Law - - Page 7

January 20, 2007

Crazy Dance-Less Week…

It’s Saturday morning and my dance studio just called me to make sure I was okay, since I haven’t been around in the past week and a half. How sweet to be missed 🙂 And I’ve missed them too — I HATE being away from dance for so long… Just had a couple of crazy busy weeks.

Cornelia Street Cafe

Tuesday night I went to the monthly Writers Room member reading series at Cornelia Street Cafe. Readers that night were the sweetly funny Jill Dearman, Douglas Light, reading from his (published — how jealous am I!) novel, East Fifth Bliss, and Julia Lichtblau, who read her charming short story about a Guatemalan girl adopted by U.S. parents making the difficult decision to search out her roots. Just a few months until I read, for the first time, and I’m honestly getting nervous. How I can be anxious about reading in a cozy cafe in front of about 50 people from a manuscript read by practically everyone I know, as well as several agents and editors, and too numerous to contemplate writing classmates, when I have shown off my not so brilliant, two-year-old dancing skills on two real stages to a total of about 1,000 audience members, I’ll never know… but somehow I am. Well, the dance performances have been practice, I guess.

The host, Stan Richardson, was a bit punchier with the readers this time than last, asking them questions like, what is your most prized writing accomplishment (what am I going to say, my blog???), and what hours do you keep at WR so people know when to mob you, and, do you have anything else in your life that you’re proud of. The only question he asked that I would have any kind of interesting answer to was, when did you join WR. I joined right after Brooke Shields (who I assume was using the Room to write her memoir about her post-partum depression). They take everyone’s picture when you join and then post photos of the new members right above the entranceway for about six months. So, my lovely mug shot, in which my eyes were half closed, was right beside Brooke’s superstar photo gracing the doorway for six long months. I never did see Brooke in the Room, although I’m an evening and weekends member; she was probably there during the day. Or maybe she just joined thinking it a prestigious organization, and really has her own fancy loft somewhere in Manhattan in which to write? In any event, even having a crappy picture next to Brooke’s gorgeous face, I have to admit I felt very cool belonging to the same organization 🙂

Entrepreneurial publishing panel at Small Press Ctr

Wednesday, I attended a panel discussion organized by the Women’s National Book Association, on alternative publishing methods, entitled “Entrepreneurial Publishing: Print-on-Demand, E-books, Back-into-Print, and Other Alternatives to ‘Publishing-as-Usual'”. Ever since reading Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail (which I actually discovered through dance, when Kristin Sloan posted on the Winger about attending his book-signing party), I’ve been interested in how the internet is affecting the publishing industry. I was particularly interested in POD (print-on demand — basically self-publishing wherein a small number of books are printed and sold by the author directly on Amazon, for example), but knowing very little about publishing, I still don’t entirely understand it. I oftentimes feel, when I am attending a publishing panel discussion, that I’m eavesdropping on a conversation already underway since most of the audience members are in the industry. But I do glean small bits of information, which is why I go.

Anyway, one of the most interesting parts of the discussion was a last-minute addition to the panel — Adam Bellow, who is pictured above with the mike. Bellow (who I just found out by doing an internet search so I could link to him, is the son of Saul Bellow — wow!!!), is an editor at Random House who just started a new pamphleteering press. He said that pamphleteering has in the past been very important to intellectual life — think John Stuart Mill‘s On Liberty, On the Subjection of Women, John Locke, Adam Smith, etc. etc. etc. — and that creating such a press was not possible until the emergence of the internet and the lively intellectual culture it created. Hmmm. Sounds very cool!

Here are some books they had for the taking at the discussion — two romance novels published by Lori James’ Linden Bay Romance, which specializes in electronic formats and trade paperback, and one from Bellow’s company, which is titled, “Everything Could Explode at any Moment: Dispatches from the Lebanese-Israeli Front,” by Michael J. Totten. How very fascinating that the internet has made possible the return of lively 18th and 19th Century intellectual-political discourse!

books from the entrepreneurial panel

Then, Thursday night I pulled practically an all-nighter at the office finishing up and filing a brief. And last night I tried to go to a birthday party for a fellow dance blogger — happy birthday, S.J.! — but only made it about ten percent of the way through before having to go home and crash, ridiculously early, on a Friday night 🙁 (and, to boot, was so tired I forgot to take pictures — bad bad blogger!!!) Anyway, I’m pooped and looking forward to a relaxing weekend…

January 15, 2007

"Dirty Talk"ing Angry Macho Homophobes

Evangelina and me at Dirty Talk

Who us? Of course not!!! Above is a picture taken last night of my good friend Evangelina (who is on the right) and me (sorry for poor picture quality; could my camera please not have a nervous breakdown whenever both zoom and flash are used simultaneously???) We’re in the very comfy lobby of the off-off-Broadway theater Center Stage, waiting to see a new play called “The Dirty Talk.” It was a special occasion because it marked the foray of Evangelina’s husband, Michael, an accountant and actor, into theater producing — go Michael!

