Tag: Travel

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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?!

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American Ballet Theater Fan Gonna Be Out On The Streets Soon…

ABT subscription brochure

Okay, as Chimene pointed out in her comment on my last post, I am ever so slightly conflicted over my dance versus spending goals for the next year… Harrumph.

Anyway, these three villains are responsible for the, as of today, $400 hole in my wallet:

Jose Manuel Carreno

Marcelo Gomes

David Hallberg

Also known as:

Hallberg in underwear

Sorry, I don’t know why I can’t resist …

Oh, and I forgot her:

Alessandra Ferri
She (Alessandra Ferri — my favorite ballerina in the world) is, horrifically, retiring from ABT this year, and of course I had to get an (expensive) ticket to her final performance, in front orchestra balance near the curtain just so I can get trampeled during the hours-long curtain call by anxious fans wanting up close pictures… Actually, I had to get the same expensive tickets to the other four perfs that constitute my subscription series because of my deep-seeded need to see the aforesaid villains up close. Because I’m weird.

All of the above headshots, by the way, are images I linked to from the ABT website, and are copyright of ABT of course.

Anyway, in making my purchase I realized that I am actually not going to miss the Met’s Othello; I will leave for Blackpool the very day following Julie and Marcelo’s premier of it. Meaning, I don’t actually have to go down to Washington D.C. in January to catch it. Of course, that means I have to wait four months until May, when it comes to the Met. Four months is a long time. And I do have a good friend in D.C. who will be leaving for the foreign service in February. And I have a cousin who just moved to Arlington. Hmmm. I believe I may have to go to D.C. in January after all … for reasons other than the fact that I am an obsessed, deranged ABT groupie, of course… Well, I still have five days until my New Year’s resolutions to not spend so much money on dance officially begin. We’ll see… It’s HARD being a balletomane 🙁

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Ever So Fun Goofy Thanksgiving Meme

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Since I’m too lazy to figure out how to connect my wireless from my mom’s house in North Carolina (where I’m spending the holiday) so that I can download pics and therefore write a proper blog entry, I am cutting and pasting this “Thanksgiving meme” from one of my favorite blogs and filling in my own goofy answers. Why are these crazy things always so much fun?!

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? Oof, where did those heinous under-eye bags come from? Do I need to spend another few days contact-lense-less, or am I allergic to Katydid, the cat with whom I’m spending Thanksiving, who has found in my face her perfect little bed?

2. How much cash do you have on you? $0.33. One of best things about visiting Mom is that she pays for everything 🙂

3. First word that comes to mind that rhymes with more? Bore. (what does this say about me?!)

4. Favorite planet? Mars (reminds me both of candy and bravura men from American Ballet Theater 🙂 )

5. Who’s the fourth person on your missed call list on your cell phone? Dance Times Square, reminding me that I have an upcoming lesson.

6. What’s your favorite ringtone to download on your cell phone? Same answer for me as for ABB. I’m not savvy (or patient) enough to learn how to download ring tones. I just chose the cheesy “Latin” that came with my phone — which is totally corny and bears no resemblance whatsoever to real Latin music.

7. What shirt are you wearing? I’m wearing a black dress with a pink wrap-around Danceskin sweater.

8. Do you label yourself? Hmmm. I don’t like to, but sometimes feel the need to.

9. Name the brand of shoes you’re currently wearing. Stuart Weitzman.

10. Bright or dark room? Bright, definitely, ‘a clean well-lighted place’ 🙂

11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you? Love her, can’t get enough of her! She is by far my favorite non-dance blogger!

12. What does your watch look like? I don’t wear one; I use my cell phone to tell time.

13. What were you doing at midnight last night? Drinking green tea (as recommended by Kristin Sloan) and reading Fred Astaire’s autobiography en route to falling asleep.

14. What did your last text-message say? Can’t remember; my friends know I don’t use the cell all that much and prefer email 🙂

15. Where is your nearest 7-11? Geez, dunno; I don’t think we even have any in NY??

16. What’s a word that you say a lot? Heinous (used hyperbolically).

17. Who told you he/she loved you last? Mom.

18. Last furry thing you touched. A sweet, smelly, slobbery lovable black Lab named Gilley, who lives with Mom.

19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days? Does Advil count? If so, four doses for tendonitis flare-up.

20. How many loads of film do you need developed? None; I only use my digital now.

21. Favorite age you’ve been so far. 23, when I’d just moved to New York and before I went to law school.

22. Your worst enemy: My own self doubt.

23. What is your current desk-top picture? A vintage New Yorker cover.

24. What was the last thing you said to someone? Pass the mashed potatoes, please … again. (I don’t eat turkey).

25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or be able to fly, what would it be? Million bucks, definitely. I have fear of flying!

26. Do you like someone? For sure.

27. The last song you listened to. ‘Rocka My Soul’ from Alvin Ailey’s ‘Revelations’ soundtrack.

28. What time of day were you born? 4:15 a.m.

29. What’s your favorite number? 3.

30. Where did you live in 1987? Arizona.

31. Are you jealous of anyone? I try not to be, but can’t help succumbing to that nasty little emotion from time to time.

32. Is anyone jealous of you? I hope not.

33. Where were you when 9/11 happened? On the PATH train from Hoboken, bound for the concourse of the World Trade Center. Needless to say, I didn’t get to my destination; train stopped halfway under the Hudson river and we returned to N.J. I’ll never forget what I saw when I angrily emerged from the station for the rest of my life, of course.

34. What do you do when vending machines steal your money? I honestly can’t remember the last time I ever used one.

35. Do you consider yourself kind? Yes.

36. If you had to get a tattoo, where would it be? I can’t imagine ever getting one! They’re just not me 🙂

37. If you could be fluent in any other language, what would it be? Mandarin.

38. Would you move for the person you loved? Ohhhh, I really don’t think so, I love New York so. Only if it was absolutely essential to his health or career and only if it was to a city not one bit less exciting!

