Wednesday, December 14, 2005

My "Big Screen" Debut

So a few says ago, I received a fairly random phone call from a swing dancer friend of mine. Apparently, she was invited by a friend of hers (a break dancer) who used to work for MTV to do a holiday spot for them that involved dancing. She, needing a partner for swing, called me.

Yesterday we went down to MTV Studios in Times Square. We were there with hip-hop, salsa, bhangra, and break dancers. The spot is to celebrate the holiday season with all different kinds dancing, and will show on MTV's giant video screen in Times Square. When it was our turn to shoot, they took us into a studio and decorated us with tinsel and Santa hats (which quickly came off). They did some lighting and sounds tests, and one guy showed us on the ground where we could move to and still be in the camera's view. When I asked him how high vertically we could go, he looked at me funny, and we had to run a few of our aerials to make sure we'd still be in the shot. We put on a song and just danced for about four minutes. They'll edit it, pull out what they like, and put together the piece. It'll be on the screen by next week.

Oh, and one of the break dancers, who went in the studio after us, said that we were the crew's favorites so far.

I also "met" another celebrity at MTV. Ludacris was there for the Total Request Live (TRL) show. I ran into him in the men's room, thinking to myself "I think that's Ludacris, but I can't say anything now, we're...." Well, you get the idea. So as we both went to the sink to wash our hands (yes, men do that), he looked over and said "Yo, yo." I, drawing on my adept command of the spoken word, replied with, "Hey."

I do so love this city.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

An American Tragedy

What do you do if you are truly a creature of circumstance? How do you not let things spiral out of control? How do you respond when they do regardless?

At what point do you assume responsibility?

Thursday, December 01, 2005

If It Ain't Baroque....

Last night I went to a Baroque ensemble concert to hear a close friend sing on stage for the very first time in the nearly three years of our friendship. There is something absolutely amazing about watching someone you care about do something they love--and do it incredibly well. Even though I knew the song, having heard it practiced once or twice before the concert, I was on edge every second waiting for the next note. It was lovely.

What could have possibly made the evening any better? A pleasant dinner, friends coming to the concert, and other recent acquaintances performing as well.