The Wandering Monkey

For three years, I have been in China teaching Swing Dancing. Now I'm wandering yet again...

2005-09-23

Another movie, plus updates on the previous ones.

So, it did happen again. I just finished filming another 1920's movie with dancing, this one staring Edward Norton (of Fight Club, Rounders, the Italian Job, etc.) My role on this was as a general dance consultant, and I'm supposed to get the title of Choreographer in the credits, if they hold up on their end of the bargain.

I received a call about two weeks ago. An actress friend of mine put in a good word with the movie producer about my dance contribution to the White Countess, and I was able to negotiate a small contract over the phone with them. We had very little time to prepare - only about three days from the point we agreed upon terms to the shooting beginning. I called up a bunch of people I'd worked with on the last film, then we scheduled a training with another dancer I worked with on the last movie. We held one practice session, and three guys and twelve girls showed up. All three guys, plus myself and my friend were in the movie scenes, plus a random assortment of girls. I instructed everyone on what they might expect on the set, what to bring with them, and the skills they's have to have in addition to dance to get the scenes finished properly. My friend handled most of the dance instruction, since it was waltz this time.

When the day of shooting came, we had to be at the local movie studio at 4:45am, to take a bus to the backlot. This was on a Monday, and on the previous Sunday I'd just held the training lesson, AND we had swing dance night Sunday night. It was 11pm Sunday when I got home, and I didn't sleep at all, just knowing that I would have to wake up at 330am. When the alarm went off, I gathered my things, took a shower, then walked down 15 flights of stairs in the dark. (My new apartment building is in the older Chinese style, which means an elevator attendant sits in the evelator all day long and presses buttons. At about 1am, she goes to sleep, and if you are on the first floor, you have to ring a bell to wake her up. This bell does not exist on the other floors, so there's no way to get in the elevator, and you must literally walk down the entire way).

We arrived at the backlot at 530am, and all of the dancers entered costume first. The men were wearing tuxedos (which also makes the third tuxedo I've worn, in three consecutive movies). But these tuxedos were pure wool, and thick as a warm blanket. It was 33 degrees (celcius), which comes to around 90 farenheight. Not comfortable.

It was about 10:30am when we entered the set. I had a little trouble getting the ear of the Director. I dealt mostly with the Assistant Director, which is actually reasonably typical. I had wished I would have had more time to interact with them, but as it stood, the steps I had taken did ensure a good shoot for the dancing on the day.

I picked the five couples to perform the waltz in the scene, and advised the director to remove the table from the center of the room, since it would make dancing impossible (and he did so). I picked out a suitably slow waltz piece with a steady, easy-to-hear beat. Some of our dancers had never done waltz before the previous day, so I needed it to be kind to them. We all took positions on the floor, and we began our counter-clockwise waltz rotation. It was beautiful. Costumes, set, and the whole thing.

It was, however, damn hot. There was no airconditioning on the set, and the lights for filming and from the other equipment must have increased the temperature to 110 degrees. Every single male sweat completely through his undershirt and tuxedo shirt. My own tuxedo sleeves could at times even show the perspiration coming through.

During this day, we shot two different scenes. The stars were present, but not dancing at this time.

After about 30 minutes into the shooting, I realized no one was saying anything about the dancing. I asked the Assistant Director, "Is everything OK?" Last time, and almost every time, we could grow to expect all sorts of comments and criticism, then try to modify things several times to get it right. But this time, not a word.

The AD said to me, "Well, as they say, in this business no news is good news. If you haven't heard anything, you are doing a good job."

At the end of the day, we were pretty tired. We went back to costume, and when we took off the jackets, our white tuxedo shirts had taken upon multi-colored stains from all of the perspiration dissolving the dirt and dyes of the tuxedo jackets. It was an awful situation, plus there were no drying or dry-cleaning facilities, so we'd have to put these costumes on again, still damp, in less than 12 hours.

During the day, however, we did have the best food I've ever seen on a movie set. This was a Warner Bros production, and they'd gotten a great local Canadian caterer to make western food. Honestly, probably the best eating I've done in several weeks was there on the movie set!

The next day came the scenes with the primary actors. In the morning, I'd been told it was decided not to go with waltz for this day's shoot. It was perhaps too difficult for a steady cam (a camera moved around by a person on foot) to capture the action of two people dancing in turns and rotating counter-clockwise at the same time. Instead, we were doing what I like to call the 'two-step'. This is really probably the simplest step of all, just alternating feet and rotating. It was a bit of a dissapointment, but it worked on screen. Plus this scene was a dialogue scene and the dancing, in the end, was blurred out.

