Prague - Performance!!

Hello e-travelers - 

This has been my last day here in Prague and by far the most important!

The performance went beautifully!  We arrived at noon to set up for our show at 3pm.  Unfortunately, the tech people seemed quite distracted and bit annoyed with our requests, but they vowed to do everything we asked.  I was a bit nervous about this.  I needed the stage cleared after the performance before ours and I wasn't sure if the scary looking, long haired guy who was constantly helping everyone else (except us) actually understood our requests.  Then we met the man in charge - Steve Brown - who is supposedly a very important man in Sound design in England.  He finally made us feel like we were welcomed and appreciated.  

We watched the two performances before ours which were purely music.  They attracted a fantastic audience.  Then we took the stage!  Everything went flawlessly.  Its a small enough venue that I could see the audience well.  And I could see their wonder and delight.  Some confusion - but mostly delight!!  Even the scary looking guy was smiling the whole time and came up to us afterward to say "great job".  We got a lot of great praise.  People asking Omar about his live sound design program.  People telling me about the journey I took them on with my performance.  And Steve Brown called it "brilliant" and was so happy to have such a performative piece in the mix.  It felt really great!!

Then everyone split and went to their next things...hmmm...well, I guess that's over.  That's the problem with dance.  One moment it is here and the next moment its gone.  That's why I love rehearsal so much, rehearsal is there for me on an ongoing basis.  Performance is grande but rehearsal is what fulfills me.  However, Steve Brown did invite us to go out to dinner with all of the sound design people that night and that really pleased Omar!  

My plan after that was to watch a performance at 4:30, head back to the room and shower (I was soooo sweaty - this has been the hottest and most humid day here so far especially after dancing!) and then meet them back at the theatre to walk to dinner.  So I went to the performance which was really creepy and then I walked back to my hotel.  I got completely ready and then a major thunderstorm hit.  Well - I decided that maybe I should just let Omar take care of this networking and that maybe it was time for me to end my trip.  So I went to restaurant here at the hotel and even though they had run out of half the things on the menu, I stayed there and ordered what I could.  I needed that food.  Out of my nervousness, I hadn't eaten since breakfast.  BTW - while I was sitting in the restaurant the Beach Boy song "I wanna go home" came on.  

So here I am...packing up.  Looking forward to returning home to San Diego and Marc and Rosie.  Prague is a beautiful place with a dance scene that is clearly growing.  Writing all of you about my adventures is so much fun for me - it keeps me from feeling lonely.  Reminder though - Prague is not a place to journey to alone if you can help it.  Maybe New York, Berlin, or London...but not Prague!  This is a place for lovers or groups of young party-goers.  Its also a place for performance artists when these big festivals are here.  

Thanks for coming with me on this journey.

I love you all,

Alicia

Prague - Day 6

Hi All,

Today was a day of festivals and friends here in Prague.  No more wandering the cobblestone streets and narrow roads alone, my UCSD design gang is here!

Truly, this (Prague Quadrennial) is a design festival to showcase designers...there are some performances, but mostly exhibitions.  Honestly, its really not my scene.  I will admit whole-heartedly to being a dance geek.  My love for good contemporary concert dance is almost childlike at times.  And this is how everyone at this festival feels about their area of theatre design.  Almost to a point where performance seemed secondary...and it sort of is in this environment.

So after lunch with my colleagues, some of us went to the theatre to watch a performance in the Sound Kitchen series (our series) which looked like it might be similar to ours.  It wasn't.  It wasn't even close.  They were playing with some new technology that controls sound through movement, but there was nothing artistic or theatrical about it.  After seeing this, I feel even more convinced that I am making really good work.  They (the European performance world) can be a bit snobbish to us American performers, but we've got something really great to share and I'm looking forward to it.

The best part of the day is when I dragged my friends Alina (costume and scenic designer) and Omar (lighting and sound designer) to a dance performance at MY festival (you know, the dance festival that is happening simultaneously).  They were floored by the piece.  It was an incredible duet by two men that was detailed and specific and smart.  These performers changed the space into a square - framed by wooden walls - where we, the audience, sat above them looking into the stage.  My friends could hardly contain themselves when the piece was over.  After looking at extreme scenic design for the last 24 hours, they were moved by the simplicity of this piece and the quality of the performers.  My friends were so excited about dance in that moment and we all decided we are going to make something incredible together.

