So You Think You Can Dance? I know I can, baby!

Well, I spent one FABULOUS weekend doing Broadway Bound, and what a weekend it was! From Thursday to Monday, we were dancing pretty much non-stop, and learned so much choreography in such a short time. In my group, we did a Latin jazz number to JLo's "Let's get loud", some of us also learned some step dancing (and I had never step danced in my life!), and the whole group also learned some original Broadway choreography from Hairspray. We also did a yoga/pilates dance workout with someone from the Charlottetown Festival, and some gymnastics (tumbling, aerial silks, etc).

But the absolute most exciting part of the whole weekend was having the celebrity teachers here. Lisa Stevens - the choreographer of High School Musical - taught us some stuff from HSM. And of course, there was Travis Wall! Actually, on the day that Travis was supposed to come in, Heidi got us all together at the start of the day and said "Travis isn't coming". We were all like "whaaaa....?!?!" but noticed that Heidi was smiling so it was obvious she was kidding. Anyway, the airline lost his luggage (boo Air Canada) so he couldn't come in till later that day (his luggage did come in later, but Heidi said "we can't have him without his hair products!"). But when he did arrive, it caused quite a stir! Some of the kids were by the third-floor window of the studio waiting for him to show up, and when I heard them all screaming, I rushed over and saw a dude with a blond mohawk walking out of a car and crossing the road. It was him! I screamed like Mary Murphy as soon as I recognized him! Later, when he came in, everyone was excited.

Anyway, he taught my group some contemporary choreography, and I was soooo starstruck at the beginning! At the start of the class, he was facing the wall and getting stuff ready, I was standing right behind him and couldn't stop gawking at the back of his head. Tessa and Michelle were giggling hysterically because I had an obvious starstruck look on my face! Anyway, at first I had some trouble with the choreography and kept thinking "he must think I'm such a spaz..." but after a while, I was thinking less about "the incomparable Travis Wall" and getting more into the dancing, and I really enjoyed the dance. He taught my group two short dances (we performed one of them in the showcase), and also did a turning workshop with the whole group (he does the most amazing turns ever). Holy frig, I can't believe I got to learn from Travis Wall!!!!

Anyway, the showcase went great, and Travis performed an AMAZING solo! Holy frig, he is one of the best dancers I've ever seen! He was definitely the star of the show. After the show, he also signed autographs and we took pics with him. Here are mine:




Jealous much? Hehehe...

I also auditioned for That Dance Show. I didn't get in, and at first I was really upset about it. I figured this was my last chance - I'm getting old (yes, in the dance world, mid-20s is considered "getting old") and I thought that if I didn't get this gig, I'd have to resign myself to a life of only ever dancing as a hobby whenever I can afford it, and never improving much more than this because many teachers, choreographers, etc often don't take older dancers seriously. I thought "I'm done, this is it. It's over for me - I'm worth jack shit as a dancer and I'll never get my heyday." But after Broadway Bound was over, I found the silver lining on the cloud...

Heidi said "I wanna talk to you..." and at first I was thinking "oh no, she's gonna tell me I'm no good and don't have what it takes!" but she told me that she loves me to pieces, that she can see that I have a true passion for dance, and that I basically have the head (she had told me several times before that I'm a smart dancer with a good body/mind connection) and heart for it. So she wants to put me on scholarship for the 2-week dance camp she's running this summer (connected to That Dance Show) and also train me personally to work on technique (according to her, technique is my only weakness). I was amazed at that. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I NEVER thought that anyone would be willing to take me under their wing as their protegee like that. I didn't even ask - she was the one who offered it! And after that, I felt much better about the whole thing. Technique can be learned and improved, but when it comes to smarts and passion - you either got it or you don't (and though smarts/passion can grow, they can't really be taught/trained). I figure if she offered to let me take the camp for free, and take some of her own time to train me (hehehe... she says she wants to drill me and make me sweat my hiney off - just like Felipe!), she must really believe in me! Plus, I also remembered Travis saying he got rejected the first time he auditioned for SYTYCD, and look at him now! Plus, even when he was on the show, he got critisized a lot by the judges when he had to do dance styles he'd never done before. Also, Donyelle from SYTYCD started dancing at 18 (and does not have the ideal dance body), and she's amazing too.

In a way, I kinda feel like Sayuri in Memoirs of a Geisha when Mameha offers to train her even though Sayuri is older than most apprentice geisha at that point in the story. I'm not doomed as a dancer after all, and I'm going to keep going as long as I can...

