Andrew: Pleased you took my advice and didn't dance in the big storm!
Kitty: Those falling branches wouldn't have liked little Kitty! Gravity, the gravity there's nothing like the gravity…:))
Andrew: LOL, don't sing too in tune we might have to pay Mr Lloyd Webber royalties..;) Actually, have I played you Defying Gravity? Stephen Schwartz?
Kitty: Oh! Cats FIT in the window sill!
Andrew: [he chuckles] It's from Wicked- all about witches.
Kitty: There must be a part for a cat on the broomstick.
Andrew: Honestly, I haven't seen the show. They're making a movie. Not sure the director is a huge cat-lover, though.
Kitty: Well, I know Mr Schwartz, they'll just have to write a song for the cat!
Andrew: You don't know Stephen Schwartz!!!
Kitty: Yes I do- in the American 'biblical' sense of show-business, God's creature comforts, and goodwill to all aspiring alternative pawdom:)
Andrew: What have you been eatin' Kitty! ...Any left?
Another wonderful episode of great dancers mentoring/coaching other great dancers from New York City Center. It's free for a week (until this Friday), but subscribe to City Center and you can watch it forever. There's some fantastic stuff on that site which I guess is included in one's subscription. It's really fabulous and inspiring….
Let's all get dancing' again and forget all the $^%))(&_T$#%@$# people!
It seems so so esoteric but imagine if you had a child, and you are from ‘nowheresville’ working' your 'arse off', and your 'he' or 'she' kid got to be on Broadway or one of the major dance companies or: Wouldn't that make all that effort and life all worthwhile? Not so 'esoteric' then.
Questioned NY City Center about their membership assets. Alas, their amazing Encores stagings are only archival and the clips on the website are tantalizing gems available free until September. There would be a significant revenue stream for sure if they made some of those recordings available. Look how much Stars in the House has raised for The Actors' Fund through donations. There are many, many rights issues, of course, and the performers are entitled to royalties if played further.
All that said, the promulgated normalcy of fame isn't for everyone. Indeed very very few. Even Sara Mearns never dreamed of even reaching the corps of New York City Ballet let alone Odette/Odile! She was so, so lucky to have a Peter Martins in her career. Such very rare folk on the planet.
What will get one there in the end in some way shape or form, one day, is the work. The discipline. I originally trained as an opera singer but always had so many doubts about my breathing, tessitura etc etc. Maybe I could have ended up in a third rung European opera house (nothing wrong with that!) but nothing seemed to sit quite right within me. Ever. The same with dance. Another story. But when older..
All that 'work' isn't discarded by the body. You listen more to what's going on inside than as a youngster. I can go for a year or more (not recommended) without doing a single vocal exercise. After a few days, there it all is again. If you want to sing popular song of any kind, your body will be so so grateful for all the work put in over the decades. Especially for closely mic'd recordings, your voice can dance on the heads of matchsticks. Then again, who doesn't like Tom Waits or Marianne Faithfull or Leonard Cohen:) ! they ‘dance’ just fine…
t'b'
c"t
