weather.

Getting ready for Halloween - saw this earlier today and have to share. I love this man.

boo.

When I was kid, I couldn't spell the word "knee" but definitely knew how to spell "Halloween".

Happy Halloween! Make sure you're wearing a costume, have a wonderful day and an epic night. :)

vogue.

I officially have so much more respect for models and photographers then I originally did before. I have been involved in many a dance photo shoot, in which you are using your body to make shapes, jump, extend your legs, etc. But yesterday I was photographed for my piece in the upcoming McClung's magazine (will post when it comes out - I'm super excited!) and it was hard. It was amazing to get all dolled up with major hair and makeup (a long blonde wig was part of it, I have short dark hair) but posing and moving without jumping and doing weird dance movements was such a foreign land to me. Needless to say, I'm pumped to see the proofs, and will definitely be watching America's Next Top Model with much more admiration.
The most important element of this week is Halloween! Hope that you all have creative and cute costumes and have fun! It's the one night (or two) that you can dress up as someone totally different, wipe the makeup off and then become yourself again the next day.

make.

across the lines.
ripped seams and sewing machines.

gauchissant.

warn.

"Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man."
- William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I scene iii.

lovely.

“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.” - Abraham Lincoin.

birthday.

Yesterday was a lovely day. Came home from a long night before working at fashion week and found my room full of balloons and pumpkin decorations lining the hallways. I must say that I have the absolute best roommates in the world. This capped off my night when I bussed Dan Levy's table in the VIP section at LG Fashion week and died.
After a lovely class of my favourite art, meeting up with friends and fashion week again (in which I saw Nico Archambault from So You Think You Can Dance Canada, and died again) opened lovely cards and feel so loved. I have the most amazing friends and people in my life, and I hope that you all know how much I love and appreciate you .

study.

Hola lovelies - I haven't updated in like four days which feels weird. Midterms and essays are consuming life right now, but wrote my last one for this week and tomorrow is my birthday! :) More posts soon, pinkie promise.

apart.

THANK YOU Tokyo for challenging the generic solos that have been at dance competitions/conventions for years. Lauren Garrett is amazing and the choreography is unreal. This is the direction of dance we need to go more into, and discover deep into those edges.

avant.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.
Now it looks as though they're here to stay.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.

16.

biscuits for breakfast, cup of tea for the man
biscuits for breakfast, cup of tea for the man
four years on in this game and i'm on 16 grand

in my office
on the fifth floor
I can see the world go round beneath me
biscuits for breakfast
I can see my world pan out before me

back.

So, my computer crashed on Monday and I am one very lucky girl that I backed up all of my files the night before. Therefore, I am now writing this on my lovely new computer which I am super pumped about, and literally 20 minutes after buying it I found $20 on the ground.

This article/interview with choreographer Mia Michaels was in today's LA Times. It's very interesting to read what she has to say about the choreographic process, and her honesty. I took class from her last year, and it was one of the most beautiful experiences and dances I have learned so far in my dance life.

Enjoy.

LA TIMES INTERVIEW WITH MIA MICHAELS

So You Think You Can Dance” fans know they’re typically in for a treat when Mia Michaels appears on the show, both for her memorable dances and her friendly outspokenness as a guest judge. As the sixth season moves on toward revealing its top 20, the Emmy-winning choreographer took the time to speak with us in the midst of working on the Canadian version of “SYTYCD.”


What did you think of the fifth season of “So You Think You Can Dance”?
I have mixed feelings. It was definitely not my favorite year. I didn't do as much choreography as I usually do, and I wasn't completely inspired. Every season has its own feel and essence because of the kids, and last year was just -- I don't know, it wasn't as exciting as past seasons. The season before we had so many stars: Twitch [Boss], Kherington [Payne], Katee [Shean] and Joshua [Allen]. Everyone had their own distinct personality and look, and they were all very special. Season 3 for me was the best dancers; those were the prime dancers. This season, from what I gather from auditions, I predict should be one of the best. We just have to see if the great dancers and personalities make the top 20. It's just time, and between the shift in the show and the new set and the new time slot, I think it should be really good this year.

What will Adam Shankman bring as a judge?
He's going to bring Adam. I think that all the different opinions of all the different choreographers is going to be missed because I think you want to have all the different perspectives. I think it's important, but it's not my show. But he and Mary [Murphy] and Nigel [Lythgoe] have great chemistry together.

