This is now probably too small to read! Just know that DCM is famous in Puerto Plata.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Monday--shopping, dogs and familia. Pt. 1
“You give joy to this city.” Sumariel Vasquez, Nuestre Gente Television
"Familia." Moreno
Monday dawned bright, slightly too bright. Not bright enough to wake up anyone early. I don't think Phillipe got up until 2:00, the maids must have cleaned around him. I was ready for some tea and toast. Maybe a coke--although don't ask for a "coca", ask for a "cola". One waitress gave me quite the look when I asked for the former. Nic and I think I was either asking for drugs or something dirty. Oops. Anyway, after some writing and breakfast Nic and I headed downtown for some shopping and an internet stop. First stop, the bank, next stop, Casa Nelson! A great place for shoes, clothes, household goods, decorative items and toiletries. We were looking for some kind of soothing creme or lotion for a few kids so I checked the shelves. They had scented, medicated, pink, glittered and my favorite, tortuga. That's right turtle creme. Nic and I decided against that one. We poked around and Nic found some colorful wraps for her girls and I found some great school t-shirts. We wandered down to our favorite tourist section and started our wheeling and dealing. I will spare you the details, it was more exciting to be there. We left with cigars, masks, t-shirts, jewelry and no money. Perfect. We talked Michael into 20 more minutes to get all those posts up on this blog. Back to the hotel. Time to meet Penny's family and hit the beach.
Did you know that Penny had a family in Puerto Plata? And a dog, of course. When Penny started coming to the DR and discovered Puerto Plata, she would stay at the Hotel Lomar. She got to know the manager, the maids, the neighbors, their dog. Soon, she was making deals with people, buying dog food, walking other people's animals. So, Cleo the dog next door is really Penny's dog. After we got back from shopping Penny asked if we wanted to go next door to meet Adriana and Kaila, her daughter. Carlos was at work, but we had met him earlier. Nic, Penny and I trudged next door with our towels as we were headed to the beach after our visit. Penny pushed at the huge rolling metal gate, and we slid through the opening. The family actually lived on a fairly huge lot that had several different kinds of fruit trees jumbled together with old refrigeration units and a few plastic chairs for company. Cleo was chained, but it was a fairly long one, and Penny was pleased to see how healthy she looked. Cleo was beside herself when she saw Penny, whining and wriggling like mad. We made our way past stainless steel walkins to a small structure with metal walls and roof. Adriana emerged with Kaila. Adriana is pregnant with their second child, a boy, due in the spring. She has a beautiful smile and a husky voice and is almost as tall as me. Kaila is 3 and was wearing her new pink dress that she showed off to Penny. Kaila's crazy corkscrew curls were admired by all of us. "Such beautiful hair!" we say. "Dangerous hair," says Adriana with a smile. Adriana and Penny talk while Nic and I wait for the translation, or for Kaila to come over and talk to us. Kaila is getting demanding and her mother's patience is starting to wear a little. The little one wants to play a game. Ok, a game it is. As we are trying to decide the game, Cleo can't stand it anymore and lunges for us, pulls herself free, then changes directions and bolts through the gate (that visitors who came after us have left open.) Kaila laughs wildly at this crazy new game where the big American ladies go booking down the street after the dog. How am I, of all people, running after a dog on the Malecon? Thankfully, she is distracted by some tasty tidbit on the street in front of the bar next door, and I step on her chain. The men in the bar stare at the two crazy American ladies and their dog. I turn around and realize that Kaila, too, has escaped. So Penny lets them both walk up the alley between the bar and the houselot, getting out the rest of that energy. This is too much excitement for me, I am ready for the beach. One of us lets Penny know it is almost 4 and we should head to the beach now while we can. We say thank you and good bye with our kisses and Kaila is wailing because the game is ending so soon. We beat feet across the street. Time for a dip
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Pictures from Monday to Thursday--pretty much
So below are about a dozen pictures from the first half of the trip. I have posted most of this album on my facebook account, so if you would like to see the whole thing and aren't my friend, just let me know and we will fix that! I continue to work on getting the video off my other computer and onto this blog. I am hoping to add the Kiddie Rave tomorrow! If you have any feedback or questions about the trip or the blog, you can email me at bohler@middlebury.edu. Enjoy!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Kidde Rave and Merengue--no firearms allowed.
