crafty_packrat

I went contradancing at the civic center last night with fabrisse, who is more used to English country dancing. She got dizzy and had to sit out a bit, and it was hotter inside the dance than outside the building, but we had fun.

Sadly, Le Vent du Nord had to postpone their appearance until May, so the band was Dead Sea Squirrels instead.

Also, it turns out the Mediaeval Baebes are playing the Institute of Musical Tradition concert on the 24th of September. Definitely going to do that, and if anyone wants to come with, let me know!

I went with my friend A to see A Matter of Life and Death (AKA Stairway to Heaven) today -- it's a 1946 film about a bomber pilot who miraculously survives bailing out without a parachute, and then has the celestial bureaucracy come after him because one of their conductors missed him when he was supposed to be collected.

The conceit of the living world being in Technicolor and the next world in black and white really worked well, and there were some hilarious character notes, like when a bomber crew of Americans come into the heavenly processing area and are delighted to find a Coke machine, or when the first jury is replaced for being made up exclusively of people who would have a bias against the pilot for being English, and the new jury is made up exclusively of 1st generation Americans of exactly the same ethnicities! Also, the judge of the afterlife trial had an excellent Voice of God, and will be an actor I "Hey, it's that guy!" in the future.

On Friday, fabrisse, A, and I went to see the Mixed Masters ballet program at the Kennedy Center. It was Serenade by George Balanchine, Symphonic Variations by Fredrick Ashton, and The Concert (or, The Perils of Everybody) by Jerome Robbins, which was hilarious -- and I've never seen a comedic ballet before!