Author: theactorvist

I love the Theatre. It's my church. It's my joy. I have been performing in plays and musicals for over half of my life, and I would be lost without it. Now more than ever, people are cutting back on everything that is too expensive or unimportant to their lives. As an actor, heck as a person, I don't know of anything that is more important than the arts. Art reflects history. It shows humanity at its worst but also its best. Every day some artistic program is getting cut from a school or a great show goes unseen. Maybe a talented singer isn't able to audition for American Idol. There are a ton of people who live in the South Bay Area of California, who go unseen or unheard. There are many production companies that are just bursting with talent, but people don't see the shows. I will do my best to bring you interviews with local artists of every kind, send out the call for local companies looking to cast people in productions, and much more. Stay tuned because this is only the beginning.

“Starting Your Career As A Dancer” review and CONTEST!!

Firstly, a MASSIVE thank you to Allworth Press for allowing me the opportunity to review this book. I really appreciate the opportunity. I am really excited because I have been in 4 Barnes and Noble and have yet to see this book on their shelves! Released in May of 2012, do not let the title fool you. Any performer can find the words of wisdom in this paperback useful!.

Secondly, THANK YOU to Mande Dagenais for writing this book!

Starting Your Career as a Dancer is written by award winning author Mande Dagenais, who has worked as a dancer and choreographer all over the world. Along with several interviews with many people in the industry, Mande draws from her experiences to deliver an informative, well written and important guide to everyone who wants to pursue a lifetime of performing.

I love this book. With 18 chapters ranging from goal-setting to attitude adjustments to injury recognition and prevention to career transitions, this book is filled with so much great information. I started reading and couldn’t put it down. It wasn’t only the informative sections that were great. What made me want to keep reading, even through the parts you often see in other career guide books, is her personal experiences. I love to hear other performers’ stories and the writing is so casual and it reads as though we are having a conversation. It just draws you in.

As a performer, one must never stop learning. Learning from corrections, learning from other people’s mistakes or corrections, and learning from other people’s experiences. This book is a whole lot of learning. Right from the get go, you can tell that Ms. Dagenais truly does have a love and passion for her chosen career. Her desire to share her knowledge and experience permeates throughout the book.

Now there are some books that talk about most facets of the business, but Mande breaks it down. Not just breaks it down, but she breaks it down!!

She brings up some really great points that I’ve never even considered, like a choreographer has copyright protection on their works unless the rights are given to someone else. She specifies a number of things that could or should be on your contract. She talks about the mental, physical, and nutritional needs and how they all tie into each other. And I think most importantly, she offers several examples of not only her but other performers who have shifted gears in their careers for a variety of reasons. It’s important to plan ahead and think what will you do when the time comes when you can’t get on that stage anymore. I know I personally don’t like to think about that, but this book has seriously opened my eyes to the many things I could and should be doing to better run my “business.”

So taking all this into account, I have already begun to take steps based on the suggestions she offers. Already I feel like I am making progress. I am so happy that I’ve gotten to read this book.

If you would like to buy this book you can find it HERE through the Allworth Press site or through Amazon.com. BUT here’s a twist.

AND because of the great people at Allworth Press, you can get your hands on it too!!

Dancing is universal. You don’t have to be a professional, you don’t even have to take classes. For the rest of September, let me know about your dancing experience in the comments below. Just let me know why you love to dance and your most vivid memory of dancing. Winner will be selected at random on October 1.

I Needed Something “Brain”less…

Zomie-O-Rama downtown San Jose 8/31/12
Peter Woolhouse and John Teidmann (We did JSC together what seems a million years ago.)

The last two weeks have been…trying. They’ve been stressful and frustrating as well. First my car broke down. That isn’t SO bad, but then my dad, who isn’t in the best of health, went into surgery for 6 hours for bone spurs on the vertebra in his neck. Then my mother shared some of her own bad news.

Having dealt with THAT, I needed to get away and enjoy something that would inspire and reinvigorate my creative mind to “boot up” once again. Luckily, my friend Jennifer told me about the Zombie Crawl in downtown San Jose. I was so bummed that I had to work the closing shift so I couldn’t get there at the actual start time.

I remember as a kid during Halloween one year trying to figure out what do be. Several of my friends were zombies (this was around the time of the Night of the Living Dead relaunch) and some were vampires. I ended up being a stupid ghost and feeling like a total turd.

As to what the actual “crawl” portion of the event is, I do not know. I believe it’s a route that all the zombies take, but as I am a crawl virgin I am not sure.

