For this edition of my blog I'd like to walk you through my discovery of my tail bone using the ever present guide of the theme to Duck Tales. Please review if you are not intimate with the lyrics...

Okay got that? MIGHT SOLVE A MYSTERY OR REWRITE HISTORY: So here's the thing. It says might. MIGHT. This is not a guarantee. What I learned from Duck Tales is that they were curious and asked lots of really annoying questions. I have been a ill attending student of Barbara Mahler since 2008, and let me tell you-I ask her a ton of annoying questions. So, if you want to find your tale you have to be really really curious and totally believe that it's there. Kinda like how Dewey, Huey, & Louie knew that Uncle Scrooge had a big ole heart beneath his greedy exterior. 

This is what you need to solve the mystery, curiosity and belief.
 If you are a dancer, and you haven't found your tail, take heed! There is hope because you were totally built with a tail bone. You wouldn't be dancing without it! But to actually KNOW it and feel the suspension it can offer you and the balance and support of the down and out motions rather than the typifying over and out motions of the over trained american dancer....let me tell you-It changes your dance life.




You'll still be you, but better. More controlled, yet freer. Why is dance always so full of contradictions? I believe nothing beautiful is without contradiction, and each time I find one in dance, in the expression or the physical act, it gladdens my little dancer heart. The understanding you will have of your bodies history will expand as your spine lengthens

In class tonight, Gabriel Forestieri said, "We are all collections of every move we have ever made." 
How beautiful is that? In knowing more pointedly your past and using specific curiosity in the present you can kinda sorta maybe rewrite your body history...look I just like duck tales so stay with me here. :) 
(Also, Gabriel is teaching this month-Sundays at 6:15pm at Eden's Expressway. You should come!)

I'm pretty sure that racecars, lasers, and aeroplanes are all choreographic choices and mostly unrelated to your tail bone. But you never know...laser tails could be the next wave of human evolution.

Last night after Hee Ra's class at DNA, I got to check out the Performance Project, featuring work by Kendra Portier and Sasha Soreff (I only saw half the show because I was in class, so I'm not sure what other choreographers performed last night)

It was really great on a personal note to see two of my Hunter classmates Rachel Goldstein and Andrea Cassidy performing in Portiers work again. Rachel, Andrea, and I had the pleasure of dancing for Kendra this past academic year at Hunter College as part of the department repertory, sponsored by the Harkness in Dance Residency program. 

You can check out KP's work HERE. In fact, you really should check it out. Like now. 

The work I saw last night was all Kendra-she has such a distinct style, but it allows each dancer to really shine through as well. The atmospheric sounds and beats made me think I had happened upon this band of serious women who had tasks at hand-serious sensual tasks that were physically necessary to their lives. This is essential Kendra. Having been in her work, and having seen her previous work with Launch Movement Experiment, I can see the work oriented sincerity and the playfulness that exist in her motifs. I recommend you check out the performance project, which runs tonight and tomorrow at DNA.

SOOOO, today it's FESTIVAL!!!

This means I get to go around the corner from my house and take class in my neighborhood bar. That's right, it's bar(re) HOW COOL IS THAT?! 

I'll be all warmed up from the Contact Jam at Eden's Expressway  beginning at 1pm. I love my dancing life.

Have a super saturday peeps.

xo
m.e.

You should probably go.

We were sweaty in the warm and heavy city air, but we had a wonderful time with Irene's lovely presence and easy smile. I have never learned any Trisha Brown movement before today and it was challenging and very fun. I felt like I was learning a bit of my history this morning.

There is a tornado watch in NYC and New Jersey, I am at my computer diligently typing out my final edits to some applications. 
Hope the hail falls gently on your heads.

Til tomorrow,

~Mary Ellen

So may I please recommend Thai Yoga Massage to EVERYONE!?!?

I went to Astoria today and was that hour train ride ever worth it! I'll be writing up a recommendation soon, but I want to ask if it is okay that I share his information on my blog first. 

So many images came to mind during the massage, but mainly I could feel the seizing and releasing of my muscles. I am in bed, and a little sore now, but looking forward to tomorrows class with Luis at Eden's. 

Sleep tight!

I am a current intern at Movement Research and for the next three weeks I get to take morning class with this amazing man, Luis Lara Malvacias. He is so goal oriented but so playful and clear that you can't help but have a really focused and fun time while dancing. We had 15 students pre-register for todays class from The School of Dance in Ottawa, so we had quite a packed house! 29 total students in little old Eden's Expressway! It was interesting to see the type of training in their bodies I used to think was so desirable. They were absolutely well trained, but absolutely over trained; and they absolutely gave a huge effort in class to get it RIGHT. 
It was kind of lovely to see that energy again, and to know that the precision in weight I seek and see in dancers I admire comes from understanding the body in motion and it's weight and not from muscling it around to force it do to what you insist. I love how much enthusiasm younger dancers have, and though I'm only 29, I can begin to feel my maturity and always developing passion. I don't think i'm quite conveying this the right way, but the sort of hyperactive nature they possess makes me nostalgic and grateful that I'm not quite that way anymore all at the same time. 

Luis is a smart teacher, and is confident without pushing into arrogance. He is open and makes you want to dance smarter. 

I stayed for the Alexander Technique class with Cori Olinhouse of Trisha Brown. She has a private practice in brooklyn and has her B.A. from Bennington. She really had a vivid and logical way of explaining Alexander Technique. I find that most Alexander classes can be so abstract, I'm not even sure what I'm meant to focus on. I can feel changes in my body, but I'm unsure of what my job as a student is while in class. She really helped me find some patterns I might have and discussed the possibilities of directional pathways with us. I really recommend her classes. 

Karen and I are going to brave another night at Yankee Stadium. Hopefully the weather will hold out and they will play!! 

For a complete guide to Movement Research classes, and for upcoming performance dates and applications, please visit www.movementresearch.org.