Dirty Talk box office

The play was good. It was about these two men who agree to meet in person after having met online in one of those naughty-talking chat-rooms. Only the one guy, characterized by the title of this post, thinks he is going to be hooking up with a Hooters-working nursing-school student with the stereotypical enormous breasts, instead of a sensitive bisexual man. The two end up stuck alone together in a Jersey cabin out in the woods during a nasty thunderstorm, and the encounter eventually compels the first man to explore the reasons underlying his, shall we say, problematic personality traits, which are partly responsible for ending his marriage, and which stem from upsetting childhood experiences in which his father attempted to “make a man out of him” via various disturbing rituals.

Why do men do that to their sons??? My grandfather and grandmother did that “becoming a man” b.s. to my dad by forcing him into the army. But he was far too sensitive for the military, and I think it’s permanently damaged him psychologically.

Anyway, my only gripe with the play was with the second character, who I thought was just not fully fleshed out enough. I understood his need to pretend to be a woman online, but couldn’t fathom what he was thinking by actually showing up at the cabin as … himself. At one point, the other character asks him, “what were you thinking?” and he doesn’t really have an answer. So, he seemed to be more of a catalyst for the other, more compellingly dynamic character’s self- exploration.

The acting was excellent, and the play was by turns hilarious and sad. I used to go to these small off-off-Broadway plays all the time when I first moved to New York, and haven’t been in a while. I’d forgotten how much I like them. You can sit practically onstage, where you can see the action up close and really feel like you’re a part of it. To me, you get so much more out of the production than you do a big Broadway play, which, in those huge theaters, is so distancing in comparison. Evangelina and I have both been so busy — me with dancing and writing and working, and she with her new marriage and her and Michael’s decision to buy some property upstate and build their first house (!), that we haven’t seen each other in nearly a year. But, as with all close friends, the minute you plop down next to each other on the sofa with a glass of wine and start yapping away, it’s like you just saw each other!

I hope everyone had a nice day off today in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King. I didn’t have to go into the office, but I brought some work home, which makes me feel a bit guilty, being from the Evan Mecham state and all… But, at least I only read the transcript from my next case’s Voir Dire (Jury Selection), which I don’t see so much as work: it’s one of my favorite parts of the trial since it’s where I get to “meet” all the different kinds of New Yorkers who are considered for selection on my client’s jury. Anyway, WordPress blogs don’t take kindly to YouTube embeddings, so I’m linking to Doug Fox’s post today, for The Speech!

January 7, 2007

I Won a "Rodney" Blog Award!!!

Public Defender Blog Awards Announcement

Ha ha ha — I am extremely delighted to announce that I just won a blogging award (my first!) 🙂 It’s from the Public Defender Investigator Network’s Blog, who suitably named their awards “The “Rodneys,” as in comedian Rodney “I get no respect” Dangerfield, which I think is hilarious! My category is, aptly, “Best Title of a Blog That Has Nothing To Do With the Job” — what, you mean, Swan Lake Samba Girl doesn’t just scream Public Defender??? 🙂 Also in my category, as runner-up, is Knit in the City, a charming knitting blog.

Seriously, this is a very fun honor!! Here are the other winners (most of whom write actual Public Defender blogs!)

January 6, 2007

Front Page of New York Law Journal!

Judge Faulted for Game Show article in NYLJ

So, the story about my case made the front page of the New York Law Journal yesterday! (It’s the one at the bottom, titled “Judge Faulted For Offering Defendant ‘Game Show’ Choice”) My quote is on page two.

article page two

Mr. Perrotta actually closed the article with my words, which made sense because it was a good sum-up of the strange case. He just quoted me saying I was happy that Mr. Nicholson (my client) had the conviction removed from his record now and that the case was very odd and I’d never seen anything like it before. So I managed not to sound like a Valley Girl after all! (I think…) At least if I did say something nutty over the phone like, “I was like, I totally can’t believe the judge did that!,” Mr. Perrotta used the coherent sentence! The reporter’s first name is Tom, by the way, so he shares the same name as the novelist who wrote Election and Little Children. I assume it’s not the same writer — maybe I was interviewed by a famous novelist! Anyway, I’d link to the article online but you can’t access it unless you’re a subscriber to that newspaper. All the guys in the mail room — Pete, Anthony, and Craig — were jokingly calling me “Miss Hollywood” all day and asking for my autograph 🙂

Then, later in the day, Pete brought me this sweet Christmas card from another of my clients, from prison. Look how cute this angel is…

Christmas card from client

And, this must be my fifteen minutes of fame weekend, because Kristin Sloan posted the picture I’d sent to the Winger of my first performance as a child!! She’s still taking Winger reader submissions of their “First Performance” pieces, by the way, so everyone who has ever performed should send one in to her! Do it! It’s fun 🙂

January 4, 2007

Valley Girl Attorney Will NOT Be Going to Bahia!

