Salt Horse Blog

Please see the new Salt Horse Website here.

Angelina and I are back in Seattle now. It seems odd to write a post for the blog at this point, but there’s a quite a bit I didn’t have time to write about in the past week and a half.

Then end of last week was intense. Angelina was getting over a cold, while Corrie and I were just getting it… just in time for the performances. It made things a lot harder, but we toughed it out. Yuki was there for all of our preparation… she offered quite a bit to the group and to our overall dynamic, not to mention some beautiful dancing. We were very fortunate that she was able to join us. Nami also entered the picture - our lighting designer. A totally cool woman who has traveled all over the world doing lighting for theater and dance.

Preparing for the final piece involved 8-10 hour days. Setting up the space… the chairs, the marley floor, the seating, the sound, mounting the projector and working with Nami to figure out the lights… And during all of this, we worked on finalizing the our work. Getting the details worked out, and running through the piece a number of times.

Each of the performances went well. We had good turn-outs for a couple of the performances, and as well as a famous critic that showed up for our matinée show. We held Q&A sessions after each performance and got some good feedback - though it is very tough to get Japanese people to speak about what they think in these situations, as many are shy. I think we were all really happy our performances and we look forward to seeing some video…

^ Corrie putting the space together

^ Angelina preparing for a performance

^ Yuki, Torao & Nami

^ Soft Cream (Yuki)

^ John after the first performance

After our shows in Yokohama (at ST Spot), we rented a van and drove to Osaka where we met up with Tim Olive to play Bridge. This is what the venue looks like:

We extended a part of our piece called ’sequence’ for the first set, and for the second set we Tim Olive and Kinoshita joined us. There was great listening all around and a good turn-out, thanks to Tim and a guy named Jeff or ‘Jet’ who wrote up the show in a local music magazine. Afterwards we ate some Takoyaki… super delicious octopus balls. Yuki and I shared some sake and we all went back to our tiny room at the nearby business hotel. Each of us inside a closet on a floor covered in Tatami mattes.

The following day we visited a beautiful shrine in Kyoto, and then a the famous Rock Garden. And we finally found a great place for one of my favorite Japanese foods, Sukiyaki.

I really enjoyed my time in Japan. Corrie and John were great hosts, I met some wonderful people, got to work with amazing artists and became good friends with Yuki. I look forward to returning some day.

Took nap for three hours as soon as I filled my stomach after I got home from sending Angelina and Jason.
Usual evening was there when I woke up.
Emptying my bag from the trip to Osaka/Kyoto.
My stuff for the trip were going back to where they were.
I set up alarms for my work tomorrow.
And, I am going to take a long bath to soak things how it had been this week to my body so that I won’t have the same realistic just busy life from tomorrow.
My life has been influenced in some ways from this project, and now, I need to take time to absorb what they were.
Basking in the afterglow in a bathtub is the way for tonight.

to be updated

I know we have been totally lame on keeping up with the blog. Production week, performances a trip to Osaka & Kyoto, and less than 24 hours from now, we will be in the air on our way back home.

I will spend whatever time I’m not sleeping or watching Daniel Craig and Eva Green on the airplane catching up on the blog. I’ve got some photos and maybe even a good video or 2 to share.

For now I will keep your interest peaked with a small sample of some photos and a video of Corrie using her skills as a dancer to keep herself awake for the incredibly grueling drive home.

Enjoy!

BreakDowninJapan!