An Event Not to Be Missed

Courtesy Blankenship Ballet

On March 31^st at 8:15 pm, I will be performing in the premiere of “Blankenship Cabaret Theatre.” The event, inspired by the famed Parisian Moulin Rouge, will feature a fine arts cabaret in the Blankenshio Ballet Grand Ballroom, located at the Alexandria Hotel in the ‘historic core’ of ‘Gallery Row,’ located at 501 South Spring Street in Downtown Los Angeles. The event will feature over 23 world-class artists, actors, dancers, and musicians.

Every performer is accomplished if not luminous in their field,” says executive director Mark Blankenship. “It’s a rare treat to watch them perform live in an intimate venue. Our goal is to revitalize historic structures and foment cultural patrimony by creating and producing live performances of classical artists uniquely blended in a way that encourages the community to join together to convene an eclectic venue on an ongoing basis so as to amplify the exhibition of the arts in a way that endures.”

Maykel Solas and Junna Ige, Courtesy Ballet San Jose

The evening will open with artistic director and Cuban ballerina Bertha Suarez Blankenship performing the lead role in the ballet “Carmen.” Opera diva Shana Blake Hill will be singing music from “Carmen.” An assortment of other ballets and operas will be performed, including the historic “Pas de Quatre” and the ever-stunning “Diana and Actaeon.” The event will also include a performance of Madonna’s song “Future Lovers,” choreographed by guest choreographer David Person. The piece will feature most of the ballet dancers, many from the world-reknowned Ballet Nacionale de Cuba, including director Suarez as well as Ramon Moreno, Alejandro Boza, Patricia Perez, and Maykel Solas. It  will also be a piece that I will be performing in as well as Japanese ballerina Junna Ige, who dances professionally with Ballet San Jose, and Tatiana Piche, who just got back from spending a year and a half with Ballet Nacionale de Cuba. The evening will also feature vocalist and dancer Megalyn Echikunwoke performing “Castle on a Cloud” from the hit Broadway musical “Les Miserables,” accompanied by  acclaimed pianist Mark Robson, who will also be featured throughout the rest of the evening. Belly dancer Meliza and “The Jewels that Raq” will be performing as well as flamenco dancer Richard Chavez and Afro-Cuban Master Ramon Ramos Alayo. The event will feature gourmet cuisine from Bravo ‘Top Chef’ Ilan Hall of “The Gorbals” and a full bar.

Ramon Moreno and Patricia Perez, Courtesy Bayer Ballet

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. To purchase tickets, go to www.brownpapertickets.com/event/230403. Visit www.blankenshipcabarettheatre.com or call 1-86-MY-BALLET for more information. If you cannot make it to the event, starting in April, the Blankenship Theatre will perform on an ongoing weekly basis at Downtown LA’s Salvage Bar and Lounge. The company will return to the Alexandria with another grand performance in May 2012. Other performances and venues are yet to come as well. Here is a link of what to expect:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-PfBitj0DU

Last weekend did not work for the filming. This weekend did not work either. The weather was either too rainy or too windy this past weekend to film. Saturday was Gizmorashka's second birthday. Poor Giz would have loved to have gone to the beach, but the weather had other other ideas.
Filmmaker Xi Guan said sand in the camera would be a bad thing. I agree with that, especially since a morsel of sand got in my camera once and it would not close properly. Fortunately, after I used canned air on it a few times, the problem was resolved.

Perhaps sometimes this week will work for filming. Guan will let me know. In the meantime, I decided to share these images (taken by Guan) from the filming. I am in the mask for all of the pictures but one, which is a cast and crew photo.

A Dancer's Worst Nightmare

One of a dancer's worst nightmares is getting an injury. I once had an injury where it hurt to walk. Over a time period of a year and a half, I went to over thirty people, including chiropractors, acupuncturists, body workers, and physical therapists. I finally got better but most people didn't help me despite their reputation. An acupuncturist helped me to walk without pain, but I still couldn't lift my leg more than 45 degrees off the injured side. A physical therapist for San Francisco Ballet did painful body work on me, but I still could not lift my leg past 45 degrees. He seemed mystified why I couldn't lift my leg any higher without pain. When he was not working for a few weeks, my body really fell apart. I then went to the chiropractor for San Francisco Ballet. I was one of the few patients that he had not single-handedly healed. Although my body was in less pain, I still could not lift my leg higher without pain. The chiropractor then recommended a body worker. Within a month, I was back in the splits. I was so happy to be back to where I was. It was very hard for me.
Dancing is life for me. Not dancing is like not breathing to a truly passionate dancer. Without being able to breathe, you die.When you dance at a professional level, you really tend to know your body. You have to learn to live with the pain. In addition, you learn to recognize the difference between sore pain and injured pain. In the end, the show must go on in the professional world. Thus professional dancers do what they can to make all the magic happen.

That being said, I can really identify with the character in the film I worked on this past weekend. My character, Ms. Rabbit, was once a great dancer. "She was in a horrible accident," says filmmaker Xi Guan. The character is now bound to a wheelchair as well as a rabbit mask, that seems to add to her predicament. She sees a dancer dancing and is very sad. White is a theme throughout the film. Although the film starts out in a darkened corridor, the scene then moves to the beach where Ms. Rabbit pours milk for a reluctant toast with an imagined friend. When the milk she is pouring turns to black she is frightened. She stumbles out of her wheelchair and is tormented by demonic masked creatures. She tries to stand but keeps falling down. They throw flour at her. Frightened and sad, she is once again alone. She tries to fix herself with tool reminiscent of the movie "Child's Play." Her legs begin to bleed and she dies. Afterwards, her spirit is released and she dances along the beach, free from the wheelchair and the rabbit mask and back in her tutu.

In partial costume between shots in the cold room

A sunset Friday night while filming at Dockweiler Beach

In between shots with Giz

"I'm sorry to torture you," says filmmaker Guan.This filming was not the easiest thing for me, that's for sure. "You're great," she tells me. I tell her I am thrilled to be in her film. She is in the beginning of the masters program as USC's School of Cinematic Arts, (Univ. of Southern California) which is quite the place. I still have to finish the rest next weekend. Some scenes may need to be shot again at different angles. Perhaps I will wear more fake blood and get "sand burn" (like a floor burn but with the sand). Or maybe I'll be freezing cold at the beach like I was for part of the filming. Maybe my body will be sore like it is today. Perhaps I will be covered with more flour. I'm hoping I won't get any more sunburns. It all happens next weekend.