decision I won all ready to be served

Yesterday at work, I got a call from a reporter from a big law journal here, wanting to do a short interview with me about the case I recently won. I was getting lunch when he called, so he left a message. When I returned to my desk and listened to my voice mail, I freaked out a bit. I’ve never spoken to the press before! So, I re-read my brief and the D.A.’s brief, re-read the Court’s decision about eight or nine times, even re-read some of the cases I relied on and the Court cited. I was so nervous. I mean, I think I am the typical appellate attorney: i.e. a bookish writer-type, who can’t talk her way out of a paper bag — which is why I am an appeals lawyer, and not a trial one, after all! Ugh. I took so much time re-reading everything in sight, that I must have returned his call too late in the day, and missed him, because I sat by the phone, like a high-schooler waiting desperately for the boy she likes to call her back, until well into the evening. Around 7ish, I finally decided it was time for me to leave the office for the day; I figured he’d call back tomorrow.

I was so frazzled in the evening, I thought I’d better do something to bring my stress level down a notch. So … I took a dance class of course! But, in keeping with my New Year’s resolution to not spend so much money, I opted for a street Samba class at the Alvin Ailey extension, for $15, instead of another ballroom lesson, for about $10,000. Which means, I saved $9,985!!! Which means I can attend one more Met ABT performance!!!

Seriously. Street Samba: insane. INSANE. I’ve never felt so stupid in my life! We started out doing these crazy stretches, making me realize just how inflexible I really am. Then, only a half an hour into the hour-and-a-half-long class, the teacher — the other-worldly, completely beyond human, impossibly amazing, Quenia Ribeiro, began with like, advanced advanced ADVANCED hip swaying, pelvis contorting, just crazy moves. The class was supposedly for beginners!?! First step — FIRST step — was this African-based (I know this, because I’ve seen it at Broadway Dance Center‘s West African class’s student showcase) traveling move, except instead of simply opening up arms and legs as wide as possible sideways while somehow bouncing forward, she moved her pelvis back and forth in this really beautifully sexy way. I tried and tried and tried to imitate her, but couldn’t in any way, shape, or form do anything even close to her with my mid-section. Happily, I managed to figure out where my feet, at least, were supposed to go on the floor. Right at the second I was feeling like, okay, I look like an enormous ass, but at least I know where TO GO on the floor, the drummers started drumming (live band by the way, singing in Portuguese, which means they were really Brazilian — how the hell they managed not to laugh themselves silly watching us, I’ll never know…) , and Quenia started moving AT THE BEAT THEY WERE BEATING TO — basically, the speed of light. In trying like hell to keep up, I flailed about wildly, smacking this poor Asian woman next to me right in the face. She stepped on me, though, so it was okay! Seriously, the few of us in the back section were spending more time apologizing to each other than anything else.

It didn’t take me long to realize it was just not going to be happening with me. I mean, this woman just moved in ways that I didn’t know possible. Her pelvis was darting back and forth — both front to back and side to side, so fast it was just a blur. I had to grab onto the back barre just to steady myself while watching her. This was NOTHING like the ballroom style of Samba I know! Had nothing in common with it whatsoever. I mean, it was still interesting, but just wasn’t me. As a skinny white girl, I know I will never ever EVER be able to move like this woman. And the funny thing is, after I finished my rotation squirming down the floor I stood at the back barre and watched the rest of the students. And, apart from about four really good ones, who you could tell were her very serious dedicated students, no one was really dancing Samba. They were all, however, rocking out madly, and were laughing hysterically and obviously having great fun doing so — unlike me, who just couldn’t get over the fact that I couldn’t do it properly. The really fundamentally pathetic thing about me, I realized, is that, these people, though they weren’t doing Samba, still all had obviously danced a lot at clubs before and just had either a natural or developed sense of rhythm and awesome, for lack of a better term, booty-shaking skills. I, on the other hand, had none. They may not having been dancing Samba but they were most definitely DANCING; I — I looked like Gumby basically.

Well, I felt STRONGLY like giving up, but forced myself to give it the old college try — more because I knew I’d feel stupid making a scene either walking out of class or sitting down in back than anything else. The reason I managed to make it through the whole class — nearly the whole class anyway — was because I assured myself that, even though I was making a gigantic ass of myself, no one was looking at me; people were concentrating on themselves, on having themselves a blast. And this little mantra worked. Until …

alvin ailey extension school

…until I turned to look out the window, and saw, to my horror, about twenty to thirty people — men, women and children, on the outside of the building staring right back at me, bemused looks overflowing their faces. Turns out this handy little covering on Ailey’s ground-level studio windows is not really a covering — if outsiders walk up close, they can see everything going on inside. And since Samba is so much blasted fun, the music pouring out through the windows and onto the sidewalk, we attracted the attention of every passerby… And I had thought I was SMART to stay in the back of the class — ie: by the window, and not by the mirror! Idiot idiot idiot!