39. Are you touchy-feely. I guess so 🙂

40. What’s your life motto? Geez, this is questionnaire is hard! I’m stealing Hughes de Montalembert’s (which is posted on the side of my blog) — “If you learn to dance with people, with life, than nothing wrong can happen to you.” I was introduced to this man at the Tribeca Film Festival. He was a French artist and filmmaker who was blinded with his own paint eraser by burglars in New York in the not-so-good-old-days here. He learned to “see” in other ways, traveled, and became a writer. Talk about not letting life’s tragedies get you down…

41. Name three things that you have on you at all times. pen, notebook, camera.

42. What’s your favorite town / city? Duh, New York! After that, Paris.

43. What was the last thing you paid for with cash? A cheese and cracker plate and mini bottle of white zinfandel, on the Amtrack from NY to North Carolina.

44. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it? In June, I wrote a letter to my dad to accompany my Father’s Day card.

45. Can you change the oil on a car? Hell no! I’ve lived in NY for so long now, I don’t know if I still even know how to drive!

46. Your first love, what was the last thing you heard about him / her? My very first love ever, that he had dropped out of high school. (Can’t even imagine what he’s doing now). My first love in adulthood, that he’s a professor at the University of Chicago, that bastard!

47. How far back do you know about your ancestry? Just about three generations, unfortunately. I know that my great great paternal grandmother was an American Indian from the Blackfoot tribe!

48. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear and why did you dress fancy? For the finals evening of the U.S.National DanceSport Championships in Florida, we were supposed to dress up. I wore a little black cocktail dress and a crotched green shawl with black velvet tango shoes.

49. Does anything hurt on your body right now? No,thanks to the aforementioned Advil! Before that, my left tendonitis-prone knee was aching a bit.

50. Have you been burned by love? Definitely.

Okay, gotta get back to Mom. Thanks to ABB and Toddspot for the fun diversion from food and family 🙂

I don’t know how to tag people, but if anyone else does the survey, let me know! And happy Thanksgiving all!

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"Trying to Lift You Is Like Dancing With a Jack-in-the-Box!"

Mr. Jack

So Jacob says to me, while we try to do a simple lift for the umpteenth time! Apparently, I am springing up on releve (for non-dancers, that’s tippy-toes) way too early, and way too often, making it near-impossible for the guy to figure out where the hell I am so as to get a grip on me. Ugh. Lifts are so much harder than they look — even the simple-looking ones…

Anyway, I posted this pic for another reason. Just got my tickets for my annual trek down to North Carolina to visit my mom for Thanksgiving 🙂 Yay! Biscuits ‘n gravy, biscuits ‘n gravy, mouthwateringly buttery grits, more biscuits ‘n gravy, and … Jack-in-the-Box!!!!!! Seriously, this chain started in the west, and was a childhood favorite of mine growing up in Phoenix. There was a restaurant just down the street from our house, and I just thrilled to see my mom talk into the big happy-faced Jack in the drive-thru. Unfortunately, I got hooked on the menu too, which is admittedly major white-trash food — the greasy, greasy, lardy, meat-filled Monster Tacos and even greasier, fried-battery, near onion-less onion rings are my faves! Once I moved to the east coast, ugh, I was so upset — no Jacks! BUT, now they have opened several franchises in the south, and Charlotte, North Carolina (ONLY a near two-hour drive from where Mom lives!) now boasts one! So, every year, Mom has been driving me, and my cousin, who now lives in her neighborhood but who likewise grew up in Phoenix on this exquisite white-trash cornucopia, all the way to Charlotte for our annual trip down memory lane. Last year, for old times’s sake, Mom bought me this little Jack doll to bring home with me to NY. If he looks a little odd, it’s because his nose broke off and I haven’t yet got to Lee’s Paints to buy some superglue, so just stuffed it back in backwards. Well, thanks to my new teach, Jacob, the little man’s springy, wobbly head now has adult meaning to me as well…

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Slavik! Sergey! Andrei and Elena, and Pasha and Anna!!!

I don’t have much time to write because I returned from Florida (Nationals) to a desk overflowing with work, but I had an awesome time! Here are my pictures. I am such a nervous flier (still, since 9/11, although I AM getting better slowly but surely!!), so immediately after checking into the swanky hotel, I crashed on a plush sofa in the bar and had a very large glass of wine. Ended up being a great place to people watch, because I had a perfect view of the check-in counter. From which I spotted Slavik Kryklyvyy!!! My favorite male Latin dancer, and Karina Smirnoff’s former partner (they just broke up, so sadlly, last year). I was so happy because he was supposed to compete with his new partner, his wife Elena, at Blackpool this year, but he didn’t feel ready yet, so dropped out. He is no longer competing for the U.S. and so did not compete in the national competition here, but he and Elena competed in the Open to the World category, which they won, of course of course!! Also competing in that category, unexpectedly, was Sergey Surkov and Agnieszka Melnicka from Poland, whom I saw dance for the first time in Blackpool and fell in love with! So, two of my favorite world male Latin dancers danced! Sergey and Agnieszka took second in the worlds. And, last but not least, I was so so so happy to finally see my teacher Pavel Kovalev (Pasha) and his partner Anna Garnis compete. They couldn’t compete in Blackpool or the local Manhattan DanceSport competition this year because her Russian passport and work papers were stolen and she had to return to Russia to get things back in place. Now they are back to competing and are a force to be reckoned with 🙂 I have many pictures of them in the photo album, of course.

