Soreness

The weekend was wild...


First it started with a party Friday night. It was a huge ImPulsTanz opening party at the Kasino at Schwarzenbergplatz with a live band show, lots of drinks, and so many people. I obviously got lost first and found a different casino that told me where the even was. So then I found my way and saw the big obvious lights that spelled out IMPULSTANZ on the building... duh. The night was amazing. I had a few drinks and finally found Syreeta, a fabulous and lovely dancer who was in the Toronto Dance Theatre company while I was in school there. We caught up a bit, lost each other a few times at the party, but found each other again. I found a few other friends I met at ImPulsTanz and we decided to go to this other party hosted by Archie Burnett, my Waacking teacher that week! So we found the bar called Roxy and found a group of amped up dancers having so much fun, so we danced forever... Well, until 4AM. And even then the party was still raging when we left!



The street on which I got lost



Then the next day at 12:15PM I had Parkour... Maybe partying so hard the night before was not the best thing before such an intense class, but the workout for sure helped my hangover. Leech was our instructor and he had a really great approach to teaching it and about the philosophy around Parkour. He spoke about it as though you speak about life. The choices you make in Parkour are the same as life in the sense of how you calculate risks in your head. In life when you think about achieving something, most of the time one would say that the risks are worth the outcome, so take the chance. In Parkour, if you feel like you are feeling afraid of doing something you have in your mind, as long as you trust your body enough, you should take those risks. The downside of Parkour is blisters... My hands hate me now, but it's okay because I really do feel like I have a better sense of my fear and when it makes sense and when I should let it go. All in all it was a great experience. My body is so sore going into this week. We were walking on railings, running up walls, in the playground being monkeys, just experimenting and playing around.

Sunday night I also saw a performance at MUMOK (contemporary art museum) by Ana Rita Teodoro called Gut's Dream. It was a very beautiful solo with paper bags that extended and came apart. However, it was only 30 minutes long so I felt there was more to be said, or something missing. It felt like only part of something, rather than something shown by itself. After that I got some delicious Froyo and went home.

I saw this guy on the way home in the subway

Today I started my weekday workshops. First I have Becoming Animal with Bruno Caverna, A Body In Question with Sybrig Dokter, and More Than Naked with Doris Uhlich.

Bruno's class was all about play fighting and feeing as though you are a young animal learning to fight with your brother. So the entire time you know you are safe, because you are still soft with each other, you are purely learning. Sybrig is exploring relating to identity and minorities and finding where your can fit into the equation. It's a softer class physically, but very nice to think about. Especially after having Pilippe Riera's project last week I feel very in the political space of the injustice towards minorities. Then finally Doris' class is, yes, you guessed it, all about nudity! We were very well introduced to the aspect of getting naked as a group and dancing without worry of jiggling, in fact embracing the jiggles! It was a fantastic dance party and we all were very naked and sweaty, but happy and immersed in the infectious music and beat. I'm very excited for what is to come.

I will have it all in dirty details for you next week!

Happy Travels,

G

Waacking and History of Violence

Alright I'm noticing a trend... One where I'm not making my own deadlines. Therefore, I'm making the executive decision to cut it down to one post a week on Sundays or Mondays. It's a little difficult to maintain a constant flow of information whilst in the middle of a REALLY intense dance process.


Back to the good stuff! This week was fabulous! It was the first real week of dancing and it started with Philippe Riera's research project on history and Violence. Also, I forgot I scheduled another class this week called Waacking with Archie Burnett! So I had that too. My day was mostly spent at Dance Arts from 10AM-4PM with Philippe Riera, then I walked to the Arsenal and  had Waacking from 4:20PM-6:05PM. So my days were full this week.

Philippe's project was formatted loosely, and basically we were doing a lot of movement and dance research in the context of violence and how we create violence onstage without being literal necessarily. He gave us a lot of exercises in the form of an improvisation score that could lead us to honest and real reactions. At the beginning of the week these exercises gave us a lot to work with since improvised work is always different, especially with unfamiliar people. We soon had a conversation about how our honest reactions don't really tend to go in a violent direction. So we kept a lot of the exercises, but any decisions we made should have reference to a certain way of violence, create clashing concepts, or address touchy subjects such as politics, religion, sex, etc. This lead the project in a very personal direction where we could have pretty intense conversation about these touchy subjects we wanted the work to address. It ended abruptly and felt too short to really dive into some of the harshness and extremities that can occur in violent art. Otherwise, it was an excellent time and I really enjoyed working with a group of professionals with so much information behind them. It made the work very full and fulfilling, and I'm happy to have several new friends from many corners of the world!