So as I have mentioned before, Sunday was not a great day for me. I had some papaya and slightly greasy coffee for breakfast and it was all over but the crying. I was hoping to get over it and get to the performance with Balsamo in the afternoon, but it was not to be. I recouperated, and wrote and wrote and wrote, and waited for them to get back. The performance was supposed to happen at 5:00 and when it got to be 7:45, I wondered if I had missed the last dinner and party as well! Now, I was really sad. I found Canal 10 on the TV and watched Mariel and Ramon's coverage of the company being in Puerto Plata. It was really great. Penny was talking away in Spanish and they had all these wonderful shots from the concert and rehearsal. Not two minutes after it was over, Penny walked in. Shoot! She was absolutely exhausted, but ecstatic about the show. Apparantly, the show did not start at 5:00pm, but at 6:30pm. The show happened in the Parque Central and there is a church on one corner of it. Well, Mass starts at 5:00pm. Arisleyda tried to convince the deacon, or whoever he was, that they wouldn't hear anything in there because of the air conditioning, but he wasn't having it.
So, they waited. And the 150 people in the park waited. The Company members played games with them, and Kirsi came flying off the bus at the last minute from Ocean World and the show started. Apparantly the staging was quite flexible, according to Christian. The stage was a series of 2x4 and 2x6 laid across some sort of structure, so every time there was enough wait in one particular area, it would sag. It was a bit like dancing on a waterbed evidently. Once the show got started, the now 200+ people in the park had surrounded the stage, leaving room in front of the stage for the kiddie mosh pit. I am not making this up, all the Company members agree, it was a dancing mayhem down front. So, quite successful. The Company and Teatro Balsamo performed the children's songs and dances, to the delight of the mosh pit and their parents. Then the Company did the kids piece right on the cement blocks of the square. Penny said "Apparantly that piece can now be done anywhere. Who knew!" The more I heard about it, the sadder I was to have missed it. It was time for dinner, and Penny promised everyone a little dancing and merengue and Rancho Tipico, so I pulled myself together and off we went.
Dinner was a funny little thing. First of all, everyone was totally exhausted--5 hours in the heat will do that to you. Then, Balsamo was there and it was sad to say good-bye. Someone took a picture of the group, there were hugs, not too many tears. Kirsi stayed a little while longer, eating with us, then walking back to the hotel to get a ride home, since she lives close to Rancho Tipico. I had white rice and 7-up for dinner. The waitress had asked what I wanted.
"Arroz" I said.
"Arroz con pollo?"
"No."
"Salada? Papas Fritas?"
"No, arroz solo."
"Ok." Much shaking of the head as she walked away...
We finished up, gathered everyone up at 11:15pm and headed out. Crazy, right? As Phillipe would say, my body is a champion. Rancho Tipico is a car wash by day and a dance hall by night. Only men can order drinks at the bar, or the waitresses, and no loose clothing is allowed. Also, no firearms according to the posted sign. We were there to listen to the live band play real merengue, and maybe dance a little. The band was fantastic, the accordian player in particular was impressive. The students made their way to the dance floor and it was great. I loved watching them, and all the regulars. There was one woman there, not very tall, but you know, not lacking in endowments, and she was amazing to watch. I mean she had hip movements--ai Mami! I got Michael Chorney up there for one dance which was great. We just needed the one to get the job done. Jenn, Nic and I had had every intention of only going for half an hour, and of course we stayed to the end. The band had noticed all the Americans, and had called us out, asking us to clap if we liked the music--no problem there! We loved it. We piled back into cars about 1:00 and drove home through quiet streets, with only a few dogs and motos spotted along the way.
I was so disciplined--what happened?
Life, or returning to the normal one is what happened. I left you all hanging with the Friday night performance and just a little bit of info about Sunday. So I am determined to finish the story, or at least this part of the journey. Therefore...
Saturday Night--The Concert and the Vegas floor show.
So, I was riding pretty high after that afternoon. I was also just flooded with relief. The Company was really patient with the whole process which was slightly convoluted at times. Alex did a beautiful job with translating, and they all managed to get everyone where they needed to be. We got back to the hotel and I can't remember now what we did for food or down time--there must have been some, but who knows. We got to the theater with time to spare, because as you know, time is abstract.