Nothing really unexpected happened: Andrei Gavriline and Elena Kruyschkova took first in National Latin, Jonathan Wilkins and Katusha Demidova placed first in Standard, Tony Dovolani and Elena Grinenko came in first in Rhythm, and Ben and Shalene Archer-Ermis topped Smooth. The biggest upset was Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine and Joanna Zacharewicz placing second in the National Mambo championships, losing their title to a new couple from New Jersey (I forgot their names, but have a picture posted of them in the album). Pasha and Anna placed fifth in the Nationals, which I thought was way too low for them; they should have been closer to third. But of course I am biased 🙂 My other teacher, Luis Grijalva and his partner Anya Fuchs placed third in National Mambo, after Emmanuel and Joanna, which was good for them since they’re still a relatively new partnership. Maxim Kozhevnikov and Yulia Zagoryuchenko, another favorite couple of mine, placed second in National Latin but ahead of Andrei and Elena in the Open to the World category (making them, interestingly, higher ranked world-wide than the national champions). And Max and Yulia, expectedly, won the South American showdance exhibition with their famous Samba routine — which is the biggest reason I like them so 🙂

I had a fun though not unstressful time overall. The dancing was of course amazing to watch, and I re-connected with a couple of friends I hadn’t seen since Blackpool in May, and some old friends from my former studio. The stressfulness resulted mainly from my un-wise decision to cut costs (the hotel was well over $200 per night, and that was with our dance discount) by rooming with four people. I grew up an only child in a spacious suburban Phoenix house and I am still a bit of a loner — meaning, I like to be around people for some of the time, but I definitely need some quality down-time alone. And, the dance crowd, which took over the common areas of the hotel and the beach and pool area, was pretty raucous, so I felt kind of like I was going to have a nervous breakdown toward the end. To escape the madness, I took a little half-day excursion out to the Everglades National Park, where I took an airboat ride through the most beautiful “swamp” I’ve ever seen, and got to meet some very friendly aligators! I also spent some good, quality time swimming in the ocean, which was very warm and clear; got the best workout I’ve had since my last ballet class months ago now, and realized I’m going to have to find a gym or recreation center with a pool in NYC because I really do love the water and swimming is such good cross-training for dancers with continuing tendon and ligament problems.

I flew back to NY the day before 9/11 when everyone in the airport would have to be talking about “something happening” — I felt like screaming, “can everyone please shut up and not talk about this here for crying out loud”; and this was my first time flying since the liquid scare, but once I was in the air everything was fine and Jet Blue was pleasant. I really do want to overcome my flying fears completely. I guess the way to do that is to fly a lot… And dancing provides a great excuse to fly! I can’t wait for my next dance event –the Ohio Star Ball in November maybe? It’s mostly pro/am and I don’t think they’re televising America’s Ballroom Challenge there this year, like they did last, so I’m still not sure whether I’m going to go to that, but knowing me, I will… And, when I got home, my Blackpool tickets were in the mail slot 🙂

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Hauling My Saggy Ballet-Withdrawn Butt Off to Nationals…

… and more beach, given that the comp is in south Florida and hotel it’s in right on the beach. Except this time I’m not gonna be sharing a beach with a bunch of rich, older, fellow-saggy-rear-ended people as on Martha’s V., but with a plethora of real dancers. With perfect bodies. Oh well. And I have to wear my bikini so my mid-rif will tan, since Luis is making me wear low-cut fringe-y pants and a very short top for the showcase… But, despite my stupid body image issues, I am VERY excited for two reasons: first, because this is my first time at this one and it’s the largest Dancesport comp in the country, and second because Anna Garnis, my teacher Pasha’s partner, finally got all of her Russian documents in order (her Russian passport and U.S. papers had been stolen in the studio) and, having missed Blackpool and the Manhattan Dancesport comps (since she first couldn’t travel out of the country for the former, then was in Russia getting stuff taken care of for the latter), they are FINALLY going to be able to compete again 🙂 So, many many pics of them to come!

I had to go into my office today because I’d stupidly left a copy of my ticket order to the comp in my desk, which I hated to do because I knew no one was going to be working today and I absolutely detest being in large office buildings all alone. I’m always scared I’m going to get raped. It happened to an older friend of mine, albeit in the 70s when NY was much less safe, and security has been pretty decent since 9/11 but still … it creeps me out being in big buildings alone (plus, maybe has something do with the fact that I’m working on a disturbing sex assault case now…). Anyway, I’m very glad I went in because my Winger yoga t-shirt apparently came in on Friday after I’d left. Which is cool because now I can promote the Winger to my ballroom friends and family 🙂 It fits pretty good — normally I don’t like tight-fitting things, but I think it looks okay. Luis will definitely like it because he’s always telling me I need to be less shy and show my body more. Given that being more comfortable with my body is one reason I started Latin (others being learning about partnership and about Latin culture of course), I guess the form-fitting-ness is a good thing 🙂 Anyway, here’s a pic of little miss Modest Mouse in boob-enhancing Winger tee (and click on previous two for back of shirt, and for way fun packaging it came in! — I know, I’m a dork…)

Speaking of modest mouse-iness, my friend and I went to the New York Burlesque Festival at the Supper Club on Saturday night. It was very interesting. My friend LOVED it and is currently thinking up burlesque names for herself (and me). She has battled a weight problem all her life and I think it was a very positive experience for her to see so many different-sized women flaunting their bodies without a care to traditional male-defined standards of female beauty. As for me, it was fun because it was an alternative, gay and lesbian environment. If it wasn’t, I definitely would have been very uncomfortable. I have zero tolerance for frat boys and the stupid women who date them. And zero tolerance for men who can’t take their small minds off of boobs for five seconds… Anyway, some of the women were amazing dancers — there was this one troupe of about six women who did rather amazing lifts with each other. Delirium Tremens did a routine on pointe, and Harvest Moon did some amazing tricks while balancing a full glass of champage on various parts of her body. And there were two men — one who stripped down all the way, which was fun, and another dressed as a cowboy who turned his back the the audience, ripped his pants off, then pretended to get an erection (or maybe it was real, what do I know?!!) and turned around to balance the cowboy hat over it. Very fun night, and I’m glad Kristin Sloan posted a bit about it on the Winger!

