when someone slaps you stand up and fight

that is exactly what this english boy did on the bus last night at 2:30am. i went to see the London School of Contemporary Dance's students present three new contemporary dance works last night. the works were very intentional and thrilling to watch. they all had this very contemporary phrase work textured with post modern ideas and investigations. i was able to go to this show with my composer. his name is craig and we will be creating a work together for my choreography and composition class. this was his first time watching live dance, so it was exciting to talk to him after the show.

the night was winding down and i went back to holly's and stayed for a moment. then i decided to get on the N87 going to New Malden.my temporary home.  little did i know that when someone slaps you . stand up and fight.  it was so random. i am sitting in a very tired state and i watch this young pubescent boy hit this random guy as he is walking off the bus. and then all of a sudden the innocent bystander is up and going after the boy. they have a moment of exchanging punches as the bus door is trying to shut.close. exchange a punch. a spit. a grab. blood. the bus driver stops the bus, and to his surprise the whole group of guys that were with the boy were doing something to the bus to make it stop working.lol. it was kind of scary. and funny.  the bus driver returned to the bus. tried to start the bus. lol. but it didn’t start. so we were sitting for about ten minutes before he went back outside the bus. used some mad bus man grease and fixed the bus. lol. i had no idea what these boys could have done to make the bus stop,lol. but the bus driver said they did something.lol. i am still in shock. but at the moment. i was sedated and ready to go to sleep.lol. hmm.

dog roses. within space or by touch. and what happens between us were the three pieces that were shown  by  the place's students.  the last piece was very enthralling due to its balance of multi focus points and beautiful contemporary dance phrase work. it was so interesting to watch these students dance because you could see them pouring into their limbs with these different energies. it was a total body experience for them. a girl was biting another girl in the  piece.haha. very human.haha. made me want to bite someone onstage. haha. or in real life..haha.

so i've applied

so i have completed all three of my applications for the dance conservatories. ah. it is very exciting. and it also makes me very nervous. haha. i have applied to the london school of contemporary dance, northern school of contemporary dance, and laban. and i will be auditioning in march, april, and may! i am really excited that i have applied and will be auditioning. because i would have never been able to do this, if i was still living in tenn. and i feel like i would have been a total wreck of disaster and "lostness" if i tried to come to london to find these schools.haha. i could only imagine what that would be like.
lea sussman. thanks for telling me about some of the schools. i remember when we were chatting on the phone when i lived in midtown about schools in london, and you started to tell me of a few schools. and now i am here about  to audition for them. unbelievable. i remember thinking about how london would look. and i thought it would be greyer. in my mind the picture was so grey, but now i have such a real picture of the land. and it is fantastic.
things have been so entirely different. but i feel like i am pretty adjusted. i have been here for about a month. on feb 24 it will be a month. haha. wow. it feels like i just arrived yesterday.
i just thought of marcellus' cooking.lol. and how much i would love to eat some of his food. i actually want to challenge him to a cook-off because i have been making some fabulous meals for myself while i have been here. thanks mom for teaching me how to cook. haha. chicken tastes so much juicier if it is cooked in a wok. and veggies taste so much better if they are steamed! i have been eating a lot of steamed veggies and they are the BOMB.lol. yes. the bomb. i have also encountered oat cakes. which are sort of like crackers, but they are much thicker and tastier. i have been having oatcakes, grape tomatoes, brie, cheddar cheese cubes, and sliced lady red apples for lunch. haha. but this is one of the best lunch combos i have ever had. cheese and apples are a great combo. especially if you have some sharp cheddar cheese. mmm.mmm. good.  i don't eat them every  lunch. i switch it up sometimes. but it may become a staple.haha. i saw a younger guy in the asda( grocery store) grab like three boxes of them(oatcakes), and i was like "ooo...what are those" and so i had to try them. haha.  and they are delicioso.

my mind is going somewhat blank..ahaha.so this means this is the end. cheers.

sometimes i get lazy and short.

hmmm.connecting with people is one of the greatest things you can do on this earth. this weekend has been filled with connectivity. a friend of mine, holly, met a fashion blogger that sent her a ticket to one of the shows during london's fashion week on sat morning.  it was funny because we had a five hour conceptual thinking discussion on whether or not see she go.lol. but, i pushed her to go. but i wasn't going to let her go alone, so i hoisted myself together and we made our way to the Belle Sauvage show at 21-31 oxford street. i had one of those moments where i was the navigator.looking for the venue. finding a place in london is hard because they don't actually display those numbers outside of some buildings. but to our avail we saw a fashionista walking the street. and at once we knew we were going the right direction. so we followed her, and were met by a huge cue that wrapped around the warehouse like building holding the skinny models. haha.as we were in line we met two girls from new york, one named bea..and i forget the other girls name. but bea had an extra ticket to the show, so she gave me her extra ticket so that i could actually get into the show. but to our surprise the ticket the fashion blogger sent could be printed multiple times (according to bea).whewwwwwwwwww. exhalation. i had a big smile moment.haha.and after about five minutes we made our way into the show.

i love how they transformed this space into a runway. tried to snap a few shots of the area,  including the massive paparazzi,  but i find that my battery to my camera was depleted. bahaha. my luck. the room got dark and some house, funky, techno beat implodes into the space announcing the start of the show.

