Zoe at the Special Olympics

Life is really busy right now with a new job, finishing thesis, and now a flood in my hometown and I am making sure my house is not being washed away.  The good news is, my sister competing in Alberta' Special Olympics this weekend in Devon, Alberta.  Despite the flooding, the event is going on as it is further north and not in the flood zone.  Here is a blog post my mother wrote about the event.  More to come later.

Zoe at the Special Olympics

Apparently the Olympics went very well and Zoe won a silver medal and three bronze medals.  One medal for each event she entered.  Very cool Zoe!  I shall call in the next few days to hear her stories.

Zoe Wins Four Medals

Bare: The Naked Truth About Stripping

Bare: The Naked Truth About Stripping by Elisabeth Eaves
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Somewhere behind my desire to be both a reporter and a stripper lay an impulse to conceal.  Stripping - in competition with acting and espionage - is the ultimate job for someone who's instinct is to present different facades of who she might be.  There is nothing more illusory than a woman pretending to be a sexual fantasy for money." - p. 5

This book was on the wrong shelf when I entered a university library about a year ago.  It has been reminding me it is there waiting to be read for many months and I decided to pick it up over the holiday season.  It was on the apartment shelf as a classmate, during my first year of my Master's degree, announced in class one day that she was completing a PhD about women, their bodies and stripping because she stripped to pay her way through her bachelor's degree several years earlier.  I work hard to be an open person and I easily delight in meeting people whose lives are vastly different than mine and who are willing to share their stories of their life experience.  This book was perfect after I had spent several hours talking with my classmate to begin to build a healthier and more realistic perspective of stripping, the why, who, for what reasons, etc.

"I learned that no one is neutral about female bodies.  If they aren't sex objects used to sell every conceivable good, they are political objects, causing bitter debate on how to manage their fecundity.  And where not sexual or political, they are imbued with society's ideals with fears, turned into Miss Liberties, Virgin Mary's, and Wicked Witches.  Everyone had an opinion on what to do about female bodies, and sometimes it feels as if the only people who get in trouble for holding such opinions are young women themselves.  Some of us, though, have to live in them, and we each get by in our own way." - p. 6-7

Eaves explains how she first became involved in stripping and we meet several of her colleagues, who become friends, and their work as strippers, what purpose is serves in various lives, for some the cycle of dependence that is created in this industry, and the rules of safety that are continuously broken by purchasers and strippers alike.  Eaves teaches the reader that every woman had a line that she has drawn about the sexual work she is willing to perform, and sees many women move and bend this line under pressure from others and due to economic circumstances.

"And I was tempted to see sex work as more of a symptom of social illness than a cause.  The sex biz was nothing more that a sophisticated arbitrage operation, dealing in morals rather than financial instruments...At some point women had become artificially divided into two types - the good and the childbearing ones, carefully trained to disdain sex so that they wouldn't stray, and a separate, pro-sex class.  The second group were despised and disparaged so that the good women wouldn't want to join them.  One group of women ended up with respect but no freedom, and the other with freedom but no respect.  But economics abhors a vacuum, and the whore class...rushed in to fill the chasm between men's actual desires and the social structure that they, with women, had built.  I don't think the divide between the two types of women would go away until all the girls were raised to be free, responsible and unashamed of sex.  And until society had bridged the sex-ed gap - porn for boys and religion and romance for girls - there would always be Lusty Ladies [the stripper club Eaves worked at]." -. p. 138-139

A book that was telling and a strong mixture of social and political commentary shaken together with the lives of women and how their work infiltrates all aspects of their lives.  Give it a read!


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On the Road

Once again an inspirational song.  Many year ago a friend of mine, let's call him Joe (because that's his real name) introduced me to a new band after mocking my old school musical tastes.  Yes he did.  So I updated my music library (much like I had updated my wardrobe and bra selection several years earlier....another story...) and have purchased every album/CD/digital release since.  Oh yes, the band is Keane, a harmonious group with poignant lyrics, musical speed, a baby-faced lead singer, and songs that encourage you to ponder and question life.  Great motivators.  Love them.  Thank you 'Joe'.