I had my last lesson with Luis before missing two weeks (first for comp, second for his vaca), and it was quite frightening. We tried the overhead lift he wants to do at the end of the showcase routine but I’m supposed to support my weight with my arms pushing down on his shoulders, which is very very hard for me since I have ligament damage in my left wrist. I can’t even do normal push-ups with my left wrist; have to make a fist and balance my weight on my knuckles. So I don’t think I’m gonna be able to do the lift he wants. He said as an alternative that we could do one where I grab both of my ankles, but that’s going to require straddle splits, which are hard given my overstretched adductor muscle. A third possibility was doing a cartwheel over his head and landing on his back in a Sylvia-esque position, but that involves the same wrist activity as the first since I have to propel myself up and over with my wrists using his knee as a kind of vault. Ugh. He said those are the only three that will really work with what he wants to do (spin me around and around for several beats); the other ballet-y ones I liked are not geared toward the kind of crazy-ass Latin routine I’ve got myself into apparently. So, I’m supposed to decide whether I want to risk further injury to my wrist, possibly requiring surgery, or tearing my adductor?! Injuries are such a royal pain in the ass!!!!!

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Saggy Butt is the First Symptom of Serious Ballet Withdraw

And I have it big time. I’d tried on my bikini for my Martha’s Vineyard trip in my home mirror, but only viewed myself from the front; didn’t look at my lovely derriere until I got out there. Yikes. Alyssa told me to shut up and wear it to the beach anyway, as she was wearing hers and was suffering from the same problem, except hers was induced by withdraw from 20+ mile marathon-running, power yogalates, gymnastics and hiking all over such places as Bolivia and Egypt. Alyssa is the consummate amateur athlete, making my dainty ballroom dancing look like cheesecake in comparison. Still, we both have injuries and actually reconnected after not seeing each other for many months then serendipitously meeting at a physical therapy center in SoHo. Except, being the far more serious athlete, her injury was a lot more severe: she tore her hamstring in eight different places whilst doing the splits drunk at her birthday party. But good thing that came out of it was hooking up with the ER doctor… I LOVE Alyssa; thanks to her I have an inkling of what it’s like to be a Sex and the City character 🙂 And I love her for gamely trekking out there with me mainly to see Marcelo Gomes‘s first ballet (and David Hallberg perform it) in Stiefel and Stars, even though she’s not a big ballet fan. Thanks for keeping me company and being adventurous, Alyssa 🙂

The ballet, “Loving,” was beautiful! So sweet and romantic. Someone likened it to Robbins’s “Other Dances” to which I guess it was similar, but with several couples. And, not to be silly, but something about it kind of reminded me of the courting scenes in Martins’s French pastoral “Songs of the Auvergne”- maybe just because the students danced the corps parts. It was urbane, but there was something sweetly innocent and very slightly bucolic. David and Gillian were lovely as the leads — David is always so charming in his dancing. It’s funny reading him on The Winger, where he is just a guy — smart, thoughtful, sophisticated for his age, and somewhat bookish, but just a guy with a guy view of the world, not this princely dancer seemingly from another time. And the costumes, which, according to David, Marcelo designed, were gorgeous! The women and girls wore light summery dresses with haltery tops and flowing, knee-length skirts; Gillian’s top was white — a different color from the rest, and it looked perfect on her. I definitely think he has a future as a choreographer (not to mention fashion designer…)

Alyssa fell completely in love with Ethan, who did nothing more than introduce the school and the program, and apologize for not being able to dance, as he just underwent surgery on both of his knees. Women always fall for that man! I just find it funny that he didn’t even dance and Alyssa, being a normal female, still went for him. I guess it shows that so much of being a performer is personality. I like my favorites for the same reason; I probably just don’t get the appeal of Ethan because he’s straight! (Seriously, my gaydar sucks. Or maybe it’s that I have excellent reverse-gaydar. I met James McGreevey briefly while doing a judicial clerkship in New Jersey and crushed on him so badly; I’m attracted to them before they even know they’re gay…)

Anyway, besides the ballet, we went to the beach, did a lot of touristy things like visit the red cliffs at Gay Head Bluffs and the gingerbread houses in Oak Bluffs, consumed loads of good wine and seafood (me: Pinot Noir — liked it even before Sideways, I swear!, steamed scallops in a bun, wasabi-coated soft-shell crab, and cornbread-crusted cod; Alyssa: Bordeaux and lobster, lobster, and more lobster!), went to several art galleries (Alyssa’s an art history grad student), ate ice cream at Mad Martha’s in Oak Bluffs which our tour guide said is a favorite of Bill and Hillary, and did A LOT of shopping (I bought: a shiny fuscia purse; a tiny ruffly white top to go with this pink and white Betsey Johnson skirt I’ve long been trying to match; two books — one by Styron who once lived on MV about his depression, and one on being an artist by Anna Deveare Smith — at a bookstore owned by this fun, interesting woman who writes about ghost stories and gossip on Oak Bluffs and who’ll be writing a piece on the ballet in the upcoming Martha’s Vineyard Gazette which I will definitely keep my eyes open for; and two photographs, a sketch, and a print at two different galleries. Alyssa bought some wampun jewelry — made from the purplish coloring found inside the shells of clams native to the area, a sweater, an aromatic tea set for her godmother, and three books — one on African art, which is her area of specialization, and two by the writer / bookstore owner.) Here are some pictures of the trip.

