Sitemap
|
|
Brian did a fabulous job with the dancers and his responsilbilities with the production of Dancing On Wheels. He and Kristina had a show Wednesday night in Devon, then rode the trains all night to get back to London to practice Thursday morning with the dancers and celebities on Dancing On Wheels.
June 26-Brian did salsa seminars at Karen Hardy's studio. We went to that (all dressed up!), then Saturday, June 27, Brian and Kristina went to Guernsey to do another show and Monica and I went to see Windsor Castle.
On Monday morning I visited the dancers' practices again and worked with the dancers one last time until I can return to London.
This has been such a THRILL. I have had a wonderful, inspiring, rewarding, reassuring, working vacation. I forgot to say memorable and meaningful, but I guess all that is redundant.
June 27-I spent the past three days doing choreography and coaching the couples for the new show. It will most likely air in Jan 2010. It is unbelievably rewarding to do dance choreography with the celebrity dancers and disabled dancers who have been selected for Brian's show.
Everyone involved is excited about the possibilities that this series opens for people with disabilities. Now that the first show is over, I think it is obvious that there is a wonderful probablity that people will open their eyes and see, really see, the population of people who live with and overcome disablities, rejection, oversight, dismissal and predjudice.
I have been priveleged to be invited to participate in the preparations for the second week of the series called Dancing On Wheels. It is being produced by BBC in London.
We practiced at a local Universlty the past three days. It wasn't the physical conditions we are used to in a real dance studio, but it certainly was the emotional and supportive conditions that any athlete or artist would respond to.
I worked on 2 rumbas and 2 foxtrots. The foxtrots are done and I like the way they turned out. I have a concern that they will end up looking the way I want them to look. It is difficult to create the vision, story and structure, then turn it over to the dancers to get it ready for performance without me screaming, cheering, counting, cajoling in the background.
The entire project is amazing and the dancers are impressive. It isn't necessarily the dancing, even though that is very good, but the spirit, comeraderie and hope and excitement that is rejuvenating and inspiring.
I hope everyone will get to see the show. I also hope, actually, I expect, that lots of eyes will be opened and that Brian's show will be a positive event for awareness of people with disabilites.
Sandra
July 11-Brian filmed week three of Dancing On Wheels yesterday. The dances were pasodoble and Viennese waltz. He said it was a very emotional program this week and that everyone involved, including the camera and lighting men, were in tears. Sounds pretty memorable. It is great when performances can touch the audience so profoundly.
Tonight, he and Kristina are doing a show at Len Goodman's studio. I am not sure where that is, but I got a sense that it involves quite a bit of traveling. Tomorrow, Sunday, the remaining contestants will jump in with both feet to get the next set of dances ready for week four.
The parents of one of the wheelchair dancers thanked Brian for changing their son's life and for giving him such beautiful choreography. I wish I could have been there.
July 12-I spoke briefly with Brian today. He said the show at Len Goodman's was the best show they've done. I don't know if he means they danced their best or if they got the best reaction from this particular audience.
He told me that they are doing three different dances this week for Dancing On Wheels. Two are samba and salsa. I can't remember what the third dance is - I would have selected hustle, but I don't think that's it.
July 13-I had a chance to ask Brian about the show at Len Goodman's. He said Len was there and that he complimented Brian on the show and on the lessons.
He said he did a little shopping-all his clothes are just hanging on him. He has been doing practically nothing but working. It must be invigorating and exhausting at the same time.
I am very curious about SCD. I wonder who will be assigned to him? I know that it was announced somewhere that Aleesha Dixon is replacing Arlene as one of the judges. I don't know what other changes are going to happen, except I think that Karen Hardy has left and will be replaced. I hope the new female pro will be as bubbly and personable as Karen. Karen was such an asset to the show. It seemed like she was in her element and that she was very well liked. I am curious to know if they managed to find someone of her caliber?
He asked me again if I would be coming back to see the last show. I would love to do that, but it seems so extravagant to leave my studio again already when I know I will be going on at least three more out of town trips in the next few months. My dream would have been to be there for the whole time they were working on the show. Sometimes, it is just too difficult to give up what you have to do something really fun.