Here is one song called On The Road from the album Strangeland, about finding your own road of life and helping others down theirs.  



P.S.  Keane, stop touring Europe and the US.  Come to Canada, more specifically, Winnipeg.  Thank you.

Keep Shining

While I plaster my blog with videos....here is one a cousin shared with me.  She was able to see Shad in London.  You and I get to enjoy his video and powerful music through YouTube.  Thank you to all the women who have taught me so much.  Keep shining.

Pulse Doing Overtime

Fringe Fest in Winnipeg has been good for me.
This one is for you Trevor.
Thanks.

Porcelain Moon and Pomegranates

Porcelain Moon and Pomegranates: A Woman's Trek Through Turkey by Üstün Bilgen-Reinart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Being methodical feels constricting to me so I avoid it and stick with spontaneity.  This includes my selection of reading materials.  I go to the library, head for the travel section, start pulling books off the shelf, judge it by its cover, then synopsis, and keep it in my arms or put it back on the shelf after my discerning judgment :).  Over the past year I have read some wonderful books that have taught me about places I may never visit.  This book, with an unsuspecting cover, an acceptable synopsis, and yet more importantly a travel book written by a women, was left in my arms which was an exceptional choice.

This book was an amazing teaching tool that took me into the depths of thousands of years of history, race relations, conflict, change, and the current lives of many people in Turkey.  Of all the travel books I have read in the past year, this is the most moving one from which I feel like learned enough to be a four month university course that I received for free.  Lucky me!

Perhaps I feel closer to Ustun because she was born in Turkey, moved to Winnipeg, then returned to Turkey as an adult to learn about her culture all over again.  I was born in Calgary, Alberta, but did not live in Canada for any length of time until I was an adult, and I had to learn about my home country year after year when I moved here at the age of eighteen.  As well, I am currently living in Winnipeg.  An interesting coincidence.

This book is for people who want to learn about the deep moving power of travel, history, worship, cultural change, power structures and their influence, the complicated lives of women, goddesses, and to understand how old some parts of the world truly are, all situate in the context of travel, discovery, and making connections between the past and present.  A magnificent read!

I just realized that I will be probably be buying this book.  It is so full of information that I am going to want to come back to it a couple of times just to make sure I hear all of its messages.  Delightful as it stretched my thinking so very far.


The best parts of the book:

But deep inside me there was a division and there was a loss.  There were chambers that had to remain closed.  My Anatolian self was suppressed, my memories of that land - its rhythms, its smells, its temperature, its ancient joys and pains (for what is culture if it is not collective memory that is somehow transmitted through the generations?), the pleasure if my mother tongue - all these lay buried under the psychological layers that formed an efficient, adaptive Canadian self.  p. 14

Ecological balance represents survival - the human race can't live without air, land and water,  I knew that in Canada, too.  But it is only here that I begin to discern the relationship between ecological damage and the loss of distant memory.  So many layers of civilizations have lived and died here that I feel as if spirits hover over Anatolia.  But if their traces are destroyed, if no one remembers those who once lived and died here, we are not even going to know what we have lost...I notice that I often turn to women for stories about taboo themes and about the buried past.  It is true that women are the bearers of collective memory?  That questions leads me to the issue of the suppression of female voices, female memories, and female sexuality in Anatolia, and I see another connection that should have been obvious all along: the killing of nature and the suppression of ancient memory are related to the silencing of women's voices.  Perhaps women could have defended the earth of they hadn't been robbed of power thousands of years ago...On this land at the dawn of history, a different vision taped human societies.  An ancient great goddess reigned in Anatolia for thousands of years.  The traces of her worship remain all over this mountain our land...People often feel an urge to understand their own past in order to gain insights into the present.  I feel complicated to delve into Anatolia's past.  A long and loaded human past must affect the people who now live on this land in the same way that a family history going back many generations will affect someone who knows nothing of the secrets bored with those generations.  p. 17

