Friday January 29

And now for something completely different: Post-Modern Dance opens the Ivan Garcia Theater in Puerto Plata, the reactions and affects thereof. Plus, I am on TV.

Quotes for Friday January Something—oh! Last day of J-term.

“I have duck bumps” Martin

“You should be at the National Theater” Audience member

“You smell like feet” Alex to another company member who she adores

So, yeah I gotta tell you by this last class on Friday morning, the dancers are starting to recycle those dance clothes. They have been wearing dance shoes for these classes, and you know, it’s hot down here. Febreeze is present and used, but alas cannot conquer all. After several u-turns we find Madalaine and Studio Avanti. She is also a pilates instructor at the meeting place, and a professional dancer. She is gorgeous, blonde, Cuban and jacked. I do not feel shlumpy at ALL. She has taken her front living room and dining room and created a long, narrow strip to rehearse in, probably 8x22’. Her dancers are all professional, dancing in resorts and at Ocean World just outside of Puerto Plata. The Company teaches regular class while I type madly and Penny wheels and deals about arrangements over the phone. The company learns some incredibly fast hip-hop and are done.

After lunch, Penny, Christian, Alex, Cat and I head down to Canal 10, a local access channel. We are to be interviewed about everything the company is doing. Moreno meets us there at 3:00pm. We are on next. 3:15pm, 10 more minutes he reassures us. 3:35pm, Cat is writing in her journal, the rest of us are watching the lobby TV broadcasting the show. There is a health official on explaining how to avoid a horrific disease that give you yellow eyeballs. 3:45pm, Alex starts to fall asleep on Christian. 3:50pm, ok let’s go! We all pile in, no, no, no, the English translator is not here yet, you have to wait. 4:00pm, Penny calls Mariel, who is waiting for her at the Meeting Place for that interview. We meet Francis who has been taking footage of us in different places. He does a hilarious impersonation of Americans trying to dance salsa. He asks me if I speak Spanish, since God can only hear you in that language. I say I speak through my heart so he understands me pretty well. We have a little laugh. 4:20pm, not only is Alex asleep, but Cat is holding her head so she doesn’t snap awake, the translator arrives. 4:30pm—Ok, we are really on this time.

Pile in the studio, much bigger than the other studio. The gentleman who is the translator/part-time host takes the place of the regular host and away we go. He does a couple of commercials, then introduces the project. They show the footage Francis has taken, everything’s great. Penny gets the first question figured out and replies in Spanish. Time to take a call! Buenos, como se llamo? Oh no, it’s Miguel. The regular host, a beautiful woman with fantastic red plastic earrings, rolls her eyes and indicates with her finger to the temple that he is not so normal. We say adios to Miguel and move on. Suddenly we are talking about the kids show and the host turns to me and asks why I do this, teaching the children. I suddenly become Whitney Houston “I believe the children are the future.” I make a quick save and say that I love to work with kids and the arts should be a part of kid’s education. I think that’s what I said. We finish up, we’re done, we’re out. The kids head back, we head to the second interview. I buy poster board while Penny talks. We race back to the hotel, get ready in 18 minutes and head back to the theater for opening night.