A Colombia Dance Tour, Part II

After the project with Medellin's Red de Danza was over, I boarded a little-bitty plane with the company and we headed to Manizales in the Coffee Region of Colombia.

We explored Manizales by hanging high overhead in the city's cable cars that provide a beautiful view of this Andean town.  ACDT's dancing girls!

Giles, Karen and I had fun integrating ourselves into Manizales' interesting public art!

ACDT was invited to perform twice at the Manizales International Theater Festival-- one of South America's largest and most prestigious annual theater festivals   Here, we are unloading the huge costume bags in front of the Confamiliares Theater, with the festival banners with the cool cats behind the gang.

The theater festival's logo for 2011.  We were fortunate enough to see several of the other performances going on in Manizales for this festival while we were there for the weekend.  Hopefully, ACDT will be back in the upcoming years!

On-stage Q-and-A after a performance with Giles (the monkey) Karen (the bear), Lola (the pig waiter), and Alexis (the lady bug).

Karen as the Tap Dancing Hippo.

A lesson on how to dance like a ladybug with audience members and Alexis Miller-- resident ladybug.

A Colombia Dance Tour

In October 2010, I started the process of finding an organization to sponsor a tour for the dance company I danced with until moving to South America, Asheville Contemporary Dance Theater.  The Colombo-Americano Cultural Center took the bait and I spent almost a year coordinating for the Asheville and Medellin sides of what would be a hugely successful 2-week, multi-city tour of children's workshops and dance performances here in Colombia.  ACDT was here Sept. 8 - 24, and here's what they did:

Me, Esperanza Carvajal (front row, left), and members of the performance group of the Red de Danza, Medellin.  This Dance Network is a city-funded program that offers free dance classes in many of Medellin's neighborhoods-- including those of the lowest socio-economic strata.  The best of the best are invited to dance with the performance group.  ACDT worked for 5 days with 40 of these kids, 8-17 yrs old, integrating them into their show Fables, based on the Arnold Lobel children's book.  Esperanza is their fearless, energetic, and very kind director.

Rehearsal with ACDT and the Red de Danza always included some kind of movement/choreography game.

The child-dancers of the Red de Danza surprised us everyday with their creativity, openness,  and incredible work-ethic.  They stepped up to every challenge we through their way!

As showtime neared, parents and friends of the Red de Danza came out to build the costumes for the animals, sand dunes, flowers, trees,  pig-waiters, and all the other characters in their show.   Barbara Jahn's (my artistic roommate) hands are seen here wielding the fake-animal fur into submission for our forest-animal costumes. 

Parents helping to make the flower costumes.

After 5 long days of rehearsal and costume-building, ACDT and the Red de Danza performed FABLES on the mainstage at Medellin's Botanical Garden.  The show was a part of the city's very popular Book Festival, and this book-based performance fit right in.  The children danced along side their new American, dancing friends, and the audience, full of children, loved it!  The dancers are Karen George and Lola York (front row, left), Amy Borskey and Alexis Miller (middle row, left), and Giles Collard (in stripes, middle row).  I'm in the back row, beaming after what was possible one of the best things I'd ever seen on a stage!!

Asheville Contemporary Dance Theater with Jessy Kronenberg and Barbara Jahn... what an ambitious, artistic bunch!

ECUADOR!

Hiking in the Amazon... before we got sweaty and rained on!

After spending a few days exploring Medellín with Sarah and Chris, we took off for Ecuador!  I had two weeks off in June and we made plans to spend one of those weeks in the Amazon and the other at the beach.  While in the jungle, we trekked with a native Kichwa guide and learned about the politics and ecology of that sensitive ecosystem.  My sister, Sam, joined us for the beach week.  There we took to the Pacific to go whale-watching and visit Isla de la Plata, similar to the Galapagos.  Sam and I ended our time together in Quito to celebrate our July birthdays together for the first time in almost a decade.  It was a truly excellent trip... I can't wait to go back!! 

The river's usually 20 cm but this day it
came in through the tops of our boots!

Our accommodations in the jungle at Chuva Urcu: the kitchen.

Solomon: our out-standing Kichwa guide (he's also the president of his community!).  He gave us lessons in traditional trapping techniques and medicinal plant use.

Jessy and Chris with Sara, Solomon's skilled wife who is trying to teach
us to isolate the fibers of the Pita plant to make jewelry--
we were terrible students but she was very kind.

In a small cave we hiked to in the rain (massive spiders and bats not pictured)

Visiting the sulphur pool in Agua Blanca, near Puerto Lopez
 on the Beach.  Even Sam put on some of the highly nutrient-rich,
mineral-based, beneficial sulphur clay... or maybe it was just mud.

Our guide, Isidro, at Agua Blanca-- he wanted to marry me.

On the boat ready to see some whales!  Gotta love orange :)

We saw two sets of two whales-- this pair was SO close!
They even floated under the boat and showed off their tales to us!

Hiking Isla de la Plata, which has tons of Blue Footed Boobies!  
We also saw non-blue Boobies and Albatros.

Me and Sam with the Island Coastline

Sarah and Chris are staying in South America until August-- their blog also has great photos and info. from our time together, check it out!

Visitors in Medellín

Blaire and Katie with me at the top of Cerro Nutibara at Dusk

The Happy Travelers at El Puente del Occidente over the
Cauca River in Santa Fe de Antioquia

On the Metro-Cable
(hanging cable cars used for mass-transit)

On different weekends in June, friends Blaire and Katie, of FL, and Sarah and Chris, of WI, visited me here in Colombia.  It was an incredible treat to get to host them all and show-off my adopted hometown.  They all seemed impressed with Medellín's beauty and sophistication.  We had a great time meeting some of my dearest friends here in town and heading out for some city night-life.  I also enjoyed using their visits as an excuse to wander out of town a bit to see some neighboring small towns that I'd heard great things about.

Posing with Chris in Parque Berrio
with a favorite Botero Statue

Sarah and Chris visiting Grandma Magola
in her lovely garden

Sarah and Chris hanging out above Medellín on the Metro-Cable

A Graduation!

In May I went back to California for a quick trip for my sister Daniela's graduation from my alma mater, Pitzer College.  The whole family came to town to celebrate the big event and it was an incredible pleasure to be with my parents and all my siblings.  Congrats, sister!  Daniela already has a full-time job working for San Francisco City Hall... just about the only one of her friends to be employed right out of college.  Congrats again!!

Photo Book

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My Places: JazzDance Academy

This is the beautiful dance studio where I spend several hours each week taking Ballet and Modern  dance classes.    My instructors are excellent and the classes are full of motivated adults.  I feel so lucky to have found this lovely school which offers classes in tap, ballet, jazz, modern, contemporary, flamenco, and hip-hop for ids and adults.  I felt right at home the first time I entered this school and cherish the time I get to spend there.

I can walk to this studio in about 25 mins. past a large university and a neighborhood full of great restaurants and lively bars and cafes.