From Swan Lake to Hip Hop

Friday, March 5th, 2010 | All Posts by Quinn Wharton | No Comments

Local students at a San Francisco Ballet Community Matinee.

These last two weeks have been a whirlwind. While Swan Lake was the beginning of the season, Programs 2 and 3 were the real dancing kick-off for me, personally. Being onstage every night is something that I haven’t done since last year and it always takes a little time to get acclimated. The difference between schedules is huge in many aspects, from what you eat and when, to how you push your body during the day. It also takes time just to get used to putting on a performance face every night. During rehearsal periods, we aren’t expected to perform every day and even during final rehearsals, while you need to project, it doesn’t have to be all the time. So switching to being on stage is almost a meditative practice. You have to come into the theater every night and remove yourself from all the bad or good that happened that day. Throughout your routine: warm-up, makeup, and getting into costume, you free your mind from distractions and focus on the character you’re portraying that evening. Of course the characters/roles range, from high to low stress, but there is always that period where you clear your mind. If you don’t, you get onstage and it can take you halfway through the performance before you transition from your introverted self to your outward, performance persona. At least we know first-hand, the definition of a stage vs. street identity. I’m sure movie stars and famous personalities have a much harder time with this distinction.

All of these musings comes to bear on the recent matinee I performed in. The Community Matinees (CMATs as they are referred to here), are special performances presented twice a year, to local elementary school children. CMATs are part of the Ballet’s community outreach efforts and a great way to experience a different audience. The children are much more moved by base emotion; they don’t have the performance etiquette or “training” that adults do, so there are constant outbursts from them which makes the performance really gratifying and fun.SF Ballet recently received a grant to further our new media efforts and technological capabilities, and the company decided to put some of this towards outreach. The idea was to stream the CMAT performance live, to a number of the schools in the Bay Area, allowing the show to be broadcast to a larger age range, which meant making the performance content more educational and behind-the-scenes. It also gave us freedom to get creative from a filming stand point. I was asked to perform some hip hop for the beginning of the show as a catalyst, a way to draw the older kids in immediately and get them to keep an open mind about ballet. I trained in hip hop early in my life and have kept up with it throughout the years, but this was very different than the regular performing I do (or the company does). It was almost more like being asked to choreograph something.  I was given complete freedom as long as it got a stamp of approval in the end. I picked the music, choreographed the movement, chose my outfit, and dictated the lighting to an extent. It was such a freeing experience in a way. As a hip hop dancer, I relish the freedom of movement and I was glad not to have any boundaries. Ironically the hardest part was deciding what to wear since we usually have Wardrobe telling us what costume to put on, so the freedom of choice was almost overwhelming.

Tying back to the beginning, I realized very quickly that the mental process of this preparation was going to be very different. I was wearing regular clothes, opening the show without anything to feed off of, and my warm-up had to be completely different for what I was doing. That sort of variety really threw me off.  Standing in the middle of that giant Opera House stage five minutes before the curtain went up, my heart rate began to pick up and I kept wondering if there was anything else I could do to be more prepared. I could hear all of the children right on the other side of that curtain, talking to each other; I’m sure they expected to see tutus when the curtain went up.  Luckily for me, my instincts are pretty ingrained at this point. When the curtain came up and the pool of light was on me, my mind went pretty blank. I remember very little sound from the performance, even the music I had picked seemed faint. I just remember looking directly up into the spotlight as the music swelled and wondering if this is how Michael Jackson ever felt, and that it was completely worth it. It’s the rush of a thousand eyes on you alone and the feeling of total exhilaration as you let your body take over and do what it knows best. It’s like you stop thinking and processing, and just let physical memory take you from one movement to the next. My part was over before I knew it and luckily, it won’t be the last time I get this opportunity. The feedback was really positive after the show and I think it will be repeated for the other CMAT performances this year. Now I’ll be able to prepare more and hopefully enjoy it a bit more in the moment.

