Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Chameleon interviews - Heather

In my previous post I mentioned that I've been working with TCKs/CCKs at SAS for the re-setting of Chameleon.
I've been conducting interviews to accompany the solos as the soundtrack. Like in previous solos in Chameleon, the performer is talking about their cross cultural experiences. Most of the time, I can choose what I want for the sound based on the interview. However, this re-setting and editing of the soundtrack is proving to be a challenge for me because I want to use EVERYTHING! Its rather challenging to edit it down to a 2 min. sound byte from a 30 min. interview. Heather in particular has a lot of interesting and relevant things to say and I've gotten the permission to share with you her interview. (Don't worry, I've edited it down to a 17 minute podcast format)


Sunday, September 9, 2012

Coming full circle with dance & TCKs & Chameleon

I haven't mentioned it in my past couple posts because I thought you'd be more interested to read about my reverse culture shock experiences... I can't not mention it since its pretty exciting stuff (at least to me.

I've been re-setting an excerpted version of Chameleon, the Experiences of Global Citizens to TCKs/CCKs (faculty and dance students at Singapore American School) to be performed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sept. 22nd. The process has been pretty exciting to work with so many TCKs. As with the previous performances of Chameleon, I work with each dancer's personal story especially for the solos. It is very much a collaboration between the dancer and myself in creating a solo that is completely personal. The dance teachers have been cast for solos, a recent alumni and three current students have been cast to learn the choreography from "Frozen Memories" section. The sound for the solos are personal interviews that I've conducted with the dancer and I'm truly fascinated by their stories. It is super inspiring to have this experience!

I'll be looking for more opportunities to work with Third Culture Kids, Expats, Cross Culture Kids, Adult Third Culture Kids, Dancers/Non-Dancers, Artists of other Genres to re-set a version of Chameleon in the near future!

My other part-time gig at the moment is teaching tap dance at a performing arts centre and all of my students there are TCKs as well and all the teachers there are Expats/CCKs/and maybe even TCKs themselves!

How exciting all of this is for me. I'm feeling a little bit more like myself again these days... (more on readjustment at a later post).


btw- I'm excited to also be performing as a Professional in the region for the first time ever! Salud!

While walking through the familiar hallways of SAS, I found these billboards of past dance productions. I was a part of these productions when I was a student at SAS!


UPDATE:
Here's the information about the performance in Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 22nd.