Tonight, Brian, a crew, and one of the couples will visit a unique venue and film some stuff for the show. He was bragging about some of the wheelchair dancers' exceptional skills. They just have this week (three couples remain) and next week, then the show will be done. Brian believes it will be a hit. I am sure he is right. It gives me a very good feeling to know that many more people will see that dancing can be for everyone.
July 16-Brian says that he will come home on July 27. Tomorrow, July 17, is the second to the last filming of the Dancing On Wheels show. Next week, July 24, is the final show. It is exciting to know that this show, Dancing On Wheels, has been picked up and produced for TV. It is strange that it has taken place in UK, not in USA, the place where we expect innovation to prevail. Personally, I don't really care about anything beyond the fact that wc dancing will be shown to millions of people and that it will be the kind of activity that will show that people with disabilities are people who love and take advantage of opportunities to show their spirit, their abilites, their artistry, their athleticsm.
Over the years, and there a lot of years, I have seen ballroom dancers "step down." By that, I mean change their focus and allegiance to a "lesser" style. Bob Baers was a ballroom dancer who moved over to Country Western and became a star at Country Western. Artie Philips was a significant ballroom dancer, but crossed over to theater, and then came back to ballroom, Latin and hustle, and made an indelible mark. Robert Cordoba was a so-so ballroom dancer, but became a star at West Coast Swing. I think that Brian Fortuna made a "cross-over" but it was to a level higher, not a level below. His TV connections, his abilities to be versatile, his bend to be inclusive, have given this show, Dancing On Wheels, an exciting and progressive face.
The couple who impressed me the most when I attended the Dancing On Wheels sessions is still in the running. The couple who Brian expected to win is still in the running. The couple who has and displays the most inherent disability and the most drive and fortitude, is still in the running. I think that these contestants' outcome is unpredictable. There are too many factors that influence the dances' beauty, the dancers' portrayal of the assigned dance, the reception of the audiences' impressions. I wish I could travel to London and the Estree Studios to see the final shows. This has been an exciting adventure.
July 17-Brian and Kristina are on their way to County Dance School in Reading UK to do their show for Ian Waite's parents' dance school. Ian is one of the SCD professional dancers. Brian will be back in the rehearsal space early tomorrow morning to start getting the last five routines together for the final Dancing On Wheels show, which will be filmed next Friday. He said that each of the remaining couples will do two routines and that he and Kristina would do a salsa with the two wheelchair dancers.
He said, "It was spectacular today!" That's always good to hear. I know they had a salsa, a samba and a waltz to do today. He didn't have too much else to say, except that he feels exhausted. In some ways, this will be the toughest week of the show. He will want to do a great job with all the contest routines, and the quartet salsa will probably have some intricacies that will take lots of concentration and skill.
His title for the show is "consulting producer" "choreographer" and two other things, I think. I should have known this. My problem is that I am so enthralled with the idea of the show and the fact that it is really happening, the background details don't seem such a big deal.
I am very curious to learn what Ian's dance school is like and if Ian will be there.
July 20-I asked Brian how the show at Ian Waite's studio went. He said, "Spectacular!" He is saying that alot. He and Kristina got there, changed into their costumes in 15 minutes, did their show, posed for just a couple of pictures, and left right away so they could get to work early the next morning.
He was telling me about doing indoor skydiving. I think the remaining dancers and a crew went to that today as part of the show. Brian has a new favorite recreation. They blow air up a tunnel at 125 miles per hour and people just float on the air.
July 24-Today is the final shooting of the series, Dancing On Wheels. I know that there had to be a lot of pressure for the dancers to be seeing the end of this very demanding, intriguing and unusual show. I imagine that there will be a celebration tonight following the show. I hope it all goes well and as planned. There isn't much break before SCD restarts.
I just took a shot at catching Brian at 6pm his time. I was hoping that it would be over. He said they are in the middle of the finale, they have judges remarks and Brian's quartet ready to go on stage. he is very excited. He says that what they are doing (he means the show and its focus) is something that is really incredible. I regret not returning to London for this final week, but it just seemed too extravagant to give up more studio time and do such expensive travel. I will call him back in about 2 hours, and get the scoop on how it all went.
