My Motley Family Xmas

My family is a motley crew of Hindus, Unitarians, Buddhists, Jews, one Muslim and one Catholic. Every year since I can remember we get together at Christmas to celebrate family and friendship. On Christmas eve we have a poetry reading, where we sit around the fire and take turns reading classic children's poems that my grandparents grew up with,  pithy contemporary poets, and everything in between (there are often original poems, occasionally a rap, and sometimes even a dramatic interpretation of scene from Braveheart!).

Afterwards, we eat spaghetti with "critter sauce" a tomato based seafood curry, and when everyone 

has had some time to digest, we bring out the musical instruments. The jam session is usually my favorite part of the festivities--everyone grabs a drum, guitar, or even a book to bang on. Some of us are more musically gifted than others, but the spirit of it isn't really about how we sound. We sing Bob Dylan, Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire, Joe Purdy, and The Stones, and when we don't know the lyrics we make them up as we go along. I'm sure we're quite a sight to behold, but I never feel so warm and cozy in my home as I do when this motley festive bunch comes together. 

Plus behind the scenes footage from Xmas Jam Sesh 2009! Harharhar.

Someone Great

As is my yearly ritual, I spent the pre-holiday weekend in DC for my best friend Sarah DH's birthday.
This ritual generally includes dancing my face off, having a ridiculously good time, eating some latkes, and seeing friends I haven't seen in way too long. This time around was no different. My DC friends are some of my favorite people, and many of them will always be New Yorkers at heart.  In one conversation my friend Paola confessed how much she misses NYC and that watching the video for LCD Soundsystem's "Someone Great" made her feel super homesick. It happens to be one of my favorite songs of all time, and I think the video is kind of a great sentimental snapshot of the city I'll always love the most.

Wonder Wall

                                             
                                       

 How great are these prints by Brooklyn based artist Jacqueline Schmidt? Emily Faulkner, an awesome choreographer I'm working with, has a set of nine in her home/studio where we rehearse, and I am always captivated by them.  I feel like the images are a perfect balance of whimsy and earnestness, an expression I can relate to closely.  In the midst of trying to be all grown up I am often overcome with childlike wonder. On a rough day I'll seek comfort in small things that spark my imagination: a colorful knotted rug, tea leaves floating in a glass pot, a rusting pastel car, a toadstool.  Is that me looking so forlorn next to the kangaroo and mint mid-century rocker?

Ps. Bonus! The artist is also a modern dancer.

Please Sarah, We'd Like S'more!

 

My very lovely (and brilliant!) friend Sarah Warren is now this fine city’s very first Butler of S’mores. You read right. “How can the life-long dream I've had of knowing a s'more butler come true?”  You might ask.  Well, it  came true because s’mores are damn delicious, cockle-of-the-heart warming snacks and Sarah realized that there just aren’t enough of them in this neck of the woods err-lack of woods. Whether s’mores transport you to a cozy fireplace or raucous bonfire,  now you can have them WHEREVER you want them, HOWEVER you want them. Yes, however you want them! With bourbon marshmallows and caramelized bananas, perhaps? Perhaps! You may not have reached that point of sophistication in your s’more eating habits, but this s'more butler has, and she’s sharing the dream.


Photos from S'more Bakery.

How to Have a Great Sick Day

 What I thought was my first common cold of the season turned out to be a full blown Strep infection, just in time for Thanksgiving! Luckily, my Wednesday afternoon rehearsal with the highschoolers I'm teaching was canceled (I adore them, but I was feeling so lousy!) and I finally got to relax. I bundled up in my snuggliest clothes, hopped onto my mom's gigantic couch, and let her make me some hearty chicken soup that I ate in front of the fire. Ahhh. I'll just  go ahead and say it, if I have to be sick, there's no better place than Mama's house. This is what my ideal sick day looks/feels like (the small comforts really do make me feel better, especially when there's a onesie involved!):