I did have some challenges on the set with the dancers I had brought with. It's a difficult thing to navigate your way around a movie set, especially in this case because I only had two days total to learn everyone's personality and assert my own authority. You have to carve out your involvement, and each meeting with the director is brief, intense, and may change the eventual amount and quality of your contribution.

My friend, who served as dance trainer, was an invaluable aid in getting the people prepared. But on set, he proved to be a bit of a loose cannon. Very enthusiastic to show his skills, and perhaps to get screen time, he over-emphasized his moves in front of the camera, against my specific request. This, unfortunately, lead to a potential close-up of him being removed from the shooting. I had a few words with him afterwards. First of all, it was a greatly successful project. Second, I said, when we are on the set and I am Choreographer, you defer to me in all matters and take my advice on how to, well, you know, choreograph. The trick was, he was more experienced in ballroom styles, so it was a difficult spot for me to balance.

In the end, we got a good result. With better teamwork, we could have achieved a better result, but I have had this discussion with him and we have both agreed it was a learning experience for the both of us.

SO DID YOU MEET EDWARD NORTON? DID YA DID YA?

Yes, I did. And I found his mannerism is very much like his characters he portrays. Fight Club and Rounders both seem to show aspects of his true personality. He is a very intense, very focused person. Also very busy, and as an A-List star he holds a lot of sway on the set and everyone listens to what he has to say.

I did get to instruct him in dance, but just a few basic tips since he had an idea of what he wanted to do. Both his character and his dance partner's were supposed to be people who just knew the basics of dance, so there was no great amount of training. I wished I have gotten more time with both him and the director, but there's another lesson learned, you got to be quick!

And that was the nature of this whole project. The end result was quite good, and they were pleased. The thing which I found most remarkable was the time from agreeing to do the project to it's completion. It was only about five days, of which only two were on set! The White Countess took two weeks the first time, with a month pause, then three weeks afterwards. This was was in-and-out in less than a week.

So that was that. Look for the Painted Veil in Fall 2006.

Indidentally, Look for the White Countess in January February 2006. I will be dancing with the lead actress, and if you see a guy dancing around very foolishly wearing white-and-red face paint makeup, that's me too.

Also, out in the film festivals right now is Everlasting Regret (www.everlasting-regret.com). In this movie, I did Tango. I imagine it may be hard to get ahold of in America, but it did just win two awards at the Venice Film Festival (Best Supporting Actress & Best Cinematography), so maybe you can find it. Look for me (if you can see me at all) in the Tango scene towards the end of the movie, around the time one of the characters threatens a female character with a gun.

So that's all for now, folks!Q@

-J

Posted by: Jimbo / 3:19 AM

Today

6am: Alarm Goes Off

7:15am: Finally get up, quick breakfast and shower. Grab my bag with dance shoes, music, and food. Also take garment bag with zoot suit and other swing dance outfit items.

8:10am: Arrive at Shanghai Television Station, ten minutes late. My teacher for Peking Opera, Lui Laoshi (Teacher Lui) has already arrived and is putting on his face makeup. I wait in a chair while he finishes. Chinese and foreigners are running about the ten-seat dressing room. Have a few small chats with different folks (at least those who speak English well enough.) The TV Show host "J" is present but either does not recognize me or for some reason does not strike up a conversation or make eye contact.

9:00am: My turn to put on the Peking Opera monkey makeup. Lui Laoshi applies it for me. I cringe when he does the under-eye liner. I always hate that part, and I don't know how women can do it on a daily basis.

9:30am: I am in monkey makeup, and dressed in the silk outfit of the monkey. My teacher has the monkey King outfit on, which is the one I wore last time I did this show in the monkey performance. I assume that my outfit is the 'under-monkey' outfit, which is quite fine under the circumstances. Both of our face makeup designs are the same though: a red base, with alternating lines of black, white, and gold in different areas for the complete effect. It's an oily makeup, so if you touch your nose or scratch your face, it will smudge on your finger and will have to be reapplied. So I'm kind of 'stuck' in it for a while.

10am: Liu Laoshi and I go over routine in the lobby of the station. Outside there is a very light rain, but the sun still shines, making it very hot and humid. The monkey outfit contains several layers and covers head to foot. The sleeves go down to the wrist, and on top if it all you wear a monkey hair wig, making it pretty warm once you get moving.

The routine we are going to do today involves both Liu Laoshi and myself. He, of course, is very good. We met yesterday for four hours to go over the routine, which was fun in parts but tested my patience and attention. Today we do the routine again, best we can with people walking in and out. It starts and stops, but it seems OK. I feel alright about it, but I don't really feel I have it down all that well.