July 29-Brian is home for a few days. He stopped in to see what Aubree and I were doing with our next set of wheelchair choreographies for Nick Scott. I am not sure when he will head back to London. I did an interview and am writing about the Dancing On Wheels show and his involvement. I learned some things that I didn't already know.
August 17-Brian was taking off for London just about the same time that I was landing in Philly from my Florida trip. He and the other pro dancers had their big dinner together on Monday night. He will meet his celebrity on Thursday. Kristina already has her celebrity. So does Anton. I guess they spread out the meetings over the entire week.
Brian said that when he boarded the British Airways flight, all the flight attendants started dancing. I asked him, "What was that all about?" He said, "By now they all know me." I guess he gets the same crew pretty often.
I asked him who this Katya on SCD person is. He said that she is very good looking and she is from Canada. I think Vancouver. Another female pro for SCD was the partner of a young man who was at our studio for many years and who stayed with me and Andy. It is such a small world. Out of the 16 pros, 25% are from North America.
He was telling me about Woody Allen doing a movie and shooting scenes in London this week.
When I came home from the studio tonight, Andy had some old videos playing. One was of Brian in his first amateur competition. He was dancing with Angela. Angela was quite a bit taller than Brian. That was then, and this is now. Angela is probably 12 inches shorter than Brian now. Andy was making some DVDs to bring with us when we visit Beverly Reese, now Beverly Golden. Beverly was runner-up in the World's Amateur Latin some years ago. She lived with us for a while. That time that she lived with us was nothing but laughs. I don't know how much of that time Brian remembers, but she has some funny stories to tell about him.
I can't wait til Thursday when we will find out who Brian will be dancing with.
August 19-Brian had a long rehearsal today. They are doing a pretty involved opening number. I assume he meant just the pros, since he still hasn't met his celebrity. He mentioned that one of the females pros got really good. He and Kristina have a lot of shows lined up for 2010 already. It is funny that SCD dancing hasn't announced the celebrities, but DWTS has. On the other hand, DWTS had a write up in one of the major news papers here, and they still listed Len Goodman as a judge, and I haven't seen any list of the pros.
Tom DeLay is on the radio at this moment. He just said he is supposed to keep it quiet, but he is talking about his lessons with Cheryl and how patient she is and how he has the best teacher. The radio host wants to know how Tom's wife feels about him spending so much time with Cheryl. He says something non-commital and mentions that Cheryl is 28 yrs younger than he. He also says they (the DWTS people) called him and he thought it would be great fun. The host said anyone who does these shows has a lot of courage. He wishes Tom congratulations and best of luck. Then they start talking politics and I stop listening.
August 20-Brian met his celebrity today. He had more dance rehearsals for SCD, his agent is still setting up more shows and photo shoots. He got another extra assignment from SCD. It's all getting started. There's some very exciting stuff.
August 27-So they have been having a lot of rehearsals for the pro numbers, Brian and Kristina were assigned a number, two of the dancers are scheduled for a magazine photo shoot, I hear that Ali Bastian is in all the UK newspapers. Oh, no. I misunderstood the message. It's Kristina and her boxer partner, Joe, who is in all the papers. Everything sounds exciting and promising.
They have done a lot of numbers already for the show. There will be 8 couples competing vs each other and then the other 8 couples will compete vs each other. Brian says it's going well with his new celebrity.
We watched some video of DWTS first three tours this past week. The audiences were VERY lively and responsive. It was so exciting to see so many people excited and enthralled by ballroom and Latin dancing. It's the partnering that makes it appealing. That interaction between the partners that sometimes exposes chemistry is what gives our kind of dancing an undeniable attraction. Now the thing will be to maintain the level of excitement and keep the audiences charged up and continually delighted with the beauty of all the dances.
I haven't gotten any reports on how the pro/celebrity couples are doing, or if they are doing some kind of group number with all 32 dancers.