Now onto something completely different! Waacking is a branch off of urban styles that comes from Hollywood. It is paired with disco music mostly and the movement is based on old movie stars and imitating some of there luxurious poses, while also incorporating a specific set of arm movements that look like your holding a whip and whacking your arms around. It is similar to Voguing, which is usually paired with house music and was primarily created by black, gay communities in NYC imitating models in fashion magazines. I had little knowledge of the technique before the workshop, but had seen it done before and learned a few moves. This workshop really allowed me to come by it honestly. I've never been one to admire glamorous movie stars, but the way Archie spoke about it and allowed for lots of individuality, it really start to make sense in my body. These techniques are also not choreography techniques. They have short movements that are part of the movement vocabulary, then you improvise within that structure and elaborate using your own flavour. What an excellent workshop.

So the Arsenal is the main building for the workshops, and the studios themselves are wildly huge... It's basically a massive warehouse that is converted into a few huge rooms with sound systems and dance floor laid out. One side of each studio is all windows too, so you get a fantastic sense of freedom inside these stage sized studios. But outside, wow. There is a small pool set up for dancer's use, a café with outdoor seating and pillows, a hangout where you can play foosball, and a bike shop for all the bicycles that are available through the festival. This is truly dancer's paradise.

This weekend I will be at the Arsenal for a Parkour intensive for 5 hrs/day... I will definitely abuse that pool. Next week I will also be at the Arsenal with 3 more workshops to talk about!

I also saw 2 more performances this week. The first, a solo by Saskia Holbling at Schauspielhaus. It was ok... There were several props onstage including a strange looking mummy/puppet. There was a lot for potential it to work, but I couldn't quite follow so it left me stale. The second was Serapions Ensemble at Odeon. It was too long, and too hot. The set was very interesting, and the performers were very talented, but it was too theatrical and overacted. There were many moments that lasted waaaaaaay too long and this lead to the show being almost 2hrs loooooooong... I have plenty of other shows to see so there will be many more chances to see spectacular work. Tonight I will be a party for the festival so I'll have a drink for all my Canadian favorites at home!

Happy Travels,

G

Preparations

Because I was a little late on the last post, this will be pretty short since not much happened since then.
 
I did get to go see another dance show on Friday night called Personal Symphonic Moment, a trio choreographed by Elina Pirinen. This piece was so wild and intense I could help but love it. The Odeon theatre was a beautiful facility where the sides of the stage were lined with massive pillars and the back wall had 3 arches, which gave the building a classic charm. The opening of the piece was in darkness with Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony blasting in the theatre for 5-10 minutes. The lights slowly fade in and we first see the three dancers slowly walking forward. They stop, and from behind their backs pull a bag of paint that they pour over their faces. From there, it goes ape-shit. There were several rude gestures and nudity, but that was not even the most intense. There were numerous props including a bath of ice, marsh mellows, microphones, a remote control car, mouse traps, fake flowers, and more paint. I'll leave it to your imagination to figure out how they used them because I couldn't even know where to begin. No matter how crazy it got, I kept loving that work. It was physical and magically absurd.

At that show I found a friend I had made the night before at another dance show and met a few new people as well. 3 of us went for a beer around Schwedenplatz on the river. The river is lined with random bars and the one we went to had sand placed on the sides with lawn chairs you can chill in with a beer. So we grabbed a table, drank, then decided to go home. I have a feeling the parties will get a bit rowdier once the festival is really in full swing.

After a relaxing weekend of yoga in Turkenschanzpark and doing nothing but skyping JR, I'm feeling pretty anxious to get moving again. The first thing I do is one of my field projects with Philippe Riera from 10AM-4PM Mon-Fri this week. I'm feeling well fed and ready to get to work. More to report on Thursday; wish me luck!

Happy Travels,

G

Opening Performances

Sooooooooo I forgot to post yesterday... My bad. BUT here is the lowdown on ImPulsTanz thus far!