In one of the large parking lots downtown, there were a large crowd of people doing various things but mostly milling about and checking out fellow zombies or getting a good spot for the public showing of Shawn of the Dead. I since I couldn’t find my buddy, Jennifer, I assumed that she was out and about shuffling through the streets of the city. After I get my initial sweep completed, I take a moment and grab some dinner while thinking of what I wanted to focus on. Did I want to get a picture of as many of the zombies as possible? Did I want to only focus on the big companies that were there? or Should I just focus on what I found the best?

Ultimately, I decided that I wanted to show the ones that I found most impressive. Although there was a very, very tall man dressed up that held a sign saying “Zombies for Equality” which I thought was clever and hilarious. Get it? Equality because they’ll eat everyone! hahahaha…

So while some of the pics that follow are not just zombies, but I liked the work that when into their costumes. But the ZOMBIES?? There were a few that were great, and I want to share.

These four military men are the newest undead “recruits.”

It’s a little steam punk and a little twisted. I dig the “X”-eyed goggles. The mouthpiece is pretty cool too. It’s got a faux jaw on the right side (well, left side in the picture) It looked like it was burned into the leather of the mask. The puppet is attached to a cane that has a trigger to pull and makes the mouth snap shut.

He offered to slice off a piece of grey matter for me, but I just couldn’t fathom eating brain jello.

While not technically a zombie, I couldn’t tell if this character was dead, undead, or other. I think I would place him in supernatural. Either way, still freaky enough where I wouldn’t want to wake up and see this thing. Would have liked it if this person wore some sort of gloves or painted some details on their hands to finish out the character.

She was FABULOUS!!! From the Tina Turner-esque wig to the totally punk rock costume she was completely IN it. Her jaw pieces are completely hand made by her and are adhered to the area just around her mouth. The top and bottom teeth are fully independent of each other. One of the absolute best for sure. But my favorite zombies of the night were:

These guys were so in character that when I asked for a pic the suit fella just kinda swung his arm to hit the other guy. An up close look at the make up showed that it was much more than mere makeup. There was texture throughout the surface and slight peeling. The blood stayed constantly runny and glossy thanks to a fresh supply in the plaid zombie’s hand. Good ol’ food coloring and corn syrup make for a perfect fake blood effect.

Since I didn’t have time to go home and get ready, I refused to go in a costume. If there is one thing I can’t seem to do, it is to just half try to create a character. I think that one Halloween turd left a left a lasting impression on me that it wasn’t as fun if I couldn’t be as creative as I really want to be. If I find out when the next Zombie Crawl is early enough, I think I will take the whole day off just to work on my makeup.

Have you gone to an event like this in your city or town? What was your experience like? Is it more fun to dress up? Lemme know what you think in the comment section below!

“I know you, don’t I?…”

Today, I went to the Sunnyvale Community Players fundraiser at Barnes and Noble. It was great to see so many fellow performers. Hopefully, the fundraiser was a success! Thanks to B&N for being awesome and supporting the Arts!!

One thing I didn’t expect was to run into a former boss-lady from WAY back. I worked with her for almost 12 years ago.

This got me thinking about all the things I did at that job. One of the things I did was similar to one of my responsibilities that I have now. It’s dawned on me that I have just been running in circles “professionally” speaking. My 9-5’s always seem to end up the same.

Figuring out life it tough.

Does anyone have any shortcuts…

The end.

Thanks to Icanhascheezburger.com for the pic. That’s kind of how I felt when I saw her.

Genetic Roulette…

In our upcoming election ballot in California, we have Prop 37 that is one of the most hotly contested issue since gay marriage. I know that we are still months away from voting and I know that you aren’t knuckleheads, but in case it must be said…

With the rise of organic farming and backyard edible gardens becoming more and more common, the requests of the public for properly labelled foods is also on the rise. Prop 37 is a proposal to regulate the labels on all foods that consumers purchase to specify if the item has any sort of genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) in it.

Eating GMO’s is harmful to people because the immune system attacks our bodies causes inflammation and a bunch of other possible diseases and could affect all bodily functions as well as nutrient deficiencies.

GMO’s are a big money making business and it’s supported by companies like Monsanto, the most hated corporation in the world, Dow, Bayer and BASF.

Opponents of Prop 37 have already raised $25 million compared to the $2 million raised by supporters of the proposition. This means that there will be a ton of ads bombarding the TV or the radio telling you that Prop 37 is a bad deal. In truth it is a bad deal for the GMO business. When doctors make patients remove GMO enhanced foods from their diets, patients get better simply by changing their eating habits. Now you may say that if anyone changes their eating habits then they would get better, but most of the time it is just for blood pressure or weight. I am talking about crazy stuff like this from the Livestrong website: “data showed that genetically modified corn caused severe liver and kidney toxicity. Furthermore, a 2008 study reported by Professor Jurgen Zentek of the Austrian Health Ministry linked genetically modified corn with infertility in rats.” Infertility is a side affect in humans as well.

