Passionate teaching

Well, the first week of classes is over. McGill students started last Wednesday and now it's Wednesday again. I feel like I've been around the world and back, and it's only been a week.

I'm taking only 4 classes this semester, and they're all pretty good, nothing too exciting. My professors are all really young and vibrant... it's strange. Last semester there was one guy under 45! The older ones are a little more grumpy and seem like they don't enjoy their jobs anymore (if they ever did). I learn the best from people who are passionate about what they are teaching. The grumpy ones are hard to approach and make me feel like the material isn't worth my time.

Other than classes, I've been pressing myself to get this choreograpy for Inertia's March 9th and 10th shows done. I have to start teaching the piece to the dancers this weekend, and I want to be more prepared than I was last year. The dance will be way more organized and will carry it's meaning better if I do it in advance. Choreographing on the spot is tough work!

Yay for enthusiastic professors and finished choreography. Let's pray the semester continues this way.

Inertia Dance

Hey... lots of stuff to post about today!

I just found out when my dance group is having the major performance of the year. If you're in the Montreal/McGill area, or just feel like coming to visit, the weekend of the show, March 10th and 11th, would be a great time to come!

The theme is "Revolution". I'll be dancing in several pieces in the show as well as choreographing. (If I can get my butt moving. There's a lot of work to do because choreography starts in January. I would like to pick a piece of music sooner rather than later, but I haven't heard anything yet that is exactly what I want: slow and a little eerie, but with vocals... I guess I'll have to keep searching!)

Gotta love the videos

Here's another YouTube video, a clip from the television show "So you think you can dance". If you want to know what modern dance is, this is an awesome example.
This is what I do... except this choreography is way cuter, and more romantic :) than I've ever had the opportunity to perform.

The actual dance starts at 1min 30s.

So I've been at home (my first home = Oshawa) for the past four days. How much work would you guess I've gotten done? Uhh... that'd be next to none. Hey, I'm a poet and didn't even know it!
It's all good though... I've had a chance to catch up with my mom and with old friends, RELAX (so important!), sleep lots and think about life.
I went out for coffee downtown TO. today with an old friend. We danced together for a summer or two and she's a great person to be around. She's so optimistic and just seems to be loving life. I gravitate towards these kinds of people, especially when I need a boost of energy.
Some days I wish I had pursued dance as a career. Dance performance students at Ryerson have it good. My friend is a gorgeous dancer (because of her natural talent I'm sure, but the training at Ryerson is pretty stellar), and gets to produce and perform a lot of her own works on a professional stage. This is her last year, and she doesn't have any set plans for the future, but with the training that she's got, she's surely going to do something magnificent! Go Kiri Go!
I suppose there's still hope for the dancing electrical engineering student...


Anyways... something else I've been thinking about, actually, can't keep my mind off of, is this new movie "The Fountain".
I would recommend it to anyone who loves artsy, thinking movies, but also those with a concrete, structured mind like mine. I can't even really describe to you the plot (it's complicated), but it all revolves around the pursuit of immortality, and the belief that the legendary "Tree of Life" from the Bible still exists. Greed is a huge theme, and it has really made me look at my life at realize that more value needs to be put on relationships. It is an incredible movie. Go see it!

Inertia Modern Dance Collective

If you know me well, you know that I destress with dance.
Here's the latest pictures from Inertia Modern Dance Collective. (From our performance in November):
Inertia Pics

This is pretty amazing choreography.





It was created by a guy named Nathan Gordon, an aspiring dancer and choreographer from the UK. If you want more info, search "Flo'Ography" on YouTube, or go to his MySpace .