Day 11 at the Pillow: Salsa de Rueda, set to Stravinsky
This evening I ushered at the Doris Duke Theater. Emanuel Gat Dance was presenting two pieces: "Winter Voyage" and "The Rite of Spring". Emanuel Gat founded the company in Tel Aviv a little over 2 years ago. Having absolutely no familiarity with any dance projects out of the Holy Land, I didn't really know what to expect, and, to be quite frank, was not anticipating their arrival much at all. I've been too preoccupied with Suzanne Farrell's visit here to give Emanuel Gat much notice, despite the fact that he and his dancers have been consistently observing our classes in the Sommers studio ever since they arrived.
I came out of the theater completely buzzed. If you EVER have the chance to see Emanuel Gat Dance, RUN, don't walk, to your local box office. They are AMAZING. Visit their website: www.gatgat.com. Much dance has been choreographed to "Rite of Spring", but Mr. Gat is the first to set a salsa de rueda to it. At the post-show talk the following evening, he explained how he came up with the idea: he was walking in the park with Stravinsky blaring on his earphones, and he passed a group of people dancing salsa. So he saw this vision of salsa set to this music before he created the piece. That's pretty neat.
Suzanne Farrell herself sat down at the table next to mine at the Pillow Pub, the campus bar, as I was typing up this post. Being so engrossed in my blog, I didn't notice when she sat down, but when I turned to see her sitting about 15 inches to the right of me, I froze on the spot, and choked on my mouthful of Stella Artois and Terra chips. I snapped my head back to stare directly ahead, and tried to think of something to say, but, in my starstruck state, was struck completely mute. I had promised myself and my mother that I would talk to her and take a picture with her while I was here, but this was not to be the evening for me to attempt a conversation with Ms Farrell. I stiffly packed up my laptop, and slid out of my spot, eyes downward, incapable of looking directly at her. She either didn't notice me, or thought I was a complete freak. I'm sure people act strange around her all the time though.
I came out of the theater completely buzzed. If you EVER have the chance to see Emanuel Gat Dance, RUN, don't walk, to your local box office. They are AMAZING. Visit their website: www.gatgat.com. Much dance has been choreographed to "Rite of Spring", but Mr. Gat is the first to set a salsa de rueda to it. At the post-show talk the following evening, he explained how he came up with the idea: he was walking in the park with Stravinsky blaring on his earphones, and he passed a group of people dancing salsa. So he saw this vision of salsa set to this music before he created the piece. That's pretty neat.
Suzanne Farrell herself sat down at the table next to mine at the Pillow Pub, the campus bar, as I was typing up this post. Being so engrossed in my blog, I didn't notice when she sat down, but when I turned to see her sitting about 15 inches to the right of me, I froze on the spot, and choked on my mouthful of Stella Artois and Terra chips. I snapped my head back to stare directly ahead, and tried to think of something to say, but, in my starstruck state, was struck completely mute. I had promised myself and my mother that I would talk to her and take a picture with her while I was here, but this was not to be the evening for me to attempt a conversation with Ms Farrell. I stiffly packed up my laptop, and slid out of my spot, eyes downward, incapable of looking directly at her. She either didn't notice me, or thought I was a complete freak. I'm sure people act strange around her all the time though.
posted by Clown Hair at
11:01 PM
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