Now we are back in NYC and I’m very nervous about all the work I have to do (basically research and write two briefs) before I head down to Florida for the US DanceSport nationals a week from tomorrow. We got back later last night than expected and I was very tired for my lesson tonight with Luis. He could tell, so instead of practicing lifts that could be dangerous when half asleep, he spent a lot of time talking over the choreography and brainstorming about my costume (I wanted a cute ruffly skirt and peasant top; he was thinking more hot pants with red fringe and basically no top — he’s got another thing coming; I don’t do skimpy tops ever but especially not with upside-down lifts…), and hair (he wants me to get extensions for fullness and for me to wear my hair in curlers all night the night before and all day the day of the performance (which is going to go over really well at work, especially if I get any surprise visits from clients’ families…). Ugh. AND, he decided to make some changes to the choreography — after listening to the music again, he felt one of the lifts should go in another spot than where it was. Which sent me into a frenzy. Apparently, he still does not realize that I’M A TOTAL AMATEUR and making any changes to the choreography a mere six weeks before the performance is nothing short of hysteria inducing. I’ve noticed that when I’m not dancing regularly, I get really nervous about my private lessons. It takes me forever to learn choreography, I’m scared of new things (like overhead lifts and dips where I have to support my own weight), and I just can’t move well (he tried to teach me how to shake my knees so fast that my whole body vibrates, and I could not for the life of me do it — it involves simply bending and straightening your knees, albeit at lightening speed…). Well, my hips and left knee are still a bit achy (from the tendonitis and slight meniscus tear, respectively) and my adductor muscle is still sore, but if I’m going to be donning tight ass pants and not have a nervous breakdown over minor changes in my routine, I’m definitely gonna need to go back to Steps…

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Penis-Head, Non-Sexist Doctors, and Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalgia!!!

So, I went to Columbia Headache Center, spent several hours with a headache specialist, and this was my diagnosis! Not penis-head — that was Luis’s diagnosis. I had my films with me from a former brain MRI I’d had that my neurologist had given me to take to the headache specialist, and after looking at the slides, he told me I could keep them. So, since I go to the dance studio on my way home, I had the films with me, and when Luis asked me what was in the huge shiny silvery envelope marked “images” and I told him “my brain,” he said, “cool, I’ve never seen one of those before. Let’s see!” So there we stood in the middle of the studio floor, under the chandelier, looking at a bunch of small images of my brain from various viewpoints. In one of the shots that looked like it was taken directly above my head, Luis found an object that he thought was shaped exactly like a penis (only Luis!). I couldn’t completely make it out, but Luis obviously has much more experience with male genitalia than I do, so I believed him. He yelled, “now we know what’s on YOUR brain, Tonya!” He also found some shapes resembling grass and weeds… So, my diagnosis from the head pain neurologist was “Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalgia,” and my diagnosis from my gay dance teacher was “Penis Brain.”

Anyway, I’m very excited about my diagnosis — my official one that is! After patiently listening to me go on and on and on about my latest headache episode, the doc said right off I have this rare neurological disorder, so rare that not a whole lot is known about it other than certain meds work on it and certain ones don’t. And apparently it’s not dangerous, like stroke or aneuyrism-related, thank God! It’s just one of those things, where the person gets certain kinds of pain — in my case pain in one temple and side of my head and in my sinus cavities on that same side– as well as sinusitis-like conditions — congested nose, ear, and very watery eye and swollen lid. But there really isn’t a sinus condition, which is why the antibiotics the doctor had given me to kill the sinus and eye infections I didn’t really have, and all the decongestants, did nothing. And since it wasn’t a migraine, that is why the migraine meds didn’t work either. So, now I’m armed with an entirely new arsenal of meds for the next one. One even comes in the form of a shot! He taught me how to administer the shot myself. I have to stab myself the leg hard and fast. It kind of made me queasy thinking about it, but I KNOW the next time I have that severe of pain, I’m not gonna be thinking about being queasy! Because the pain and sinusitis-like conditions are brought on simply by the way the brain is structured, it’s NOT about caffeine, chocolate, MSG, cheese, stress, lack of sleep, or estrogen. It is just because it is, basically. So the reason I’m so excited about being diagnosed with a rare, scary-sounding neurological disorder? For one, I feel unique — how many people can say they have Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalgia?!? And, two, and most important, is that I feel vindicated! I KNEW IT WASN’T A MIGRAINE; I KNEW IT WASN’T A MIGRAINE; I KNEW IT WASN’T A MIGRAINE!!! So, NO ONE can tell to just deal with it until my period’s over, like a woman should, lie down with a cold rag on my head, not take on so much so as to stress myself out, or even just that I injest too much coffee, wine and chocolate. The doctor laughed when I screamed all this out at him. Even if they were migraines, he assured me, I was regurgitating the old decrepit school of thought — telling a woman she should take it easy lest she ‘compromise her delicate composition’ etc. If they were migraines, he’d give me meds responsive to migraines, not tell me I shouldn’t try to be a lawyer, writer and dancer at once. So, my doctor’s COOL! Because, honestly, another general pract I’d seen for these (yet another time my regular primary doc was out on vacation) told me exactly that: I was doing far too much and needed calm. And I remember him focusing on my job too… “You don’t really like being a lawyer, do you?”, as if such a profession was enough to mentally destroy any poor girl, or as if, even if I did hate it, that had anything to do with the fact that my eye was the size of a golfball, I couldn’t breathe out of one nostril or hear out of one ear, and it felt like someone was stabbing me repeatedly on the side of my head. Who would think that sounded even mildly like a migraine??? But of course they were migraines because I’m a female of child-bearing age, and that’s the kind of headache females of child-bearing age get. That doctor was near retirement (and now is, thankfully); my new head pain specialist was pretty young — late 30’s. And the fact he wasn’t far out of med school worked in my favor too — he remarked when he diagnosed me that he could barely remember this weird disorder from his textbooks; a doctor who’d been practicing longer, and never seen a patient with it, might not have. Ugh. I don’t give a damn if I sound ageist, but if older means too sexist to give a proper diagnosis and proper medical treatments, they need to change the way they think or get out of the profession.

