Back to Knitting

With the whirlwind of the show over (sniff sniff), my life is falling back into the balance it had before. I found that so much dancing was absolutely incredible for one part of my self, but it meant that I wasn’t knitting at all! That was fine for a while, but I’m glad in a way to be back to my little routine. I’ll look forward to the next show, of course, and perhaps be better prepared to make sure I take care of all the little corners of my self in the process.

But there is so much knitting stuff to talk about! This is the year of frogging or finishing unfinished objects for the Yarn Wranglers (the knitting group I belong to), and while I’m not sure I’ll be able to stick to that plan entirely, I’m doing ok so far. I finally (FINALLY) frogged the February Lady Sweater I had in progress that either needed to be restarted or killed. It’s dead. That yarn is all wound up in new balls and will probably be used for Ysolda’s Vine Yoke Cardigan. If I ever get up the nerve to knit a fitted sweater again. I’m considering attacking something more forgiving like Jared Flood’s Inversion. Yummy, cozy, Japanese-inspired drapeyness!

Photos from Context

context, a set by *jenni. on Flickr.

Gathered and in most cases taken by Jenni. Thanks also to Teresa Brazen for taking photos during rehearsal and Seth Bregman for capturing closing night in still images!

San Francisco Dance Film Festival 2012

This young film festival was one of my favorite events of 2011 so I expanded my scope for visiting this year. Two nights – including opening night this time – while of course revisiting the short program.

There’s something about short films. They’re this little nugget of inspiration. And sometimes the smallest thing about the execution – a particular way of getting off the ground in a solo, the use of music at a particular cue – can stick with you for months if not years. This year’s selections were, I think, a cut above even last year’s (which were exceptional). Here are the clips and in some cases full films of my favorites:

Finding Context

I feel a bit like I’ve grown up and become “a real dancer” in the past few months. In 2010, I tried out for Jenni Bregman’s first Resident Artist Workshop (RAW) project Intimate City. I learned a lot from the audition and felt I did well, but Jenni told me I wasn’t ready. Naturally I was disappointed, but kept working hard and enjoying dancing just for the joy of it. But when Jenni told me in the fall last year that she was remounting Intimate City and working on a new piece in a second RAW, I gathered my courage and asked if I might have improved enough to audition. She surprised me by telling me there were a few dancers who couldn’t do Intimate City this year, so would I like to do that? Um…yes! I assumed I would just be in that piece and not the new one, but that proved not to be the case. The blessings kept piling up. Overwhelmed and excited, I joined this as-yet-unnamed company and found myself working with the friendliest, most patient and giving group of dancers (some of whom do this for a living!).

Fast forward to today and we’re more than halfway through our rehearsal time and the show (including Intimate City and the new piece, Context) goes up March 21 and 22nd at the Garage in San Francisco. I feel that I’m more in control of my movement and more expressive. I feel it deeper and give more. In a way, is this what I was meant to be doing all along?

Learn more about the piece and help us make it come to life by watching the behind the scenes video and supporting us on Kickstarter.

Solo Snapshot by Matt Haber

Photo by Matt Haber, November 2010

It’s an amazing honor to have someone document where you are in dance at a particular moment, and to have that in perpetuity. – John Doyle (aka The Creep from Girl Walk//All Day*)

I felt the same way in 2009 when I had my first dance photograph taken (by Matthew Kertesz). The feeling hasn’t diminished despite having done this before. I love doing this and love having a shareable record of that. Precisely where I am with that. It feels like the truest expression of who I am.

This photograph and session were for creating promotional materials for a show we’re working on. More on that shortly.

* By the way, Girl Walk//All Day is a must-watch experience. Warning – you will get sucked in. And Shopping Spree is my favorite episode.

May? June? Where’d the time go?

It’s not for lack of things happening that I haven’t written. I’ve been too busy and the knitting project I’m deep into is a secret one so there’s not much I can say about it.

Just a sample of the things that have happened in May and June:

• SF Ballet’s Romeo & Juliet (for Mother’s Day)
• First SF Ravelry Meet-up (a ton of fun and a very successful event)
• Attempting to start the snapdragon mitts and failing miserably (will try again later)
• Picked up and cast aside a new form of exercise
• Vassar 5-year Reunion trip to New York with Casey
• Finally using the yarn swift and ball winder (which I can’t get enough of now)

Some pictures to prove I’ve been busy! (more after the break)

Finished Yarn Wranglers Anemone Pin

Massive Update

Oh so many things to write about!

1- I got my yarn swift and ball winder in the mail from KnitPicks! The sweet people there even gave me a price adjustment since the swift went on sale a mere 10 days after I bought mine. Hey, 41% off is 41% off!

