friday night dance

With the bank holiday and everything, Friday night seems ages ago, but here is what I remember.

The first piece was I Infinite, a solo in which 'a character trapped in a finite world flirts with the infinite' (according to my memeory of what the programme said.) I've got to admit that I found interpreting what was going on hard. It's not the sort of dance where each action corresponds to a meaning, as in classical ballet mime, nor are there linear stories being told. Sometimes I think the exploration of themes is happening mostly in the performer or choreographer's head and it can be harder for the audience to grasp. Leaving aside the interpretation, the thing was visually stunning. The main light source was from computer animation projected from the front of the stage to the back wall. This made triangular areas of shadow from the front to the sides where at times the dancer moved along half in and half out of light, making shapes and sometimes seeming to dance with himself. And the dancing! He had incredible balance, using the whole of his foot, sometimes supporting himself on one foot with a bent knee as the rest of his body moved around him. The movements combined moonwalking, the fake walking of a mime and the kind of minutely precise footwork you get in Indian classical dance. Sequences of movements repeated. The effect, combined with his white make-up and clothes was semi-robotic.

The second piece, Dual, took some of the movements from the first and developed them, using four dancers, two in red, two in white. The animations changed, alternating white and grey drifting shapes with red rectangles that appeared over dancers like doorways or red lines that travelled up, down or across like a scanner. The programme describes characters reacting to natural and artificial stimuli. I wasn't sure whether red and white corresponded to artificial and natural or whether the animation itself represented artificial and the dancers were natural. Or perhaps something else. Anyway, the dancing was technically amazing. There were sequences in which three dancers moved around each other, flailing arms and legs so fast and near each other they seemed about to hit one another. The shadows on the back wall echoed and enhanced the shapes the dancers made as some sat still while others moved around them. Again, the shadows sometimes seemed to be additional characters in the dance. (They also looked like an particularly avant-garde i-pod ad).

Overall, I'm not sure I understood the pieces, but they were fascinating to watch.

lunchtime

I discovered today that there's a graveyard in the middle of my place of work. A very neat and well tended graveyard with fences and smalls trees around the outside. I wonder who's buried in it.

The weather is warm and too good to waste, so I've been sitting by the canal. Beside my spot on the bank sat a placid coot on a nest. On the other side of the canal people were putting up posters with noisy sellotape and staples. Suddenly the coot began to make a call like the sound of the staple gun. After a while, the coot settled down again.

I wonder when the eggs will hatch.

summer!

Skye sky
Originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

Somehow, it's suddenly summer. Last week it was less than warm and occasionally wet, now it's hot and sunny and I'm wearing sandals. And it's a bank holiday weekend. Hoorah! Just got to survive another day in my baking hot office first.

Tonight I'm going to follow up on my resolve and go and see some dance. Dual/I infinite by subba rossa at The Place. I'll let you know what it's like.

sad

It's not been a good day and I'm feeling a little delicate. For some reason this site is making me feel sad. It's the sale of the entire contents of a science centre in Scotland. It wasn't open very long and it wasn't a success. Some of the interactives look gorgeous.

I think I should go home before I cry or something.

sunshine on monday

mile end bridge
Originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

It's monday, I'm at work, the sun is shining. This is distracting. As is blogging. Now what is it I get paid for? Oh yes, I remember. Better get on with it.

Where is it always winter, but never Christmas?

Here

bicycle bicycle

Since I started this job I've been working on cycling to work. I'm not up to the whole distance yet, but I'm gradually increasing the ratio of bike time to tube time and I'm beginning to enjoy it. I used to cycle a lot at university, but Oxford's a lot smaller and flatter than London and there are plenty of cyclists there so drivers know to look out for them. London is rather more scary. You have to put up with buses that seem to want to push you off the road (why? Aren't we on the same side?), people who park across cycle lanes, drivers who don't see you, pedestrians who walk along cycle lanes and the odd misplaced pigeon. But apart from that, it's great. At least the area I live in has cycle lanes, lots of places don't. The best bits are whizzing past lines of stationary traffic at traffic lights and seeing how fast I can get coasting down my road on the way home.

Having said that, I've got admit it was pouring with rain this morning, so I caught the bus. But when it's not raining, I'll take the bike anytime.

Look out world

My little sister has passed her driving test. At the 4th attempt (only one more than me). Well done HP!

ikea pigs

ikea pigs
Originally uploaded by the pig wot flies.