Arisleyda had told us earlier that she was expecting the governor and a local representative at the concert that night. She had been exhausted and a nervous wreck the night before, not knowing how everything would turn out, but she was more confident now. So, it was time for the show to start (8:20pm) and the house was only half full, but the representative was there, so let's go. The show begins. Once again they are stunning onstage and once again the audience continues to trickle in, including the governor. Both nights I am stuck next to the CD player to play 3 music cues, and both nights I manage to delay or screw up that third one. Poor Alex! Waiting on stage FOREVER for me to get my act together. I want to blame exhaustion and the heat, and anything else I can think of, but really, I just blew the timing. But, the students were fantastic and didn't care. Of course, this was the night of the slap, so that took everyone's mind off anything I may have messed up. What? I haven't told you about the slap? Well, it happened during the improvisation piece. Most of the company was onstage in various places, doing various things (boy that sounds technical) and Christian and Liz were downstage left. They had been doing some work with Liz on the floor and Christian standing over her, then it morphed into them moving side by side, mostly with their right hands. It was like seaweed, or waving, and suddenly Liz's hand just leaped out and hit Christian's right cheek, pullling him into a different position. They kept moving and the piece progressed, but it was a little, well, humorous I guess, for lack of a better word. That movement did make the cut on the Nuestre Gente TV show (which is now posted on www.middlebury.edu/arts if you want to check it out!)
The show ended and there was much applause again. I had seen Arisleyda whispering with the governor during the show, so hopefully she liked it. At the end, Jacinto got up on stage to say a few words, mostly about audience behavior and the like. I found this to be interesting since he was late for the start of the show himself, but that's ok. As we said our good-byes, Jomaris, Arisleyda's daughter-in-law, was trying to get a very tired Elian into the family's tiny red car. He had played with all the Company members, but Sarah was by far the favorite. They played and chased and laughed all over the theater. So after a hug and kiss good-bye from all of the women in the company, waving, saying good-night, Elian threw out an offer no girl could refuse "Come to my house!" The girls all laughed, and Sarah said "My parents will be so thrilled to hear about my new Dominican boyfriend." They start young, those DR boys...
Back to dinner at Skina, where we had the MOST hilarious conversations at dinner. David Sedaris would have been enthralled with these stories, need I say more. I was dying to go dancing, but everyone was exhausted. I think we were begging Alex and Christian to salsa or merengue, because they always dance so beautifully, when the right song came on over the house speakers. They got up and did the most amazing and fantastic impromptu Latin improvisation--you just couldn't take your eyes off them. Quick, light, sensual, gorgeous. They were dancing in about 8 square feet and you would have thought it was the big stage at Caesar's Palace. They were only wearing their street clothes, and I think Christian only lost his hat once, but it was fabulous. The wait staff was fairly impressed--they joined us in applauding as well. I couldn't stand it anymore and dragged poor Cat out there and we practiced our salsa. Then, Christian took pity and came and gave me a little dance lesson. He teaches Latin at the college, and I am going to have to start going to that class, because sister, he is good! Well, we were all good and wired at this point, but it was 1:00am, so back to the hotel. We were having such a good time hanging out we stayed up very late, some of us seeing the light in the sky begin to change. Which is why I should not have eaten that papaya. But that's the story for Sunday.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Saturday Night
Ok, so now it is actually Monday morning, and I am going to take the day off. I will tell you about the last two shows, and the interesting place we heard merengue last night. I will even tell you about today if you really want, but I am hoping it will involve only a little shopping and beach time, which doesn’t make for exciting reading. Again, I’m sorry I haven’t been able to post pictures, but I promise to add them when we get back, along with some video. Also, I hope that Company members will add their own comments when everyone is back, because God knows I have not written down everything. So, signing of until tomorrow or so…oh and I hope you the way I've decided to break up the posts makes sense. I have just put up a bunch, so you may want to pace yourselves...
Saturday, January 30
123 kids+670 streamers+8 liters of soda+6 kinds of cookies=Kids Performance at Casa de Cultura
It is actually Sunday night as I write this. The performance with Balsamo was today, but I missed it. The inevitable has occurred—my stomach has rebelled. There is no particular fiendish food that has caused this, merely the culmination of eating dinner at 9, 10, 11 at night, staying up WAY too late, heat, exhaustion. We all thought it would be a good idea if I stayed close to proven facilities, and everyone headed out for the show. I’m really sad I missed it, plus I was supposed to help out Nic, who sprained her ankle the other day and she ended up going to tape anyway. ANYWAY, it is Sunday night on the Malecon, and my friend, that is a loud, busy business. Fascinating, full of moto conchos and music from down the street that is making my ears ring, but fascinating. My friends from childhood may understand when I say that cruising Highland was an insignificant attempt to match what happens on the Malecon. Loud music but great music. The speakers in the back of the truck are actually house speakers, you know what I’m saying?
I’ve just finished watching a segment on The Dance Company of Middlebury and Penny
on Nuestre Gente with Sumariel Vasquez, of course completely in Spanish. Fantastic.
