Bill Moyers

I don't remember the last time I sat and wept about what was going on in the world. Tears flow daily but I can't stop reading the news. When the VA tech shootings happened, I was sad and I thought it was terrible but I was reminded that mass killings happen in Baghdad every week. Our government keeps telling us to be afraid of terrorists and that we are in Iraq to keep us safe from the enemy. But when you ask when will we leave they say someday but if we say give us a date they say, the enemy will come find us and kill us here at home if we give you a date. This week we found out that the Jessica Lynch story was a movie made by our government because they needed a hero. They made this brave POW into something she was not. We also got confirmation that Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire but our government decided to lie about that and say he was killed by enemy fire. Our government has lied about so many things that are so important and people are dying because of it. They have changed their rationale for this war over and over like an uncooked waffle flipping as each reason gets disproved. Bill Moyers Journal showed us that if no one admits they are wrong, nothing will change. McCarthy did not fall until he admitted that he was wrong. Karl Rove knew this. Bill Clinton did not fall until he admitted that he was wrong. Karl Rove knew this. President Bush will not fall until he admits he is wrong. Karl Rove knows this. The press has no power to challenge him. They FEAR that he has the power to deny access to what they need. Only the people can rise up to throw him out of office but we are also afraid. Bush has spied on us for years he can send in CIA to kill us and lie about it as he has lied about the war. Something has to give. This Administration is incredibly secretive and will viciously attack anyone who disagrees with them, no American should stand that kind of government. We the people cannot allow America to be at war for the wrong reason. John McCain says we are there now, let just deal with it.Iraq is in chaos because "WE" killed their leader and now they are fighting for control as any nation would do. The problem as I see it is that "THEY" had to figure out how to run their county and so do "WE THE PEOPLE"

Social Dancing

The purpose of social dancing is that it provides a way for young people to meet each other. However, the state of social dance in the world today has complicated things. If you wanted to be noticed you have to stand out. You have no way of knowing if someone is interested until you approach and are not rejected.

Social dance is also just a fun time for friends to hang out, to move and to have the physical expression that is suppressed in adulthood. Adults don't roll on the floor unless they are doing yoga, which is a real shame.

Somehow you don't get to forget that the sex fantasy and the reason that these places thrive. You go there to meet people to have sex with even if it never happens.

Spring

There is something about Spring that makes one feel different. Seeing people expressing themselves is intensified in the Spring. I sat at Short North Tavern and saw people who could not stay disconnected for more than a moment. They moved at each other, felt each other and performed a mating dance.

Riffe Center

Here are photos of the Vernon Reid Project in rehearsal at the Riffe Center. This was our first rehearsal in the theater. We began with a warm up and then a run-through of the piece. The set is for another work on the program called Set and Reset by Trisha Brown and Laurie Anderson. Opening night is in one week May 3, 2007. If you are in Columbus, you should come see it.

Karaoke

For almost two years I have been going to karaoke at Ravari Room on Tuesday nights. I have a stage name "Cowboy B" and I have a good list of songs that I like to sing from Prince to Cowboy Troy to Blood, Sweat and Tears to Fuel. I think of it as a way to perform without dancing. It is liberating to be on stage as a singer, even as a karaoke singer.

Dance History

Listen, modern dance has only been around for about 100 years. It has grown and developed and explored and it is awesome. Sometimes it stinks too. It began as a revolt against ballet and it kept revolting against other kinds of dance, mostly itself. We are studying the self-revolt of the 1960's when the formal was rejected and the pedestrian was embraced. It has the confusing term Postmodern dance which other than following modern dance has no relation to postmodernism in any other way. Here we are in class, mastering the history.

Virtual Insanity

Sometimes I wonder if I am recognized by strangers. It is entirely possible as I have all kinds of profiles all over the net. They are on dating sites and social networking sites and websites everywhere, hmmm is the net a place you can GO. It does not phase me that someone would see me on a social networking site but to be recognized in public by someone from a dating site is somehow totally different. I feel like that information is private. Only me and the millions who are on the site should get to see that stuff and of course I should never see anyone from those sites in real life. I mean really its like "hey I saw you on dateacooldude.com and I noticed you are sitting here alone. Is that your favorite drink a caramel double whip no fat mocha? See I knew that, how is you cat Harry, he was so cute in the photo. By the way, the photo of you topless at Myrtle Beach--smokin. So your profile says you are looking for "All Ethnicities" is that really true. Hey, I will send you an email and maybe we can get together again sometime." Anyway I noticed someone from a dating site in real life and I thought, I need to delete some profiles.

Spontaneous Art

As I was working in my favorite cafe, a band appeared outside and played fun music. There is nothing more wonderful than live art. When it was over I returned to my 25 page paper.