Ustun continues to discover the thousands of years of goddess worship, provides a historical context of terrorism and her idea as to why it exists, describes how one religion is replaced by another as one culture is conquered by another group with a different culture, provides the history of prostitution and it modern day experience, explains killing ones daughter in the name of honour and how this practice is changing (a difficult chapter to read), and how the people of Turkey are rising up against Western multi-national companies as they destroy the landscape of the country, take their money and run away.  What a read!  It won't be the last time I peruse its pages.  So much more to understand and learn in the second and third readings.

Find it and learn from the words on its pages.  



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Why I Adore Wyona

In my family we do not celebrate Mother's Day, we celebrate Wyona's Day.  As my mother, Wyona has always said that we should not revere, praise, adore, and enjoy our mother's only one day a year but every day of the year.  With this instilled in us as teenagers, we continue to celebrate our altered version of this yearly holiday as a family.

This year my mother was on a cruise in some remote sea or ocean and unreachable.  Family members did send emails with funny stories, witty responses, best memories, and the like.  Wyona thanked us and we each took time to think about the amazing woman that raised seven children while moving all over the world, country to country.  She has survived by pure will as we are all different, unique and challenging (yet so entertaining) as children and now as adults.

As an homage to Wyona I rented a movie last week that reminded me of her.  You see, she is addicted to old time movies.  1940's musicals, dance films of the 1950's, and black and white, silver screen movies of the early 1900's.  When she has time, is sewing or completing small jobs we all have to do to keep life going, she is watching Turner Classic Movies (TCM).  When I am in town I plop on the couch, chat, watch, listen, chat more, watch again.  These movies always have and always will remind me of my amazing mother.

The other day at the library I realized I can rent videos for $1.20 so I grabbed a few.  When I saw, The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), I missed my mum and had to watch it.  From the film education I received from her, I know there are few musical and dance combinations in the world of film like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  It was the perfect choice.

The dance scene of the two of them, he in a tux, she is a flowing white dress, I watched three times.  The plot presents them as a somewhat agreeable married couple known for there stage talent, have split up because Ginger's character wants to try dramatic stage acting rather than the comedy they have repeatedly performed.  They split up as a couple and he woes her back with this Gershwin song and dance number (with a little help from the friend that introduces the scene.)  Such talent, poise, feet movement and ability.  I am grateful to have a mother that has taught me many things, one of which is an appreciation of older entertainment that remains relevant and enjoyable to watch.

I suggest you watch it once and keep your eyes on Fred Astaire, then watch it again and keep your eyes on Ginger Rogers.  He is so smooth, and she appears as delicate as a flower and knows when to grab her skirt and give it a flip to get it moving.  Love this musical!  Love these types of movies!

Enjoy the wee scene snippet from the movie!
Love your mum!
Enjoy her every day!

 

We Shall Dance

My family dances.  The best wedding I have ever attended was my sister Lurene's, who married Tim, both of whom are professional trombone players and who invited Tim's Big Band to play at their reception.

The Southern Stardust Big Band.
Tim standing on the right.

We danced for about 5 hours: cha-cha, waltz, tango, foxtrot, and the like.  I stopped once briefly to get a drink.  Heaven really!  One of the best parts was dancing with my nephew and niece as we taught them how to ballroom dance.  With some reluctance they learned, then within two songs they all refused to leave the dance floor and foxtrotted, cha-cha-ed and waltzed into the evening.

Cheri and daughter Chlesea cuttin' a rug.
Arta and Richard dancin' it up in the background.

Oh we danced!

We all danced!

Another highlight was dancing the tango with my dad.  My sister grabbing a shot of us together but first handed me a rose so that I could plant it in my mouth.  I love my dad's face in this shot.  Nothing like making an amazing man laugh.

Me with my dad, Greg.

