied dance with Pam and Randy.  We did it all, worked on spacing, smoking, and a few private moments.
Maggie-Rene and Evangeline

















Bronwen










Several guys and one doll.....


Watching all the girls go by.....










Dragging Grace....

Video link: Guys & Dolls

Video link: Cell Phone

Video link: Burlesque
















We're smokin!
Randy working with teens:













 Run, Lola, Run!
Run, teens, run!
Zack and Stu take a break
And now for something completely different:



Whaaaat?












Private moments:
Tender
Do something angry