John Woo's Call It Exercise

I had a breakthrough moment in dance the other night!!! These are my comfy awesome dance shoes.

I was always a dancer. I worked in nightclubs and went to clubs all the time. I probably was dancing at least 3 nights a week when I was young. The shittiest part about getting older is almost no one I know goes dancing any more. I was getting flabby and that was not cool. Or "healthy." So...in Vancouver in 2000, I signed up at Harbour Dance School to take hip hop dancing. If I was gonna look like an old idiot dancing, it was going to be in a professional environment. It was the most incredible workout I've ever had, harder than aquafit! Ouch. But boy did it feel good. I am miserable at lessons in hip hop, I crash into everybody. What made it worse was there were these young talented dancers. People who had made a decision to dedicate their lives and bodies to dance. I woke up like in Bedazzled and shouted "Oh no I'm a dance mom." (We used to have art moms as co-eds when we were at York University, retired career women or empty nest women who had always loved art-extremely generous and kind to us new students...I used to say when I retire from being an artist I'm going to take up brain surgery and be nice to the med students) And now, here I was a dance mom! It was depressing until I got in such good shape who cares! Any time I show anyone my aquired=earned new dance moves, I break out laughing and can't really get through a routine. It also doesn't help that every time I've shown my trusted peeps THEY break out laughing. (yes, I mean YOU Rita, Tiffany and Stagg!)

Whatever, fool-folly...dancing is just something that I could never get old and give up! I always loved those couples that would shake it out at weddings with their ballroom dancing. Usually they met at some big dance and it was always part of their life. A few of my dearest friendships were built around clubbing. Working in a club with Dolly, and then dancing all night with Anita and Karl or Andrew Shand in NYC. (I am hoping that me posting Andrew's name here might draw him here...haven't talked to him in years maybe he'll google his own name!) I found Karl online today though, and even watched him in a video at the school he teaches in Toronto. You can find almost anybody on the internet.

In Toronto, where I go dancing about once a month is at Zipperz where it doesn't matter how old you are, dancing is timeless. A comfortable friendly atmosphere where it's easy to find kindred spirits.

So one of the first things I did here in Chicago was sign up for dance workshops. I found a great place and Lee Daniels is an incredible dancer and teacher. And he is patient. I mean though, I haven't actually TALKED to him, I am too intimidated. I try not to draw attention to my struggling movements. I am enjoying this workshop because a lot of the participants are not professional dancers, heh heh. Anyways, the other night, things just clicked for me. I didn't smash into anybody, I had learned how to not take up so much space and I was super familiar with the song for our new routine. Hollaback Girl by Gwen Steffani.



This is on the fridge. If you click and enlarge this photo, you will see Stagg and I dancing at Tuffy P and Mr. A.'s wedding in 2001. Thats' Paul James behind us. It's a miracle Stagg loves dancing, whew! I have been saying how frustrating it is to have to treat DANCE as excercise, and so Stagg has found some places for us to go dancing here. We have already been to aTechno Club which I really liked, good music, comfortable atmosphere. I used to be really into goth so we tracked down no cover nights for Goth Club. We'll check it out next week. Anything to avoid obvious excercise lifestyle! Um, just a side note, there is a post card on the fridge photo with grafiti art in NYC in 87. I found this postcard in Vancouver and almost fell over. I had sat with my sketch book (in the 80's) on one of my jillion of trips to NYC and drew this whole street scene with the grafiti once because it was so funny. I am happy to say I spent a lot of time in NYC clubbing, with Andrew Shand!!! who was doing his phd there, and we would stay up all night at Danceteria, Mudd Club, Berlin, Lucky Strike, CBGBs...last I heard Andrew and his wife Jennifer Bowen had moved to Brooklyn. I still have my sketch books from those trips, with notes about The Fun Gallery where we met Kenny Sharf and Keith Harring, openings with David Salle and Anthony Hayden Guest( Vanity Fair contributor back in the day we shared a taxi gallery hopping once)...well you can tell I am getting all nostagic right now ha ha....memory lane...


Richard Ashcroft was on Regis and Kelly yesterday, and he was excellent and very funny. At one point in the middle of his song he says "sing it Regis." He is awesome in concert. Great to lay around and stare at a ceiling and listen to like Springsteen or Costello. A spacey technofolksy. Yeah, I know I crack myself up taking these silly photos.

Madonna has put krunk/krump into her latest video, much like she did with voguing.



Lisa Rinna was sub co-hosting with Regis. She was amazing on the competition Dancing With The Stars. Of course I watched that show!!! There just isn't enough time in the day for me to watch all the reality tv I'd like to, but it is on my top faves list.

Reality tv I am dedicated to:
Beauty and The Geek
Survivor
Surreal Life
Top Chef
Dancing With The Stars
Project Runway
Amazing Race
The Bachelorette

Well, I'll leave this post on a nice low-brow note with Reality TV. Oh by the way, I think the other reason I had a breakthough in dance workshop is from the non-smoking. I hate to admit it but I feel so much better not smoking. Damn. I watched the Gere/JLo movie the other day, Shall We Dance, it was okay, but Gere stole the movie. Usually JLo can be in a mediocre movie but she is so captivating it doesn't matter. Not this time.(I think JLo just acted out her breakup with Affleck in this movie) The movie was nice, but Gere was perfect. Very sweet and believable. Anyways, at one point Stanley Tucci's characters tells Gere's character you have to practice 5 hours to every hour of instruction. FIVE hours! So off to ...exercise!