 1. Snuggly Onesie, Madewell 2.Cozy Socks, Madewell 3.Hot Toddy 4.Ginormous Fluffly Couch 5. Burt's Bees Honey Cough Drops 6. Season 3 of Bored to Death 7.Primavera Organic Cold Therapy Balm  8.A stack of comfy blankets  9.Chicken Soup by Real Simple 

Like Crazy

The trailer alone made me cry, so I should say RIGHT NOW, do not see this movie unless you are down with crying in public! But seriously, Like Crazy is a really good, terribly bittersweet first- love story. Long love story short: Timing is everything, location is everything, communication is everything...there are so many things that are everything! Can we make it work? Of course! I'm not sure! Gah, who knows?!  
Do see, do bring a buddy, don't wear mascara :)

Manifesto of a Winter Warrior in Training

I will not freeze.
I will not look haggard and worn.
I will not complain about the weather.
I will not let my body knot up and surrender.
I will learn to love the winter in all its quiet beauty.

  Photo by Jan Tik.

Puppy Love

I spent the weekend with a very special little love nugget called Henry Warren. He is a miniature long-haired Dachshund who belongs to my friend Sarah and I just cannot tell you how happy he makes me! I have wanted a puppy ever since my cocker spaniel, Matsy, died when I was 19, but hardly feel ready for the responsibility. I live with (wonderful) roommates in a (charming) little apartment, and I love to travel. None of these lifestyle choices are ideal for a dog-owner, so I've realized that raising my own is something I will have to do later in my life. That being said, I'm just gonna put it out there... I think I'm a pretty fantastic puppy- sitter. I'm not exaggerating when I say that Henry's lil tail wags his whole hot-dog body into a stupor when he comes over to my place. The feeling is mutual :)

Top photo by Carly Blitz.

Heirlooms

I got a little carried away with these at the Coop the other day, but I've always been a sucker for jewel tones and sweet juicy tomatoes! A perfect fall bouquet sans the gnarly decorative gourds.

Drive. Do it.

If bad boys, sexual tension, 80's jams, and Ryan Gosling holding babies are like crack for you, you should definitely not miss Drive. Just saying.

Q: Is there anyone as hot as Ryan Gosling in the entire world? A: Yes, Jake Gyllenhaal, it's a trick question. And now for some burning 80's musical fire:

Buddhism 101

My dad keeps telling me he's "rapidly becoming a Buddhist". This is a little chuckle-y 101 for Papa Bak, via Devika Bakshi, one of my favorite people.

Hello!

Happy weekend! If you need a little pumping up like I always do after a long week, listen to these:
Parcels of easy fun in shiny youtube wrapping paper. Tomorrow I'm headed to a secret lake house to film the next installation of Cassie + Jules- make- short- films- with- dance (temporary name), so I'm definitely gonna bump these a few times each on the road!

My Bollywood Days

Weather in Delhi does two things: rain very very heavily, or, become very very very hot and humid. The best thing about these two circumstances is that they are both ideal weather conditions for one of my favorite activities—going to the movies. Lucky for me, the Bollywood industry is probably the largest film Industry (definitely the most prolific) in the world, and the country’s independent cinema movement is also booming. If I’d wanted too, I could have seen three movies a day for every day of my trip and still not exhausted the supply. Since ostensibly there were other things I had to do, I just saw three films total: One Hindi indie called That Girl in Yellow Boots, about a young girl who works at a happy endings massage parlor to make enough money to track down her lost father, and two classic Bollywood films, Mere brother Ke Dulhan and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, the latter a classic stag party adventure for three best friends before one of them gets married. (The same female lead, Katrina Kaif stars in both of these).
I appreciated my first Hindi indie, but my favorite of the three was the archetypal Bollywood flick, “Mere Brother Ke Dulhan” or “My brother’s bride” which my mom thought should be changed to “EYES” because of the amount of screen time dedicated solely to close ups of our main characters looking longingly at each other. During this movie, our main character, Kush, is on a mission to find a bride for his brother, Luv. He finds the perfect woman, Dimple, but after her engagement to his brother, Kush realizes hes totally in love with her! My favorite scene had to be when, as part of the plot twist to get the brother back with his ex so that Kush and Dimple can be together, the whole family takes a break from engagement festivities at a Government Authorized Bhang Shop (Bhang is a juice made from marijuana plants that is mixed into milkshakes) and everyone including the fat old aunties and uncles gets completely blitzed out of their minds and they all perform a big-stoned-happy-family song and dance number. It's not my Dadima's Bollywood anymore, that's for sure! Do not think, however, that this means there was one single kiss on the lips during the entire film, because there was not. Not a single kiss, but eyes, eyes, eyes!It's true that Bollywood films are cheesy and obvious. BUT. Bollywood has PERFECTED cheese and obviousness to such an extent that the movies are wildly successful in what they aim to achieve: a tangled love story fraught with family drama and some seemingly insurmountable conflict, resolved by an elaborate wedding and all loose ends neatly tied up, with at least 3 or 4 musical numbers to rival any Brittany or Beyonce video. It’s damn hard not to fall in love with them!