August 31-I haven't heard from Brian too much this week. We used to talk on Skype, but I had to remove it from my computer. I am wondering how this summer's experiences changed and affected him, his attitudes, his outlook, his desire to do well. I imagine that he is feeling very fortunate and blessed.
I know for a fact that Heather Small, who is a very lovely person, had a positive impact on Brian. She probably affects everyone that way. I believe Brian was very lucky to be matched with her last season.
I don't know hardly anything about Ali Bastian, except that Brian says she has a lot of ability and that she is very sweet and he enjoys her company. That sounds good. I hope that we will be able to watch on youtube. Someone told me that BBC was removing all the Youtube videos from past seasons. What's the purpose of that, I wonder? I am sure they have a reason, but as usual, I prefer to look at things from my own point of view.
Two of my students just came back from London. They were desperate to do some ballroom dancing there, but couldn't find a place. It can't be true, can it? I know they missed the monthly social at Karen Hardy's but there must be other ballroom schools and dance socials in London.
Next week is the United States Championships in Florida. I am looking forward to watching some dancing live and in person. It should be fun! Seems like we can't get enough dancing.
Sept 6 -I finally talked to Brian last night. He sounded tired. This year he is cooking every night at home and he is working on his fitness level daily. The training facility is really nice and he likes that a lot. He says everything is going well with Ali. They are working on two dances. One is more difficult for her, but he is happy with their progress and their preparations. The couples are divided into two groups. Next week his group will learn a special introcuctory routine for the pros with their celebrities. I believe the male celebrities formed one group and the female celebrities formed another, but I don't think he said anything about that this year. My thought is that maybe they divided the short from the tall or the young from the old, or maybe they just tossed some coins.
He and Kristina are still lining up shows. I don't think Brian will be living in the US for a very long time. Things can always change, so we will see.
Sept 13-I didn't have access to the computer this week, since I was in Orlando, Florida for the US Dancesport Championships. I did talk to Brian on Saturday for almost 5 minutes before we lost the connection. He was telling me about the shows he and Kristina have lined up, the preparations for SCD, Ali's progress and his hopes for the outcome of the series. It is all very exciting.
I had people coming up to me all week at the competition to either ask about how Brian is doing or to tell me how wonderful he is doing. Some of the English dancers were at the event to spectate. From UK, Ron Gunn, who is known as the best tailor for custom men's dancewear and who first met Brian when Brian was probably about 5 years old, went on and on about how appealing he is on TV, how well he presents himself and so on. Ron told me that Andy and I did a magnificent job with Brian. That was very nice. Vivian, Len Armstrong's wife, went out of her way to speak to me about Brian, and she basically said the same things. Everyone who I know that was at the event was very enthusiastic about Brian's career and especially about my personal favorite aspect of it, the Dancing On Wheels show.
Besides having a great view of all the events at the National Championships, as a judge, I was fortunate to have my opinion count. I like that alot. I think I have great taste in dancing and my love of the sport/art affects my choices and decisions in a very positive way. There were competitors from Russia, Canada, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Italy, Germany, China and of course, USA. The highlight of the week was the Open Pro Latin on Saturday night. I had never seen most of the couples entered in the event. We started out by recalling 24 from two huge flights. By the time the field was whittled down to the final six, everyone had enjoyed some pretty fantastic dancing.
Riccardo and Yulia won. They performed a fabulous jive as their honor dance. The audience had given a standing ovation at the end of the 5 dances, then the winners received another standing ovation when their championship was announced and another one when they finished their final honor dance.
Slavic and Anna were runners-up. What a beautiful young woman. She was the only competitor not extreme in any way-not overly tanned, not overly rhinestoned, not overly thin or muscular, not overly bare or made-up. She seemed to have made absolutely no effort to stand out by physical appearance. She certainly stood out with her movement, though, and she let that be her ticket to drawing the spectators' eyes.
Carmen, who did the samba with Brian Watson one of the SCD shows that I attended last season, was another judge. Paul Killick was judging. Shirley and Corky Ballas were judging. Andy took a picture of Shirley Ballas and me, "The Mums," she said. She told me about a rehearsal for half the couples on SCD that she conducted. I won't tell her whole story, but it must have been worth some laughs for some of the dancers and crew. Hanna Kartunen was at the competition just to watch.
