Dance into Spring

Have I ever mentioned that I dream of someday being a Rockette?


Coming the end of April through May, the Radio City Rockettes have announced open call for the 2010 Christmas Show.
Auditions will be held in New York and Los Angeles, for females, males and some children’s parts. See more at: http://www.radiocity.com/global/auditions.

Or tell some young dancer you know that a lot of stretching and hi-kicks may get her into the kick-line. ROCKETTES must be between 5'6" and 5'10 1/2" tall (measurements will be taken in stocking feet). Rockette candidates must be proficient in jazz and tap. Qualifications include being a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years of age and in excellent health. Is it too late for a 5’2” sixty-something, slightly overweight (?), wannabe? Have my own tap shoes, will travel.

More on the dance scene happenings, CBS just became to third network to announce a competitive dance show. Like abc’s Dancing with the Stars and Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance, CBS will host Got to Dance for an unspecified number of episodes. And the next could be NBC who is reported to be talking to Paula Abdul. Watch the local listings.

Closer to home, the 2010 American Dance Festival program was just announced. From June 10 to July 24 Durham NC hosts some the most innovative, most talented and most spectacular dance ensembles to ever step onstage. Among the many headliners is the return of Shen Wei Dance Arts (remember his opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing?). Tickets go on sale May 10. Find the complete program at: http://www.americandancefestival.org/

AND perhaps the best news of all - the RE-Opening of NC Museum of Art is coming soon! The Grand Opening will be April 24 and 25th.
Larry Wheeler has mastered a grand coup getting the building finished and opened in the midst of a serious recession and deserves credit for getting extensive funding. While the ceremonious opening will be great I will wait a couple of weeks to find the time and space to slowly investigate my old favorites in their new home. This will take time and contemplation.
See: http://ncartmuseum.org/interim/home.php

The highlight of the website today is a favorite of mine: Josef Albers' High Spring (1962), the selection of this week. "Abstract art," Josef Albers once wrote, "is the purest art: it strives most intensely toward the spiritual." In "High Spring," one of several abstract pieces in Albers' famous Homage to the Square series, the artist aimed not only to catalogue the behavior of color but also to explore its expressive potential. The squares, imbued with light, may have grown out of Albers' work with stained glass in his early career (a portion of which he spent teaching at Black Mountain College in western North Carolina). More at http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=426430764551

Who knew Albers worked in the Blue Ridge Mountains, did he know about Elliott Daingerfield, and did he ever go to Westglow to contemplate the majestic views from Daingerfield's house? Discovering the endless stream of visual artists who have found inspiration in the Blue Ridge mountains is absolutely fascinating. Why did it take me so long to know this?

Lastly, DH and I danced at the Carolina Heartland Spring Ball Saturday night. Themed "Puttin' On The Ritz" was augumented with pink and black to spotlight a benefit for breast cancer research. More specifically, research to develop a test to improve early detection and the USADance organization did a magnificant job of auctioning donated items to raise funds.


For the event we took my new Sony Erikson cell phone with camera which we barely know how to use.
Taking pictures was easy, but where to preview your shots? It took us most of the night to find "Camera Album" to review images and I was still testing the next morning at breakfast.
Oops, that's a hand-held shot trying to figure out a good angle. Best to work on exposure or maybe finding a new subject should be the focus next time? Right?