Anyway, I tried and tried, but to no avail. I never did get it. Just when I thought we were done, at about ten minutes until the end of the hour, and everyone was applauding the band, Quenia announced that we’d now completed the Bahia part of the class; now, it was time to learn the Rio style. Good lord, I thought; there’s more?! And funny thing, absurdist thing was, Rio was actually much closer to what I knew from ballroom! I mean, there was still a lot of upper-body arm and upper torso movement, and hips were looser and steps bigger, but I actually recognized some of the moves! I saw bota fogos, and voltas, and bachacatas — my favorite!!! I nearly peed my jazz pants! Legs were kept a little closer together than in Bahia, and Rio was, to little ballroom whitey me anyway, more familar to my body, more jazzy, more Latiny, just more me. And I swear, Quenia looked right at me when I was coming down the line, and just kind of smiled, as if to recognize that (even though there were at least 20 students in the class), she could see how much trouble I was having with Bahia (you’d have to have been blind not to); and now here I was doing something not completely ludicrously wrong! Ah! So, at least now I know that Rio-style Samba is the kind that I like, that I can actually aim towards even if, with my body type, I may not ever look completely right doing it… Throughout class, I was thinking how much I just wanted it to end, how I’d look back on this and laugh but would never ever come back, but at the very end of it, I was actually reconsidering. Maybe I will visit Quenia again, especially if she spends more than the last ten minutes on Rio!!! Anyway, my mind was very successfully taken far off of reporter guy!

First thing this morning, he called. The minute the phone rang, I reached for the paper on which I’d written out my ‘statement.’ Of course, once I started to recite it, he interrupted and started asking me some questions. And he was so nice and warm and easy to talk to (do they learn to be this way in J school??) I couldn’t help but just go along with him and speak what I thought, off the top of my head. After I hung up, I realized that, though I said what I wanted to say content-wise, when I’m relaxed and speaking freely, I tend to use lots of “likes” and “totallys” and “I means” and “ums,” and now I’m all worried, if he took down word for word what I said, I’m going to sound like ‘Valley Girl attorney’! I can just see the write-up: “‘I was like, oh my god, I totally can’t believe the trial Judge like did that, like that was soooo totally wrong,’ says Ms. Plank…” My office-mate assured me that I most definitely did not sound like that, but I’m still worried! Will have to wait and see…

December 29, 2006

Woo Hoo!

winning decision Yay, just got a belated Christmas present yesterday in the form of an appellate decision. I won a case! I know it’s probably odd to hear a lawyer all excited about a win, but at the appellate level, criminal attorneys so rarely do. There’s currently a one-percent reversal rate in the First Department (that’s Manhattan and the Bronx), and a big whopping two-percent reversal rate in the Second (Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island). So, on average, NYC appellate PDs basically have a one-and-a-half percent chance of prevailing for their clients. Which can be hard if you’re like me and feel a lot for your clients. Anyway, I managed to convince the Court that my guy was unfairly bullied into waiving his right to a trial by jury (and, instead, letting the judge alone determine his guilt). The People will probably appeal to the highest court in NY — the Court of Appeals. So I’ll have to be ready to respond and defend if they do. Anyway, it was exciting.

I think perhaps now I deserve a … trip to D.C. … ha ha!

Also, regarding belated Christmas gifts: how beautiful is this?!

December 24, 2006

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!

Christmas card from client

This is a Christmas card I received from one of my clients in prison. He obviously spent a good portion of his inmate funds on this, and I found it so sweet when I received it Friday, I burst into tears. Anyway, I will share it with you all, to wish everyone a wonderful holiday. I have to say, Christmas sometimes really depresses me. I start thinking of everyone who is alone — my clients in prison, the homeless, the elderly, the mentally ill who have no one, orphans, etc. etc. etc. It’s just heart-breaking. Since I’m spending the holiday alone myself (though not ALONE alone; I expect to be receiving umpteenth phone calls from relatives 🙂 ), I contacted a local volunteer organization that sends people to soup kitchens and shelters, but they told me that, ironically, Christmas-time is just about the only time they are NOT lacking in help — just about any other time of the year they’d love me. I made a mental note to try to volunteer at some other point, if and when I’m ever not dancing or working!

Anyway, trying to keep sadness at bay and keep an upbeat attitude… this weekend I had another dance / theater marathon. Yesterday, I went to my last Alvin Ailey performance of the season, sadly. I saw some brilliant dancing and choreography, of course! The matinee’s ballets included The River, a gorgeously dreamy ballet choreographed by Ailey himself to Duke Ellington music, with all dancers dressed in light blue, which kind of reminded me of Clear or Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes — beauty for beauty’s sake. And, I saw Pas De Duke for the first time, which was originally choreographed for Judith Jamison and Baryshnikov. I liked, but didn’t love it. Ailey called it a modern pas de deux (dance for two people), but there was hardly any partnering; it was mostly side by sides, with the dancers interacting a lot with each other emotionally, but not physically. I loved Dwana Adiaha Smallwood (probably the most famous current dancer in the company) in the female role — she was a badass! I can only imagine how Jamison must have performed the part! Then, Solo, by Hans van Manen, was next, a beautiful piece designed, despite its title, for three men, alternating between a pas de trois and each man dancing alone onstage. And the last was Love Stories, a very fun ballet choreographed in honor of Ailey by Jamison, Robert Battle and hip hop choreorapher Rennie Harris. It alternated between hip hop, disco-y jazz, and ballet, and had some absolutely spectacular lifts — man carrying woman over his head while circling the stage multiple times — and jumps — twice a woman jumped up on the chest of a man arching his back — crazy!