Ramon included the shot in the second night of Improvisation where Liz whacked Christian.
So anyway, here is the story of the kids, otherwise known as one of the best days ever.
We gather around 10:45 to get to the Casa de Cultura in the Parque Central by 11:00
After we climb to the second floor, the Company starts to throw open the windows. I am nervous, but not as bad as the first day with the kids. I’m mostly nervous that either no one will come, or too many. Another friend of Penny’s who runs a Saturday morning arts program for kids is bringing 20 students. So, we should have around 100 kids to organize into a show after 4 hours of working with them. No problemo.
It’s a beautiful building, built by the Agriculture Department of the US Embassy in 1906, according to the plaque. So the windows are actually doors, and the ceiling is at least 20 ft. high. We go over the order of the piece a few times, then get down to the business of building props. I have bought four huge spools of ribbon to make wrist streamers for the kids to use during the dance. Sometimes a colorful prop will get you right in the mood to move, right? We make 100 of them and hope it’s the right number. Then Penny takes over and they block out the KIDZ piece to see how it can be done in the space. Then waiting. Arisleyda arrives at 1:00pm and goes over the order with us, she is our MC.
Waiting, brutal waiting. Just when I am about to give up, Dominican timing kicks in, and I see the first girl arrive on a moto. She doesn’t come in the building though, she waits for more friends in the Park. Suddenly around the corner comes a mini bus crammed with about 50 cheering children. I am ecstatic! Now, quite suddenly 100 children are here and we gotta get them organized. After greetings, that’s exactly what we do. Alex is my interpreter today, so she has the mic. Ok, everyone into groups according to school, so Luperon aqui, y Los Dominguez back here. Then, practice your dances you made, now let’s practice the parade. So 100 kids, with 8 Middlebury students and their homemade streamers paraded to Salsa around the second floor for a few minutes. I could have done that all day, actually. I have to confess, by this time, one of Moreno’s colleagues in the Carnivale school Susi was there with her daughter. And the little one, she loved me. She wrapped herself around my legs when her mom tried to take her away, so I just picked her up and she did it all with me. We ran the whole thing then tried to settle them down into place. Oh! And guess who was there with Los Dominguez? That girl in turquoise! I saw her rehearsing with Cat’s group, and I watched for any signs of disdain for the project. None. She remembered everything and was actually one of the best ones in the group. That meant that no matter what happened for the rest of the afternoon, we were a success. One kid. You can’t change the lives of them all, it’s not possible. But you can change a few, and that’s the goal. I tell them after they rehearse, that I want them to remember something. That dance can be used to tell a story, their story. To tell people who they are and what they want, what is important to them. I just need a few to hear that and believe it, and the Company will have changed the course of someone’s life. Although they wouldn’t believe that.
There are not a lot of parents or outside people present, but even if we just do this for them, it counts. There is soda and cookies for after the performance, so it is their party.
Finally we decide to start. Arisleyda gets up and speaks, then Marisha and Moreno. Then Penny, then my turn. I get to the mic with Arisleyda and I look at all those faces and I know I am going to cry. It’s an honest reaction to how amazed and happy I am to have done this work with them, but kids who have known me for a few hours aren’t going to know that. So I say to Arisleyda “Tell them thank you from my heart.” She looks in my face and says “You can say that.”
“Muchos Gracias—“ Look at Arisleyda.
“Del toro” There’s that knot of tears at the back of my throat.
“Del toro mi Corazon.” I manage to get out. Everyone applauds and one mother nods her head at me. Apparantly I have said the right thing, thank God.
The kids do the piece. It is just wonderful. The transition between getting one school off and one school on is slightly messy, and the spacing is awful because there are so many, but they are great. Everyone knows what to do, everyone is participating. And, the Saturday morning ballerinas who arrived earlier and got some ribbons have learned the dances as well. They finish the parade, me and my little friend giving them the cue to bow. It is a great big messy finish, but that’s ok, that’s just fine, it’s perfect.
There are only a few parents there, which Familia comments on later. He sees the last part of the big dance before they start the KIDZ piece. All of the children are watching, craning their necks, once again rapt. Familia says in order for their to be community the parents need to know what their children are doing in school, so they can be supported at home. I agree, it is important, thinking of my own involvement—or lack thereof—in my kids’ schools.