I find it really REALLY interesting that the CA Republican Party is in opposition to Prop 37…oh, what, it’s a big money business. Nevermind, I understand why. Check out BallotPedia to see what the arguments for and against are and who’s supporting and opposing it.

This report with Jeffrey M. Smith on GMO’s from KPFA’s Guns and Butter is absolutely appalling! YOU MUST LISTEN TO THIS. The ending is a nightmare and terrifying! Another great thing to listen to is today’s news from KPFA by CLICKING HERE. Start listening at 43:14. I don’t watch mainstream media or NPR because they all have someone pulling their strings. KPFA is fully straightforward and don’t have to answer to any sort of politics.

Remember VOTE YES on Prop 37!!!

40 other countries throughout the world already protect their consumers by having this label restriction, why don’t we take the issue into our own hands and protect ourselves from this horrible practice!?!?

If you want to start buying non-GMO’s now here’s a great link for organic food companies.

Check out Maplight.com or Votersedge.com for more information on prop fundings.

Dear Dance Community…

ZOH v2 logoNW HUGE — After 16 years at the Cubberley Community Center, Zohar needs a few repairs. Please help make the studio safer, cleaner, and more dancer-friendly for all!

I think I’ve mentioned many times that I am a student at Zohar School of Dance. I’ve been there for nearly a year now and I cannot tell you how much I enjoy it.

Since I’ve been attending classes here, I’ve heard about this lengthy ongoing process that’s kept the companies renting space at the Cubberley Community Center unsure if they would continue to have a “home.” A few times we, the students, have been asked to come to hearings to support the studio maintaining its place. As I understand it, it was announced a few weeks ago that Zohar will keep its space for at least another 3-5 years! That’s definitely a cause for celebration.

While all this is fantastic news, the decision has been made that the facility could use some repairs. As I am sure you all know, funds for non-profit companies have been tougher and tougher to come by. And Artistic non-profits take the hardest hit of all. So I have decided to turn to you, my dear, dear friends of Dance and fellow Dancers to ask for your help.

On Labor Day weekend, Zohar would love to kick off its “Facility Facelift” campaign. There are a few ways to help.

1. Time – If you happen to be free on either Saturday or Sunday, September 1st or 2nd, we would love to have some extra hands on deck to help with a number of tasks. It could be anything from framing pictures to clearing chairs to assembling furniture or helping to repair our dance floor. The fun begins at 1:00 pm on Saturday. If you are handy with power tools and have some, we would REALLY love to have you come out and help.

2. Wish List – In the studios there is a message board that has our instructors on it. Under their pictures, there is a “wish list” of items that each teach would love to have at the studio. It ranges from things like CD racks or fans for cooling down the studio. Simply pull off the tab of the item you would like to “purchase” for the studio (by donating that dollar amount) place your name and contact information on it and place it in the little black and white box on the check-in window’s counter. If you’d like to come into the studios to check out the board you can find directions here: zohardancecompany.org/directions Maybe you can squeeze in a class while you are here!

3. Individual Donation – Zohar accepts donations 24-7 via their website zohardancecompany.org/donors. If you can’t help out with your time or by buying a wish list item, any amount that you can donate will go toward the improvements and will be GREATLY appreciated.

4. Sharing – We know that there must be people out there that are able and maybe if you simply share this page with your friends and families, maybe we can reach enough people that are willing to help. Zohar offers a number of community programs that are focused on youth and people who may not have the chance to be exposed to dance. The earned income of the dance studio mainly pays for those programs and leaves just a very very small portion to help with this project. If you would like to learn more about the outreach programs Zohar offers you can find that here: zohardancecompany.org/outreach

A number of us students are happily rolling up our sleeves to help with this project but it would be such a quick project if we had the help of the community.

Please consider donating or sharing to help us make these improvements. You will be celebrated as a staunch supporter of Dance by the faculty, students, and Board of Directors on the message boards! Not only that, your donations are tax deductible!

I truly thank you for your time and leave you with these last few words:

“The next time you look into the mirror,

just look at the way the ears rest next to the head;

look at the way the hairline grows;

think of all the little bones in your wrist.

It is a miracle. And the dance is a

celebration of that miracle.”

– Martha Graham

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”Dancing is a very living art.

It is essentially of the moment, although a very old art.

A dancer’s art is lived while he is dancing.