Tags: CMAT, Community Matinees, Program 2, Program 3, Quinn Wharton, Swan Lake

Weekend Fashion Shoot

Monday, December 7th, 2009 | All Posts by Quinn Wharton | No Comments

Dores Andre

I got bored a few weekends ago and decided to do an experimental photo shoot with Dores Andre. I’ve become really interested in a lot of fashion photography lately. It’s bright, colorful, attractive. When I started photographing, I admired David LaChapelle’s work a lot and all of his stuff has those characteristics. It also helps that the use of his images in advertising is ubiquitous, it’s everywhere. Knowing a bit about photography and trying to dissect it, immediately you try to figure out where the light is coming from, the source it’s coming from, what techniques the photographer used, and how much Photoshop was involved.

Dores Andre

To recreate one of his shots, it’s surprisingly easy to get the basics. What’s much more difficult is pulling everything together and, regardless of materials, getting the product to come out right. You can have everything in place, but if the camera is in the wrong person’s hands or you’re just not focused enough, everything can go wrong.

Dores Andre

So I wanted to try and do a basic studio set-up with a large backdrop. I don’t usually do backdrops just because it’s annoying to set up. It’s much easier to go to a beautiful location with some light and be able to move around. Being in San Francisco we have plenty of amazing locations. Doing a studio set-up involves bringing giant backdrops and stands, plus light and camera gear. You also have to have a large indoor space to use. Fortunately, a friend of mine, Gavin Coombs, lives in a large loft space that appears made for a photographer. It has huge windows that curve up halfway into the ceiling providing plenty of beautiful natural light. He also has lots of interesting props, as you’ll see in the photos, including a white full, grand piano.

Dores Andre

Dores and I proceeded to put some outfits together and see what happened. I don’t think it necessarily came out like a high fashion shoot (no Gucci or Dior here), but it produced some really interesting results and most importantly, taught me something new and helped me see what I would change next time. I fluctuated between having lots of movement to give a natural flow to things, to more static, focused shots trying to capture the essence of the moment and what was going on. All in all, it was a highly successful day. I didn’t have to rent any equipment, got some interesting photos, and had a good time. You can’t ask for much more. These experiments also do a great job of keeping me excited for the next one. Already I’m planning on doing a woodsy shot with lots of movement and streaming light. I’ll pass it along when it finally happens.

Tags: Dores Andre, Photography, Quinn Wharton

A Trip to the Summer Palace

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 | All Posts by Quinn Wharton, Perpetual Motion: SFB on Tour | 1 Comment

The Summer Palace is the most intense cultural experience I’ve had in China so far, excluding that evening I got lost in the slums of Shanghai. The Palace is where the emperor and his family would go during the summers to escape the city heat of Beijing. It’s a glorious, old place resting on a lake northeast of the city. The day I went it was really foggy. So while that obscured the view a bit, it also meant less people which is always preferable when you’re doing touristy things. And the fog actually helped some of the ambiance as well. The grounds contain a large forest that was made more magical by the calm hush of the clouds overhead. And looking out over the lake, all I could see were gentle shapes drifting in a netherworld of white toy boats losing their way in the mist. All of the palace grounds—the gates, the gardens, the pagodas—were all very beautiful, but the centerpiece is what took my breath away.

A boat on the lake in the mist

The main palace consists of two large temples—one in front of the other. Both overlook the lake and are protected by a large gate and courtyard. I had to make my way up five or six huge staircases before finally reaching the top, but the architecture was amazing so there was plenty to see. In my mind, the temples bear a striking resemblance to some Mayan and Aztec structures such as the sets of long, stone stairs and the shapes of the buildings. The only major differences from my perspective are the decorations and fluted roofs tops.

This is only of a portion of the steps to get to the top!

Alexandra McCullagh and Clara Blanco head into the temple

Inside each temple are huge Buddha statues and quite a few tourists praying. These massive, ancient halls are dominated by a single, golden figure so very different from the churches and cathedrals I’m used to seeing in the West. They carry the weight of ancient times. I could easily picture them thousands of years ago: the emperor praying in front of them standing just as tall and impressively as they do now. It made me wonder why we appreciate these connections to our past so much.

The Temple of Buddha Incense

I cherish old buildings and art and places of great significance. I suppose they are reminders of what we have done and where we have come from, which in our quickly changing world is a valuable thing to have. It’s a gentle reminder every now and again to for me step outside my small span of time and feel the sweep of eons past. Then again, maybe we just like to gloat about how great we are now and how far we have come, but I suppose that would be a cynical way of looking at it. Regardless, the Summer Palace was a great trip, and I’m glad I got to experience it.