Then it’s time for snacks so Moreno and I power-pour 100 sodas in a few minutes, lining them up on the balcony railing. Susi gives out the cookies. We finish the last few and everyone is gone. I didn’t get to say bye to the kids or Familia, but that’s ok. Rodrigo is here today, who brought the girls to the show Friday night, to see what the work is all about. We sit down for a few minutes and talk about things he can do with the girls he will be working with this summer at a one month camp. The girls are coming from situations where there were drugs, abuse, worse, so they are very vunerable he says. We talk over some ideas, then promise to exchange more information over email. Suddenly there are hands on my face and it is Angelina, the little speech-maker from Los Dominguez. “Buenos tardes, mi amor y muchos gracias.” She says as she kisses me good-bye. And now the day is completely perfect.
The Concert
What happened here tonight?
Excellent question. People came, the chairs filled. Mostly after the show started, por que a formal start time is a suggestion for arrival, much like lines in the road. Everyone knows this, so it’s ok. (My Middlebury ushers would be appalled—Sam and Nick would be beside themselves.) The Company begins to dance. In this small theater, in this tiny courtyard, in this crazybeautiful city, in the now. They are gorgeous and perfect. They are consummate professionals and perform immaculately. The suite is received with some giggles in the front row from a group of girls that have been brought by folks from Julia Alvarez’ foundation. Christian is doing his solo and they are wildly giggling into their fists. His movement is quick and calculated, gyrating and linear. He’s having a good time, he’s drawing them in. Sofie says later that it’s amazing to perform in front of children because you get a completely honest reaction. True that. There is a break, then the improvisation. While Jenn throws toggle switches and that handy power strip switch which is dangling in front of her, they begin their process. The audience seems rapt, with just a few cell phones going off, not bad. Things begin to happen on stage. Sarah and Jeremy end up in a duet, slowly curving. Liz flies, never quite out of her skin. Beautiful Cat watches and explores. Sofie walks across the stage, in contemplation. Christian writhes, Alex drops and rolls, stop. Phillipe flexes and straightens, creating a different musical graph. It’s not the easiest to explain, you know? Michael and Arthur play, following then leading, playing companion with the dancers. After 30 minutes, it draws to a close.
Last, the KIDZ/NINOZ dance. I love this piece. In their overalls and striped t-shirts, they present an idea, memory of childhood. There is a small purple chair that Alex clutches at the beginning. Sofie and Liz run on stage, looping, then leaping past the edge. Cat and Jeremy enter. Jeremy’s agile capoiera skills come in and out of the movement. Cat, her hair in pigtails, puts on her best face and becomes the leader, hips twitching and swaying. The piece moves through, whispering following and leading. Kareem Khalifa’s music weaving and talking to us, childrens’ voices sing-song in their games. The piece moves to conclusion, Alex’s heartworn face suddenly covered by whispering faces. The audience erupts into applause. Yoheves as already come to the window and given Jenn the thumbs up sign twice. People are standing and whistling. Well done. Penny does the meet and greet and is told people here never get to see anything like this, it all happens in the South. Why isn’t she here all the time? How long have they rehearsed? These are students? You should be performing this in the National Theater in Santiago. Wao.
On lovely clouds of accomplishment and starvation, we float down the road to Skina for dinner. The Company seems pleased, they should be. Penny is pleased, Arthur and Michael are happy. Jenn is that and relieved. Nic and I are good, if slightly exhausted.
We beat feet home early and have a slumber party picnic in Jenn and Nic’s room where I tell my life story. Bed at 1:30am.
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.
“So my third Par-can will be controlled with a power strip? Ok then”
Tech rehearsal en Puerto Plata--muy differente
(Note: Yes, I know that my verb tenses are frenetic, jumping all over time and space, so If you are an English major or proofreading maven you will just have to bear with me.)
Finally I have a few minutes to run across the street to the beach. You can see, hear and smell the ocean because it’s RIGHT THERE. But during the few moments of down time we’ve had I’ve either been ready for the kid’s class, eating or trying to write. So that’s it, I’m going in. I walk across the Malecon, not too busy at the moment, so I’m not taking my life in my hands—running for the bus in London might actually have been more dangerous. I can still see the Hotel from the water’s edge. There is a riptide and strong undertow (that’s not the same thing is it?) so I am hesitant to throw myself into the surf. It’s nice to just stand with my feet in warm water under a perfect azure sky. This is not too rough.
I finally through myself under a few waves, then dry off and walk to the end of the beach. I remember one of the kids pieces about cleaning up the beach and realize that thing I see is not a shell, it is a plastic cup. There are a few bags, wrappers and unfortunately quite a large syringe mixed up in the seaweed strewn along the tide line. The beach is empty except for one family and a couple of other tourists. Seems like a waste.