More Fire

Eating in a Japanese Steak House is fun and entertaining if you are 9. Actually I had fun too. :-)

Internet Dancing

Ok. I admit that I have danced naked in front of audiences for my art. I have done this to say the body is beautiful, don't censor it or call it obscene. I also like to go to clubs and dance. Nothing makes me happier than dancing with a beautiful woman. I like seeing people dance. However, I am in a bind. There are two websites devoted to people dancing and honestly to me one is not better than the other, they are very different. Ok so here are the issues. Dance Off Pants Off

is a site where people dance and take off their clothes. The music is fun although repetitive. There are graphics to enhance the viewing and as someone who studies movement it is interesting to watch. They are real performances by sincere performers. However, it borders on pornographic and for some it is unquestionably pornographic. It is also easy to understand, it does not confuse you or make you say this is weird. People dance like this all of the time everywhere except they don't usually take off their clothes.

Move-Me is a site where people dance to the instructions of established choreographers. No one takes off their clothes but the dancers are no less sexy. They are school girls and school boys, grandmothers, dancers and friends who entertain themselves and us through serious art. When I say I am a dancer, I have to hold both of these ideas in my head. It comes down to intent. Art does one thing while entertainment does another but the what separates them is sometimes blurry. I am questioning everything. So often I hear people say that they don't understand modern dance or they don't like it. Hell, I rarely like it anymore. I do find myself watching Move-Me a lot more than Dance Off Pants Off.

Fire

Fire.(yeah, what's really going on) ba ba baa da baa da baaaa. ba ba baaaaa ya ba ba yi ee yaaaaaa (love life let it love you back.) -Aceyalone & RJD2

I had dinner with some friends last night. There was fire everywhere. I love the look burning wood in a controlled setting, the color of flames and the smell of warmth while drinking wine with good friends.

Pinwheels

As I made my way to class I saw pinwheels. How nice to see movement so close to the ground. Buy one to help with breast cancer research.

Reign of Error

Click To Play

The re-election of George W. Bush.

Balance

Dancers have good balance because they work hard to get it. Once they get it sometimes they can relax and just use it. Steven is good a balancing on his back.

Tissue

After looking at some class blogs I got inspired to post this. Thanks Cheryl. The photos are of my trashcan and an art piece by Heather Willems.

Clampdown

I can't do much work at home. I usually have to go out to a bar to work. Tonight I went to a monthly party called The Clampdown. They play a lot of music that I can not dance to but some people can such as my friend Dorian.

Don Imus

Oh the talk of what he has said. Someone said to me that what happened to Imus was blown out of proportion and he should not have lost his job. I feel that progress has been made when a wealthy White man in the US cannot call Black women names without serious consequences. However, this is only one incident by a repeat offender who went too far. There are more than 216 million White people in the US according to the 2000 census. There are two Black women in the photo my mother and grandmother. Many black people have a European heritage so I think it is good not to make us seem so different. I get angry knowing that someone is going to wear a Halloween costume based on this incident. I get angry with musicians who have placed this language in the culture. I get angry when I see photos on Facebook with the caption "my bitches." I have been banned from the campus of the George Washington University for life because I was sitting on a bench, I have had the police come to my house looking for a gun because there was a loud pop from a transformer during a rainstorm, I have been kicked out of a dance studio on High St during Gallery Hop for standing in the corner and I have been stopped by the police in my car for driving. So for me, it is not blown out of proportion because these things will not stop happening to me or anyone else if there are no serious consequences for injustice.

Maybe I am getting old

I am offended by these video ads on Myspace from True.com. It is not so much that they are images of women being flirty, I like the ones from match.com, but the unrealistic airheaded behavior of the models in their ads is so distracting. It angers me when I see them and I try to scroll away. I know I am not their target audience I am surprised that anyone finds this enticing.

First Kiss

Back in September I went back to my undergraduate school, The North Carolina School of the Arts for a visit. I took some photos and today I was thinking that this is where I had my first real kiss.(I am not counting the time I was 13, yuck!) This group of sculptures is called "The Elephants" although I am not certain they have an official name. So many times I have sat here and pondered life or read or danced or checked out beautiful people who walked on by. This other photo is of the dance studio where I took my first modern dance class. So many times I was yelled at in this room. This is where I learned to dance.

The Vernon Reid Project

Today I was in rehearsal. We are performing May 3,4,5 at the Riffe Center. This work has 27 dancers, four choreographers and a live band. Yes, that Vernon Reid, Living Colour, Cult of Personality.

Dem Boots

Boots can stand up to a lot of things. Like walking out in the field on a dusty day, or riding horses hard and putting them away wet. Sometimes boots just stand.

A soapy sky

Jennifer waned to rid her car of bird poop. So we drove into the sunset and watched the sky turn cloudy and wet.

Dance Class

In dance class, we read and then talk about what we read. We ask questions of how and why and what. How do you see what was there, which is now gone? How do you begin when your mind is empty? When you move, what does that say? How can you influence the message of your body language? Where is Boris?