written at 11:00 AM March 14

Yesterday was the tech setup rehearsal for our Memory performance.   Some new developments have unfolded since my last blog, mainly that I am performing with Sony.  I haven’t had a lot of time with this piece, so I’m a little worried.  Sony and I had a couple of rehearsals and changed some things around.  Even though we’re very lax about the whole thing, I’m still worried about butchering a piece when the composer is sitting at the piano.  That could be extremely embarrassing.   Now, we have Jee Yung dancing for the piece, so that will be very cool.  She will start out in the blackbox with us and then move to an off screen camera in the lobby.  That will act as sort of the memory of her from the blackbox.  I’m excited for that, I just hope that Sony and I can get a little rehearsal time, or at least that I can get some time to warm up and mull over the piece pretty thoroughly.  It’s a short piece and I would really like to do it from memory… how appropriate.

            Yesterday, the somewhat empty black box theatre turned into a huge mess of computers, VDA’s monitors, cameras, wires, cables, tape, ladders, screens, projectors and what ever else we could put in there.  It was pretty intense.  We made a connection with both Colorado and Korea and it took us a while to work out the kinks.  I think that we still have more to work out today.  I’m going to have to sew the openings in the spandex screens closed.  For most of the performance, I’ll be operating camera 3.  I have no trouble with that at all. 

I can tell that this is going to be a long one, thanks in part to setting the clocks ahead one hour, but mostly because of the fact that we will be there for at least 12 hours today.  Well, maybe I’ll only be there for 11 hours, as I sit here and wait on a westbound train that has been delayed for the third time.  Maybe our next project can be an ode to MTA, the bane of my existence.  I could write a piece entitled My 4 Hour Commute.  

last class before performance

So, Memory stars this weekend.  What a way to kick off spring break.  I’m glad that other people have stepped in to help out with everything, especially people who have done this before.  I think it is extremely valuable to have people who have experience doing this tech thing especially since I was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed.  At least now, if the screen goes black, there will be less chaos, or maybe more… either way, I feel better.  I think that I’ll be operating a camera for the majority of the performance, which is something that I actually do feel comfortable with.  If I had to work the mixer or the switch, I might go out of my mind.  Maybe for the next performance.  I have worked a sound board before, but this is a little more involved than a high school musical.  I don’t think I’m quite ready for that responsibility.  Hopefully, we will hash out a lot of stuff in class tonight.  Maybe a little field trip to the blackbox? That would prove helpful.  My shoe thing didn’t quite pan out the way that I would have liked.  Mostly because I couldn’t procure a working camera.  I borrowed my dad’s cheap-o digital camera yesterday and started to take some pictures. I’m also trying to use some pictures from my library.  This camera doesn’t take the best video, and the logistics don’t quite work out, so I’ll deal with the stills for now.

post date blog- 1 wk

As our performance draws nearer, I can’t help but feel worried.  Part of this, might be the fact that I can not stay after class, so I’m a little left out of the meetings.  I don’t know if Sony is still performing his piece because of the whole problem with Italy and if he is, am I performing with him?  I’m a little disappointed that Denu isn’t collaborating with us anymore.  That man is certainly a character.  We have yet to set up the blackbox theatre.  I have never even been in there before, so I’m sure this will be interesting.  I am anxious to see how everything will look when it is set up and exactly how things are going to flow between scenes and even what the scenes will look like.  Not only are we not exactly sure how things on our side will pan out, but we have no idea what things are going to come out of Colorado or Korea.  This is the most exciting to me.  I feel like it is going to be one conglomerate mess of dance, music and art.  I guess the motto for this entire project should be “go with the flow.”  I feel like my participation is considerably lacking on this project.  I would like to offer more on our next, I guess smaller, project.  I still feel like I’m getting my bearings on this Memory project.  I would like to offer something visually.  I have this idea about shoes and how they hold the memories of where a person has been.  I don’t know if I want to make a movie of people walking or something like that or if I want to take still pictures and put them together to create something.  We’ll see how this develops as the week unfolds.