It has been eight months since I have seen any of my family members, which is a long time when I had been living in the same city with them for 5 years and saw each of them at least weekly.  I miss them.  Each one a different personality.  Each one interesting.  Each one with whom I have a different relationship.  Have I mentioned there are 25 of us now?  That is the kicker.  A large and delightful family.  I am one of the fortunate ones.  Here is another member, my hilarious mother, Wyona with the gorgeous white hair.

Not sure what my mother is doing to
her nephew Richard, but the comedy!

The family-missing-sickness will be over soon as we meet up at the family cabin.  In preparation of our frequent and enjoyable dance parties each night (either that Bridge or Settlers) I have made mix CD's, reminiscent of teenage mix tapes.  Yeah, you know what I am talking about.  We all made them.

The one CD turned out to be three.  Here is the playlist that I shall be enjoying with my family on the deck, with the cabin's disco ball turning, shining, and the outdoor stereo system singing out into the night.  A mix of rock, dance, big band, ballroom and other enjoyable ditties.

CD Uno

Tic Tok - Ke$ha

The Ills - Mayer Hawthorne

Little Brown Jug - The Swingfield Big Band

Big Apple Contest - The Solomon Douglas Swingtet

Forget You - Cee Lo Green

Metro - Coolooloosh

Your Love is My Drug - Ke$ha

Baby - Da Beibs (Justin Beiber)

Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

Chattanooga - The Swingfield Big Band

La Cubana - Allistair Elliot

Pink Panther Theme - The Swingfield Big Band

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps - Pussy Cat Dolls

Comme un boomerang - Ngabo

Swimming Over London - The King's Singers

Full Steam - David Gray & Annie Lennox

Rolling In the Deep - Adele

I'm A Rover - Great Big Sea

So What - Pink

Firework - Katy Perry

Now That We Found Love - Heavy D & The Boyz

It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got that Swing - Joe Carrol with The Ray Brown Quintet

Greg and Wyona shakin' things up since 1966.

What to Wear to a Festival?

Winnipeg is the city of summer festivals.  It is not the only city that can brag as such, but it has the most summer festivals in Western Canada with Edmonton coming in a close second (I may have just made that up).  My goal is to volunteer for every festival possible in Winnipeg this summer.  The logic is that festivals cost money, volunteering saves me that money, I meet new people, enjoy live music, arts and comedy, and have a wonderful time soaking in the atmosphere.  So far I have volunteered at the Winnipeg Jazz Fest, Folklorama, Winnipeg Comedy Festival, with the Winnipeg Folk Fest and Winnipeg Fringe Festival in the wings awaiting my participation.  Most importantly as I attend these events I learn how homegrown so many of the artists, comedians, musicians and professionals involved in the creation of events truly are.  Perhaps the skill of music is in the earth, air and water as The Peg has an amazing and broad music scene that lasts all year long.

In order to continue trying to fit into the scene and in preparation of my first sleep-over/camping folk music festival this year, I was able to find these videos to assist all attending a summer camping festival in order to be prepared.  What to wear?  What to bring?  What to leave at home?  Watch and learn my friends, watch and learn:

For Everyone (well, perhaps more for dudes):

What to Wear to a Festival

For the Ladies:





If you are going to the Wychwood Festival or want any information about any other UK festival, try this.  Oh the UK, how I miss thee!

If you want to learn more via the medium of video, check out Videojug: Get A Good Life (available as an App as well).

Enjoy your festivals!

Aboriginal Awareness Day

It is Aboriginal Awareness week and June 21 is Aboriginal Awareness Day.