Okay, off to bed. So I can get up early for my trip tomorrow morning to Martha’s Vineyard for beach and ballet!!

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Hooray for Benji, Hooray for Marcelo, Hooray for Karina, and Hooray for Dance Fans Who Need Cool Dance Wear!!!

First, congrats congrats CONGRATS to Benji Schwimmer who, as most know on Wednesday night, was named “America’s Favorite Dancer” on the ever-so-popular TV show “So You Think You Can Dance”! Here is a picture I took of him being declared winner on my sucky, cable-less TV set. Thank you to Benji (and Heidi) for officially putting West Coast Swing on the dance map!!! I don’t know Benji personally, but he seems like such a sweet guy, very genuine, very caring, not to mention a very versatile, charming dancer who showed that not only could excel at ballroom but could do everything from Fosse to hip hop too. I don’t know how to judge dance technique, especially when there are dancers from so many different styles all competing together, and people accuse the show of simply being a popularity contest, which in some ways it is. But I think the bottom line with being a performer in general is that, while it goes without saying you have to be able to dance extremely well, your personality also has to show through — that’s what audiences will latch onto. And those with the most personality, who know how to put on the best, most mesmerizing performance, will go the farthest.

This coming Thursday, Marcelo Gomes!, the great Brazilian ABT principal whom I’ve long been obsessing over (smiley face), is having the world premier of his very first choreographic venture out on Martha’s Vineyard as part of the annual performance by Stiefel and Stars / Stiefel and Students, run by ABT principal Ethan Steifel. David Hallberg, whom I’ve recently begun obsessing over (another smiley face), new ABT principal and Winger contributor, is dancing the lead along with Gillian Murphy; Stiefel’s summer students are dancing the corps. I managed to convince one of my friends, Alyssa, to make the trek out there with me to see it, and I’m so excited! I am always up for a nice ferry ride and am packing my Dramamine now! Into my Vera Bradley tote of course, ha ha, an essential for any travel to the Cape 🙂 This is my first time on Martha’s Vineyard, though I’ve been to neighboring Nantucket before, and damn is MV expensive! B&B accommodations are the price of a four-star hotel in other parts of the country! And many of these B&Bs advertise oh so important amenities such as Ralph Lauren bedsheets — ha ha! A real selling point for me! It’s interesting to me, by the way, how B&Bs in different areas sell themselves. The ones in Blackpool advertise quiet locale with single sex rooms, catering only to people over 50, etc.; the inns in MV advertise designer bedding. I think someday someone should do a study of what B&Bs say about the local culture they serve…

I am also excited about my upcoming trip to Hollywood, Florida, during Labor Day week (Sept. 5-10), to attend the U.S. National DanceSport Championships, the most prestigious ballroom comp in the country. Unfortunately, the event is held at the swanky hence exorbitant Westin Inn Resort and Spa, and blasted Trump has just bought the only affordable accommodation in the area, so this trip is going to be a big expense for me. Plus, the event admission fees in the U.S. are huge — much more than in Blackpool anyway. Yikes. Even when I’m only watching and not competing myself, this hobby is slowly draining me! And, all the stress of flying right now is not helping, to make a massive understatement. I’m one of those who’s been a VERY anxious flier since 9/11; then as now, I work two blocks from where everything happened (everything that happened in NY, that is). Plus, I always carry several bottles of water and fruit juice on board so I can take last-minute sinus and relaxation meds, “pop” my ears, and prevent dehydration which would, I fear, launch me into a horrid headache episode. It looks like that’s going to be a problem now; fortunately my flight is only 3 hours long. I booked on JetBlue, which I’ve never taken before, figuring that’d make it part of a new adventure for me. (And, because of its extensive , stress-relieving on-board entertainment system, my fellow post-9/11 anxiety-ridden office-mate, Michelle, recommended it.) I have to say, one great thing about dance is that it got me on a plane again after the attacks. My first time flying post 9/11 was last year’s trip to Billy Fajardo’s Hustle and Salsa comp in Miami. (Before that, I was taking only destination-limited and ridiculously expensive cruises and train rides… so yay for dance!). Anyway, regardless of expense and travel stress, this is my first time at this huge comp and I’m excited about that, excited about soaking up some sun on the Westin’s ritzy private beach, getting orthopedist-recommended dancer cross-training by swimming laps in their big outdoor pool, possibly even getting a good head and upper back massage for my headaches depending on the spa’s price, and enjoying good wine, food and Art Deco architecture in fun South Beach. Oh, and of course watching the greatest in the country compete for the U.S. title!

Also, I’m very excited because, according to their website, my favorite Latin goddess, Karina Smirnoff, is going to be joining Dancing With the Stars for the upcoming season! I know a lot of professionals dislike her, supposedly because she has a real ego and is not the nicest person, but I surmise it may possibly be chalked up to jealousy, since she gets a lot of attention. (She had a speaking part on Shall We Dance, and in Blackpool, her face was all over dance CD covers, posters, you name it.) Still, I think, artistically, she is the greatest Latin dancer in the world today, and I love watching her. I guess the show, being another “popularity contest,” will enable us to witness her personality for ourselves, right!