Tuesday was awesome because of the amazing performance Doris Uhlich and her dancers gave at the opening event of the festival. It was in the middle of Museums Quartier with a massive stage and people crowding everywhere just to get a good view of this show. It was truly incredible to see so many people out to support this strange and beautiful art. Doris Uhlich is a choreographer and a DJ, so she's pretty awesome. Starting her piece off with "Doing It Right" by Daft Punk was a solid intro for the piece we were about to see. Her dancers entered the stage at the beginning clothed, and exited at the end completely nude. In the middle there was a lot of stripping, bodies jiggling, running around, sweating, baby powder in the air, more jiggling, and eventually champagne showers. And to Doris' selection of music, it was epically enjoyable for everyone. It was a perfect beginning for me in particular because I needed to see that empowerment the dancers had.

Wednesday I decided to take out a city bike and go for a ride along the Donaukanal. The weather had cooled down to a normal temperature so it was comfortable and enjoyable.

Yesterday was busier than normal. I decided to go get my workshop pass from the workshop office, which I read was in Museums Quartier. So I went there and found an ImPulsTanz office, only to find out the place to get my passes had moved from that spot and it was a good distance away where most of the classes actually take place. So I went there and found the office, got my pass, and also looked into the studios... Holy lord they are massive and amazing and I cannot wait to get in there and start moving. It was unlike any other studio I've ever been in and I feel so lucky to experience that.

That evening was also the first of the [8:TENSION] series performances. This series showcases upcoming artists and some of their experimental work. The first was by Maarten Seghers. In my humble opinion it was more performance art than dance, but it was a strange and funny performance that I still enjoyed. He spent a good portion of the show talking about horseradish and trying to get the audience to cheer "horseradish", and it was a great example of how you can harp on something and eventually get people on board with you.


Another great part of the night was actually making friends! Feeling lonely sucks, so I met these people doing the ATLAS program in the festival where you get to have a mentor and create something during the month here. Felt very grateful to finally know some people before going into the classes.

And that all takes us to today, which started off lame because as I was going to get groceries, I was J walking and tripped and wiped out on the road... I scrambled to get up and still went to get groceries, but I tore up my knee pretty nicely. So now my next trip is to the drug store...


Happy Travels,
G

The Lonely Traveller

So coming out of an eventful week, I'm quieting down a bit.

One luxury of travelling alone is not worrying about anyone else's timeline. I can wake up whenever I want, see whatever I want, eat when I want, it's all in my hands. I'm finding it interesting to really have so much time alone. Even in a crowd, I'm isolated. I can't understand anyone when they speak, I have trouble communicating to people, and I have nobody to communicate to in my own language. This time has really been me learning to rely on me again. I've always been self-sufficient more or less, but now it's really telling of how important that is in a situation like this.

I've done some sight seeing and now I'm just trying to be accustomed to my routes to and from the dance studios, and prepare myself for the 26 days straight that I will be dancing... Daunting? Absolutely.

I've found the route I need to take to the dance studios and timed it roughly, and I've been double and triple checking my schedule of classes and shows to see so that once it starts, I'm ready to give it my all. I must admit I've been feeling pretty lazy with the amount of down time I have, but I'm doing my best to get out everyday and get something done, even if it's just a walk to the park.

While it has been pretty lonely, I did get to meet up with old high school buds on their own Euro-trip! Sarah, Cameron, Shane and I all went through high school in Halifax together and when I found out their next stop was Vienna, I had to make plans with them to get out of the lonely traveller blues. Yesterday the four of us went for lunch at an Italian restaurant by Stephansplatz station, a very crowded and beautiful area with Stephansdom (gothic church) right in the center. The reunion was really nice to catch up with them, we had an excellent conversation about art history and today's contemporary art and ate some excellent and well

priced food. They were going to the Kunsthistoriches Museum and since I had already been, I decided to head home. The brief encounter was enough to make me feel a little social for the first time in a week and a half.


I have had some good opportunities to get lost as well! Sometimes I might forget my life-saving map booklet and it somewhat liberates me to wander and find things I wouldn't be looking for. It is the perfect way to see Vienna's streets that are so full of life, coffee and gelato! I have become an avid gelato lover and I don't think I've seen a regular ice cream bar yet, so gelato is the dessert of the month for me. I think my favorite so far is haselnuss.

