Top 5 People who have changed my life through dance

So for a while there I was in a musical (High Fidelity, the musical, to be exact), and I blogged about it. In an effort to share all that subjective goodness, I'm going to re-post some of those old posts here. Just b/c I read them recently, and hey, they're relevant. Be warned. It's youtube time.

Straight from June 21st, 2008...the Top 5 People who have changed my life through Dance

…in no particular order.

1. Paula Abdul


2. Robin Berger of Leaping Lizards Dance Studio

3. Britney Spears
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ps it is a BLESSING that such as site as The Briney Vault exists.

4. Fatima Robinson (choreographer of Dreamgirls)


5. Frankie Manning (old school lindy hopper from the 30’s I met when I was 16 at the CASA LOMA BALLROOM)


also...



DUH.

Don't get me started, there's more youtube out there. I will refrain.

WHYS

You know I need to tell y'all about my recent visit to the SYMPHONY, but due to some recent upheaval (ever seen Burn Notice?) over here in real life, I'll just leave you to ponder this list, written by the folks at the ideavillage in NOLA.

Why I am here...

…because life is too short and too precious to claw my way through Wall Street. Because the Pyramids were not built treading along in a hamster wheel.

…because I figured a 1500-mile road trip to begin a new life in an unfamiliar place would make for a unique story. I am proud to live somewhere where such a tale has become blasé.

…because New Orleanians open their doors, pour stiff drinks, fill plates high, and demand little of their guests beyond an adventurous tongue.

…because the architecture is the most amazing I’ve seen. Anywhere.

…because the city is in dire need of a brewing co-op and I hope to provide it.

…because I have an eye for what makes a city work, having lived in Boulder, Seattle, and Saratoga Springs, and because New Orleans has ten times the intrinsic charm of these other cities put together.

…because Cajun slang is interesting, southern drawls pacifying, and Yat dialects just downright bizarre.

…because there is real soul here: a tangible and visceral loyalty to a dynamic cultural ethic.

…because there are real minds here: those who heed the calls of intellectual adventure and find deep satisfaction through attacking problems at their roots.

…because a potential roommate warned me recently of the seeming permanence of endemic poverty and government corruption, and of the futility in wasting a swollen heart on a city with real problems. It sounded like a dare, and I never turn down a dare. *

-Jeff Sandman

*sound familiar?

Is it strange that I look to Nola? Is the urgency to innovate and revitalize stronger there? I don't know, but if more people thought about it as much as I think about it...we both might get somewhere. :)

(Grocery) list

I just got back from Schnucks.
I was listening to "baby all the time" (a song I downloaded just b/c it was written in the 40's by an alumni of Mask and Wig, an all-male comedy group of which I was quite the fan in college) and it was just making me oh so sentimental. Probably because I've been reading all this Belz poetry stuff. I love it! It's so awesomely sappy but totally not at all. It's what I would write if I were a poet, and I'm not. But oh, if I were! Lucky for me, Mr. Belz has me covered. I am so bummed that he is moving away, and I don't even know the guy.*

In the interest of keeping up with life and stuff, this has been a week of robust kookiness.

List of the week:

• Earth day with Molly, the sportsprint girl and tshirt/sticker co-conspirator
• met the Trailnet guy, who is such a cool guy! You may remember him as "some guy named Phil" who got the gang to go on the *Friendly* Bike Club, that is having a "prom" next month, crazy
  
• Saw Urinetown at WashU
• presented with Britany, my mentee at urban future about "the importance of high school preparation for teens." Brittany rules.
  
• found out someone I knew not-too-but-somewhat-distantly was shot and killed
  

• immediately became SUPER worried that everyone I know&love could get shot at anytime
• I think I may still be a little worried about that still/forever, so whatever
• yuck.
  

• Mayor Swoboda is OK! He can talk and everything! what a blessing.
  
• have been slowly admitting to loved ones that I'm in High Fidelity, the musical

• and that I have a blog about it (nerd alert) but so do a lot of others! (but come see me!)

• Got an internship and am workin' hard at it (it feels so great! challenging and fun work, too. Is this heaven? no, its maplewood!)
• wrote a lot about beer
• listened to mostly Alicia Keys, daptone jukebox and cartalk
• twittered a lot
  
• got QUOTED in the RFT! I almost forgot that. I have buried the lead!
• got intouch with the Foam on Cherokee guy, finally

• beginning to talk about coworking with others is awesome

• couldn't find Snowflake - AGAIN. Very embarrassing loss of direction abilities
• rediscovered that the Vital Voice is sortof an awesome newspaper

• - like a JV rft, but in the best way imaginable. In the way that they can cover things that wouldn't be glitzy enough for the RFT, but that I want to know about! i.e. I found out that Spruill's still exists! Though I will probably never ever go b/c I basically can't.
  

• Found out that Randall's has pastis
• went dancing at Casa Loma...it was super packed and a v. good time. yay swing dancing. I'm comin on 10 years I've been going to that place...whoa.
  
• raspberry hefeweisen! (schlafly brewers have a blog??!)
  
• encouraged one of my best friends to move away and get married (it's insane that it would come to that)
• went to a baseball game and stayed the WHOLE time!
• hi celia! do you guys know celia? she is so cool AND she reads the MVG!
  
• talked a lot about arm-touching and its significance
  
• The Hat Mart appeared in the Kirkwood-Webster times! eerie.
• The feature article in this week's Sauce is awesome (but not online?). I heart this Edwardsville couple. Their quote about how anyone can pick up the equity on their house and move somewhere cool, but that they'd rather try staying an making Edwardsville cool really rang true to me in a lot of ways.
• found the perfect shoe
• had a really good cheeseburger at tiffany's
  
• ugh, can that be it, please?

I understand now why I like to spread out the posts.
I'm sure there's more I'll remember later, and hopefully I'll have the sense to post as it happens/occurs to me instead of in a ridiculous list! To everything there is a season.

Grocery list:
4 ramen 10-packs
2 yogurts
hawaiian bread
swiss cheese
2 boxes of instant oatmeal
(would've been pastis, but no surprise, Schnucks doesn't have it)


*full disclosure, I think I saw someone that looked like the sketch-portrait on his blog get off a bus on South Grand once. Is that weird?, I think it might be. Oh well!