Last year, during September, Angelo and I decided to go up to Northern California for my 33rd birthday.  I had worked all summer long at the ballet studio, and Angelo had been working long hours at his job as well.  It just also coincided with a trip he was making to Oakland to get his left arm tattoo worked on.  During the summer, I had felt like I wasn’t being very creative.  Then I saw something that ignited some serious inspiration.  It was actually two things, both by the same choreographer.  The first is a piece called Fawn, by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui,  View Here  which features the most amazing dancing by James O’ Hara and Daisy Phillips.  The way that they move and interpret Debussy’s magical score I found breathtaking and exciting! The other piece (choreographed by Sidi Larbi too) was basically a music video for Sigur Ros.  The band has these series of videos which are part of the Valtari Mystery Film Experiment, in which they gave directors a budget and told them to run with it.  Please read on the Sigur Ros website about these projects.  Anyways, Sidi Larbi is a choreographer for one of the projects.  James O’ Hara and Nicola Leahey dance in this epic video.  Eh meh gawd.  I remember the day I watched these two pieces back to back, I was supposed to do my laundry or something infinitely boring.  I believe that I was in front of the computer, watching these two videos for two hours until I had to return to work.

I showed Angelo the two works that I had soon become obsessed with and vowed to him that I would teach myself how to dance like James O’ Hara by learning the Faun choreography.  So, let’s just say that this was an ambitious goal.  The technique that I believe (and of course if I am incorrect – please let me know), is modern release.   Hmm, never did that in my life! I practiced every week at a weekly session called Open House and in my bedroom.  Soon after practicing this new way of moving, Angelo suggested that we try to make a short dance/contortion video in the fall, during my birthday.  We would try to shoot in the Redwood forest in Humbolt, CA.  These photos are from that trip to the Redwoods during my birthday weekend.  Although we did not end up filming in the Redwoods (not enough light, rough ground, etc.),  it was an awesome experience.  Angelo had never been to the Avenue of the Giants and I had only been there once.  To be surrounded by growth that is that old and majestic is just breathtaking.

We eventually finished the art project that I had been working on over the summer.  We shot the the short video in Joshua Tree with the help of Angelo’s friend Anthony Collins.  I, of course, never came close to dancing anywhere as brilliant as James O’ Hara.  But the inspiration that came with seeing great dancing I still carry with me and helps push me creatively.  On a side note, around the time after visiting the Redwoods and shooting in Joshua Tree was about the time Angelo and I began to question what else in the world we wanted to see.  We started to make plans to leave our home and travel abroad.