Dance, dance
I'm a little subdued this South by Southwest, because, no, I did not see Cabin in the Woods by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard. I am here for the second half, and the Whedon was opening night. Yes, I have heard that the heavy rain in Austin Friday meant attendance numbers were down, and most of the Whedon line got in. Yes, I have heard that everybody loved it. Yes, Joss was there. Guy in Wednesday-night horror-movie line: "Yeah, my buddy got into that, he said it was okay. I mean, he said there were some awesome parts, but sometimes it was like, funny? Not like Scream funny where it's making fun of shit, but just like stuff where the scene's going along and something weird happens like a comedy or something. He didn't like it." I will murder everyone's kneecaps, starting with that guy's buddy.
But I have seen a couple of movies. I started out with Girl Talk / All Day based on the mashup album by DJ Girl Talk. (Guy in the audience during Q&A: "I noticed there were a lot of bits from famous songs in there? Isn't that illegal?") Young Lady breaks away from her stodgy ballet class and spends the day dancing across NYC, encountering Handsome Gentleman, Creepy Guy and legions of New Yorkers who happened to be passing through the frame. Things I enjoyed: 3) C'mon, professional dancers doing their thing are fun to watch 2) The New York travelogue, including tourist meccas like Koreatown and the Staten Island Ferry 1) The unintentional interregation of the Great Public Dance Number. You've seen musicals, you may have seen Improv Everywhere doing their flash-mob thing. It is very possible you haven't seen a lone girl in a hoodie busting arabesques in front of Yankees stadium as New Yorkers hurry past with eyes averted. Trailer: "Can one girl get New York dancing?" Well, here and there, city's not monolithic - but mostly, hey, fuck you, walking here. Never change, New York.
Kickstarter funded, Girl Talk will only be shown in festivals and possibly Youtube because yes, fine, illegal soundtrack, mom.
And then there was some standing around and a party and pernod, and later the lovely D and I found ourselves at Trash Dance. Plucky Austin-based freelance coreographer struggles to produce a piece celebrating the grace of the everyday working man, in the persons of City of Austin sanitation engineers playing themselves. The format was in... broad strokes, familiar to anyone who's ever seen a let's-put-on-a-show documentary. First quarter is the vision of the inspired coreographer; middle is gaining trust, capsule biographies of the players ('Travis - Litter Abatement; Joe - Deceased Animal Disposal'), the travails of rehearsal; final third is triumphant presentation as coreographer watches with tears of pride. And we get to watch the final show (August 09, probably on youtube) from the audience perspective at the edge of the performal parking lot. Garbage trucks drive on, perform parade maneuvers, trash bags are picked up in synch to the inspring music of coreographer's music guy. The guy who can play the harmonica plays the harmonica, the guy who can breakdance breakdances. Coreographer watches with tears of pride as through her efforts, the dignity of labor is celebrated.
After the film, they brought up the director, plucky coreographer, and several of the performing sanitation engineers, mostly, but not all, in their work neon yellow.
Audience member: "That was so amazing and inspirational, so I have to ask, what's next?"
Coreographer: "Well, next I'd really love to work with the Austin Symphony - I've been so inspired by the grace of the conductor's hand gestures recently and I've got some great ideas to transform those into dance movements for him."
Sanitation guy, in nice sweater-vest, motioning for the mike: "And as y'all saw in the movie, I'm in the Recycling Pickup division and we just got these new big ol' trucks that do the auto-separating, so that'll really help us out. But these things are big-ass, so all y'all live on narrow streets, you better watch out, because we might not come round to your house no more."
And here he paused to wait for the delighted laughter.
But I have seen a couple of movies. I started out with Girl Talk / All Day based on the mashup album by DJ Girl Talk. (Guy in the audience during Q&A: "I noticed there were a lot of bits from famous songs in there? Isn't that illegal?") Young Lady breaks away from her stodgy ballet class and spends the day dancing across NYC, encountering Handsome Gentleman, Creepy Guy and legions of New Yorkers who happened to be passing through the frame. Things I enjoyed: 3) C'mon, professional dancers doing their thing are fun to watch 2) The New York travelogue, including tourist meccas like Koreatown and the Staten Island Ferry 1) The unintentional interregation of the Great Public Dance Number. You've seen musicals, you may have seen Improv Everywhere doing their flash-mob thing. It is very possible you haven't seen a lone girl in a hoodie busting arabesques in front of Yankees stadium as New Yorkers hurry past with eyes averted. Trailer: "Can one girl get New York dancing?" Well, here and there, city's not monolithic - but mostly, hey, fuck you, walking here. Never change, New York.
Kickstarter funded, Girl Talk will only be shown in festivals and possibly Youtube because yes, fine, illegal soundtrack, mom.
And then there was some standing around and a party and pernod, and later the lovely D and I found ourselves at Trash Dance. Plucky Austin-based freelance coreographer struggles to produce a piece celebrating the grace of the everyday working man, in the persons of City of Austin sanitation engineers playing themselves. The format was in... broad strokes, familiar to anyone who's ever seen a let's-put-on-a-show documentary. First quarter is the vision of the inspired coreographer; middle is gaining trust, capsule biographies of the players ('Travis - Litter Abatement; Joe - Deceased Animal Disposal'), the travails of rehearsal; final third is triumphant presentation as coreographer watches with tears of pride. And we get to watch the final show (August 09, probably on youtube) from the audience perspective at the edge of the performal parking lot. Garbage trucks drive on, perform parade maneuvers, trash bags are picked up in synch to the inspring music of coreographer's music guy. The guy who can play the harmonica plays the harmonica, the guy who can breakdance breakdances. Coreographer watches with tears of pride as through her efforts, the dignity of labor is celebrated.
After the film, they brought up the director, plucky coreographer, and several of the performing sanitation engineers, mostly, but not all, in their work neon yellow.
Audience member: "That was so amazing and inspirational, so I have to ask, what's next?"
Coreographer: "Well, next I'd really love to work with the Austin Symphony - I've been so inspired by the grace of the conductor's hand gestures recently and I've got some great ideas to transform those into dance movements for him."
Sanitation guy, in nice sweater-vest, motioning for the mike: "And as y'all saw in the movie, I'm in the Recycling Pickup division and we just got these new big ol' trucks that do the auto-separating, so that'll really help us out. But these things are big-ass, so all y'all live on narrow streets, you better watch out, because we might not come round to your house no more."
And here he paused to wait for the delighted laughter.