Today I challenge you to think about the disenfranchised people in our country, a significant number of who are of Aboriginal, Metis and Inuit decent.  I challenge you to question your attitudes, thoughts and opinions of First Nations, Metis and Inuit people and eradicate thoughts and beliefs you may hold that victim blame, insight prejudice, disseminate negative stereotypes and promote destructive myths.  Instead I encourage you to educate yourself on the growing wage gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians; learn about the horror of residential schools, the last of which closed in 1996; the ongoing struggle to identify and establish Aboriginal Treaty Rights; the loss of health and life in Alberta Native communities due to the tar-sands; abhorrent state of Canadian reservations shared recently in an Auditor General's report; the incorrect assumption that all Aboriginal people attend post-secondary education for free (called PSSSP): ongoing self-determination, education and employment barriers; the missing and murdered Native women of Canada (note the attempt at silencing of Sisters in Spirit by the current government).  It is with great admiration when I hear of and see success stories as people find the courage and determination to rise up in adversity, share their stories that speak to hundreds of years of colonialization, and watch as a few successes lead the way for others.  These include the success of the Northern diamond mines and their innovative practices; other creative business practices on the East Coast; leading conservation management; and continued development in the field of fine arts.  There is much to be proud of.

Recently with a visit to the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, PQ I took the opportunity to linger and ponder in the First People's Hall about the knowledge I have been gained over the years in University classes, conversations, presentations, etc.  The visit reminded me of how innovative, ingenious, and creative so many different First Nations people had been while living in the harsh and varied climates of Canada.  As well, I was reminded of how long their history has been compared to that of the Europeans and others on this continent.  May you take the opportunity develop thoughtful, understanding and empathetic views of those whose rights have been repeatedly and systematically violated for hundreds of years.  May you also take the opportunity to visit places that educate you in the ways of people who may be different as the richness gained in such places is immesurable.

Transformation Mask by Beau Dick.

Haidi Gwaii art by Bill Reid

Me in the Great Hall with the six house front installation.
(Another photographer in the way.)

Enjoy this day.  I shall be at the Manitoba Legislature supporting the National Day of Action for Aboriginal Rights.  What will you being doing and how will you think differently at the end of this day?

From the First People's Exhibit
Museum of Civilization

Children and Funky Song

My mother taught choir at school in her 'spare time' while teaching in Ottawa.  Her choir was known as the 'black light choir' as the children wore black, the lights would dim, the children would start singing, then the kids would pull out their hands wrapped in white gloves and begin to dance them around with planned movements and organized theatrics.  The audience would gasp knowing they were in for a treat, a different sort of creative experience, music infused with the delights of sound and spectacle.  Once she retired I borrowed her black lights and gloves and the choirs I taught were able to delight several audiences in Calgary.

A choir in Staten Island, New York recently converged on the stage at the Oscar's and an already well known group of public school children from this area became even more famous.  They too are using creativity, genius, modern music, free movement of singers, and fun to create and share the joys of music.  PS22 Choir is an amazing group of kids and the director is a genius.  This is music!

Here the choir is covering a new hit from the UK singer Adele, whom I saw in London in the courtyard of the Royal Academy of the Arts, when she was just setting out.  The title of the song: "Rolling In the Deep".  Her new CD "21" is outstanding and these children do it justice.  Singing three and four part harmony at this age is hard to teach but these kids are bang on.  The soloist has a mature voice in a little person frame.  Incredible!

PS22 Blog and Youtube Videos

   

More Music of Public School 22

Firework by Katy Perry

Don't Stop Believing by Journey

Just Dance by Lada Gaga

Performance at the Oscars, Post Oscars

One quick thought, does this break any child labour laws?  I hope not because I don't want them to stop singing.  Keep going!

The Official Adele Video: Rolling in the Deep

The Arts in The Peg

This past week was stressful with many academic assignments due, six chapters from books and 3 articles to read.  After all the crazy academic work was done, somehow I found time to attend a few recreation activities.

