In the Pink!, October 8, 2005, Arabia Shrine Grand Ballroom

Ok, so this isn't purely a "performance," but it was pure fun. A gala/benefit put on by the Houston chapter of USA Dance (formerly USABDA), it combined dancing to big band music with a program of local ballroom dancers. The band was Brass Rhythm and Reeds, which played favorites from the big band era. Anita LaVallee Hughes, the vocalist in the band, has a beautiful voice and really captures the big band style. Being in the ballroom was like stepping back in time. I got to dance just about every style except Samba. The dance performances included Latin dances (Rebecca Avila and Ryan Lewis, Melissa Blanco and Brent Borbon) and Standard (Sabra Yarbrough and Curtis Provost), and I was quite impressed with the level of the dancing. José Melendez performed with two of his students, one 8 and the other 9 years old. No two ways about it, kids are cute. Proceeds from the evening went to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Mobile Mammography Program. The event was officially part of National Ballroom Dance Week, which actually took place back in September. Usually the gala is that same week, but it was moved this year to correspond with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A fortuitous move, because Houston had an unexpected visitor the week the event would otherwise have taken place. Isn't that interesting - Melissa and Brent have been on Star Search. Check out the link for a video of them dancing.

T'Kia Lanefesh: A Call to the Soul, October 1, 2005, sanctuary of Congregation Emanu El

"The work explores the universal themes of repentance and forgiveness and will be presented as part of Selichot, which marks the official beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days. This new ballet is being set to an arrangement of traditional Hebrew melodies, including the Kol Nidrei for Cello & Orchestra, Op. 47 by Max Bruch." This quote comes from the Dominic Walsh Dance Theater website, and does a better job explaining what this performance is about than I could, as I plum forgot to pick up a program. Choreographed by Dominic Walsh and coming in at a brief 30 minutes, it was more than worth the trip to see this performance, even though it was the only piece on the program. The piece was danced beautifully by 5 women and 2 men; the number of dancers may have been a coincidence, but the seven dancers at times resembled the seven candles on a menorah. The dancers at times encircled the altar at the back of the dias, sometimes to pick up candles, and other times to observe rituals with items used in Jewish worship. Canon was used frequently, but not overused. The dancing alternated between group movement and duets and trios. The choreography and dancing were filled with emotion, grace, and reverence. The movement was more serene than in other dances I've seen by Walsh. Some of the music was recorded, and some performed live by a male vocalist. I hope this piece can be brought to the stage in a future DWDT performance, as it deserves wider exposure for its artistic merits as well as its multicultural aspects. Be sure to catch the company (along with Hope Stone) at this year's Illumination Project performance! And while I'm plugging upcoming events, be sure to also check out Hope Stone's Cooking show on November 5 and 6; see The Dance Card for info.

Swing your partners

This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to three scientists for a chemical process that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences press release compares to a "change-your-parteners dance." To quote the press release further,

The word metathesis means 'change-places'. In metathesis reactions, double bonds are broken and made between carbon atoms in ways that cause atom groups to change places. This happens with the assistance of special catalyst molecules. Metathesis can be compared to a dance in which the couples change partners.

The web page includes a goofy flash animation of the process. I guess catalyst pairs have dreadlocks.

Ouch!

I've written about how beautiful ballroom is, I've written about how hard ballroom is, but I haven't yet written on how expensive ballroom is! I bought my first pair of real, honest-to-goodness ballroom shoes today to the tune of $167 (including tax). Of course, I had to get the most expensive pair in the store because with my extremely narrow feet, they were the only ones that fit. They have 2 1/2-inch heels with a tiny footprint (heelprint?), and dancing in them feels like being on demi-pointe all the time. Up to now I've been practicing in my character shoes - it's nice to finally get some use out of them - and I've noticed that it's gotten me somewhat used to being in heels. I still rock around a bit in the character shoes, which scares me because I really don't want to have ankly surgery again. I think I'll practice in the new shoes at home for a while before taking them to class. Hopefully that will make it less likely that I fall on my face (or butt) in front of everyone. How graceful would that look? You'd think, given that I don't give a thought to paying $60 for a pair of pointe shoes that last about a month during heavy rehearsal, that this shoe price shouldn't be so painful, because I'm sure these shoes will last much longer than three pairs of pointe shoes. I've just never paid this much for ONE pair of shoes before.