Cold days have come and my sweatpants have replaced skirts. If it is a competition between sexy and comfort, comfort is going to win, as my friend Katie said to me this morning. It has been a pretty fun day so far. Drank smoothies, warmed up (trained) in the home. Went to visit Katie who is home sick and I couldn’t resist watching the first part of Spinal Tap with her. So bad it is good.

Have been writing, planning a composition class and choreographing all afternoon. I finally have time and space for creativity. Thank God! Pretty embarrassing stuff on video tape that hopefully nobody will ever see. Keep dancing to my new favourite song on the Destroyer album, your blues. A strange but wonderful band my actor friend Scott Montgomery turned me on to years ago. We used to work together in a coffee shop in Winnipeg called the Fyxx, and he was endlessly entertaining. Probably still is. He and the rest of the Royal Liechtenstein comedy troupe moved Toronto to pitch their pilot to CBC and make it in acting. I have spotted a few on T.V. from time to time; hope it going well in the big smoke.

Sometimes I miss the closeness of the Winnipeg community. The coffee shop where Scott and I worked was next to an anarchist bookshop/ restaurant called Mondragon and a building called Art Space. It houses the repertory theatre Cinematheque, Video Pool, the Winnipeg Film Group, and is quite close to the three major theatres, galleries, band spaces, Contemporary Dancers and the Music Conservatory. So many people laugh when you say you are from Winnipeg but (they are ignorant fools and) it is actually a pretty cool place. It was so easy to network and know a lot of artists from different disciplines there. Some days I toy with the idea of moving back and converting a warehouse in to my own studio. I know I would miss the abundance of culture in Montreal but it would be cool to be able to buy a house and be an artist. Time will tell how long I can tough it out in this fair city and if it will ever get easier and feel like home. Today it actually does, I am just getting nostalgic.

Saw O Vertigo at the Musee on the weekend. The live performance was a solo which was repeated by six different dancers. While one danced the next spoke about what goes through her/his head as they perform. What was most interesting to me was the different verbal and physical approaches to interpretation. The mental range from analytical, meditative, philosophical and personal was not always reflected in the way the person danced the material. They had to repeat the cycle six times and I would have been curious to see the progression - although at the time my hangover insisted that I leave.

Looking forward to Friday night’s Solid State show and a Thanksgiving weekend in the woods. I am thankful for many things but what I love most right now are my free afternoons.

Cheers,
Erin

P to the s. Heard from the choreographer and not so bitter anymore.