The first was a touring concert with Sarah MacLaughlan to perform songs from her new CD, Laws Of Illusion on International Women's Day.  I had not purchased the CD as of yet, but with a possible ticket on the twelfth row of the MTS Centre, it seemed like a good choice to attend.  Much to my surprise, upon my arrival at 8:00 pm the stage was full of musicians who remained on stage the entire evening.  This included MacLaughlan, her band and two guest singers and band members: Melissa McClelland and Butterfly Boucher.  Each woman took turns performing a song while the others musicians sang backup and played accompaniment on different instruments.  Butterfly Boucher toured with MacLaughlan 9 years ago and I have listened to her CD since then.  Her new CD, scaryfragile, is good but lacks a variety of sounding songs.  Sarah's CD I am enjoying but still getting to know.  Melissa McClelland is an artsy, funky person with crazy songs, my favourite being Passenger #24 a song about a train trip she once took and all the crazy people she met while on board.  Melissa's husband, Luke Doucet, is also a musician born in Winnipeg and was on stage playing as well.  Here are a few bad pics of the event:

All three women on stage, Melissa at front of stage.

The sad last bow of the evening.

Later in the week I took the opportunity to attend the world premiere of a new ballet by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Wonderland based on the story of Alice in Wonderland.  With its white stage, video projected images, colourful and fanciful costumes and contemporary movements, I was not disappointed, it was marvellous!  My eyes and brain just kept letting all the movement and drama on stage sink in at a fast pace, knowing that most of the work on stage was about chaos, pushing boundaries of logical thinking and providing a flourish of images.  I attended with a friend who has taught dance for most of her adult life and I, the woman of rapid questions, quizzed her afterwords about the movements, themes and expressions evident in the performers' dancing bodies.  Turns out that contemporary dance includes movements from all the other forms of dance providing choreographers with a broad swath of possible body movements with which to combine and intermingle.  Quite delightful.

From RWB website

Mao's Last Dancer

Recently several ballet movies have entered the options of movies to see, here is another.  A deeply moving story of a man, Li Cunxin (played as an adult by Chi Chao), who was plucked out of his life by his government, trained in a profession not of his choosing, given the opportunity to travel, where his talent is refined and he discovers the backbone of courage he did not know he possessed.  Arresting music, bewitching dancing, engaging characters, exemplary dichotomy of worlds, superb.

Mao's Last Dancer

Live on the program Interviews, Cunxin discussing his book, the movie and life experiences.

Psychotic Break

I have never had a psychotic episode in which I have blended reality and my own inner mind's workings into one large experience, all of which I believe is authentic.  After having seen Black Swan, I have a closer understanding of what a psychotic episode might look like.

For many years I worked hard practicing, completing drills, working as a team and sweating meeting the goal of being the best basketball player.  I reached that goal many years ago but once I reached it I was not consumed with fears of paranoia and obsessed with perfection, all involving an over-protective parent.  After watching Black Swan I can see how the thine line of reaching a goal may turn on me.

Most of my life I feel like I have been pretty uptight, overly moral and whitely pure.  Now that I have watched Black Swan I more fully understand what it could look like if I began letting out my dark side (minus the wings and feathers).

Mmmmm......a wonderfully intricate movie, not easy to watch, but very intensely introspective as one must always be aware, that what one is experiencing is as close to the collective reality as possible.



The Envelope's perspective on the movie.

$25 and Thank You

One week ago I found a iTunes $25 gift certificate that I purchased over one year ago.  The card made it into my packing supplies and appeared as I rambled about my various electronic gadgets once I unpacked.  What did I do with it?  I used it to buy the following and enjoy over and over.  Thank you artists and iTunes!

Broken Bells
- Songs Purchased: The Ghost Inside, The High Road, October, Vaporize
- a falsetto voice
- some fun electronics
- clap along!

(Copied from austintownhall.com)

Noisettes
- Songs Purchased: Don't Upset the Rhythm (Go Baby Go), Wild Young Hearts
- French term, meaning 'nuts'.  As many words, it sounds better in French.
- a band I first heard in the UK
- sassy woman on lead vocals and bass
- retro hair
- danceable and fun!

Ugly Duckling or Swan

Which would you rather be?

Though one becomes the other, most would pick a swan and skip the ugly duckling part. After what I saw Tuesday night, as long as the swans move me to misty eyed awe, I don’t care which one I am.