Small groups head out for dinner, then off to the theater for that 9:00pm call for tech rehearsal. Jenn kicks into high gear getting stage, lights and sound set. The mats are down, the sound is good to go and the wonderful Yoheves has come through. Yoheves is Arisleyda’s son and a genius. But he loses everything constantly. He is also the head of the Boy Scouts for the entire country, so you know, a few things on his plate. He has built for Jenn, who he adores now, a two-scene preset board with toggle switches. He has also built a kind of dimmer rack on the wall of the stage. Yoheves is an electrical engineer so he builds the system so that it can handle the 2 Par cans (higher wattage) and 4 tiny lights on stage. There is a third par he has fixed to the lattice work of the “control booth” window with plastic ties. None of the windows have screens or glass, so this part works pretty well. The booth is really the meeting room, but its window opens onto the courtyard where the theater stage is behind the house, so dual purpose rules. The booth par is controlled not by the board, but by a power strip. A set-up some would say is lighting design in its purest form. Off or on, that’s it, no fancy fading stuff for you mi amor! So, for those of you following this blog, but possibly not the details of this situation, you should know that Jenn Ponder is also a genius—for making it all work and never losing her temper in the process. I would have lost it at the moment when everyone was taking, 4 of Arisleyda’s family members came by, Sarah was trying to keep Elian occupado, and cell phones are going off.
So after an hour or so or craziness, we are cracking along with setting up cues when it starts to drizzle. No big. Then more like sprinkling. Then you know what comes next—the end of tech rehearsal because it is pouring. Yoheves starts taking down the speakers and several of the dancers hop around in the rain, cause that’s what you do when you’re young—bless ‘em. The rain stops, but the mats are slick, and they can’t block the piece without them. We’re out. Everything has to be broken down and put away inside so the place can be locked up. There is a young Haitian man, maybe 15, who is the guard and all around helper. He is well-treated here, but very quiet, very shy. Most Haitians are invisible, the children not allowed to go to school. He silently follows us around, turning off lights and locking doors and the big side gate behind us. Jenn asks his name, but doesn’t quite catch it. He is here a lot, I wonder when he sleeps.
While we finish cleaning up, Jacinto arrives. Arisleyda’s brother, he is also the artist on display in the Meeting Place and the head of a progressive carnivale movement. He is, of course, larger than life, dressed all in white with his braids in a ponytail. He has a lengthy discussion with everyone after much hugging. He asks them “What do you like about my country?” Responses vary. The weather, the beach, the people, their innocence. Penny finds it interesting. There is a lot of charm and laughter happening in the bright white tile room, hung with Jacinto’s pictures. We are done, and he is a one-man show, kissing everyone good-bye. I am at the end of the line. He automatically leans in to kiss and say good night. Then he pulls back and freezes. His jazz hands are framing my face and he says—I swear to God—“but you are Shining! The light it is coming from you, oh my God…” Dominic, don’t you dare laugh. And I smile, and he keeps going, and I have to gently but firmly extrapolate myself from the charismatic artist. That was a close one.
The Dominican Steven Speilberg
Thursday, January 28
Quote for the day: “Now let’s do a little exercise, tell me what you like about my country?” Jacinto
“But you are shining, the light is coming from you” Jacinto upon meeting me.
(Gracias mi amor, my husband thinks so too.)
Second enormous day, but with a 5 hour gap created quite suddenly, which is how things happen in the DR sometimes. It would drive other people wild, (I can think of several of my friends who would be ripped if their food, transportation and schedule didn’t go perfectly as planned. You know who you are—don’t come to the DR) Penny said the plans would not be firm or fluid, more like Jello, now I know what she meant. In the middle of our second school class at Gregorio Luperon school, suddenly Jenn appears with Arisleyda. Arisleyda has forgotten that there is a performance that doesn’t finish until 9:00pm, so tech rehearsal moves from 7 to 9. Ok. Then that’s when we start.
But I am getting ahead of myself (not possible in this blog) First, morning class. Class Thursday morning was at a community center on the street behind our hotel, so we get to walk, much to the three car driver’s delight. Tiny houses, one and two stories, perch and list along the alley. People peer out at our conspicuous caravan as Moreno helps us over the rough spots in the broken concrete. The clubhouse turns out to be great for a class. White tile floors indoors make for a luxurious space. There are only 5 or 6 dancers this morning, which is nice as well. One of the young men dancing was incredibly athletic, sorting of upping the ante with a few of our guys (nice leaps Phillipe). Then he busted out the capoiera and Jeremy got going, and it was fantastic. We only told Jeremy like 23 times to be careful, which of course he was.
