Saturday, June 20, 2009

Subway Dance 2.5

Dear Madonna,

Coincidence? Since my last message to you, "In Praise of Improv", I got hooked up with a group that calls itself Improv in Toronto and took part in kind of a flash mob event that had a couple of hundred people dancing to their iPods in the Toronto subway.

It was not as anarchistic as it sounds. There were rules:
1. No interfering with regular subway patrons
2. No dancing on the seats
3. No "dirty" (lewd) dancing - hey, there were kids around
4. No "pants-less" dancing - apparently that was worth mentioning

We staged ourselves at Museum Station and entered two consecutive trains, about 15-20 people per car. Right away one person in each car started dancing - to music that only they could hear on their iPod, so they looked like complete freaks. At the next station, two more people started dancing, and then at the next station, two more until we were all dancing to our own tunes. (I was dancing to an all-Madonna playlist of course!)

At Elginton Station we disembarked and took a bow on the platform as the other riders applauded and the driver on the train I was on blew the horn several times! Unfortunately our return trip was not as successful. After about three stations there was an announcement: THIS TRAIN WILL NOT CONTINUE UNTIL EVERYONE STOPS DANCING. EVERYONE MUST STOP DANCING. It was a bit surreal.

I'm not ignoring the big news story of Michael Jackson's death, and I do think it's a sad, sad waste (he was *our* age!) but I do feel he'd been "gone" for quite some time now.

Bye for now,
Julie

Monday, June 8, 2009

In Praise of Improv

Dear Madonna,

Do you ever watch "Inside the Actors Studio"? They should really invite you as a guest some day. Anyway, recently they had on talk-show host Conan O'Brien. He spoke surprisingly eloquently about the art of improvised comedy, a.k.a. "improv", and the great training it is for listening and being in the moment. It seems obvious, but time and time again on that show those skills are mentioned as being the key ingredients for being a good actor.

Also last week the great Carol Burnett was interviewed on "Q". She mentioned some of the skits that they used to do on her show, with Tim Conway, and how he would start ad-libbing and improvising to the point where a three minute bit would morph into 15 minutes of mayhem where the audience KNEW they were seeing something that was being made up - right before their eyes.

I think that's why I like the "Jack & Jill" and "Strictly Swing" (improvised) formats for dance competitions so much. Though I do admire the creativity and hours of practice that go into a flawless "routine", even the word "routine" belies its essence as a product that's been repeated over and over.

There's something magical about seeing something created in real time...a freshness that almost makes you feel like you're a part of the process. That may explain why - when you see some awesome Jack & Jill performance and can't wait to buy the DVD - that it's never quite as good as you remember it to be, when you were right there, in the moment along with the dancers.

Congratulations on your final concert date in Isreal. Your Sticky & Sweet tour has certainly been a success - while you've been going through all kinds of personal challenges. Life certainly doesn't get any less complicated as we grow older, does it?

Ciao,
Julie