Christmas Greetings All

Hello Virginia, We’ve Missed You.

Hello Virginia.  We’ve missed you!  We’re glad to be resting in your bosom once again.

CamdenTown Church Holiday Party

We had the whole shiny host over last weekend for the 1st annual CamdenTown Church Christmas Party.  Plenty of Tim Dalton’s special mulled wine and freshly baked goods from resident mother-in-law Trudy Maske made for a festive night.  At some point even, we were introduced to the “Brilliantly Bendy Balloon Modelling Kit!”  This produced about 30 minutes of hysteria with an equal measure of balloon dogs and mild hyper-ventilation.  Also, evidently some people are naturally gifted at crafting flowers and monkeys from long balloons, while others must pay studious attention to directions only to pop their balloons at step 5, trying to master the “pinch and pop twist”.   In the end it was really about finding those 2 or 3 people that were so frustrated that the rest of could enjoy ourselves immensely on their account.  I drank mulled wine and pumpkin bread…and stayed a fair distance from all balloon related activities. 

*warning – the consumption of too much mulled wine may impair you in your ability to model balloons.  Model Balloons are only toys and should in no circumstance be confused with real animals.

The Women of Movement Studies ‘08

Pj had an amazing group of tutors and students to study with and learn from this past year.  

The group as a whole represented 6 or 7 different nationalities (french, english, korean, american, austrian, cypriot, et al) 

and a host of diverse performance backgrounds (theatre, dance, performance, mime, et al).

Graduation!

Yesterday was the big day.  After two years of  preparation and hardwork, moving across the big pond, learning to live in a city like London…pj walked the stage  as the main character in her own education drama.  It was a wonderful celebration, and at times surreal to realize that we were sitting in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the Thames south bank for Pj to be awarded her MA in Movement Studies from the Central School of Speech in Drama.  What fun. Congrats!   Afterwards, we celebrated in high fashion with a feast at Saf Restaurant in Shoreditch.  Vegan’s eat your heart out!

Leda and the Swan

Leda and the Swan was a conceived piece of theatre created and written in the context of a specific space.  

Here we see Zeus and Hera with our friend darryl providing the musical soundscape.

Leda and the Swan

Pj has been working for most of the fall on a new piece of performance art based on the Greek myth of  Leda and the Swan.  Herself, along with a writer and 3 actors from her school, created the event from scratch.  It was unveiled on my birthday night.  What a Present!!  Along with the actors there were 4 other musicians who created the sound scape.  Some basic design was provided by a friend at Grace Hackney – who hosted the event in the sparse St. Leonard’s Church, Shoreditch.   It came off splendidly.  They performed the piece 4 times that night interspersed by other musical bits and themed poetry readings.

The Tin Tins

We’ve been out catching some gigs from The Tin Tins recently. brendan, the songwriter, is a friend and lives up the street.  good stuff!

Fall Walkings

On a lovely fall day (read cold and dreary with an impending sense of rain) a bunch of us took a trip up to Hampstead Heath and wandered around for a bit.  I had never been and was really curious to see the view of london.  Eventually we made it to the characteristic old royal houses…which now freshly rehabbed features a gift store and room for tea.  perfect!!

All the glimmer and tinsel is upon us

i think that london sees almost as many tourists up to the christmas season as in the summer.  i totally understand though.  when the lights are lit up, and the mulled wine is flowing…it’s dickensian glam in full gale force. here’s a lovely bit of covent garden as I wandered through last week.