After class, we broke for lunch, going separate ways. Penny and I had some leftovers and tried to regroup for part 2 of Thursday—Gregorio Luperon School.
Nicole is the group videographer, patiently sitting in corners of rooms, taping all the classes, which have been numerous. Well, when we got to Luperon (another fantastic journey because lines in the road are merely a suggestion) we were met by a teacher and Marisha Kazeniac, the head of VIC, and eventually Alvaro Martinez who is, indeed, the Dominican Steven Speilberg. He asked Marisha if he could film, and Nic asked me and of course I said yes! He took that camera and zoomed around, standing on tables, chairs, buildings to get a better shot. He took the tripod on and off a dozen times, he got some kid to get him a desk, all things done in the name of his art. Nic says he went off at some point and came back with a soda which he handed to Nic. Well, how sweet she thought, and took a sip. Alvaro took the camera back from her, which she had been holding for him, then took the soda. Apparantly she was supposed to hold his soda while he set up the shot. Brilliant.
We could all tell that there was a difference in this school. As the kids came in, I made an effort to introduce myself in my halting Spanish. Carla, Diana, Francesca. When we had enough to get started we got going. Our space this time was the library. Moreno pushed the tables back and there was plenty of room (more than in the computer lab where they originally put us—nice lab though) until 20 more kids walked in. The kept showing up through the warm-up, which was hilarious because I did it all with sound effects and they followed right along. So we probably had 40-50 kids en todos in the hallway and the classroom. These kids were interested, creative, willing. I think the VIC project Healthy Kids, Healthy Neighborhoods has been in residence here longer than at Los Dominguez. The Luperon students seem a little more confidant, which helps. There were a couple of boys who weren’t too sure about the whole thing, but that is the same the world over, so no big. These kids pieces were about riding the cable car and seeing their barrio, building a theater, planting trees, animals in their neighborhood. They were amazing. They were doing something brand new with skill and creativity. You have to be a little bit brave to do something so new, again with half your school watching.
At the end, the kids wanted to see the Company dance, so they did a 5 minute improvisation. As the kids watched, Familia, the school’s Arts teacher, explained how improvisation works, said to look for groupings, and so on. He was wonderful. It made a huge difference to have him there the whole time. Then, time to go.
We swam upstream in a sea of children to get to the school gate where the guard was waiting. Some smiling, others suspicious, a few reached out to touch hands, say hello. Little boys ran up and yelled something I’m sure their mothers would not have approved of, giggled and ran away. As you all know, I am not a tiny girl, so it must have been some site, me wading through these waves of delicious, bright-eyed wonders.
Coming up tomorrow…
PB&J, Funny boys and courageous children
Quote for the day : “I just act like an idiot and they love it” Phillipe
We got to Los Dominguez School, going up a newly paved road past little pink and blue houses with concrete bridges over trash-filled rivulets. Past abuelas and naked babies, men on motoconchos, men standing in front of stores, women putting laundry out. Los Dominguez was a set of two-story yellow concrete buildings and a few small bungalows. We set up lunch in the kindergarten classroom—PB&J sandwiches, grapes, cheesesticks, oranges and juice boxes—so appropriate to the space. We met Andrew, or Andres, a peace corps worker fresh from a college in Nebraska, but who had been born in Brazil. He is working with the Vermont Institute on the Carribean on the Healthy Kids, Healthy Neighborhoods program. The kids in the program have already gone to city hall, en masse, with a petition for their local counselors. If you give us trash bags, we will collect all the trash on Friday morning, then you (the gov’t) will send a pick-up truck on Friday afternoon to collect it all. No mas basura—no more trash.
When it was close to time we walked up the hill to a little concrete building with a 10x12 concrete patio. Our dance space. OK. We had to wait some time for the kids to be collected and brought up the hill. It was a rough start, since the kids dribbled in, and were VERY shy about this whole process. I was a nervous wreck thinking this could all be a mess. Short confab with Penny then Sophie saved the day with the suggestion of playing the name game to get us started. We had to start and get them moving or it would be a no-go. In the game you say your name and do a movement, then the group repeats your name and gesture. When we got to the first child, Angelina, she laughed and covered her face and Liz repeated the movement next to her, moving the game along, breaking the ice, allowing the kids to do anything.
