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I should have posted earlier in the day, but I spent it knitting. *yay*

I should have posted in afternoon, but was visiting with family. *yay*

I should have posted this evening, but got sucked into the Academy Awards (okay, can I toot a little horn for Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova?!! Oh, I was so happy for them winning best Original Song...I just loved that movie). *yay*

And I should be posting tonight, but MyFavoriteKid has come out from his bedroom 3 times now. He's scared to go to sleep. Last night he had a nightmare about one of his dogs (the two dogs that now live at the Ex's, his dad's). The dog was coughing and making a horrible sound and had to be put to sleep.
I knew the emotions of putting down of the cat were going to squirt out somewhere. *boo*

I'm going to have to be on high alert MommyDuty tonight, rather than showing you my shopping bag from Stitches and whatnot.
In fact, he just called me again wanting a hot water bottle. Oy.

See y'all tomorrow.

february

Snap A Dozen Days

this year's costume for the Rakassah

February

February is about dance rehearsals. The Sabah Ensemble often performs at the Rakassah in March, making February a busy month for rehearsals. Sometimes instead of, or in addition to, working with the ensemble on the Rakassah, I have occasionally spent this time of year working on some other project. this is also the time of year that I have produced solo works, and one year, I even produced and entire benefit concert. Sometimes it's been a student performance with another class, or like last year, I worked with another dance company.
Whatever production is in process, it seems to me like February is always the month of intense rehearsals. Things have usually been quiet during the holiday season, and even though there may be rehearsals in the first month of the year, it's like a "slowly coming to speed" thing. It's like the the creative impulses that have been brewing over the long winter months get to do this "unfolding" and we all get to just witness what is there.
February, however, is usually the month that we begin to put the nose to the grindstone. Those early impulses will get shaped into something more structural, and later in February comes the time that sequences get rehearsed over and over and over again, not to get them perfectly fine tuned (that comes later), but so we have more opporunities to explore the piece in layers, and to delve deeper.

February is about my birthday. I love birthdays, everyones...but especially mine. This year I turned 40, and at the last minute ended up having a fantastic gathering of friends.


February is the warm wooden floors of dance studios, layers of exploration, layers of fabric and costuming, candy hearts, and birthday cake.

january

Snap A Dozen Days

kitchen window view, wheelchair height

January

January is about the "mini-hibernation". It seems that all throughout November and December, I am just dying to tuck myself into a warm cozy spot, but that I am denied. Too many holiday obligations, and the warm-cozy thing just does not happen. So do my best to find it in January. This year's January finds me not only making the time for lounging, but it also has me better understanding the importance and joy of it.

January is about the "little breather". I have always felt the wind rushing out of the sails in January, but I was most aware of it during the years I was catering professionally. There was constant insanity from October's end until New Year's Day, with an exhausted heroic push right there at the finish line. January's arrival meant I could finally regroup and reorganize the chaos. It also frequently meant that I could finally get sick, as I'd been somehow magically holding it all together and fending off a cold those last couple of weeks. I am no longer catering, but once January hit this year, I almost instinctively started doing a fair amount of regrouping and reorganizing on the home front. It must just be the season.

January is about noticing the return of the sun and the lengthening days. In January it almost feels like a daily change to me (well, scientifically it is...I'm just very aware of it right after the winter's solstice, moreso than other times of the year). I'm sure that contributiing to this is the fact that half of the days in January here have cloud cover. It reminds me of when you dont see a little baby for a few weeks and then the next time you do, they look like an entirely different kid.

January is about wishing I'd gotten on top of planning something for my birthday. I love birthday celebrations. And not just my own. My birthday is the first week of February. I usually think about this fact in December, but things are too hectic for me to do more than think about it right then, so I tell myself I'll get right on it once the holidays are over. January is the month I realize that I should have started planning earlier. In my early 20's, whipping up an event on short notice was never a problem. That is not the case anymore. Aside from my own schedule being too busy and too complicated, the circle of friends I have often need several week's advance notice for just about anything. The last decade or so of birthdays have sort of felt like when you get all excited to shoot off a firecracker and you light it and it sparkles a bit and you hold your breath and...and it fizzzes and goes out.

January is about choreography. We have a tradition in the Sabah Ensemble, established by my teacher, the late Jamie Miller. If we want to, we can perform for our birthdays. Often people will choreograph a solo and perform it at the end of the dance class nearest their birthday. For the same reason as above, January comes, and I'm often wishing I had started something sooner. This year I really wanted to do something. I had plenty of time, had music chosen, and a pretty strong creative vision for the choreography. But the burn situation knocked out several weeks of crucial rehearsal time. I'm still working on something, and my plan is to present it a couple weeks late....and I'll just sort of warp time and still call it a birthday dance. Or something. LOL

January is about cool crisp air, warm scarves, extra blankets, longer days, soup, deep breaths, and creativity brewing in the cave.