the first model enters the runway sporting a large round hat. i can't really say hat. because it was much larger than a hat. it was like she was wearing a  wide brown leather cake on her head that stretched to the sides of the runway. not nearly enough to touch the audience though.haha.  i would try to put my best fashion blogger skills to the test. but i digress.lol. there was a plethora of skinny models sporting afromohican patterns( minus the traditional colors), edges, and spiked shoes.  i don't know if african is the best word..but the edges. and lines that were patterned on the designer's clothes had that small essence. but at the same time. their was this european high edgy fashion feel oozing from the runway.  and just like a true art form, it vanished after about twenty minutes. i loved seeing the designer come out and give that final way at the entrance of the runway( which was that traditional white structure with two walls and a middle entrance.)

had some lunch after the show. saw matthew fox in soho at night. epic adventure.

wait.

wait. i also finished my last dance conservatory application. which was to laban. when i was at the post office the guy was asking me where i was applying. and we started to chat. and he commented that he hopes i glow like michael jackson. hehe. brightened my day.

fruit and nut wheatabix..

it has been a long time my friends. i am just going to tell you that i came down with the man flu which kept me from blogging. but i am back and ready. i had an interesting experience at the doctor because i couldn't just walk in to the office. i had to go to the emergency room waiting room. which took 2 hours. and smelled. horrible. they gave me a mask because i was having flu like systems. and i was very thankful for the mask because it not only deterred people from me. but it kept the smell away from my nose. they gave me penicillin which was nice. and sent me on my merry little way. this was actually last monday. wow. such a long time ago. but i have come back to normal health which is astounding.

can i just speak about stan and his uber goober hospitality. last weekend we went to the camden market in london and were swarmed with loads of shops.and great smells. they had people cooking indian food, south african food, chinese food, hummous(according to the english), etc. it was fantastic. one of the most interesting features of this market was the way it was constructed. a lot of the shops were nestled in horse stables. back in the day, before the market was started, the whole expanse of the market was a ranch with horse stables. it was so nice to see the arches giving you that feeling of being in a stable in contrast with the very modern shops that were selling quality t-shirts to trinkets and tinkers. hehe. we went into this one shop, cyberdog, which sold club gear. i am talking about hardcore club gear that lights up and comes with a small battery pack connected to your t-shirt. lol. it was so interesting because the employees were decked out in the gear. i mean they are a representation of the brand. lol. but it was just so funny to see an actual store dedicated to that one sole purpose.

after we traversed through the tunnels of the shop we escaped into the light and walked towards primrose hill. which was absolutely breathtaking. you could see the skyline of the city which housed the london eye, the london bridge, big ben, and other various places. the park is actually called regents park. and primrose hill is one of the many features of the park. it seems like a fabulous place to be during the summer. sitting on the lush green grass with a checkered picnic blanket. with your brie, crackers, and something else posh!

we had a very scenic bike ride from regents park to soho. which put my mind in a whole different view of london. i was a little timid in riding the barclay's bike at first..haha. i felt like i needed a lesson in the road rules, but i soon found out that a bike is considered a car on the road.  so i was ruling the road. with my bicycle!stan you are the man.

just a small highlight of the weekend.

now i am eating fruit and nut wheatabix. this cereal is a sponge.so each bite is a moist.umm.intake of deliciousness. i digress.

cheersxx

i really want to show you some pictures.they will come.as soon as i get the motivation.

we are humans..

i have been dying for human interaction on these public transit systems. lol. these people get on these buses and literally become robots until you ask them where the next stop is, or you dropped your gloves. their red light comes on and they are alive. on my way to see playback south i experienced this. in its most real form. a guy was running late for the train and i was just walking like a normal person and he bashed his body into mine forcing me to get on the train a little bit earlier just before the train doors closed.hmmm.i loved him for that. so much. so so much. and his robotness continued as he sat down as if nothing happened. what a load of rubbish.

i made my way to the angel station looking for the candid cafe to watch playback south, only to find myself lost and confused with that "everything looks new feeling" brushing across my eyes. lol. so i meandered around the town passed the cafe in this effort only to retrace my steps and find the cafe.haha. this is a typical journey in the city. luckily i find the cafe and the small space they were performing in. i met with joan and was able to have some coffee with her after the performance. "heather, we ate those chocolate pastries we loved from panera." these were just as delicious.

this playback theatre used a few different forms that I was not used to seeing.i.e. diamond chorus, magicalite/something or another and this term "free form" which they used to describe stories. one of the most memorable actors was Duncan.haha.he had a good spirit, which made him an interesting character to watch as he weaved in and out of the playback forms.

watching them was so nice. i was sort of cool just enjoying playback as an audience member. something i haven't done in a while. it definitely made me appreciate our conductor. VA.what a great woman.

we had such an interesting chat after the performance. there was one male who felt a little "ripped off" as he said for watching the performance. he thought it was just "practice" for the actors.as a audience member i listened to him and later revealed i was a member of a company back home.everyone can have their opionion.but little does he know that those actors were not acting for themselves, but they were giving of a gift.

the venue of this performance was in a very nice spot with this connecting trajectory of a side terrace that connected the cafe to the black box theatre space. genius.

classes have been grand. they had all of my books in their library. don’t have to pay for books.what? that is different. but i will definitely not argue with that one.haha.because i have to spend that money on the public transportation.muhaha.so it all works out.

my special study choreography and composition are tomorrow. i am so stoked for this class because i will be working with a composer to create an original piece of music to be performed with a new work that i will create in the class. i am on cloud nine. ah.my dream. look out collage dance collective.muah.

we are humans with human emotions and feelings, and we continue to be humans living.we will rock you tomorrow.can't wait...ahh...must get rest.muah.