Tag: dance

Letter from the Editor – February 2018

Dear Honey Readers,

After some googling and soul-searching, I decided to disable commenting on this blog. This decision has to do with a few thoughts I’ve had. One is I would rather focus on my craft of writing and learning small-time website design, than devote my limited time to sorting and approving comments. The next is most of the comments I received tended to be advertisements/bots/possibly shady snippets of software code, and not people wanting to have a real conversation or build some type of community. I was starting to worry a little too much about the shady category. I still am. Perhaps as I get better at this, I will start to add comments back in and talk about how to prevent code-insertion or identity issues in blogs. 

However, there have been some impressive commentators who have graced this site with a quick line. Notably, a Donald Trump, who I’m pretty sure wasn’t that one, and a website for something to do with boobsigns, whatever that is (please, for your computers safety, don’t google it, I won’t be liable for whatever horror or virus results). I’m sorry to say I removed the temptation of cluttering up the comments with perplexing snippets of dubious sincerity. Though there were some comments where people didn’t seem to have a suggestion, and were just commenting to comment without saying very much. Some of these also made me wonder if those people had read my article, because the comment often seemed to not correspond to any of my content. I did sort of enjoy deleting those comments, along with what I’ll call ad-comments or mal-comments (based on adware and malware). However, I immensely appreciated all of the positive feedback and questions I received. Some of you seemed inspiringly interested in blogging. To those people, I am sorry to have cut the conversation short. I value criticism and have been especially learning to embrace it this year. I hope that the time I invest into helps to create articles and creative writing that makes up for my decision.

My problem of time limitations is partially to do with changes I’m making to do this better in the future. I’m currently taking a CSS, HTML, and XHTML class. It has been in addition to learning Javascript at home and at work, the latter of which I’ve also been spending more time at. I think I might be crazy, as it’s shapin up to be a pretty tight schedule, but somehow I know I can do it. I’ve definitely been enjoying happiness in a sort of flow state of all I’m working on. 

Since you last heard from me, it’s been a pretty weird year. In May 2017, I had some health problems that took till November to resolve, and could have been cancer. Luckily, I do not have cancer, and all is back to normal in terms of body things. Yay! (Fuck cancer). Those months weren’t all bad, although other people close to me have also been sick with illnesses of their own. I went on some epic adventures and absorbed a bunch of art scenes. I’ve been getting back to performing on stage for bellydance and other styles. I’ve been doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu since January 2017. It has been amazing! It’s a lot more mental than I thought, as well as having a great community and being a great work out. It has made me more energetic and helped my dance considerably. In August 2017, I performed at a community festival, and another performance is in the works for February.  In October, I left the North American continent for the first time to see Germany, Prague, and Italy. That was also my first real vacation since I started work at my current company. It was amazing! I’ve also been crafting somewhat regularly, but have mostly favored small projects. By August 2018, I hope to get to bigger, more involved projects like a French Court dress complete with panniers. Also, I’ve been pretty into film, catching up on a lot of American Film Institute favored movies, and cult pieces of the 1980s and 90s. I’ve seen a few friends quite a bit, and have enjoyed getting closer to them. 

I  hope to keep writing, and inspire you. If you would like to be a part of Honey It’s Thursday, feel free to comment your interest! I’ll be leaving the comments on here so you can contact me.

Thank you for reading,

Honey

Review: Aerial Revolution The Musical shows a studio that defies gravity

Aerial Revolution The Musical, a recital of the students and staff from the Linda Vista aerial dance studio Aerial Revolution, opened last night, on Friday, June 9, 2017 at 7 PM.

The Napa Street performance troupe of all ages, flew with liquid grace through the air on silks, lyra hoops, ropes, hammocks, and trapeze swings. The acts combined beautiful, informed choreography and community-rich acrobatic skill performed to popular Broadway songs.

The highlight was a partner act on lyra, set to the West Side Story Prologue song, choreographed and performed by Travis Ti and Tony Dostert. Part circus and part fight, the act had every bit of physicality of the original musical. They move in a way that brings to mind performers such as Gene Kelly, along with something else that is a little more Jason Momoa. Their performance took on a more gladiatorial feel than the 1961 musical with the hoop duo hitting some great symmetrical poses around the revolving ring.

The performance done to Phantom of The Opera [title song] featured astoundingly fast rope work. An understudy stepped in for this act due to a performer whose back was injured before the show. Watching the partnered performances in this act was a fascinating study in the silent communication dancers use with each other. Timing and body placement are more vital when swinging from a horizontal hoop chandelier. These dancers looked seamlessly elegant despite the last minute substitution. Partnered dancing is not easy and this act showed that Aerial Revolution dancers can form multiple cohesive dancing partnerships.

Often in dance, it is what a dancer does to compensate when something goes wrong that makes them a true performer. At least three subtle moments in this recital suggested to me that Aerial Revolution seems able to teach this at all levels. Their aerialists are dancers and not just circus tricks.

The performance done to Wicked’s song Defying Gravity, full of emerald green, accentuated, along with other acts such as Chicago, the choreographic thought put into dynamic level changes. It is a fitting act for aerial arts with dancers “defying gravity” themselves.

Every performer seemed fluidly and effortlessly able to sling their body around the silks or ropes hanging from the ceiling, often catching themselves with but an elbow. It’s no question that aerial leaves you built.

Also, safety appeared a concern for the studio. Younger performers had thick padded safety mats to fall onto, which they luckily didn’t appear to need. Aerialists often use knots slickly tied around their feet and a sort of hammock or knot at the waist to protect them in many of their moves. The younger performers, both the little ones and teen classes, impressed all watching with their strength and devotion to a hobby that many may not find later in life.

Don’t miss your chance to catch this recital. Final shows are Saturday, June 10 at 2 PM and 7 PM. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $18 through their website
http://aerialrevolution.com/shows/ and for $23 at the door.