Tchaikovsky wrote Swan Lake (1875) with a chorus of swans who all represented womanhood in its purest form (typically the ballet did not become well loved until after Tchaikovsky’s death). The swans are all disciplined, all beautiful, all desirable, all graceful but only one leader: Odette/Odile. Odette the queen swan and Odile, her evil twin (both danced by the same prima ballerina during the performances). She was the swan above all others who led the group and who won the heart of Prince Siegfried (insert heavily noted and delightful music, tragic love, and an ending of tears and sorrow here).

120 years later, Matthew Bourne demolishes the Russian ballet’s history, and changes the beautiful gaggle of tutu clad, adored, classical spinning female swans, into a swarming mass of muscular, beak pecking, modern moving, broad winged male swans. Including the lead role as the tallest of all the male swans (Bourne's lead swan role was used by the makers of the Billy Elliot movie in 2000). Bourne also modifies the plot and turns the heterosexual love story of the swan and Prince, into a two male lead with homosexual under and over tones.

I loved every movement, note, character, reference and minute of it!

The classical dance mixed with the modern movements; the hilarious potential girlfriend as they mock classical ballet; the sadness of a Prince’s desire to receive a physical manifestation of love from his frosty mother; this lack of love being transferred into a love dream for a beautiful swan; a swan who appears a second time as a seductive lady’s man, rejecting any familiarity with the Prince; the flailing wings and arms of the dancers; the moonlight beaming on the gaggle of swans; the pas de deux between two men; the reference to the 1970’s – 1980’s electric shock treatment given to men to ‘cure’ their homosexuality.  All so new, exciting and exhilarating!


Now that the swans have danced for me and I adore them, the question becomes, how many more times can I go to their performances before it all ends on January 24? 

(The pictures interspersed within the words

are pictures I have taken of swans in Europe,

July – December 2009.)

Do Something Different

Tonight I went to see something completely different. Instead of attending another classical concert, I headed to the Barbican to see the latest hip hop dance group Boy Blue, perform Pied Piper. Having never been to a live hip hop performance, the price was right and I attended. The whole cultural mystique from which the dance form has been derived is not my life experience, as I am a Caucasian, middle class, Canadian, swing / two-step / tango / social dancer. Not so good at the hip and the hop. The enormous amount of talent I saw on stage however, made any life experience barriers fall aside into an abyss of dance joy.

In the show the Pied Piper is hired by four money laden bureaucrats to clean up the UK streets from the 'hoodies' (people in hooded sweat shirts causing chaos to reign). The Pied Piper enters several different lairs of evil (snakes, vampires, etc), and conquers them one by one. One of the best moves was the traditional run up to a wall, leg pushes off wall, legs flip over head, and person lands upright on floor. Only the Pied Piper was the wall, four men held him still, and one man did a back flip off his chest and another off his back at the same time. Stupendous! Then there were the flips, and air spins with half turns, and feet moving so fast that there seemed to be six feet where there should have only been two. The speed and gravity defying dancing caused me and the audience to ‘oooo’ and ‘ahhhh’ for much of the performance.

In true fashion, I noticed that there was a good mix of ethnicities on stage as well as a strong mix of women and men. Most of the Hollywood hip hop dance movies show predominately male groups in competitions, and perhaps one token female group. This group did not delineate between genders, skin colours or ethnicities. All those who passed the audition, were on stage breaking a sweat while entertaining the audience.

During the applause I am so glad I broke away from my norm and did something different (the Barbican's motto).  My only critique would be the amount of dancing that represented fighting, whereas I had always been told that the Pied Piper played a wee flute and danced the rats out of Hamelin. No flutes in this performance, but much dancing!

If you have a chance to attend a Boy Blue show or any hip hop event, add a little flair to your life and see the dancing live instead of in a movie. You may even go home and try a few of the lighter moves. (No wall attempts please.)

A Boy Blue Peak

Pied Piper Longer
This is slightly different than the one I saw this evening.  Less hootchie from the ladies who wore more clothing.