ailey dancers taking bow

I sat in the orchestra pit for this one! I don’t know why these seats are so cheap ($25) — they’re so close to the stage, you feel like you’re practically one with the dancers (a feeling that of course I savor!), and, unlike at the Met when you’re so near to the stage, at City Center you can still see the dances’ feet perfectly. Afterward, they held another post-performance panel discussion with some of the dancers, like last time.

ailey dancers at post discussion

This time we had two Frenchmen, Malik Le Nost and Willy Laury (in the glasses — one of my favorites, whom I always seem to see in the Sinner Man part of Revelations which is odd because they always say they alternate between all the roles; I recognize him partly by this cool tattoo that he has on his hip snaking down to his groin area, which is always peeking out from the top of his cinnamon red Sinner man pants 🙂 ), and I think the woman was Khilea Douglass (she was sitting on the far side from me, so I didn’t hear her name clearly or see her face). I really enjoy these discussions — I appreciate hearing the dancers talk about the work from their perspective.

Today, I went to see Spring Awakening, the new big thing on Broadway.

spring awakening

There were a lot of people out in NY for it being Christmas Eve day…! This Rent-like musical was recommended to me by my friend, Mark, who knew I liked Bill T. Jones, the show’s choreographer (hi Mark!) and I also saw a fellow Winger post about it on her website. I liked it, but I have to say it didn’t move me hugely on my first viewing. It’s something I may have to see again (when it comes down a bit in price!), but I did like the music, the singing was great, and the staging (which I assume was what Jones was responsible for, since there really wasn’t any dancing) was a lot of fun. I guess what I didn’t like was the basic story — it’s based on a German play from the 1890s — and wasn’t something I haven’t heard a zillion times before, so it definitely told me nothing new. And, it seemed a bit melodramatic and I couldn’t understand the motivations of some of the characters. I also wanted some real dancers for Jones to work with! Maybe I’ve just seen so much dance lately I expect everyone to go soaring through the air like an ABT or Alvin Ailey member. I’ve got so used to seeing abstract expressions of thought revealed through the sublime vehice of a near miraculous human body that I just didn’t want to hear any dialog! — which is VERY odd for me since I used to be so into dramas. But I guess I’ve never been a huge fan of musicals in the first place — the only one I think I’ve ever liked is the Cabaret of the Mendes / Cumming variety. But, everyone seems to love this musical, so I’m sure that whatever I didn’t see in it on first viewing is just me 🙂

Christmas dinner for the single girl!

So, this will be my single-girl-in-the-city Christmas dinner for tomorrow: an artisanal chicken pot pie made by Just Rugelach and bought at my local Sunday farmers’ market, fresh spinach with Olde Cape Cod honey mustard viniagarette currently on sale at my local Food Emporium, and Barefoot Sauvingon Blanc from Nancy’s Wines, preceded by my favorite appetizer of Greek taramosalata (red caviar mixed with pureed potatoes and other lovely ingredients) on Russian black bread, and for dessert, thick delicious (and immensely fatty) Southern Comfort Egg Nog, and some Haddington Farms chocolate-covered peanut caramel clusters sent by Mom 🙂 Yum!

Christmas reading

And, finally, here’s some of my Christmas reading! Two novels I’ve been hoping for time to sink my gums into — Home Land by Sam Lipsyte, which is a dark comedy in the style of Augusten Burroughs and consists of letters an alum writes to his alma mater on the eve of his high school reunion basically telling them how life DIDN’T pan out so hunky dory (just my type of thing 🙂 ), and the other, The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter, was recommended by Nick Hornby to his fans a long time ago, which I never got around to buying, but some nice person in my apartment building left this copy for me on top of the recycle bin! And these two lovely works of fiction sit here atop my stacks of trial transcripts for the next case I’ll be working on. I promised friends and family I WOULDN’T do any work work, but if I get antsy enough….

Anyway, happy holidays everyone!

