Saturday, June 23, 2012

Smithers residency TCP chapter 1

Oh how I love Smithers BC. Do you even know where Smithers is? Well some of you do for sure. Its north, half way up the province about 4 hours in from Prince Rupert, and it rocks! Tara Cheyenne Performance recently spent 3 weeks in residence there and I would have blogged during the process but I have 10 month old baby and washing my hair won over opening my computer...which I actually didn't bring as an experiment in staying tuned into the moment and the landscape-I recommend it.
We arrived on May 25th after a lovely flight over serious mountains and endless rivers (don't you f**king mess with that you pipeline asswipes!!). Miriam Colvin, our lovely and talented host welcomed us ('us' is Marc Stewart my husband and composer, Jasper our baby and me). Miriam and I had been working on making this residency happen (she did most of the work and I crossed my fingers) since we performed bANGER in Smithers in 2009. For various reasons Tara Cheyenne Performance and Smithers are a really good fit. We got settled in a great house rented for our stay. Hotels are ok for a few days but having a whole house, especially with a baby made for a really comfortable stay.
We spent the next couple days going over scheduling with Miriam, meeting some of the wonderful artists and art enthusiasts in Smithers-there are many and they are so interesting! We also hit the Saturday morning farmers market which I'm still pining for-fresh everything and great people to talk to and just watch (those who know me know I love to watch people. Forgive me if I stare but you are facinating...all of you).
Ok then on the Monday my Mom arrived to look after Jasper while we got into show mode for Goggles. Only the poor thing arrived with a nasty cold so we put her to bed with buckets of emergence-C drink and went off to rehearse with baby in backpack. We managed to warm-up and run the piece (Marc running sound and me dancing). Jasper even laughed at a few bits and climbed on me whenever I did a part lying on the floor. The kid is 'show folk' for sure.
There was a welcome lunch for community member to come and meet us and ask questions which was fabulous. Having a chance to connect with people, talk about the show a workshop before hand made everyone feel more involved and opened up discussion. I think this is a good idea in general. People feel more comfortable engaging when they know you, and more likely to ask in depth questions. Nice one Miriam.
Ok I'll continue this another day. I'm typing in the dark at the end of the bed while Jasper sleeps and he's doing such a good job that I think I should try it out myself.

Friday, June 8, 2012

The week flies by!

How is it possible that it is FRIDAY? The residency is flying by...quickly quickly. So many adventures. Goggles was a huge hit. One audience member said, " It was entertaining and a feast for the senses that encompassed dance, movement, theatre, music and pop culture!"

Expressive Pandemonium: a workshop with over 36 people (big and small)!
Community members warming up for the day with Tara. Photo from one of our daily Morning Moves sessions.
Tara and Mark collaborating in the studio at one of our daily evening Community Workshops.
Community members worked and played hard to find their CHARACTERS.