Last season, after you had some negative feedback for Brandon Bryant, did you feel any pressure, after Mary Murphy's emotional reaction against your comments, to be nicer to him?
They never told me not to say anything, but Mary and Debbie [Allen] were all about Brandon. His dance teacher was one of my students from Miami way back when, so there was history: I knew Brandon when he was a little boy. I never taught or trained him, but because he came from the lineage of my father's dance studio, I have more expectations from him. I compared him to Will [Wingfield], who was the same type of dancer, but look at the maturity and fluidity that Will brings. Brandon is so powerful, but he doesn't understand, maybe because of his age, how to connect movement as a mature dancer. More than anything he had a little bit of an attitude in Vegas that they didn't show: He was rolling his eyes and talking back to Lil C, and I am very old-school when it comes to my training. It's about the respect of the art and your peers and choreographer, and when that was going on I just lost it, and I was not happy about it, but I kept being hushed. So they edited it the way they wanted it to be. It's tough love, and when I did get to be with Brandon a couple of times we were able to talk it out and I could explain to him why I was so frustrated with him.
As a choreographer, are you ever disappointed with what you see on the “SYTYCD” stage?
Oh, my God! It's never polished, because we have such a short amount of time: We have five hours max to set the piece, light it, etc. Of course, even if you have a lot of time it's a live performance, and dance is so unpredictable, so someone could fall or brain fart and forget the choreography. I think the beauty of live performance is that you never know what you're going to get. Have I ever sat in the audience and wanted to put my head in my purse? I absolutely have, but at other times you realize, "Hey they're human and they do the best they can.” They're definitely going up there to give their all, ... and you have to take that into consideration. Not every day is going to be the best day.


How much of choreography has to do with the dancers or you have it already before you know who you have?
Everybody's process is very different. Some prepare months in advance. I tend to wait until the last minute. What I'll do is have a big pot of music and have concepts in my mind that I'll jot down. I'll wait until I've found out who I have the night before. I tailor my choreography to who I have and enhance their greatness and hide their weakness, and I sit in my office and I dream and I pick the concept, and the next morning I create the piece on my assistants.

Where do you get your music?
I'm always listening. I like to listen to BBC a lot because they have interesting music, and I just keep my ears open all the time. I'll go through my iTunes libraries a lot. I'm so in the moment. Every day one song might hit you one day that might really affect you, whereas a week ago it wasn't so great. Franco Dragone was the director of the Celine [Dion] show, and the one thing I learned from him is that there's magic in every moment that you look: You just have to be open to it. When you take that film off your eyes and look at something in a different way, you can find the art and find the magic in almost anything.

What were your favorite performances of your dances on the show?
I'm so hard on myself because I've never fully loved anything that I've done. I liked it, but I don't think that's brilliant, but that's what keeps me going back to the studio after all these years -- maybe this time this is when the brilliance is going to come in. I like moments and certain ideas. When I look at one piece, can I look at it completely and go, "Wow, that was completely amazing"? Not really. In the finale I was really proud of the butt dance performance and the addiction piece. There was a group number with Danny Tidwell that was a strong one for me. The door piece was very fun for me. The stick dance group number from Season 4, that was a cool one. I never understood what everyone got out of the bench piece. I just don't get it, but I have an Emmy sitting in my room for it, so I'm not going to dig too deep in it: I like meatier work; for me that was just a Disney version of being rejected. It was very lightweight to me.

About the addiction piece, my favorite part was the very beginning, because Kayla [Radomski] came to Kupono [Aweau] and he was just standing there.
It's so interesting because I've never had a problem with addiction other than trying to kick cigarettes. When I tap into those concepts, I really try to dig and understand what that would be like, and when I create them I'm not present, I'm in a zone. I don't remember creating anything, and I step out of it a month later and look at the work that I do. I'm like, "Whoa, wow. You used an instrument to help other people. That's really cool.” That's why I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing: The thousands of e-mails I get from people that are addicts, that piece has helped in some way. When I did that piece about meeting my dad in heaven, maybe it helped. Without being so clichéd, I think it's God helping me to help others. When I was doing the addiction piece, I knew that it was going to be something very special, and I kept saying to the kids, "This is a very important piece, and you need to respect the piece and listen to every word I say.” I dragged Kayla kicking and screaming the whole time, because she's so pretty and not comfortable with being ugly with her movement. They had an amazing breakthrough doing that session. She was bawling her eyes out the whole time, and the tears were coming and it was just really quite a process for all three of us, Kupono too, because of what he had gone through with his family. It was very special, and when I think of Season 5, that's what I remember: Kayla, Kupono and the addiction piece. For me, that was my favorite moment, being in that studio creating it with them.