BTW is this guy the Indian Jake Gyllenhaal or what?!

Away is the only way

Last night was the first screening of Away is the only way a short dance film I made with friend and film-maker, Cassie Spodak. It all started with a conversation about dance, films, collaboration, and an idea about the act of traveling as a conduit for change. Dance is so hard to capture, and I constantly struggle with the fact that performance can never be the same twice (a beautiful thing, but also a frustrating one). This little project is a way for me to experiment with different ways of creating and sharing dance. I can't wait to make more! All feedback is welcome and encouraged!

Pretty Weekend in Los Angeles

Me and my #1 host, the ferocious Sam Racanelli.
#2 host, but by no means less important, James P. Viola.
Sam and Jonny Mais. Arne.

These are some snaps from my labor day weekend in Los Angeles. If NYC could have LA's weather, I swear I'd never say another bad thing about my city, and I'd probably never leave.

Well, actually... my lovely west coast friends would have to come too.

Missing NYC

People from other places have some not so wonderful things to say about New Yorkers. My travels around the world has proved this. Yes, we are hurried, driven by success, are mostly overworked and underpaid, and sometimes I'm sure we can seem cold. BUT, we are a wildly creative, loud, and responsive bunch, and we do care about one another in the grand scheme of things. Combing through pictures and videos from today's 9/11 memorial and hearing thoughts and remembrances from friends and family made me realize just how unified and sensitive we can be. This video, not related to the tragedies of 9/11, is just an everyday example of how New Yorkers will, in fact, take time to stop and appreciate random creative acts, and most of all, say something nice to their fellow residents just for the hell of it.

On the Subject of Robots

How cool would it be to do an accent wall with this robot wallpaper? I think it would be perfect for a bathroom or a home office. In contrast to the stark, tron-esque neon and chrome robots of today (see below), these lil guys are kind of sweet and homey, aren't they? I wish I had a whole house to decorate! (photos via The Style Files)

Game Changing Tron Dance

Gah! This is insane! Daft Punk would be so proud of the geniuses behind Team Illuminate, a dance crew that seems to defy gravity and convention with their Tron-worthy neon glowing bodysuits. How awesome would it have been to have these costumes for the Mac Miller shoot? Thanks to Noam for sharing :)

Last Tango in BA

Now that I've had a week to reflect on my month in Argentina, I think the thing I loved the most was (drumroll please)...the dance! SURPRISE, I LOVE DANCE! God, I'm so predictable. Salsa and partner dancing seems to come so naturally to Argentine people of all ages, shapes, and sizes. Coming from the US, it's not often that you find great dancers who aren't professionals. In BA that was not so. Imagine my astonishment upon entering a nightclub where web designers, soccer players, newscasters, senior citizens, and otherwise self-conscious teens are all practically shimmying their shirts off in the same place like it's the most natural thing in the world. All of a sudden the dance floor becomes a circle of cheers as one particularly amazing couple, who appear to be in their forties, take the floor in a "dancing with the stars"-esque Salsa/rhumba duet. It is not choreographed. They are not professionals. These people just love to move their bodies!