The ImPlusTanz festivities will be starting on Tuesday so this should be my last non-dance related post, so get ready for some weird contemporary coming at ya!

Happy Travels,
G

Explorations

What an eventful/uneventful week!

The first few days got off to a rough start. The jet lag hit me pretty hard because I was in bed for probably a full 24hrs after arriving with an awesome headache, a sinus infection, and intense fatigue. In 30degree heat on top of that, I just need to crawl into a hole for a while.

In order to stop feeling so lame I commanded myself to get outside, no matter how hot. So I went to discover my new neighbourhood. I found a health food store, a Hofer (grocery store), MANY cafes, the closest U-Bahn (underground) station, and the best way to get to the famous Danaukanal (Danube River). The neighbourhood is A. Beautiful and B. well connected so I feel pretty lucky to be here. After a few days of nothing in particular, I should probably get going on experiencing tourist life.

First was the Kunsthistorisches (Art History) Museum... Woah, That's a real museum. The building itself is across from the Naturhistoriches (Natural History) Museum and are almost identical buildings. They were both built around 1890 by Emperor Franz Joseph, the Art History Museum for the housing for emperors' and archdukes' personal art collections to be shown to the public.

As I walked through, I felt lucky that I could at least speak English if I didn't understand German because everything in the exhibits were written in both. I walked through the many rooms full of paintings dating back to as early as the 15th century and admired the immense detail and skill these artists have. It was also interesting for me to read how people analyse paintings and what people can get out of them; the process was very similar to how you can analyse dance and I felt very connected to the artists in that way.

Much of the museum was also dedicated to trinkets and valuable collections. I found it almost comical to walk through some of these rooms to find priceless statues and trinkets belonging to past royalty. Some of the items were understandably desirable: beautiful clocks, jewelry boxes, model ships etc. There was one item that just made me laugh at the expense someone paid to have this hilarious piece of art, Bear as a Hunter.



I'm fairly confident that there aren't many museums that can compare to this one.


Tuesday I decided Shönnbrunn Palace and estate gardens was my next destination. To say the least, this place is massive, so you will read that word frequently in this description. You first approach the gate that looks like something from the Never Ending Story and you enter the courtyard that leads up to the mansion. The courtyard is basically a football field and the palace has about 1500 rooms... I took a shortened audio tour of a few rooms to get a feel for the baroque style. Then I went to the gardens behind the palace... It must be multiple football fields in size because it's just massive. Included in the gardens is a labyrinth (which you pay extra to enter so I didn't bother), a massive fountain statue of the god Neptune and his entourage, and a massive hill behind the fountain leading to another monument. Yes, it was massive. Before I got to the hill, I got distracted by the entrance to the Vienna Zoo!

I felt conflicted about being in the zoo. I love that we get to see and learn and study them, but I'm not sure about if they should really be stuck in cages and then never be able to be released into the wild. I got over my internal moral battle though and walked among the animals. The zoo had basically everything including an awesome polar bear exhibit! The bears had become accustomed to the warm environment, but it seems like they preferred the cooler water they swam around much of the time. There was also a seal show where I got soaked by this guy jumping for fish.



That is where I met a fellow traveller who was from the States. He had a poor pronunciation of the word "danke" by my low standards, but he was cool to talk to.

When we parted ways, I decided to go to the Donau Zentrum and do some shopping. I treated myself to a few dresses from stores I didn't know, and then headed home for a much deserved cold shower.

Yesterday it thankfully rained. In the cool rainy weather it was the perfect day for revisiting Museums Quatrier and hitting up the Naturhistoriches Museum. While the building was as beautiful as the Kunsthistoriches, it was not highlighted because of the difference in subject. The best part was the dinosaurs! As a kid I really liked the idea of being a paleontologist, so I think that kid is still in me. There were incredible skeleton models, mechanical moving dinosaurs, real bones and fossils, a kids dream. They also had thousands of taxidermy animals on display, which I really enjoyed browsing around. There was also a great exhibit on human evolution. They have a great collection of skulls...