December 17, 2006

"Tappy Holidays" and More "Revelations"

Whew, another dance marathon weekend. Saturday afternoon, I went to see another Alvin Ailey performance. Top pic is of the dancers’ profiles, in the City Center lobby. This show was particularly special for two reasons. One was that it was one of the few “All Ailey” specials they’re doing this season, so they performed several excerpts from his ballets, some of which I’d never seen before. My favorites (besides “Revelations” of course, which they performed last, and which they almost always do each show) were: “Night Creature” — a jazzy tribute to Duke Ellington; “Opus McShann” — a gorgeous pas de deux performed by Olivia Bowman and Glenn Allen Sims (one of my favorite dancers with the company) and to music composed and performed by Jay McShann whom, I’m embarrassed to say, I don’t know; “For ‘Bird’ – With Love” — a fun theatrical piece that took place in a jazz club replete with ‘musicians,’ ‘singers,’ and ‘showgirls,’ and in tribute, obviously, to Charlie Parker (whom Sims, again, played / danced); and “Cry” — which I’d seen before, danced to disco music performed by The Voices of East Harlem and in celebration of “all Black women everywhere, especially our mothers.”

I think what I love so much about Ailey is that I completely recognize every move his dancers make — they’re so natural, so organic to the character and meaning of the ballet. With so much modern dance, I find the movements are so abstract that I can’t understand them, and the ‘story’ — whether it’s a linear narrative or not — is either nonexistent or just not accessible to me. With Ailey, I recognize everything his dancers do: the arabesques or battements (back and front kicks, basically), look like something someone who’s putting his heart and soul into playing his sax would naturally do. But they’re not just straight arabesques and battements as taught in classical ballet; they have a jazzy attitude. And, the hands in the air, palms facing upward, at the beginning of Revelations, look like worshippers searching for God, praying for salvation. It’s like he told his dancers to go out on the streets and into nightclubs and churches and watch people intensely, and then bring that to their dancing. The result is characters everyone immediately recognizes; stories that make sense to the viewer, while still taking him/her to a higher level with the beauty of classically-trained movement.

The second reason the matinee was special was that it was one of their “family days” which meant, apparently, that they gave discounts to families, so lots and lots, and LOTS of them showed up. Made for a somewhat noisy audience! But that aside, it was really nice to see very young people being exposed to dance.

At the end of the performance, some of the dancers hosted a Q & A with the audience. Guillermo Asca, Olivia Bowman, and Vernard Gilmore fielded audience queries ranging from what made them want to dance with Ailey (Gilmore said the first time he saw “Wade in the Water” from Revelations — my favorite piece from that ballet too! — he was a goner), how old they were when they began dancing (all were children), to how they kept the choreography — some of it rather old now — fresh and alive, and what they ate before performing. Okay, answers to that last one revealed to me that I cannot, no how no way, ever be a pro dancer! Bowman said she “juiced frequently” and sometimes had some yogurt too, but really just “juiced” a lot. Gilmore said he just went to some place called “Wh—” something or rather; some organic food store I’d never heard of and loaded up on — and here I swear he began speaking a foreign language. I heard wheat grass, but couldn’t understand anything else. This guy (on far right in the above pic) had a body to die for; had the most finely sculpted abs I have seen. What, pray tell, is wheat grass??? The moderator, whose name I forgot — I think she was Nasha Thomas-Schmitt, the arts-in-education director, who used to dance with the company, saved us from all feeling like a bunch of lard asses by claiming that she used to eat burgers and pasta before each performance. “Please, if I just drank juice before dancing ‘Cry’, I’d faint!” Definitely! Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and many little kids were the ones asking the questions, so it was cute. Afterwards, I saw Nasha and some other dancers in the lobby signing autographs and posing for pictures with the little ones.

Also, I saw this flier in the program. How sweet would it be to have an Alvin Ailey birthday party?! Almost makes me want to have kids…

Then, tonight, I went to see “Tappy Holidays,” a tap dance show celebrating the Christmas season that was recommended by Matt, whose sister, Carson Murphy, performed alongside such tap legends as Michelle Dorrance, Jason Samuels Smith and Jared Grimes. I thought Carson was so sweet — she danced really well and had a great stage presence; she seemed like she had some acting experience because I thought a lot of her facial and body expressions really helped to sell her dancing. Anyway, it’s been a very very long time since I’ve seen any tap dancing, and it was really just so amazing. I’d never seen Samuels Smith and Grimes before, and those two, they really just floored me. The way they moved, the speed, the attitude, and the complicated steps, the many turns, I just hadn’t realized tap dancing could be so brilliant. They were simply stunning.
Here’s a picture of Samuels Smith taking a bow:

And here are some other dancers in the cast: Carson is the one in the middle in black, and Michelle Dorrance is on the left, on the mike:

The event was extremely popular. It was general admission seating, and when I got to Symphony Space, half an hour early, the line was already around the block: (please forgive the reverse-order of these pics!). Passersby were all asking people in line what in the world was going to happen in there!

