We held our breaths... and everything went BANG.
Monday night was our performance number one, our world premiere, our first time stepping out onto a stage to light a fuse and race, madly and wildly, ahead of the explosion.
(photo from rehearsal on the stage... I think our friend, the lovely Heather McCalden took this one.)
We had three hours of tech rehearsal before our show. Our lighting designer, Delayne Medoff, worked some magic. Three hours is a very tight amount of time to get lighting cues for an hour-long piece written and set, the choreography adapted to the space, the music cues written, and the entire thing run through, but Del and Eric Andler, our theater technician, performed a series of small miracles. Del brought a set of light vignettes that fit the emotional and aesthetic architecture of the piece almost perfectly, and when we asked for slight adjustments, he helped us find things that worked even better than our vague imaginings. Z Space can be a very tall, very dark theater. There’s no proscenium, so the empty space between the floor and the lighting rig can eat the dancers up since there’s no frame to focus the eye. Good light helps create that focus. It makes the dancers look larger and more vivid, and it underlines transitions in mood. Del’s light was excellent. Eric somehow memorized all the movement cues to run both our music and our microphones in two hours. When we ran through the piece, he got everything right. Wham. Bam.
(another rehearsal photo... taken by either Heather or Carson.)
The performance was amazing.
Not in the way it came across to the audience. We can’t say anything useful about that. We see very little of the piece while it’s happening since all of us are in it and whenever we’re not dancing, we’re racing around the back curtain, changing our costumes or picking up props or pacing in circles and muttering lines under our breath. So, we can’t tell you whether A Thousand Natural Shocks filled up the stage and spilled over to flood the seats on its first outing. People laughed. People tell us their eyes got wet. People tell us we entertained them and made them feel… which is exactly what we long to do. But, we can’t confirm their reports from personal experience. Except for the laughter. We heard that.
But it felt amazing. Moving and speaking onstage with these people who we love so much (both as people and as artists… that wonderful, sort of hungry and provoking species of love that makes you eager to get into the studio together and upturn the contents of each others’ heads) was both the most comfortable and most nerve shredding thing we’ve done in a long time. This project is so entrenched in our hearts, and to finally let it out onto a stage and share it with an audience was an experience that made those hearts buck around in our chests.
We’re still recovering. We’re taking the rest of this week off, but we’ll be in the studio again next week, dissecting and stripping down and blowing out and making A Thousand Natural Shocks as much ours as we possibly can. We can’t wait.
Thank you to everyone who helped us make this happen. More soon.
xo, Sharp & Fine
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Jul 26, 2012
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{BIG LOVE} We send you our love and emblazon your name on the Sharp & Fine website as one of our exceedingly fantastic supporters.
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{STUCK ON YOU} A Sharp & Fine sticker with which you may adorn whatever you please. Plus, a thank you note, our love, and your name on the Sharp & Fine website.
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{LOVE LETTERS} A bundle of six postcards, each one featuring a beautiful and/or extremely strange portrait of a Sharp & Fine dancer. Send your love notes, hate notes, mystery notes, and other correspondence in style. Please add $5.00 for shipping outside of the US and Canada. Plus, a Sharp & Fine sticker and your name on the website.
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{PAPERBACK SPECIAL} A book printed exclusively for our Kickstarter backers featuring original fiction by Kat Howard and pieces by the various members of Sharp & Fine about the creation of A Thousand Natural Shocks. This will have less content than our hardcover souvenir book (see below). It will be printed in B&W in a smaller, trade paperback size and have fewer photographs and less text. We think it will still be pretty sweet though. Please add $10 for shipping outside of the US and Canada. Plus: a sticker and your name on the website.
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{SARTORIAL WIN} A Sharp & Fine t-shirt, designed and silk-screened (by hand!) by Shannon. Please add $10 for shipping outside of the US and Canada. Plus: a sticker and your name on the website
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{PAPER PEOPLE} Our paperback book, the six postcards, and a sticker. For those of you who want to read and write and stick things to other things. Please add $10 for shipping outside of the US and Canada.
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{NIGHT OUT} A single ticket to the July 30 performance of A Thousand Natural Shocks, plus a copy of our paperback book. Come say hello after the show! This reward is only for people who can get to our San Francisco show on July 30.
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{WE HEART ENTHUSIASTS} A Sharp & Fine t-shirt, our paperback book, the six postcards, and a sticker. Wallow in your Sharp & Fine. Please add $10 for shipping outside of the US and Canada.
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{SHOWTIME} Two tickets to a performance of A Thousand Natural Shocks (be sure to say hello after... we want to meet you!) + a t-shirt OR a copy of our paperback book. This reward is only for people who can get to our San Francisco shows on July 2 or 30.
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{COUCH THEATER} A DVD of the July 30 performance of A Thousand Natural Shocks + a t-shirt OR a copy of our paperback book. Please add $10 for shipping outside of the US and Canada.
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4 backers Limited (20 of 24 left)
{SHORT STORY} Kat Howard will handwrite a piece of short fiction on the back of one of our postcards. This will be a complete flash piece, unique to each card and contributor. Frame it, send it to someone special, add it to your collection of curiosities. Each story is a rare creature, being the only one of its kind. We'll also send you our paperback book. Please add $10 for shipping outside of the US and Canada.
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{BOOKISH DELIGHTS} A hardcover book printed especially for our Kickstarter backers, featuring original fiction by Kat Howard, writing by the members of Sharp & Fine, and full-color photographs. We'll tell you some stories. We'll talk about all the weird and interesting things that fed into the piece and what working on it was like. We'll a send you a DVD of the July 30 performance. Please add $10 for shipping outside of the US and Canada.
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012Pledge $500 or more
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{SCHEHERAZADE IN MINIATURE} Kat Howard will handwrite a series of interconnected short stories on the backs of our six postcards. Each story will be unique to the card and contributor. Savor these as bedtime bonbons, dole them out to lovers and friends, put them on your wall. Each of these sets will be the only one of their kind. We'll also send you our hardcover book and a DVD of the July performance. Please add $10 for shipping outside of the US and Canada.
Estimated delivery: Oct 2012
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