A great Saturday

Two wonderful things happened in my life today! Early afternoon I finished a full draft of the CIRCUITS paper. Yes, friends, the beast that has been on my back for four years and on my desk for eight months has finally been tamed! I sent the draft to John and expect there will be many revisions, so it's not completely off my desk yet but it is so, so much easier to do ANYTHING once you have a draft. I can't believe it, in many ways, but I'm oh so glad. I believe the appropriate comment here is FUCK YES!

Then Rocco and I went to the next event in the DanceHouse dance series. We have season tickets (expensive but very worth it) and always look forward to the next event. Well this one was incredibly special. Doug Elkins (choreographer) and Friends presenting their piss take on The Sound Of Music, called Fraulein Maria.

Yep, the image does show multiple Marias bum bopping with some of the Von Trapp kids wearing curtains to the "Do A Deer" tune. The piece is a fabulous mix of stellar contemporary dance and breakdancing, true to Doug Elkins' style. Many liberties were taken, like the eldest child who is a woman in the movie, is played by a tall, gangly, and very creepy man in drag in the dance show - which of course means "I am 16 going on 17" turns into a whole new ballgame! The show opened with an emcee conducting the audience through "Do A Deer" in sections, and this kooky emcee kept appearing at odd moments throughout the rest of the show. Including a hat dance he performs with Doug Elkins on a bench - somewhat tangential to the other dances, but so clever and engaging. "Climb Every Mountain" was the most brilliant dance of all. Elkins comes out in a hoodie, basketball shorts, one long black sock and sneaks, and b-boys his way through the piece in grand style. Phenomenal, hilarious, relevant, and captivating.

Ok, actually, I think there aren't enough positive adjectives to describe Fraulein Maria! Oh, and the nuns! Oh my god! I can't possibly do it justice. You'll just have to keep your antennae up in case the show is coming anywhere close to where you live. Doug Elkins and Friends are a New York company but they're touring this show pretty extensively, so you might be in with a chance to catch it. God, it was a great night last night. Yes indeed.

Happy weekend!