So yes, even though I didn't get into the show, I still got a happy ending. Well, I shouldn't say "ending" - you haven't seen the last of me!

Youtube clips of the day:

The incomparable Travis Wall (hehehe... love the Bart Simpson hairdoo!)




Travis and Donyelle dance contemporary:



Travis and Donyelle get torn to pieces for their quickstep:



Travis and Benji (aka Tranji) dance a dorktastic hip-hop routine, Mary and Brian both scream!

Guess who's coming to PEI to teach dance at Broadway Bound...

TRAVIS WALL!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I'm serious. Travis Wall from So You Think You Can Dance. Yes, THE Travis Wall is going to be in town next weekend to teach in the Broadway Bound workshop. And I'm going to be there! Holy frig, I can't believe I'm going to learn from Travis himself, he was one of my favorites in SYTYCD. When I got Heidi Ford's message about it, I was like "Travis Wall?!?!?!" and freaked out. Of all places for him to come - little ol' PEI! I ran into Heidi today and she said that her sister worked with him on Broadway so that's how she got the connection. He was supposed to do some other gig that weekend but it got cancelled so Heidi booked him for BB. He's going to teach a workshop AND perform a solo in the showcase. Oh my gosh, I'm still practically bouncing around in excitement... I'M GOING TO MEET TRAVIS WALL!!!!!!!

For those of you who don't understand how huge this is - if you're a jock, it's like going to a hockey camp or training session led by Sidney Crosby.

And of course, I'm going to audition for That Dance Show during BB. I ran into Ben at the music festival (he sang after me), and he thinks I have a good chance of getting in. I didn't get into Anne and Gilbert, but I think they were mostly looking for teenagers. That Dance Show is supposed to be more grown-up.

Speaking of the music festival, I sang in 3 categories this year. Folk song (She's like the swallow), sacred solo (Ave Maria), and musical theatre (The Sound of Music). And I did great in all 3! The adjudicator loved me and gave me a lot of great feedback. The only one she critiqued was the folk song, but it was the first one I sang, then I used the criticism to improve my next two and nailed them (she had no critiques to give me those times). My teacher thinks I've improved a lot since I first started taking lessons with her, and I think I've come a long way. Canadian Idol can kiss my ass - it was a long time ago anyway and I have risen above all that old crap.

Actually, something that also helped in my performances at the music festival were thinking of things from Seville! I thought of La Macarena and La Virgen del Rocio while singing Ave Maria, and thought of the city when singing The Sound of Music - the flamenco music, white doves flying all over the Maria Luisa park (my heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds...), ringing church bells (my heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies from a church on a breeze), the river flowing through the city (to laugh like a brook when it trips and falls...), etc. Holy frig, it was all so long ago, but I still remember it so well...

All my dance teachers think I've improved in dance too. They loved my choreography in The Works (the student choreography show), and my performances in the end-of-year show. Actually, the dance I choreographed was inspired by someone I met in Seville. When I first heard the song (Mio Bello Bello Amore), the lyrics described exactly how I felt about Mauro when I first fell for him, so this dance was to thank him for giving me the strength and the will to love again. So it's not just for him, it's also for whoever I'll love and will love me back someday (if there is someone out there who'll love me in return). Apparently, he's still in Seville and was hired at La Carboneria (that was on his MySpace), but I know nothing else about his life. It was about a year ago that I met him (I remember it was around the time that Jason and Steph's daughter was born, and she's now a year old today). Well, even if he never loved me back, whether or not we'll see each other again, and whether or not he'll ever want to see me again, I'm still thankful he came into my life when he did - someone like him was just what I needed to convince me that I can love strongly again, and to inspire me to think more of what I want and don't want in a man and of things I want to do in life.

My latest dance obsession - the Argentine tango. Someday I want to go to Buenos Aires to learn/study it. Like I did for flamenco in Seville (now that I have a passion for flamenco, I definitely want to continue that when I go to Montreal). Also, apparently Montreal has a good tango scene so I might start there...

Aaaahhhh... can't wait till next week - Travis Wall is gonna be here!!!!!!!!

Youtube clips of the day:

Travis Wall performs a solo on So You Think You Can Dance:



Travis and Heidi (the SYTYCD contestant, not the one organizing BB!) and their bench dance (this one made me cry when I first saw it - it's the story of my love life):



Mio Bello Bello Amore from Cirque Du Soleil



My latest inspiration. I have long legs - they would look hot in a dance style like the tango: