smile on my face

leave it to colbert to produce the first smile on my face in a few days.

colbert vs. rain. dance-off. i just have to say, rain is not that good-- he's kind of like michael jackson with a ponytail. weird. his feet seem too big, or something.

ailey barbie. i'm feeling a little uncomfortable.

in honor of the 50th anniversary of the alvin ailey american dance theater (one of my favorite cultural offerings in this city), mattel will be producing an ailey barbie?

Ailey Barbie doll on sale

In the fall of 2008, Mattel will release an Ailey Barbie® doll that was designed by Judith Jamison. The doll represents a dancer from Alvin Ailey’s masterpiece, Revelations.


BARBIE and associated trademarks and trade dress are owned by Mattel, Inc. © 2008 Mattel, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

umm, okay. i'm more excited by the free performances and classes that will be happening in august:

Free Dance Classes and Performances Throughout NYC (8.5-8.12)

In August, 2008, Ailey will conduct a series of free performances and dance classes in all five boroughs of NYC, sponsored by Bloomberg. Venues include Celebrate Brooklyn, Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture, New York City Center, Queens Theatre in the Park, and The St. George Theatre.

and the spring season at BAM (anyone want to get tix with me?):

Spring Season at BAM

The Joyce Theater will present Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for a week-long engagement at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) from June 3-8, 2008. This will be the first time in 38 years that the Company has performed at BAM.

i could watch this movie over and over again

i was looking over old posts and it's still just so great. sonj can't find the bootleg tho...does anyone have the hookup? :)

tonight

things that rock about today

1. today is the day after the second meeting of my ItAG (and the first that everyone attended). we played games from "games for actors and non-actors," introduced ourselves, and started to get a taste of what we all bring to the super-positive, awesomely radical educators' table. i left at 9:15 feeling radiant and expansive, and exhausted. good talk about good books is like crack to me, without the horrible post-hit crash :).
2. my promotion (as lukewarm as i felt/feel about it) was announced at work today. it's good to have it finally out in the open. it's also good to have a great officemate to make sense of it all with.
3. restaurant week dinner at amalia with heather and nicole. FAB! from caldo verde to balsamic-glazed short ribs to warm chocolate cake with vanilla foam and caramel ice cream, fancy dinner was worth every single penny. add the pinot/cabernet/syrah blend to that, and you've got near-perfection. good eats and good conversation-- a great way to end a wonderful 48 hours.

what's up next in this oh-so-blissful week?

• a pan-african literary forum reading at the new school tomorrow featuring our friend c. n. adichie
• maybe first fridays at the bronx museum?
• maybe first saturdays at the brooklyn museum?
• maybe a kinda silly obama-love event at piano's on thursday?

i dunno. but having to decide between this many awesome choices is priceless.

alvin ailey and my commitment to nyc's beauty

went to see that alvin ailey american dance theater tonight. for those of you that may not know, alvin ailey is a premiere dance company that was founded by an african american man in 1958, focused on the promotion of the african american through modern dance.
i saw alvin ailey last year and was blown away by the beauty and uniqueness of the performance. as a casual modern dance/ballet fan, i wasn't sure how much of the performance i would truly understand, but i found that the african american perspective reflected in much of the company's work spoke to me in a way that other performances have not. many of the dancers are of color, and the themes of the pieces, as well as the musical scores, were relevant to my life, specifically. that being said, i was TRES EXCITED for my attendance this year. i took my almost-bday twin, jac, and we spent two wondrous hours enjoying choreography by the likes of camille a. brown, robert battle, alvin ailey, and shonach robles. increible. the end of firebird almost brought me to tears--one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen.
i've been craving beautiful things as of late. i think my focus for my 25th year is on developing my beautiful things collection- jewelry especially- because i am surrounded by some of the most creative people on the earth in this city, and i don't take advantage of that enough.