Fighting spiders

It's another late morning in my near-week-long stint home alone; Dad will be back from diving tuh-morrow! I don't like waking up at 10-plus, and especially waking up at 10-plus still feeling drowsy. I've been languishing at home mostly as can be expected. I'm awful at laundry; cleaning I quite enjoy, even though I'm not exactly superb at it either. I love throwing things away (things, people, memories...)--quick psychoanalysis, anyone? I spent a couple of hours fixing up the bathroom, the kitchen and the yard, although I haven't my mother's stamina and so didn't quite do the absolute thorough bang-up job. Speaking of bang-up jobs, it just started pouring, and I accidentally flooded the floor while over-excitedly kicking aside the laundry basin to bring in the clothes hanging outside. I guess the mopping it entailed didn't hurt.

Yesterday I was fighting ants, spiders, dust bunnies and baby cockroaches, although not in the boyish, gung-ho way, but in the squeamish, armed-with-an-aerosol, trigger-happy way. After waking late, cleaning, and languishing, I embarked on my second solo driving adventure. The first was on the day my dad left, a trip to and from UCC only, and so wasn't quite adventurous. This time I had to memorize new routes and practise multi-tasking--I'm terrible at driving and talking at the same time. I picked Clement up from PA, and we dinner-ed at Golden Mile. We failed to find a florist, found instead half of The Concourse knocked down. What a pity. It was my favourite piece of architecture in Singapore. Clement suggested getting a soft toy, and I bought for Jessica a medium Piglet from 7-Eleven. Back at the small open-air carpark, Clement thankfully helped to guide me out of the lot next to which an (un)strategically parked car was trying to test my manoeuvres. Automobiles are space-time compressors; roads are a lot shorter than they seem on the map, and driving in circles doesn't take up very much time. After several missed turns and surprisingly quick recoveries, we got to School of the Arts to watch T.H.E Emerging Choreographers by T.H.E Dance Company. I don't quite share in founder and director Kuik Swee Boon's taste, because out of the five pieces, I found out from Jessica that he's sending the two I didn't quite like to the Tari Festival in Kuala Lumpur in July. Then again the others are probably too obvious (the Internet item), too unpolished (the bus-stop item), or too draggy (the slow-motion item) for festival inclusion. The Internet item by Yarra Ileto was my favourite--excellent choice of songs by Fennesz, skilful choreography of the projector, which was manually raised, lowered, covered, exposed. The bus-stop item by Lee Ren Xin for me had the most promise, as well as the best moment where three dancers took separate lanes between ballet bars and danced mid-air in sequence, creating a beautiful, surreal effect. (Is there a name for that kind of effect on film?) The music by Ryuichi Sakamoto was bliss as well. The draggy item by Zhuo Zihao was entitled Flowing, and I concurred when Clement remarked that he felt energy flowing out of him. I prefer more energetic, less sleep-inducing movement as well, but I appreciated the style of the choreographer, even if it wasn't my favourite. The item was whole, unlike the two chosen items. One is lazily named Just Another Piece; the other is called 2 Songs by Björk, and Lee Mun Wai in the programme explains that he wanted to choreograph 'without a conscious, pre-determined theme, to work from a more visceral level; a level that's more sub-conscious allowing the body to speak instead of the mind'. In other words, his item is intentionally anyhow. While I subscribe to post-modernist theories of shifting centres (God, man, etc.), I don't quite enjoy post-modernist art of centrelessness. I think centres, themes, ideas are helpful, constructive, provocative, even if they aren't definitive. All said, the dancers were really strong. Clement thought Jessica's very physical floorwork was effortless. I also always enjoy Hazel and her clean, taut style of dancing.

On my sold soul
Ensemble rehearsals have begun for both Four Short Stories for Republic Polytechnic's concert and Samsara for Prague. I sold my Reggae II course to Ching Cheng because of a clash. I'm quite excited for the upcoming item she asked me to choreograph for, which I've decided to do to a Lady GaGa medley. On a side note, I really really really want to attempt reggae to Kat DeLuna's Dance Bailalo; maybe I'll do it for Blast busking.

I realize we've done at least five choreographies by Zaini in roughly half a year, including Les Choristes, Sway, Let Me Fall. The two current ones are ridiculously step-intensive, and fast. Samsara in particular is incredibly alien to me. Saturday was good though. It was going to be a killer day with rehearsals for both items plus tech class. But I'm finally getting the hang of both choreographies; at the very least, I feel on top of things, and not drowned by them. It helped that I got on a high in the last few hours, and also that Rozana was a riot. After, I went with Clement and Koustav for chi-cken, leko (fish crackers), cheese tofu (Koustav: 'the best thing Jennifer has done in my life'), ice cream cones and a large coke. Joy. I wish Koustav was going to Prague. Sad.

Open Platforms
I went for a few one-off classes recently. Chun asked me to help with her Platform class so I met her a night earlier at Music Forest, where I saw Qiuyu (had forgot her name) and Peishan, and learnt reggae-ish choreo to Boom Boom Pow which was very nice. I mostly helped her rewind the music and remember her choreo, although I didn't end up being very helpful. Our dynamic is still really off but she is oblivious and I am through talking through things. The actual class was tougher-than-expected (from Chun's point-of-view) for some, I think, because even if the steps are simple, certain stylistic details can be a struggle/show-stopper. Loved the choreo and choice of song, as with Joo Teng's Open Studio the following Monday. Big, shiok choreo, but marred by forgetstepititis (Copyright Xu Zi). Calvin's Platform was a lot of fun. I was half-hour late after getting my new laptop at Funan. I must say that laser mice rock, and I love the one I chose. After class I went with Brian to Noodle House Ken for ramen and some HTHT.

On cute cardboard
I met Michelle Rose last Sunday. The Christian Lacroix costume exhibition was dinky and awesome, way better than I had expected looking at Michele's photos. Beautiful sketches, frou-frou galore... I wonder what kind of budget these French productions have. It was also our first time at the National Museum. I loved the clean, open spaces. Michelle liked the colonial elements better, like the ginormous window sills you can sit on. I think if she could she would go back centuries and become a Gothic heroine or a Regency damsel-in-distress. We then watched Fast & Furious. I loved it. And I don't think anyone should make any apologies for it. That would be so rude. Paul Walker's cardboard acting was noticeable but tolerable, and I suppose Michelle is right: 'but he's cute cardboard!' I'll be seeing her again tomorrow now that she's back from Malaysia--yay!