I think these pigs, like Ikea, are poised to take over the world.

Like most people, I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Ikea. Since they opened a store just up the road in Edmonton, I've been there more times in a few weeks than ever before in my life. Mostly because the chest of drawers I bought turned out to have pieces missing and other superfluous bits and it took several trips to sort it out. But eventually I finished building it and it's rather a lovely bit of furniture, with drawers which slide smoothly on rollers. I just miss it was possible to buy stuff there without being filtered past ranks and ranks of things you didn't know you needed.

last night's play

In an all too rare bit of cultural activity, I went to see a play at the the Barbican last night, Astronaut by Theatre O. It was just my sort of thing. Physical theatre with a cast of three, in a mixture of English and Spanish. It told the story of what happens to an ordinary man and his family, when the father is picked to be part of a European Space Agency mission to Mars. Most of the action took place in the family's apartment, created partly through sparse furniture, but mostly through the dance/mime actions of the actors. I love the way in which dance can communicate so much about characters and their relationships. I was one of those kids who did ballet and loved it, but too often classical ballet seems to be more about creating intricate patterns and filling time with clever dances than about meaning and character. More modern dance can be like that too. Obviously, as in other media, dance doesn't have to be about story or character. Abstract is beautiful too. But there's something about the wordless communication of emotions that is more immediate, less analytical, less cold perhaps. It demonstrates just how powerful body language can be and makes it explicit, rather than unconcious as it is in everyday experience.

Sometimes dance is just take-your-breath-away beautiful. I really should remember that and go and see performances more often.

do doo do doo doo da doo da doo

I have the sig tune to Call My Bluff stuck in my head.

Why?

Apparently these days it has Rod Liddle and Fiona Bruce on it. No Sandi Toksvig, but still Alan Coren. It's obviously been a while since I was a student or otherwise at a loose end during the day to watch it. Which makes it even more mysterious that the theme tune should be stuck in my head.

Oh well.

Got bored with pink

Well not totally. I don't think one can ever get bored of such a bright and beautiful colour, but having come across a blog written by someone rather younger than myself using the same template, I thought maybe I'd change it. Still could do with a tidy up though, some links, a proper profile etc.

still smiling

Last night I saw the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I grinned and giggled my way through most of it. It's good. Not perfect, but pretty good.
Things to look out for include the jewelled crabs and the original Marvin from the TV series in a queue. Oh and squashed mice. And knitted people. And Simon Jones. And...I could ramble on for ages about the bits I liked and didn't like, but really you should go and see it yourself.

The other good thing about last night was seeing the advert for Jubilee Church on the big screen. As of last Sunday we're meeting in screen ten of Enfield UGC and the cinema advert's part of saying here we are, come and see what we're about. So if you're in the area, come and say hi.

big silly grin

Two reasons.

1. I'm going to see the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film tonight!

2. Saturday, 7pm, Doctor Who, Daleks!

I hate shoe shops

I've just been listening to an item on Woman's Hour on the troubles of finding shoes for large feet. This is one of my own particular bugbears. I have size 9.5 feet (43/43.5 European) and shopping for shoes on the high street is guaranteed to make me cross and upset. I tend to make a point of going into shoeshops and asking what sizes they go up to, even though I know the answer will depress me. The response tends to be along the lines of "We have the odd 42 in a few styles, but they go very quickly, have you looked at our unisex ranges?"

AARGH!

There is no point trying to squeeze my feet into too small shoes I will never wear and I don't want to spend my life wearing big, clumpy, masculine shoes. As one of the women interviewed in the Woman's Hour item said; "I just want a pair of frivolous shoes for once in my life!" Why can't high street shoe shops appreciate this? Grrr.

Thankfully, I live in London which means I can go to Chiltern Street, near Baker Street tube, where I now have a choice of three shops specialising in large sizes. I love the feeling of going into a shoe shop, knowing that I can try on ANY of the shoes in the shop and don't have to worry about whether they come in my size or not. Of the three, Crispin's is the longest-established. Their shoes are on the classy (and pricey) side but they're good quality and lately the range has become a little less frumpy and more fashionable. Magnus is cheaper and closer to the sort of thing you'd find in a high street shoe shop. Most of my favourite shoes come from there, including the knee high boots I never thought I'd find and my absolute favourite bright pink shoes. The newcomer is Elephant Feet. I've not been there yet, but looking at their website, they look quite similar to Magnus in terms of style and price.