I also want to bring attention to The Winger’s message board. It’s a place where dance lovers can post messages about upcoming events, critical reviews, etc., and just talk to each other about their love of dance. It’s a lot of fun! Unlike Ballet Talk and some of the other message boards, it’s open to all kinds of dance and, unless you get really out of line, the moderators don’t restrict you in what you say. And, when you set up your profile, you can attach a picture of yourself (so that every time you post, your photo pops up, so you can feel like a real op-ed commentator, like Maureen Dowd or somebody!) or, you can select one of the many “avatars” Kristin has downloaded, to represent who you are. If you haven’t already, definitely check it out! Additionally, The Winger is now selling its own line of t-shirts and other dance accessories. The designs are very cool, we all need dance / yoga/ just hanging-out clothes, and it’s a lot more fun to wear something unique than sporting the typical Danksin / Capezio / Bloch lines. Plus, one message board member has said you can make your own design on the site. I’m definitely ordering at least one!

Finally, I have been caring for my little upstairs neighbor, Jones, while his mother is away visiting her boyfriend in Scotland. It’s been almost a year since my dear little Najma passed, and I am still missing her immensely. My allergist wants me to refrain from getting another kitty for a while to see if my allergies improve, which so far, I haven’t seen a change. So, it’s a great pleasure for me to kitty-sit! Here are some pictures of Jones and me!

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Greetings From Coney Island, U.K. II

Broke down and exchanged $40 more for pounds, so I have more money to spend at the trendy little internet cafe, which also serves delectable mochas, coincidentally. I have lots more time to kill as well since the last comp of the festival — the Pro Standard — doesn’t begin until 4 p.m. and I’ve thoroughly roamed — and bought out — all of the festival merchandise stands.

Last night was the pro Invitational Exhibitions comp, which, strangely, wasn’t all that impressive to me. Maybe it’s because it was one of the two events (together with the pro Latin) that I’d been looking forward to. It’s only invitational, so the Blackpool dance committee has to invite the couples, and they only invited 7, and, for some reason, everyone limits their performance piece to about 3 minutes, so the event was over practically before it even began. Definitely Hanna Karttunen and Victor DaSilva from South Africa, who won, were spectacular with their lifts and gravity-defying tricks (they do this one where he lies on his back and rests his body weight on his forearms and holds her body in a lift with his feet), but I don’t know — maybe I’ve seen too much ballet, where the dancers perform just as, if not more, physically demanding pieces and go on for longer. And I think with these exhibitions, they’re more about theatrical, death-defying tricks preceded by drum rolls than about artistry and beauty and with a story-line, like ballet. Maybe I’m just too much of a ballet head to have a lot of appreciation — which is a shame for me since this is the kind of ballroom dancing I most want to do. Oh well, I can seek to be original, right, and do ballroom/ballet — if Pasha and Luis will let me…

Very excited today though because I found a quaint cobble-stoned street with a few benches in the sun, and, because it’s my first day here that it’s been ‘nice’ — meaning not 40 degrees below, I sat outside. A local guy passing by said to me, ‘Dancing are ye?’ Even though I spent a semester in London as an undergraduate, I don’t seem to be able to understand the accents here very well, so I had to ask him to repeat himself. When I finally got it, I smiled and shook my head no. But it made me feel really good because I feel like I’ve gained a good 20 pounds here — eating greasy bacon, sausage, fried eggs, and baked beans every morning at my B&B (using as my excuse that it’d be too rude to the landlady to not finish my plate!), and I’ve developed the nasty but delicious habit of whenever I travel to Europe, sampling every single kind of chocolate that we don’t have in N.Y. — a magnificient way to ‘experience another culture’!! Anyway, after the guy passed by, the proprietor of a flower shop across the street called out to me, ‘You do look like a dancer. Lemme guess, Polish, right?’ I said no, American, laughing. He said, ‘Oh, oh, sorry,’ like he’d just made a huge blunder. It’s so weird to me though, because every time I come to Europe, I have this weird experience of people either asking me really slowly if I can speak English (as a young guy here did trying to sell his festival ticket to me on my first night), or people just start speaking Russian, or Spanish, to me. I don’t know how I could look both Eastern European and Spanish, but clearly (and cooly), I must not look American!

Back to dance… So, I have new favorites here — Latin semi-finalist Yulia Zagoruychenko, whom Mika knows and introduced me to and is very sweet in addition to being, I think, the greatest Samba dancer here. She and Maxim performed their routine from Ohio again during one of the lectures / demonstrations the top coaches and dancers give during the first two days of the festival. It’s called the Congress. This year, Len Goodman, judge of ‘Dancing With the Stars’ in the US and ‘Stricly Come Dancing’ in the UK gave one on tango (interspersed, I might add, with many dirty British-style, Benny Goodman-esque jokes — who know he had this personality?!). Also, the American team coaches gave one on what it’s like to teach in the world’s fast-food capital where teachers are expected to impart the basics of every extant ballroom dance in a single one-hour lesson (mainly geared toward Eastern Europeans considering emigrating but also funny for everyone); Latin’s top dancers Carmen and Bryan Watson gave a very funny one on how not to try to play-act actually being a bull and matodor during Paso but just dancing the dance; America’s top standard couple, Katusha and Jonathan (whom I’ve decided looks like Ralph Fiennes) gave a very polite one on the Viennese Waltz; legendary dancer and now coach Shirley Ballas gave one on the similarities and differences between Latin and Ballroom — specifically tango versus Paso, and foxtrot versus samba (I hadn’t realized how many similarities there actually were…), and the Congress ended with the most celebrated Latin couple in the world, Donnie Burns and Gaynor Fairweather, now nearly 50 though Gaynor honestly looks in her late 20s — who gave a somewhat tear-jerking but funny lecture on what Blackpool, now celebrating its 80th birthday, has meant to them over the many years they competed — a perfect lecture for a first-time Blackpool-goer. There were many more lectures, but too many for me to mention here — but for a newcomer to Blackpool, the pre-competition lectures were essential to the dance festival experience.

