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This weekend I was mostly enjoying myself at a housewarming/book party for a friend and then a marvelous dance concert put on by The Harlem School of the Arts. The performances ranged from ballet, tap, modern dance, traditional African dance, and hip hop and the ages from about 5-25 or so. I went to see Lillie Womack in her first performance as a tap dancer -and on her fifth birthday. The proud parents took photos. Lillie slipped a little out of character by waving to her parents in the audience--no stage fright this kid!
The best of all the dances by far were two solo performances choreographed by Keith Anthony Lewis (we ran into him afterwards and gushed about his choreography). One was a female and the other male. The dances and the dancers were up to professional level. The tap dancers ranged in age (there were two groups: Lillie's, which was mixed age and sex and an all boy group). The kids were totally adorable.
The drummers who accompanied the traditional dancers were fantastic as was the accompanist who played piano and clarinet (IIRC). It was a marvelous fun evening.
Today I got up very late and had lunch with an old friend (and former roommate) who I've been getting together with more often in the past few months. This is probably because her son is at the age (18) at which he can --or wants to be--on his own more. She and I talked about a cross-country road trip next year -neither of us have ever done it and we'd like to before we're too old. She'd probably do most of the driving. I think I've got enough friends across the country to crash with if we're in the area. Otherwise we'll do motels. I'm too old for camping out and never could sleep well in a car.
And back to reality and more professional things. The Del Rey Book of.... is getting some attention. Today I found four copies in the B&N on 8th street and of course signed them--they are really good-looking. This is the first time I've seen a finished copy.
From Jeff VanderMeer:
omnivoracious
and from The San Francisco Chronicle:
"...The former fiction editor for Omni and the online magazine Sci Fiction, Datlow knows how to solicit exciting new work. The quality of the selections in this volume is uniformly high, and the diversity of voices and approaches should attract a wide range of readers."
a lot more here:
SF Chronicle review
The best of all the dances by far were two solo performances choreographed by Keith Anthony Lewis (we ran into him afterwards and gushed about his choreography). One was a female and the other male. The dances and the dancers were up to professional level. The tap dancers ranged in age (there were two groups: Lillie's, which was mixed age and sex and an all boy group). The kids were totally adorable.
The drummers who accompanied the traditional dancers were fantastic as was the accompanist who played piano and clarinet (IIRC). It was a marvelous fun evening.
Today I got up very late and had lunch with an old friend (and former roommate) who I've been getting together with more often in the past few months. This is probably because her son is at the age (18) at which he can --or wants to be--on his own more. She and I talked about a cross-country road trip next year -neither of us have ever done it and we'd like to before we're too old. She'd probably do most of the driving. I think I've got enough friends across the country to crash with if we're in the area. Otherwise we'll do motels. I'm too old for camping out and never could sleep well in a car.
And back to reality and more professional things. The Del Rey Book of.... is getting some attention. Today I found four copies in the B&N on 8th street and of course signed them--they are really good-looking. This is the first time I've seen a finished copy.
From Jeff VanderMeer:
omnivoracious
and from The San Francisco Chronicle:
"...The former fiction editor for Omni and the online magazine Sci Fiction, Datlow knows how to solicit exciting new work. The quality of the selections in this volume is uniformly high, and the diversity of voices and approaches should attract a wide range of readers."
a lot more here:
SF Chronicle review