Tap and ballroom used to be so popular, in the era of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers at least. Perhaps since ballroom is enjoying a resurgence, tap will too?…

One last thought. I hope it is okay for me to say this. But all weekend, I couldn’t help thinking of my clients, that many of these amazingly brilliant dancers could have ended up like them. And yet they didn’t; and my clients did. Is it just a simple matter of “there for the grace of God go I” that some people end up becoming pimps and crack dealers and spend a good part of their lives behind bars, and some become great performers, or it there something more that can explain the difference? At the end of “Tappy Holidays,” they pulled down a movie screen and showed some pictures of the dancers as children. Jason Samuels Smith looked like he was bouncing right off the walls with energy as a little kid. He must have been a real handful for his mother, who I know is a great jazz dancer herself. Being introduced to dance at at young age (as he presumably was, by being blessed with parents in the business) must definitely have given him a creative outlet for all that energy, enabling him to use it in an extremely productive way, providing an invaluable service to humanity. I wonder if dance was introduced to more kids, before they had a chance to mess up their lives forever (because the consequences of one conviction, tragically, can last a lifetime), it could make a real difference in this society. How awesome for the Alvin Ailey company for seeking the answer.

December 15, 2006

Becoming a Criminal On My Way to Defend My Client!

Does this look like the face of a criminal?!

me after court

Oh I fear it is! I had to turnstile-jump this morning on my way to this lovely place:

Appellate Division courthouse

… which is the Appellate Division courthouse in Brooklyn Heights, where I had an oral argument. I didn’t mean to commit a crime! I was running late on my way to court because I was hysterically researching cases on Westlaw this morning before I left — I always do far far far too much research and am pretty ridiculously overprepared for court. I’m always so afraid the judges are going to ask me something about some obscure case and I’m going to look stupid. Not that overpreparation is bad, but it does sometimes get me a little behind on my caseload. And, when you have about one of these a month, spending several days obsessing over case law and trial transcripts and penal codes and sentencing guidelines can really put you a good, full case behind…

Anyway, so I was researching hysterically, not realizing the time, until it was about 9:00 — an hour before I have to be in court. Calendar call (which every attorney with a case on for argument has to attend in order to tell the presiding judge how much time s/he is requesting to argue their appeal) is strictly at 10, and if you’re late, you’re in big trouble. So, I grabbed my argument outline, the mass of cases and trial transcripts I wouldn’t need (since I basically had all of them memorized), and, shoving an extra pair of hose into my briefcase, fled my apartment for the 2/3 train.

When I went to go through the turnstile, there was a man entering before me, and I guess his Metrocard didn’t go through and the machine told him he needed to slide it through again. But since I was in such a hysterical rush, I’d already swiped mine. So, when he walked through, it was on my card. Since I have a monthly, I couldn’t swipe it again for another 15 minutes (for non-NYers, that’s the MTA’s means of preventing people from buying one monthly pass and then letting all their friends and family ride on it as well). Of course I didn’t have 15 minutes to spare. Normally, I’d just explain to the agent in the booth what had happened and they’d let me through, but for some crazy reason there was no agent in the booth this morning. I searched for another one, but couldn’t find any. Angry that I was actually going to have to buy a single ticket, I whipped out my wallet only to find I had no small bills. I started crying out, asking anyone within earshot if they had change, but no one could be bothered to help the poor, hysterical, screaming besuited lawyer. So, I did the only thing I could do: jumped the damn turnstile! Actually, I didn’t jump; I slid underneath. And as I went, I waved about my Metrocard just in case any officers were spying from behind some “janitors’ cabin” and came after me. Nothing happened, other than a few odd looks from commuters. I’m just afraid they have some surveillance camera and I’m going to get a summons in the mail! Or worse, served at my place of work … Well, I have a damn good excuse. It’s just kind of ironic: the criminal defending a convict!

Anyway, I had a lesson with Jacob tonight, after not seeing him, or the studio, in over two weeks. My back knee bent badly while he tried to take me down into a split in our opening trick. Uh, so out of practice! And, the DVDs from our October student / teacher showcase are in. I bought two — one for me and one for Dad for Christmas 🙂 Oh, I don’t know if I want to look though!

DTS DVDs

November 8, 2006September 14, 2022

Governor Spitzer!

So, we have a new Democratic governor. Does this mean, someday in the not too distant future, the Appellate courts will become a little more friendly to we appellate Public Defenders?! Does it mean there will be a slightly greater than 1% reversal rate in criminal convictions?! Does it mean the state death penalty will be revoked (not that it’s been used since being reinstated, but one never knows what more conservative D.A.s might do), and there will be more drug sentencing reforms? I guess it’ll take him a while, especially with the judicial appointments… Still, happy happy day all around!!!

Above pic is a view from my couch, where my butt was firmly planted for several hours last night. This is obviously our senator-re-elect… Or… is it the next U.S. President?!