Dancing hasn't been that big in the US til recently, so there aren't a whole lot of children like Brian who have grown up with parents in the dance industry, but there are a few who are about his age that were competing this week:
-Natalie Berrera did pro-am with her father. Her mother, Margaret Berrera was judging. Margaret and Wilson Berrera were World World Exhibition Champions, United States Ten Dance Champions, British Rising Star Latin Champions, Finalist United States Latin Championships
-Nickolai Pilipenchuk did Pro National and Open Professional Latin and National 10 dance. His parents, Igor and Polina Pilipenchuk, who competed in the US for a little over 10 years, representing the US at the Worlds 10 dance and maybe standard, too. I can't remember for sure. Nicolai's mother, Polina, was also judging.
-Marcus Johnson did Open Pro Latin and the Open Pro Rising Star Latin. His parents, Patrick and Wendy Johnson, used to be featured on the Merv Griffin show as representatives of Arthur Murray dance schools. Both his parents were judging.
The other mothers do the same thing I do: get very nervous and uptight when our children are hitting the floor to dance and relieved when the last note of the last dance is played. We definitely all live through our children. Face it, dancing is an exciting activity. It brings some of the biggest pleasures in life to a person's day. It is doubly exciting to watch your child pick up where you left off and finds happiness, reward, inspriration and even success in an activity to which you are permanently attached. I watched Wendy Johnson and Polina Pilipenchuk reveal the emotions of stress and effort that were right at the surface when their children were on the competition floor. Margaret Burns seemed to be more comfortable with her daughter being on the competition floor. The fact that Natalie was being partnered by her expert father probably had something to do with that.
Sept 14-I tried to be in touch with Brian today, but I guess he is very time commited to the final preparations for the first show coming up this weekend. His birthday is Sunday and it is hard to believe he will turn 27. I am still recovering from the long week at the USDSC, so I will have to put more attention on the studio and my own dance projects the next few weeks. I enjoy reading about SCD and watching and re-watching the youtube videos of the show, but this year I plan to try to cool it a little. The operative word is "try," but that is the plan. I am wondering if there is any It Takes Two this week or if it doesn't start til next week?
I haven't been watching TV much, but I would have expected to at least catch a glimpse or two of advertisements for DWTS. It seems really on the back burner this year. Maybe interest is cooling off or maybe production feels less need to promote the program too hard, or maybe I am just not watching enough ABC. I did see Julianne's picture in a magazine with a note about how she celebrated her 21st birthday in Atlantic City. It doesn't seem like that many years ago that she was just a little girl going around to competitions with Shirley, Derek and Mark. Time flies. Before we know it, this group of very famous young adults will be the old school and a whole new group of dancers will be in the limelight.
Sept 15-Brian called today on his way home from rehearsals. He says everything is going great-he and Ali have their first two dances ready for this Friday, he and Kristina are getting a lot of bookings for shows and seminars. There is some nervousness about the first show of SCD. Since every celebrity is out of their element, they are all in the same boat. Ali got on the phone with Andy and he told her not to worry about the show, she will be fabulous. He told her just don't get distracted, and that she has plenty going for her that has nothing to do with what she has to learn with regard to dancing. It's true. I agree. It is so much about how a person looks, and Ali is completely gorgeous. Still, it's easier said than done to avoid being nervous. I would be shaking in my boots if I had to go on TV doing something that was not my forte.
Traffic is terrible, Brian says. Even that is enough to un-nerve a person and keep them on edge.
Brian says he is looking forward to celebrating his birthday this weekend.
He can't work his computer, so we won't be talking by Skype this year. It is giving me a real feeling of separation. Last year we were on Skype every day some weeks. I have a plan to bring the local dancers together at our local ballroom this Friday and video an off-key rendition of Happy Birthday. It seems so long ago that the BBC sent the videographer to the studio to video us turning over the birthday gift last year right before SCD started.
Sept 16-We are excited about the show starting this weekend. I read on the internet that Brian and Ali have a rumba and a waltz, so I guess everyone already knows that.
|