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Dance Solo - 1994

I started incorporating dance and choreography into my live act lately so I’ve been going through my old dance tapes for inspiration. As a teenager I was really into dancing and fantasized about being a dancer. When I was 16 I performed a solo at Dance Arts Centre in Bristol, CT, where I took dance classes for several years. This was during a period when I was really pushing to try to become a better dancer, and the solo felt very special to me.

The song is “Winter” by Tori Amos, choreographed by Mark Simpson.

A few months after this recital I went away to summer art camp (Center for Creative Youth in Middletown, CT) for creative writing, and the experiences I had there altered my trajectory. Most of CCY’s influences were positive though there was one negative situation that sticks in my head. Within the camp we had a talent show and I signed up to perform a dance solo in it. It wasn’t the dance pictured here but I think another that I had choreographed to Sinead O’Connor’s song Just Like You Said It Would Be. I wore a blue costume that was kind of flowy and similar to the one worn here and felt pretty good about it. But afterward a guy I was friends with, whose opinion I thought highly of, was critical of it (the dance or the costume or both I can’t recall) and suggested that it was dorky or corny. Looking back on that incident, I can see that it had a powerful influence on me and caused me to be self-conscious about this type of emotional non-funky dancing. Only recently have I really started to break back through that and get over this weird stigma I put on dance.

A few months ago, in preparation to create a dance for my song Mother’s Arms, I dragged a huge mirror into my studio. I originally intended to return it to the hallway where it previously sat but ended up hanging on to it. Since it has been there I’ve found myself dancing and stretching in front of it fairly often, and I’m really enjoying that. I’ve always liked having mirrors in my studio but felt a bit self-conscious about it being potentially narcissistic. But I’m realizing now that I spent a lot of time during my formative years in the dance studio with its mirrored walls and I developed a kind of relationship with my reflection that was informative without being vain. I’m sick of feeling self-conscious about looking in the mirror.

At any rate, watching these old tapes was very encouraging and heartening, and it brought back the warm feelings I had for my teachers and friends at Dance Arts Centre. Jill, where are you??

Handmade Future/Retro Earrings

I’ve recently been making 60s, 70s, and 80s-inspired earrings out of leather, plastic, and yarn. I made earrings as a kid - one memorable pair was made of paint-spattered paper and another a painted toy car tire cut in half - so this is a fun return to my roots (a common theme for me lately).

Anyone know of a good adhesive to use with leather and plastic? I’ve tried several glues and cements but nothing seems to hold really well.

Pictured below: a mint green pair of earrings made to match the dress from the previous post.

These are made of silver leather, clear plastic, and silver bedazzler studs. I used this see-thru plastic in multiple pairs to create the illusion of floating shapes on the skin and neck.

See more pairs HERE.

And speaking of earrings, my friend Carrie Yee has been making jewelry too! See her designs at Specimen Jewelry. Click on “Collection” on the right for pics.

Bedazzle It

I got a Bedazzler for Christmas and it has quickly become my favorite new toy. So when I was fixing up this dress and contemplating adding some gold Bedazzler studs, I wanted to try out some ideas before committing them to fabric. Try it! I put a small image of a gold Bedazzler stud HERE. To use it, simply use the magic wand tool in Photoshop to select the black background and delete or clear it. You can then drag the stud onto your image, resize it, and copy the layer as many times as necessary to create your design. Adjust color for silver. aww yeah!

Three New Videos

Awesome Music Videos Vol. 1 was a DVD I made that I had intended to give out to friends as a holiday gift. But as pages flew off the proverbial day calendar in a time-traveling frenzy, I gave up this notion of meeting my Christmas deadline. Then came New Year’s, Chinese New Year, and Valentine’s Day. At least I got it done before St. Patrick’s Day!

At any rate, it’s a compilation of music videos that I deem to be awesome. I play veejay, introducing the DVD and performing skits with Collin Cunningham. And now I’m putting the skits online despite their lack of context clues. Enjoy!

Alien Lounge Scene

Are You Experienced?

Untitled (HANDS)

Ivor Cutler

My dad directed me to this video at least a month ago, and I should have put it up then. He’d seen it on the Yahoo homepage or something so I thought at first that it wouldn’t be news, but hey, that hasn’t stopped me before. At any rate, I’ve since discovered that many folks still have not seen this fine film, a music video created to illustrate the Ivor Cutler song Pussy on the Mat. I had never heard of the song or the man before, and dad and I speculated on his position on the oustider/insider continuum. Take a look:

After a cursory google search and Wikipedia browse I found that Cutler is a Scottish poet and humorist rather than an offbeat intuitive untrained charmer. But let’s forget that I even mentioned that categorical distinction. What he’s doing is really quite moving.

Check out this awesome video of Cutler performing on the Old Grey Whistle Test. Note the sign in the foreground that shows us the way to the “Comfy Area.”

Dance Party

Leading up to my performance last week, I was cruising youtube for inspiration. Below are some of my more memorable finds.

This woman Sadie has some totally amazing hip isolation movements. Watch it all the way through until the end.

Here’s a trailer for an instructional video about prenatal bellydancing. There were a number of interesting videos of pregnant women performing, but I enjoy imagining any pregnant woman following along in her living room:

Lots of clips of people dancing to a Shakira song all edited together. Not sure if they are from one source or combined from multiple users’ videos (more likely). I’m not terribly fond of this song but I honestly found it touching to see so many women (and men) workin’ their fantasies in front of a mirror/lens.

Kaba Modern Does Chris Brown: I had never seen America’s Best Dance Crew before but I am really feeling this show!

New Shirt

I took a plain black sweatshirt and added scraps of tribal-patterned mustard and black fabric to make this top. Gold bedazzled studs on the arms and chest add the final classy touch.

See more photos in my Fashion Statement Flickr set.

Lotta Love

Thanks to all who came out for last night’s show!

Below, L to R: Rebecca Bekanich Cossa (my dance partner), myself, and Collin Cunningham, aka The Alien Ambassador.

Photo by Edan Wilbur