I can’t believe it’s been six years since that chaotic insanity took place. Wow. And now, with the Montana and Virginia Senate races undecided, we could be in for a repeat of that lovely ordeal. Less flashy repeat, but seeing as how Congress has more power than the President, no less important…

June 7, 2006

Big Fat Ugly Toe

Embarrasingly, I broke down and went to the podiatrist yesterday for stupid toe pain and swelling. Two weeks ago when I was in the studio with Pasha I suddenly felt this horrible surge of pain surge through my right big toe and, after the severe pain went away, it kept hurting. I thought I may have a splinter from the hardwood floor, but when I got home I looked and looked and couldn’t find anything in my toe or shoe. It continued to hurt off an on all the way through Blackpool. So the doctor took an x-ray and verified there’s no splinter or glass. But what I do have is a bone spur, an inflammation surrounding the bone, caused by pressing down too hard on the bone. So, how am I supposed to point or go up on high releve, onto the tips of my toes??? Doc says I’ll need to ice it regularly and take Ibuprofin when pain gets bad, and possible Cortizone injections may be in my future.

So, I have only been dancing two years now and this is my injury list thus far: tendonitis in both hips, bursitis in both hips, partially torn meniscus in right knee, strained left adductor muscle, partially torn ligament in left wrist, tendonitis in right thumb (latter two are due, I kid not, to guys in class holding me too hard — and my hand surgeon made me promise I would either learn to be more assertive and tell my classmates not to manhandle me so roughly or else I’d have to stop with the group classes and only take private lessons with pros), and now this bone spur in my big toe. I don’t know how professional dancers do it. I only dance a couple of hours a day!

Yesterday on my way home, I ran into an old friend from my former studio, Brittania, who told me she’s competing for the first time with her teacher at the upcoming Manhattan Dancesport Championships, which brightened my day because I was starting to get depressed from Blackpool being over and getting back into my daily grind, when she reminded me of this fabulous competition coming up over 4th of July weekend. This was one of the first I attended and is what made me really fall in love with the idea of competing. All of the best pro dancers in the country are there, as it’s the most prestigious comp in the mid-Atlantic region. It’s at the Marriott in Brooklyn Heights (despite the competiton’s name…) and much more will be posted closer in time!

While talking with Brittania, I saw Doug Liman (director of Swingers, Go, and Bourne Identity movies), which excited me because, before dance overtook my life and I was a big movie-goer, I used to have a crush on him — partly because he went to my alma mater and his father was a big bleeding-heart do-gooder attorney. My friends make fun of me because I have been known to practically bump right into, without recognizing, people like Gwynneth Paltrow and Wesley Snipes (Gwynneth was incognito and my friend only recognized her by her sunglasses, which she saw her wearing in Vogue, but Wesley was actually filming and thus surrounded by cameras and crew!), but then I’ll recognize a behind-the-scenes director walking down the street, or a ballet dancer like Herman Cornejo on the subway…

May 21, 2006

Can it Be — Evil Latin Stilettos May Not Be All Bad?

I had an oral argument in court on Friday morning and was running late, so I just pulled out from my closet the top-most box of shoes that resembled pumps. (I keep all of my shoes in boxes on my closet floor — a trick taught to me by my first real, born ‘n bred New Yorker friend as the best way to maximize closet space). Anyway, I haven’t been to court in a while and these turned out not to be my usual chunk-heeled Kenneth Coles, but a pair of three-inch stick-heeled Banana Republic pumps I bought in SoHo last year only because they were on extreme sale and I needed brown. Afraid as I was of embarrasing myself by wobbling, if not actually falling, in the courtroom on my way to the podium, I didn’t have time to dig more sensible shoes out from the pyramid, so I popped them on and fled. Amazingly, running to the subway I felt my posture actually improving — slight turn-out of hips elongating leg (in Latin turn-out is 45 not 8000 degrees!), shoulders down and back, abdominals tucked in and up — I didn’t feel the least unsteady. Once ensconsed on the subway seat, I thought about my newfound balance and figured it must be the evil latin shoes. Not only has trying so hard to dance in them apparently made me able to walk in the average stiletto, but a simple reminder of dance seems automatically to improve posture!

Funnily, I think I am begining to have a thing with Jonathan Roberts (previous entry) — while sitting in the courtroom waiting for my case to be called, I noticed that one of the appellate District Attorneys (our adversaries) looks just like him! Grrr…

Speaking of Ballroom, I took the first steps toward packing for Blackpool this weekend by digging my passport out of my “important papers” drawer. Actually, I took more than that; in an effort to avoid being lectured ad nauseam by my mom, who is a Planner (ie: literally packs weeks before a trip and is always nagging me, exactly the opposite and thus always having a nervous breakdown the night before), and took out a suitcase and started tossing in things I knew I’d need. Wrong. I have a ticket to the American Ballet Theater’s opening night gala tomorrow night and am sitting in nosebleed section, so just went to retrieve my opera glasses to put in my handbag. I looked and looked and looked; they were nowhere. I panicked — they were $80, I must have left them at the New York City Ballet on Friday night I thought, should I call the State Theater, no they only have a matinee on Sunday and must be closed and anyway someone probably just kept them… I frantically searched some more before finally realizing they were in my suitcase. Okay, no more “planning” — I’ll be waiting til Wednesday night, thank you very much!