I intend to visit all three on Saturday. I'm finally getting paid after a few months of unemployment and it's time to celebrate.

Unexpected finds on a walk through East London

A happy pig scratching her back on a tree and eating flowers.

There were also donkeys, sheep, lambs, cows, goats and beautiful piglets. Strangely enough they weren't roaming the streets of Stepney, but were happily ensconced in Stepping Stones Farm. It's very small; it took me about five minutes to walk all the way round, including stopping to admire said pig, say "aah" at the piglets and regret leaving my camera at home. They have two varieties of pig (pink and black with pink stripe, maybe saddleback? Not good at identifying pigs, except Tamworths which are easy cos they're ginger), fluffy sheep with lambs, big brown cows and a lovely smell of farmyard, all within sight of the Gherkin. What more could you want?

Unfortunately the farm's future seems to be under threat because of the planned Crossrail link. Which is a shame and very bad planning by someone. Obviously rail links need to be built somewhere*. But why through a rare and beautiful, if somewhat smelly piece of urban farmland?

EDIT: *Like bypasses

beautiful things

I've just been looking at while seated, which is full of beautiful photos of people and places.

And I thought about my blog and how I'd like it to be profound and beautiful and thought-provoking.

And then I thought about silly and pink and badly-written it is.

Perhaps there's room on the web for silly pink things.

Perhaps the writing will get better.

Perhaps someone will read it.

squatters' rights 2

The house over the road has got a little more colourful. On Sunday morning as we were getting ready go to church, two of the inhabitants were setting out an array of cuddly toys and other paraphernalia on the walls and window sills and a man in a dress with a guitar was singing drunkenly. We went and said hello and were told that the house had been bought by a German charity and it was going to become some sort of hostel or workshop for artists or drug addicts, depending on which bit of the slightly confused story you listened to. The man in the dress mentioned the drug addicts, which I think his companion realised might not go down very well since she was the one talking about a charity and artists.

Leaving aside whether they really have bought the house, (they originally got in round the back and I haven't actually seen them use the front door yet), I'm intrigued by the 'artists' story. It could be true, but part of me wonders whether these guys are using it as a tag to make the rest of the street feel less threatened. Calling yourself an artist could be a way to make otherwise non-conventional behaviour seem more acceptable. Most people would probably rather have an artistic community on their doorstep than a hostel for drug addicts, even though they might see the need for the latter.

So far, apart from the original breaking-in, there's been nothing to frighten anyone. This could be the beginning of a new artistic movement or a terrible nuisance or neither. I'm intrigued. What next?

squatters' rights

The house over the road has squatters in. It's been for let, but empty for a while, possibly months, maybe more. Not sure how long the squatters have been in. We noticed them last weekend. The police know they're there and apparently it's up to the owners of the building, who don't seem in much of a hurry to do anything. In lots of ways you can see their point. The house is completely empty, someone might as well make use of it. The new inhabitants seem to be just a couple of guys. I think now they know people know they're there, they're being less cautious about being seen in the house and walking around with the lights blazing. No-one seems very bothered and there's not much to be done. It all adds interest to the neighbourhood.

Help, I know nothing about cars!

I'm having one of those moments when I want to be able to borrow a man from somewhere. One who knows about cars, specifically bugs and their many constituent parts.

My bug is having tyre troubles. It had a new set of tyres recently, after the old ones were revealed to be mismatched, all the wrong sizes and wearing thin. Unfortunately, this revealed the old wheel rims to be corroded and in one case incapable of sealing properly. So now I'm trying to track down replacement wheel rims, which is tricky when they don't make them anymore and the only possible sources is dead bugs, whose wheel rims will be in a similar state to my current ones. So I've been phoning carbreakers and scrapyards in the hope of finding something suitable, trying desparately to sound like I know what I'm talking about and usually failing. So far, the only viable option seems to be some G2 wheels (?), dunno what they are, may have misheard. I'm going to see them tomorrow, if I can find my way to Plumstead.

And I really wish I had someone who knew stuff about cars and would make sure I didn't get ripped off, to come with me.

EDIT: A little more research suggests GT wheels. Which will make it look a little different from my current shiny hubcaps, but I think I'd rather have wheels that work than wheels that look good.