Then we went to a fancy French Restaurant and had dinner and some lovely red wine.  It was soooo relaxing as we sat on the terrace and watch the sky slowly change colors.  We sat down at 8pm and didn't get up to leave until 11pm.  Ahhhh...  And now I am tired and ready for bed.  

Wish me "merde" for tomorrow's performance!

Much Love,

Alicia

Prague - Day 5

Dobry Den!

Is it already day 5?  Isn't that how it goes?  At first it seemed like such a long time to be in Prague by myself, but now I'm getting a little sad that it is only two more days.  I've finally gotten a hold on this place.  Prague's beauty and history have been consuming me these last few days, but that is not where my deep interests lie.  It may not surprise you all that I am most interested in "now".  Well, I think I finally got out of the tourist bubble (which Prague does a fabulous job of creating) and have a better view of this entire experience.

Starting with the view from the Mandarin Oriental!  Only shortly after I booked my ticket to Prague and Mom was worrying about me big time, a beautiful tall dark haired angel entered her travel agency to tell her all about this five star hotel in Prague.  She and Mom connected immediately...changing Mom's view of this entire situation (only after learning that the original hotel Mom had booked for me was at the center of Prague's late night party scene and has a stripper pole in the bar downstairs - naturally, we found another hotel for me - Hotel Julian - known for its quiet oasisness and library on the first floor - this is more MY scene, I'm afraid)  Happily, due to this meeting of Mom and Gabriela, I was able to connect with someone who lives in Prague.  And today she brought me to lunch at her hotel!  I had to pretend I was Mom (a travel agent from Scottsdale) for a moment for the GM, but that was fine.  The food was amazing and though they have traditional Czech food, I ordered (as recommended by Gabriela) from the asian selection.  Yummy!!!!!  And I enjoyed a Czech wine which she was excited to have me try since I live inCalifornia.  It was very good - for a white wine.  

We talked alot - I learned a little about life before the iron curtain came down (life in communism) when she was just a young girl and mostly I learned about her life here in Prague 'now' and what she admires about the U.S.  It was really nice.  And I was so happy to speak out loud!!!!!!!  I can't express enough how important this has been for both of my trips outside the U.S.  I start to feel a bit isolated.  Not that I can't order or ask for things.  That is easy, almost everyone speaks English or at least body language and pointing helps. But the opportunity to talk and really talk for a couple of hours is so valuable.  Not just type...physically talk. (I told Marc that I've noticed the voice in my head is developing a Czech accent!)

Gabriela then took me on a private tour of the hotel and took my picture standing on the large terrace of the presidential suite which arguably has the best view of the Prague castle in the entire city.  AMAZING!!  The hotel itself is an old monastery that was renovated about 6 years ago.  It is done just perfectly with the charm and structure of the old (even some parts where the really old - 1320 - can be seen through glass walls or floors) but with modern aesthetics.  They have the only "proper" - to quote Gabriela - spa in the city which is housed in the old church and maintains a spiritual and calming presence.  Many locals frown upon the hotel for renovating a historical site (everything here is a historic site!), but I say halaluyah!!   

By now, my colleagues are starting to show up for the festival, so I ate dinner with my collaborator Omar Ramos.  I suggested a place that I've passed in Old Town both times I got lost.  I think it appealed to me because it wasn't like everything else.  It wasn't a cavernous pub or a romantic street cafe, but looked more like a place I might enjoy in San Francisco.  And it was!   It was a wine and cheese restaurant.  Perfect...neither of us were terribly hungry (stuffed from my curry dish at MO) but we wanted to catch up.  It was great wine and great cheese and again, it was nice to talk.  And this time to an American with similar interests.  Phew.  That hour went by fast and then I had to rush off to see my show.

Now this is where I have to take back what I said last night.  As I emerge from my tourist bubble, I can recognize that this festival actually does have something big going on.  They know what they're doing and bringing in fantastic dance artists from all over the world.  I saw one of the most incredible dancers in the world this evening - Louise Lecavalier of La La La Human Steps in Canada.  She is absolutely incredible.  Her physicality was so strong and yet she entered into it so easily and non-chalently, almost like walking.  A skill I am constantly working on.  How do I keep my performing self alive/here/now while dancing choreographed movements?  She does it well.  And she is 53.  Wow...she dances with the wisdom of a 53 year old mixed with the body and movement quality of a 23 year old - amazing.

I left the theatre totally satisfied by her performance...

Until tomorrow,

Alicia