A wall of Buddha's in the temple

Tags: China Tour

A Birthday Expedition

Monday, October 5th, 2009 | All Posts by Quinn Wharton, Perpetual Motion: SFB on Tour | No Comments

We arrived in Beijing on Sunday. It was a painless flight: two hours from wheels up to touch down. The air in Beijing was some of the strangest I have ever been in. It was around 4pm when we got in, so it was heading towards dusk, but there was no sunset. It seemed as if there was just cloud cover but there were no clouds: just a dense, smoggy murk that went from white, through shades of gray, to black. You could look directly at the sun and not hurt your eyes. Luckily the next morning proved that it wasn’t a constant state. The sun has been out quite a bit now. The gloom seems to set in just by the time dusk hits.

We took class and rehearsed a bit that Monday, and ran through most of the mixed-rep program in Beijing Ballet’s studio. When we got back to our hotel, it was time to head out for a big birthday party dinner. It was both Hansuke Yamamoto’s and Frances Chung’s birthdays that day, so it was time to celebrate. Personally, I am not a big fan of large parties. If they aren’t organized by a trained professional, things can quickly become disastrous. (Even trying to order dinner with five people is difficult, let alone figuring out the check.) So I was feeling particularly fearful when I stepped out of the elevator and saw roughly 30 people waiting in the lobby. This was going to be a nightmare, I thought.

I asked Dana [Genshaft] where we were going, since she and Liz [Miner] seemed to be in charge of organizing the outing. I found out we were headed to a tiny restaurant which, according to the concierge, was located in a maze of alleyways and impossible to find. Then there was the added obstacle of, not having a reservation. How do you show up at a restaurant with no reservation, 30 people, and expect to eat? It’s just not done! So with serious dread, we embarked: a 30-something group of cross-cultural dancers, hungry and noisy.

The group about to get on the subway

We took the subway, which was in itself quite an adventure. It was a simple process, but we still had to make sure everyone had a ticket and got on the right train.

Diego Cruz (surrounded by lots of other dancers) in the Beijing subway station

We got off the train in a dark, quiet area. Down each small alley we saw locals eating dinner together. Everyone stared at us as we passed, probably not used to seeing so many foreigners at once. We walked for about 15 minutes. I was losing hope (and growing hungrier) second by second. We stopped to get directions from some cooks hanging out at a fast food pick-up window.

Here are the guys that pointed us in the right direction!

Just a few minutes later, we were headed down a small broken-down alley. Looking at the entrance to the restaurant, my fears were confirmed: it was trashed, just a ramshackle of roofing, brick, and wood.

But once I stepped inside, I was shocked; the outside was just a facade. They had taken a small house, built around a courtyard, and redone the interior to make it a beautiful modern restaurant, akin to something you would see in San Francisco, like Beretta, or The Ramp.

The interior of the restaurant

Our good fortune continued when we met the owner. It turned out that they were having a slow night, so after some careful negotiation, we agreed to each pay 120 RMB (about $20 USD), and he would start bringing out food. So not only did we find a beautiful setting, but we got a chef-prepared banquet for everyone. It was easy and simple, so everyone settled in comfortably. I guess it was one of those fluke things where the universe comes together to support what you’re doing.

The girls pose for a picture in the restaurant

I honestly have no idea what we ate, but all of it was good and there was plenty of it! Apparently it was all Malaysian food. We finished off the evening at the restaurant’s sister bar, called BED, and taking that over as well. I was lucky enough to get a chance to commandeer their sound system for a while and DJ’d for the group for about an hour.

Walking to BED

Frances and I ended up being the last patrons there, since we got stuck talking to the production crew of Cats that was just leaving town the next day. It was late by the time we left; lucky for us cabs were still plentiful and we were able to make our way home. It turned out to be one of the best birthday parties I’ve been to in a long time. And it taught me not to doubt a situation so much; it just creates a lot of groundless worry that taints the air.

Tags: China Tour, Dana Genshaft, Diego Cruz, Frances Chung, Liz Miner, Quinn Wharton