Bruno Beltrao - Grupo de Rua

Went to see the Brazilian hip hop dance company Grupo de Rua perform "H3" at On the Boards last night. Here's a description of the choreographer, Bruno Beltrao, and the dance company from On the Boards:

Stripped of the posturing and booming bass associated with hip hop, Bruno Beltrão’s H3 mines the movement vocabulary of the streets of Rio de Janeiro without the usual cultural baggage. The Brazilian choreographer’s company Grupa de Rua features 9 male dancers performing hypnotizing solos, duets and group work while incorporating elements of krumping, popping and floor-spins against a sparse electronic soundtrack ranging from classical music to sampled loops of the dancer’s screeching shoes.

The first 20 minutes of "H3" showcased the incredible physical mastery, artistry, and athleticism of 3 of the company's dancers. The number was untraditional in all respects. The movements were a combination of hip hop and modern dance. It was set to the sound of Rio's streets - mostly the "white noise" of daily life, cars whooshing by, intermittent honking - rather than conventional instrumental tracks. The dancers wore street clothes consisting of crumpled polos and pumas. It appeared that the dancers were making some social commentary through their movements, but I couldn't identify what exactly. Was it oppression? Assimilation? Race, or politics? As the performance continued, they incorporated unique lighting techniques and more music/beats. Actually, I really started to enjoy the performance more with the music. The movements incorporated high-velocity running (forward & backward) and what looked somewhat like capoeira "sparring" between 2 dancers, and also more ground spins and b-boy moves. As the 9 men shuffled quickly across the floor on all fours, my mother compared their moves to those of the iguanas that inhabit the Galapagos. Hm, maybe. The performance lasted 1 hour total. Shorter than I expected, but it was also a jammed-pack hour of movement.

Grupo de Rua will be performing at On the Boards in Seattle through the weekend, then at White Bird Dance in Portland from 2/3/10 - 2/7/10.

Here is a video clip of Grupo de Rua performing "H3":

Dear Auntie: Thank you for the dog neck warmer that you gave me for Thanksgiving/Christmas/NY. Even though its butt lands right where my nose & mouth happen to be, it smells magically like lavender. It also has a heat pad in it that burned my neck, but I'll be careful. Japanese people sure make useful things. I'll wear it everyday to remind myself. From (what I mean is "Love", but of course we never actually say that word) Ak.Ward. ♥

Letter from Port-au-Prince

Just one more post for today - this is worth it. Listen to this audio letter out of Port-au-Prince from reporter Amelia de Sousa. Honest, heart-wrenching. For those who are criticizing the delay in delivering aid to people of the wrecked city, it's certainly not for lack of trying. This should give you a better perspective:

World Vision Report - Week of January 23, 2010 - Letter From Port-au-Prince

Boots on the Go

Man, I love me some boots. Here are my favorites for this winter season...in action.

The Tretorns. Smartest, most practical buy yet. Makes me wonder why I didn't consider getting rain boots before? Seattle-ites owe the fashion trend-setters a big "thank you, honey!" for bringing rubber boots into fashion, and making them less honkin big and bulky. They have been a godsend in one of the rainiest of Seattle winters that I can recall. Simple, black, rain boots.


The City Boots. My favorite city boots for getting around town, driving (which I do more these days now that I'm in Seattle), and riding light rail (which I try to do as often as possible). Flat, gray, mid-shin height, riding boots. Found at Urban Outfitters, which had a great selection of boots online. Worn with leg warmers for a little extra somethin somethin peeking out over the edge. Here they are - riding light rail.

Trampoline Gym

Just learned about Emerald City Trapeze Arts via Daily Candy. If this isn't a way to live my Cirque du Soleil and Big Top Pee Wee fantasies, I don't know what is. The trampoline class sounds like it's up my alley, more so than the flying trapeze. They also have "aerial conditioning", which basically sounds like an answer to my workout prayers, but we'll have to see. I've always had a thing for jumping, flopping, about on a big piece of elastic mesh held by thin wire coils. That, and those inflatable funhouses. This just reminded me of what I want to do on my birthday. A funhouse. Or a day in my own private funhouse. No waiting in line. Hop in, bounce out.

Fear of Flying

As anyone who has had the task of sitting next to me on a flight knows, I have an unshakable, verging-on-methodical, fear of flying. My train of thought before and during a flight is a checklist of somewhat plausible to infinitesimally unlikely theories of how all 270 of us on board the death rocket will perish together in our identical rows of chafe-inducing, pretzel-crumb flecked, polyester seats with broken arm rests. I've considered wearing a parachute, but when I thought about the concern that might cause my fellow travelers, I studied wikiHow's instructions on how to survive a fall from 25,000 ft (note: it's the impact with the ground that's really the problem, not the fall). After reading about studies proving that sitting in the back of the plane increases your chances of surviving a plane crash, I've always booked my seat in one of the last few rows (which conveniently puts you closer to an emergency exit). As if mechanical, human, and weather-induced errors weren't bad enough, the (perceived) increase in terror threats has upped the number of potential plot lines and disaster clips reeling through my head. This is why I was particularly interested in reading a couple articles recently related to terrorism in the air.

In an article in the NYT, Liesl Schillinger raises a good point in saying the heightened focus on terrorism on flights has robbed people of their sense of freedom, and discouraged them from traveling to distant places and enriching their lives with the experiences that come with travel. Her solution is to simply stop "minding" the perceived terror threats that we believe to be lurking around us constantly. Other obvious effects the hassles and long-waits that come with "improved" airport security. An article on the Israelification of airport security takes an alternative look at the ways we could improve airport security and make our system more efficient by borrowing techniques from a country that has been dealing with similar issues for the last few decades. Looking for behavior that might be out of the ordinary - rather than liquids in bottles or devices stuffed into shoes - and training airport security officers to talk to passangers are methods that the Israelis have employed successfully to combat terror. I see the value in these techniques, butI wonder if preventing a passenger from boarding a plane due to "odd behavior" would fly - so to speak - in the U.S. How will "behavioral profiling" fit into a context where "racial profiling" has been such a sensitive issue?