More kids came, we went through some more warm-up and picked up some speed. Next was taking 4 words about your neighborhood and turning them into movement. We talked a little about making movement bigger, smaller, faster, slower, trying to get them a little bit away from miming and literal movement. They were really getting it, and also acquiring an audience, which was both good and bad. As Christian pointed out later, whether people were doing or watching they were seeing something new, something that seemed slightly silly but that was interesting, with ideas. I split them into groups to do a short piece on their barrio, or neighborhood. To create movement about one place in the neighborhood, the good and the bad, and/or something they wanted to change. The Midd dancers worked in pairs with their groups, Spanish speakers in each pair. There were four groups that did work, respectively, based on cleaning up the beach, school, a park to play sports and a new park. There were shapes and sounds, gestures enormous y pequeno. Cat and Christian had a little bit of a tough group. One girl was determined to not look foolish in front of a group of heckling 14 year old boys, so she made faces, made fun of the process at certain points. The other kids in her group tried to ignore her, but it was hard. But Christian gave her credit for staying when she really wanted to go. Phillipe’s group thought he was hilarious when he became the pelota in a game of ball and stick. Sophie and Jeremy cleaned up the beach and Sarah and Alex built a new park.
The Midd Students were so good. Really, I was impressed. They just dug in and worked to incorporate everyone, listening, organizing, making a connection.
After the showing, Maelin, Moreno’s daughter, showed us, along with Rosalin and some other kids, their dance for Carnivale, although it looked different from the other day. Then Moreno went and got the costume and she did it all again for us. It was white pants and shirt, the pants covered in day glo green shells, sewn by hand. She had a kerchief on her head, tied African style, a poncho/cape with drawings influenced by the other influences on Dominican culture—Spain and Taino, the indigenous people of Hispanola. It was gorgeous. Then Angelina said thank you for coming and showing us this dance, how now she knows how beautiful the dance is and how she can use it to speak. Well, job done! We walked down the hill, Moreno pushed a couple of boys off his moto and headed down as well to organize moto conchos for the Company to get back to the hotel. I was unbelievably nervous about this teaching experience, even though I have done it a thousand times, and having a fairly successful result was a huge weight off.
We went back to the Meeting place after dinner and Balsamo and Middlebury rehearsed together again. The company blocked out the KIDZ piece and Nic and I ran to Polanco to get the blog post for Tuesday up, check email, update Facebook. Christian had a long talk with Kirsi, a young woman in Balsamo, while the quintet was blocked for the 9 x 20’ stage, which is a quarter the size of the Middlebury stage. They talked about Middlebury, the Language schools, opportunities for education in the U.S. She was pretty psyched to hear Julia Alvarez was at Middlebury. Arisleyda and Jen did find some mats that could get taped down in a narrow lane in front of the stage, and somehow they got all the movement to fit. There is a lot of inverted work in the quintet, or NUNOZ piece, so reconstructing carefully took some time.
… Then dinner at 9:00 at a new restaurant to us, Portofino. Nicole, Phillipe, Alex and I shared a table. “Oh, this is the party table,” said Alex. But we behaved, mostly, well we were having a good time anyway. I had some great fish and rice, perfect. Back to the hotel for a long chat with Penny before bed. We have fallen into this habit of rehashing the day, as well as discussing the larger ramifications of how the experience is going, how the company is handling everything, and the hilarious moments of the day.
Wednesday and Thursday so far…written during morning class…
Yesterday was amazing. Hot, overwhelming, exhausting, productive. The students in the company—Jeremy, Sophie, Sarah, Christian, Alex, Liz, Cat and Phillipe were teaching, learning and rehearsing all day long. In the heat, in courtyards, on unpaved roads, patios and the Ivan Garcia Theater. In the morning we traveled to a place where one of the Carnivale groups rehearses and builds their masks and costumes. It was a walled courtyard of a house, down a little alleyway. There was a cage of parakeets under the stairs, ducks next to the mask molds a little boy intently watching Michael set up his guitar. It was hot, I mean really hot. Cat, Christian and Alex taught warm-up, across the floor and a combination respectively. It was beautiful, interesting, sweaty. At one point Christian added a canon to a contraction sequence across the floor which became a dance vignette, meditative and focused. They were working with dancers from Grupo Ambar , a dance company that performs regularly at one of the resorts. After an hour or so of Midd students teaching, Grupo Ambar showed one of their pieces they perform weekly. Wow, or more accurately WAO! en espanol. Amazing energy, leg extensions, a combination of Jazz and traditional Latin dance. Again, wao. Then—lessons! In merengue, salsa and bachata, so I finally got out there and moved them hips. Soooooo happy. Phillipe and I mastered Salsa instantly. Alex and Christian were smooth, experienced, radiant. Soda with ice for a treat, then off on motors up the mountain to Los Dominguez school.
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