In addition to the general spirit of movement that is so contagious in Buenos Aires, I happened to be there during the World Tango festival. I didn't go to any of the competitions, but there was Tango everywhere. It was ridiculously fun for me to ditch ballet and modern technique class for a while and start from scratch. Every week, my favorite Argentine and I would head over to La Catedral (that neat old Tango joint I wrote about a few posts back) have some wine and organic empanadas, and take a two hour class (only five bucks a pop!). One would think that being a dancer would make learning the Tango easier. It doesn't! I can fake the salsa and basic dancing with a partner if need be, but Tango is a different art entirely. Learning to follow was the hardest part. We spent hours just walking with our hands on our partners shoulders learning how to feel the difference between leading and following. Walk, switch partners, walk, switch partners, walk, walk, walk, walk. Now walk backwards! By the time I actually got to dance it was such a thrill, you'd think I'd never set foot on a dance floor. Dancing with partners who were more experienced was like floating on air once I learned to follow correctly. All of a sudden, I was dancing Tango! I'm determined to continue with classes once I get back to NYC. I may have had my last Tango in BA, but I'm not done yet:)

The Weary Traveler & Santa Fe

I'm on to the next leg of my journey folks! Hopefully by some time this evening I'll be in LA with my favorite little Ital, Sam (of "nut up or shut up" fame). I'm feeling a little like a weary traveler after being on planes for over 24 hours now, and moving around this much tends to make me feel all mushy and sentimental. In addition, little known fact: I also happen to be one of those people who cries on planes... have you heard that segment on This American Life? WEIRD. Anyway! Here is a song I'm listening to on my travels. It's from Beirut's new album and it's called Santa Fe. I just love it.

Making Moves for Mac Miller

Before leaving for Argentina, I got a last minute invitation to head to Pittsburgh with Rex Arrow Films to set choreography for the new Mac Miller video. I was amped at the prospect of working with Rex Arrow Films again after our collaboration on the new Theo Martin's video (which should be dropping shortly, I'm told). I met Mac about two years ago with Rex Arrow/Hype Wolfson on the set of his video for Got a Clue and was looking forward to working with him all grown up. Rex and Mac have come a LONG way since then and it's been super exciting to watch them both develop as artists and gain the recognition they both deserve. The energy on the shoot was unlike anything I've seen in all my dancing years. Everyone involved knew the potential we were working with and senses were heightened. I had 4 hours to teach the dancers some moves and then it was a whirlwind 48 hours of all day/all night filming, an exhilarating and at times really stressful experience! I'm primarily a modern dancer and choreographer and if you know anything about that world, its pretty much the complete opposite of being on set. The process for making and performing modern dance is often long and emotional and once the performance is over, it's like it never happened at all! It's so fleeting and sadly, there's hardly ever good footage captured. (This Photo belongs to Rex Arrow Films)

Working on set isn't like that. It's high pressure over a short period of time. Once all the choreography is made and taught to the dancers, sections are filmed from every possible angle, and then it's out of the choreographer's hands completely! The director takes over and makes something new with the material you've provided. It is nice to be able to step back and watch what happens, even though after hours of shooting it can be hard to see only seconds of your work spliced in. Still, there is something very rewarding about working with so many constraints, trying to come up with movement that is both creative and that also fits the needs of the video, and then just letting go. When the whole world is my oyster, as it is when I make my own work, sometimes the limitless possibilities make it hard to move forward. This simply isn't an obstacle on a video set, especially one with such a tight time crunch. You get in, work your a$$ off for two days and don't have time to over-think every little thing. You run from the set to catch an 11:00 pm bus back home in time for your cousin's engagement party and everyone stares as you board with neon body paint all over you and a semi-permanent afro left over from shooting. 30 hours later, your on a plane to Buenos Aires. BAM!

Three weeks later, I am seeing the fruits of the labor fully realized, and it's a pretty damn amazing sight. Yesterday the video was the #2 most blogged video after Lady Gaga! I think I just realized what my next goal is ; )


Special thanks to Mac, Rex, Noam, JON CHEN, Erin, Karen, Bethany, and my four lovely dancers for making this experience so rich and rewarding.