And my other new favorite is Sergei Surkov, a Latin dancer from Poland who placed 7th overall with his partner. I had the fortune of seeing him dance up very close, as he did both his early-round cha cha and rhumba right in the corner where I was sitting. He’s absolutely gorgeous — looks a lot like Keanu Reeves — and he moves incredibly well and makes amazing lines. I know Mika would think I’m silly for not thinking of these dancers more as couples, but I don’t yet. I still see them individually, the way I do most ballet dancers. Maybe that will change as I grow more experienced in ballroom.

Okay, the two computers in the internet cafe are very very in demand on a Friday, so I must get going. It’s been a really wonderful time for me here. I’ve learned so much and seen so much and this trip has been so worth it. But, I am getting extremely ballroomed out and am very ready to come home. Tomorrow morning I fly home, and tomorrow evening I will see yet more dance — Marcelo Gomes, my love!, and Julie Kent fly on a pumpkin in the ABT’s Cinderella…

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Greetings From Coney Island, U.K.

Don’t have much time to write because the only internet cafe in Blackpool is exorbitantly expensive. This town is hilarious. It’s a total holiday area, not at all unlike Coney Island, complete with loads of casinos, pinball machines, a boardwalk, posters for circus and way-off-the-West-End shows, and even a huge ferris wheel. Now I know why so many of the B&Bs I found on the internet specified they were for quiet singles or couples only (and there are all these rules posted in mine absolutely prohiting overnight guests. How do they enforce that?!). It gets very raucous here at night, and it’s definitely not the dance crowd, who are all far too panic-ridden right now to be partying.

Mika, who knows everyone and everthing in the Latin ballroom world and has been an amazing resource, has now returned home, as she is only a Latin person, so I’m on my own for the last two days now, which are devoted to Standard (amateur today and pro tomorrow, with two treats for me thrown in — the exhibition comp tonight and the Latin formation team tomorrow– whatever that is… I’ll be excited to see.

But last night was by far the biggest night for me — the Latin pro. Carmen and Bryan Watson from Germany won — no surprise; they’ve won every year for the past several. The amazing Joanna Leunis, who does spins like no one I’ve ever seen in my life, including prima ballerinas, and her partner Michael Malitowski from Poland won second, and Katarina Venturini and Andre Sculfa won third. Most exciting for me though was Karina Smirnoff, my favorite dancer in terms of artistry who regularly places in the finals. Normally, the couples who placed at least in the semis in the prior year don’t have to compete in the first two qualifying rounds, but because Karina broke up with her former partner, Slavik, and now has a new one, she wasn’t exempt from those two initial rounds. So, I got a great seat up front before the masses arrived for the later rounds and got many many many great pics of her. She is so gorgeous. And pure muscle. Such a star. The crowd went wild when her heat was called and she took the floor. And, funny, I never realized it til I saw her up close, but her face really looks like Madonna’s. Unfortunately, she and her new partner are dancing for Russia, so she’s no longer a U.S. competitor. (They came in 4th by the way). We had no Americans make the finals this year, but the two top US couples both made the semis. Tomorrow, the US does have two couples who place well in the Standard comp, so that one should be a lot of fun.

As for the team match, Italy won, and I’m told by one of Mika’s friends who added the points up, Japan came in second, US third, and UK fourth, which was the first time in history the UK didn’t place first. But that math wiz also said the US came in first in Latin, so good for Andrei, Elena, Maxim and Yulia — it’s true, if there was no Russian immigration to the US,we’d have no team!

Okay, I have a lot lot lot more to say about this most brilliant of all dance festivals, but have to sign off now or I won’t have enough pounds stirling to get myself home. Will be writing much much much more when I return to NY and will be posting tons and tons of pics on the photo page of this site as well… (have nearly taken 400 and still have two days to go…)

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Off to Blackpool!

Am all packed and ready — very excited! Unfortunately, the weather’s going to be crap — rainy and highs in the 50s everyday, so no beach time. But, according to Mika, one of Pasha’s students whom I’m to meet there, I won’t have any time to go to the beach anyway. Mika’s been a few times before so I’m glad to have someone to show me around and hang out with. She says the team match is one of the most exciting events, and the U.S. has a great team this year. Our awesome team consists of:

For Standard: Jonathan Wilkins and Katusha Demidova,

and Victor Fung and Anna Mikhed

And for Latin: Andrei Gavriline (who teaches at my studio!) and Elena Kryuchkova

and Maxim Kojevnikov and Yulia Zagorouitchenko

I’ve seen Andrei dance in person and he’s amazing — he’s a tall, thin man and he’s so light he just seems to fly across the dance floor. And his wife and partner, Elena, is so tiny and gymnastic she looks like she’s just floating up into his arms during their lifts. Andrei and Elena and Maxim and Yulia took first and second places respectively in the America’s Ballroom Challenge competition in Ohio last November, which was televised on PBS in February. Maxim and Yulia did an amazing samba for their showcase — if I could only move like that woman!

Jonathan and Katusha and Victor and Anna didn’t compete in Ohio because there was an international standard competition going on in England at the same time. They are both very popular couples, and Victor seems to be a crowd favorite. When the emcee in Ohio announced that they had just placed in the finals in England, everyone started cheering. Mika says Victor does a mean tango!

I am crushed though because my teacher Pasha and his partner Anna won’t be able to go. A few days ago someone broke into the studio and stole her purse, which contained her passport and work visa. There was no way both the U.S. and Russian governments could re-issue her papers so soon, so she can’t leave the country right now. She may have to go back to Russia to get another passport because renewing from here will take months. What an immense pain. I had really wanted to see them dance and they had a real shot at placing in the quarterfinals if not the semis, so it is really really unfortunate. At least they will have a chance again in another year — Blackpool is the Olympics of Ballroom, but thankfully for all of us, it happens four times as often!