2- I am only 9 rows (including bind-off) from finishing the Daybreak shawl! I know, what am I waiting for!? Oh, those rows have gotten long what with all the increases so just doing one row takes me a whole TV episode on Hulu. Jeez, that’s a lot of weekend to spend sitting in one place, even if it is raining. So I’m taking it slow, even though I really can’t wait to wear the bugger.

3- The yarn for my secret project arrived and I can’t wait to get started on it. I won’t be saying much about it here since (hee hee) it’s a secret! Will be posting progress notes on Ravelry, though.

4- I asked at Yarn Wranglers (knitting group) about what to do with my poor FLS sweater since the shaping I did was so off and the answer is…rip back. Yup, all the way back to the yoke. I have had my argh moments this week, but now I’m thinking if I have to rip all the way back I might just make a whole new sweater. I mean, I know me. If I have a sweater, it better button all the way up or I’ll just be freezing. I love the color so there’s no question that I want to make the Dream in Color yarn into a sweater still, but maybe a new pattern will be good for my mental state. It’s not like I’ll just be redoing it then. I learned a lot from this first sweater. Now it’s time to do something different.

5- Yarn Wranglers are making flower pins for the SF Ravelry meet-up on May 16th. I’m narrowing down the pattern options and will probably take breaks from the secret projects to whip up that pin so there will be pictures still!

6- Oh, right, dance! Class is fun stuff still (of course) and I got to see San Francisco Ballet do The Little Mermaid in March with Ailey. It was beautiful. Very modern. Hope to write down some thoughts in another post soon (perhaps one with pictures of some of the 5 exciting items above)!

Catch-up

I’ve been knitting and dancing around the edges lately, just eking out progress where I can. I have managed to get 9 stripes of shawl in (so I’m up to a grand total of 25, not bad), have been completely ignoring the sweater (oh, shaping, someday), and missing more dance class than I’d like.

But we did do a combo over this past two weeks that I just loved – it felt like a marionette trying to steal the strings from the puppetmaster…and every now and again winning. Very cheeky. I dance better when I have a story in my head. Also, did an adagio this past week to Massive Attack’s “Saturday Come Slow”, which is on the new album Heligoland that I can’t stop listening to.

I’ve been a bit nutty about shopping lately – picking up new pieces to take my wardrobe out of college and that weird transition into working life and into an adult style that actually suits me – so buying yarn for that secret new project is waiting just a bit. Not like I don’t have enough to work with!

Akram Khan

This week I was lucky enough to see the opening night performance of Akram Khan’s bahok at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and take a master class with two of the company dancers. Jenni sent me the video below and told me I’d love it, which got me excited so we went to the show together after class on Thursday. It was AMAZING. The master class was taught by Shanell Winlock and Eulalia Ayguade Farro at LINES Dance Center yesterday (Saturday). It was definitely intense, but also wonderfully enjoyable. More after the break.

Description of the show from the YBCA page:

Named after a Bengali word meaning ‘carrier,’ bahok explores the ways in which the body carries national identity and a sense of belonging. Eight dancers from diverse cultures, traditions and dance backgrounds—Chinese, Korean, Indian, Slovakian, South African and Spanish—act out their attempts to communicate through dramatic dance and spoken vocabulary as they wait out their airport limbo, their destination unknown. Khan joins forces with long-time musical collaborator Nitin Sawhney, renowned for his multi award-winning compositions, who has created an original score for bahok. Originally a collaboration between the Akram Khan Company and the National Ballet of China, bahok is dance and storytelling inspired by the exploration of cultural identity in a globalised world. (Running Time: 70 min, no intermission)

Duplicate Stitch Join

Got fed up waiting for tapestry needles and looked for an alternate to the Russian join so I could continue working on my shawl. I found the duplicate stitch join (link opens video) from knittinghelp.com, which should work fine. I like how much simpler the slip knot is to work with when changing colors and it’s good to know how much easier weaving in the ends is going to be for every project once I do have tapestry needles. Can’t believe I’ve been weaving in ends with a crochet hook for this long. No wonder it’s always my least favorite part.

The stripes are still in the “interesting” category for me. I’m not in love with them because “Color B” (stripes color) has some of the same purple in it as “Color A” (solid color). So the stripes are a bit invisible in some sections. The effect is going t be very subtle, which could be, well, interesting. Reserving judgment for now. Also, the Carmel Valley colorway is very earthy – more so than I expected. Again, I’m reserving judgment. It could be glorious, but it’s just not what I expected.

Missed dance on both Monday and Thursday this week so my body feels totally lethargic. Not a good thing to just sit in a chair all week. I’m really looking forward to Monday night.

Also looking forward to heading back to Zip Zap tomorrow for a haircut with Jeni. Hopefully she’ll be able to spruce up my long hair. It’s getting boring (yet again).