After I left, I grabbed some lunch in Museums Quartier, and then headed out to walk around the city aimlessly. I forgot my map that day so it was decently easy to get lost. It was really nice walking around the old cobblestone sidewalks and really taking in the city's character. Bakeries and cafes everywhere, beautiful fashion shops with fur coats worth thousands, and monuments and old buildings to admire everywhere. Every time I felt nervous about being lost, I walked onto a new street where there were plenty of cafes and streetcars, so I never felt too worried about it. I ended up stopping for a drink at The English Café! I had read about it online, and it was a pretty hippie with lots of books to read. Strange place, but really nice to have a beer and watch Wimbledon tennis on the big projector. Upon leaving I felt it time to find my way home. I found a street with streetcars and figured out where I needed to go pretty easily. I got home safely and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

The U-Bahn system is pretty intense, then when you add the S-Bahn and the streetcars and busses, it can be pretty complicated. I've been taking it one day at a time, and since I'm here for 5 more weeks I feel like I have that luxury. This is why I feel it was slightly uneventful also, because I've had a lot of down time and I enjoy that a lot. I do look forward to dancing and doing more festival related things. It feels a bit lonely sometimes when you don't know anyone and you don't speak the language, but I'm glad I've been able to go at my own pace. It will definitely pick up when ImPulsTanz starts.

Happy Travels,
G



Nesting

I've never been very good at the whole "nesting" portion of a trip. I've always just dropped my bags wherever I was staying and left ASAP to go see and do what deserves to be seen and done. This time my trip is a little different since I have SO MUCH TIME to really adjust and see it all. These first few days of settling in I've really had the opportunity to arrange my things how I want them, buy the things I forgot (clearly not the things from my first post), and slowly ease my way into the environment where I don't know the language well, I don't know the area at all, and I don't know anybody.

This cute flat I'm staying in has really helped me find my nest also. I found Andrea through AirBnB and was reasonably nervous about not really knowing who with and where I was living. It was a good price for the entire 6 weeks and was right downtown, so I went out on a limb and took the opportunity.

I was amazingly surprised to find so much personality in one place. I arrived with nobody home and I felt like I just know who these girls were. Photographs of themselves and past trips all over the walls, mantras of good fortune and love at every corner, longboards, paper lanterns, yoga gear. They seem like my kind of people! The only roommate I met so far is Kathi and what a sweetheart. I'm loving every part of this place so far and I'm sure I'll love and appreciate it even more as time goes. Here are a few pics and next time we'll actually talk about Vienna :P

"Welcome Home"

Dining Room Area

Bedroom!!!!!

Kitchen with a window to the hallway...

And the toilette closet... The rest of the bathroom (including the sinks) are through the kitchen...

Happy Travels!

G

Arrivals

Kay, so love and miss you TO, but here we go AUSTRIA!

Firstly, my last few days in TO were magic. So lucky to have such beautiful friends that came out to party this week. Lovely Marco, Andrew, and Sebastian were next on the must see list. And just like old times me and Lea spent some valuable time catching up. I fell in love with my friends again and there are no greater people to wish me well on my adventures... Except maybe J.R. (the boyfriend), but friends you made my days so thank you!

Wednesday morning/Canada Day I wake up bright and early to Skype the BF and wish him Happy Birthday Day!

PS sorry for leaving the continent on your BDay...

First order of the day is coffee with the bro, sis-in-law, and nephew. Got a cappuccino to get into the Vienna mindset and feeling good. Go to the park and play around with the little nephew William and head home to tackle the job that is packing...

Laundry, organizing, folding, packing, calling credit card company, call my bank, get my phone unlocked, etc. For sure a stressful morning. This is the first trip I've organized entirely by myself, so getting nervous. Thankfully I've got my whole family cheering me on. My brother generously gives me a lift to Toronto Pearson International Airport and drops me off like this:

And then I took off at sunset:

8hrs of being in the air and going forward in time did a number on my sleep schedule, and having a cold and/or allergies didn't help. Anyhow, I made it to Frankfurt on time so I can catch the connecting flight to Vienna. This flight, being only 1.5hrs, and me being dog tired, lead to me passing out in a deep sleep for the whole hour and a half. I feel waaaaaay better.

So in the heat of 28degrees that is Europe, I caught a very pleasant cab from the airport to the beautiful flat I'm staying in. Using AirBnB I found the lovely Andrea who gave me her bedroom for the 6 weeks I'm here. The keys left out for me, I let myself in to find a flat full of character and personality. Decorated eccentricly, and with a kind note left on the table, the apartment welcomes me to take a much needed nap. Zźzzzz.

Happy travels!
G