Do you think the dancers have an advantage when the choreographers give them a dance that has a serious story behind it, like the addiction piece or Tyce Diorio's breast cancer dance?
It really depends on the choreography. You can take any concept and make it good or make it bad. You have to be very careful about how you tell the story with dance -- if it's too literal, it's too corny. Does it help if it's done well? Absolutely. But it's not done well if it doesn't do anything. I don't think anything will ever be awful on the show, because you have professional choreographers, and other than like three pieces that were awful in all five seasons, that's a pretty low percentage. When you do your craft for so long as all these choreographers have done it, it's not going to be tragic. It might not work, the magic might not be there one week, but it's still going to be a solid piece of work. Does a story help? Yeah, but if it's not choreographed well ... that's the thing, people have realized that no matter how good the dancers are, if you don't have great choreography, it doesn't matter. But if you have great choreography and not so great dancers, that is fine too -- choreography can hide your weaknesses and show your strengths.

Of your work with famous clients, which are you proudest?
I think I would probably say the Celine [Dion] show -- that put me on the map. It was quite an experience, and when I look back at it, would I have done the movement differently? Yes, of course, it was in 2002, so I'm different now, but I am so proud of that show. It was absolutely beautiful, and working with Franco was very cool. When you have a show that size, with a stage half the size of a football field, and 60 dancers, if you can do that show you can do anything. And my company -- I had a very small company, and that was where I found who I was as a choreographer. I was funding it myself, so I was teaching master classes in order to pay my dancers. They'd donate free studio space from 1 to 6 a.m., all night long, every single night. That was when I really found who I was as an artist.

Physically, what's something you can't do as a dancer that you wish you could?
I never danced professionally. It would have been really fun to work under other choreographers, though. I think that if I had, if my path would have called me to be a dancer first, I would not have the unique vocabulary that I have. I have nothing to pull from other than me. I think it's a blessing that it worked out that way, even though I would have loved to have danced under someone. Just recently I was going to do the VMAs with Janet Jackson for the Michael tribute, and we were in rehearsal for a week and I was committed, and the day before we left for New York, I herniated a disc and I was like, really, the one time --this is my first time, and it was probably my last. I was loving every minute of it, and I injured myself. I guess it's a sign that I'm not supposed to dance.

What TV shows do you watch?
I love "Project Runway" and "America's Next Top Model." I'm such a gay man like that. You see the creativity and I love the beauty. My father was a model: He as the original Marlboro Man. We grew up with fashion and dance, so for me fashion and modeling -- which is why I love creating more couture stuff for my pieces because I love exploring fashion and the whole field.

dali.

These are amazing.

forever.

This is one of my favourite times of year, the changing colours of the leaves, Halloween costumes, my birthday...but also the films that come out for potential Academy Award nominations. I'm hoping to take in Coco Avant Chanel and Precious as well as more, but last week I really needed a film to get my mind off of the hovering midterm and essay writing season, which comes with fall. Therefore, my company and I chose Fame.

I can see that if you are not a performer, you might think that some of the comments and things the the teachers and Debbie Allen say are a bit harsh, especially when we live in a So You Think You Can Dance world (there's nothing wrong with the show, I'm not saying that, especially because I would love to audition in the future!) but the judges do give a lot of praise in these reality shows to performers that are incredible, but do not always show the background of what it takes to get there. During the Vegas week on the American version of SYTYCD, there was a significant increase of reality with how the choreographers taught and were particular about what needed to be done, which is echoed by the original show and movie of Fame in so many ways. It is amazing that even 20 years later, we are still watching shows about performance and getting the reality of it - and Fame leaves it all out of the table for how people are treated in the performing arts, which can be hard to watch.
I have to say, the dancing by Kherington Payne of SYTYCD US season five was awesome, as well as the actors who also sang and played musical accompaniment. Leaving the theatre, I wanted nothing more than to go to dance class (which I have tonight, yippee!) and perform. If you like the stage and performing arts and want the real show, this is the real deal in the fictional realm if that makes any sense.

I definitely agree with Debbie Aleen as she talks about the aspect of "fame" in the movie, which was taken from the earlier versions, in which do people nowadays want to perform because of their passion for the arts, or to become popular/famous? That is the question that is more relevant then ever today with all the reality shows and 15-minutes-of-fame people everywhere in the news and tabloids. Perhaps fame is everlasting, if you can earn it like Allen says.

opposite.

As we both walked up the street yesterday,
I wanted nothing more then to hold your hand.
Hello stranger.

capture.

Michael Thompson.

fun.

This will make your day.
The end is amazing with them singing in French and I'm still baffled as to how they filmed it in one shoot with no transitions/editting.

man.

He's from BC.
I'm from BC.
I saw him perform in Kelowna.
Michael Buble is the love of my life.
He's in Toronto Saturday.
Wish I was going home for Thanksgiving.
But a little happy I'm here.
Fin.

fall.

Fame is the thrist of youth.