10:10am: My dance partner Chris shows up at the station. I have asked her to bring a straw with her, since the makeup includes a lip painting and I can't drink from a cup. She sees me in the outfit and makeup, and said, "oh my. No no no no, I don't want to look at you..." She's cute.

11:00am: Waiting

11:30am: Waiting. 'When are we going on?" asks Chris. "This is what show-business is about," I tell her. "Lot's of waiting around."

12:00 Noon, approximately: We go onto the sound stage. It looks like a medium-budget American production you might see on a local channel like Chicago's Channel 9 or 32 (if either exist anymore). There are two groups of Chinese in the audience, flanking left and right of the stage. One camera is at the end of the stage, and one floats all about on a crane. Others are in other places. I've been here before, and it feels more familiar. Finally, we are called to go on.

They are filming an October National Holiday special, inviting everyone who's been on the show back for a big gala. It looks like there's about 20 acts being filmed this day. The director, a thin, young-looking Chinese woman, looked harried and tired. Every time I try to talk to her she seems to get upset. It reminds me of how I get when I 'm trying to do 15 things at once. We are told to go up in the stage.

We begin the routine. Liu Laoshi goes out first, carrying his monkey stick (like a thin staff made of pine wood). I run out with the dancing sword, and Liu Laoshi yells 'cut'. The director and he have a hurried exchange of words in Chinese, and I figure out that I'm in the wrong part of the routine. I should have come out with my own stick and done some other part. I say OOOPS and go back, and we start again.

Second time I have the stick. I go through the routine, and the audience claps quite enthusiactically a few times. Then, I drop the stick. I pick it up again and back up a little bit. (I saw what the editors did last time with the tape. I know if I go back, they can edit it all together to make it look like there were no problems). I enter into the moving about and whirling the stick around part, and everyone claps. That's kind of cool. Then I drop the stick again. It's much harder to do the performance than it is to practice. It's not just the audience, it's the clothing you have to wear. Sometimes it gets in the way, or you hit your stick into your silk pants or monkey crown. Hate when that happens.

After the third, or fourth stick drop, I finish up the routine part I have and we continue on. Fortunately, I make no more detectable mistakes for the rest of the routine, but Liu Laoshi of course knows when I've screwed up. We alternate between different areas, and I'm not in my best form, but for the camera and audience it will work very well. Should have gotten more sleep last night. Got to bed late, then could not fall asleep because of excitement. Probably got 3 hours.

Finish up the routine, then we have a meeting of all the hosts, Liu Laoshi, and myself on the main stage. They ask a bunch of questions, all in Chinese again, and I'm again the silent monkey. Good thing I can do a little dance. We finish the talk on stage, then I head back. I look at Liu Laoshi and he does not seem entirely happy with me. I assume because I made too many mistakes to his liking. Fair enough there.

Back into the dressing room. Got to get this makeup off. Chris said I did a good job, and the director is happy, too, so that's good. I quickly get the makeup and monkey outfit off, then I get into my zoot suit. I tell Chris the dance floor surface is made up of glass, and the pieces are not firmly fitted into each other, so we won't be doing any spin-on-the-floor moves. She's asking why it's taking so long and why she has to wait, and then asks if the director intends to use us at all. I tell her it's a pretty sure thing. The director specifically asked me about the dance yesterday, and said she wanted two minutes in length. So that's specific, and she keeps to her word and he plan on things.

12:30pm: Another act finishes. Chris is concerned that her shoes may slip off. I go hunting for some clear tape, and we finally find some. We cut it into long, thin strips and tape all the way around the bottom of her shoe over the top (it's a slip-on shoe). I tell her that Andrea, the German dance champion in our group, is the one that told me about this trick.

12:45pm: Another act finishes. We are waiting on the sound stage. Chris: are they going to use us?

1pm: Chris tells me, "They just said the show is over." Hmm.. Now I'm worried. They call me up on to the stage, along with all of the other performers for a 'goodbye' yell. Smoke machines shoot out some blasts, and confetti cannons pour all sorts of pieces of glitter and plastic ribbons on every inch of the floor. So it is over.

Then I hear the same TV show host girl I'd seen before say (in Chinese), "And now Jimbo will do some swing dance!" I look at her, then look at the floor, and think, Are you crazy? Then, I hear the music has started playing. Oh Poo Poo, I think. Chris is still at the far end of the room. I look to the director and give the 'cut' sign, but this is apparently a freight train and there's no stopping it.

The whole reason I agreed to do this show was to get some swing dancing on Chinese television. And they have been shooting very quickly all day, one take for everything. So this is my one and only chance, confetti or no. I motion to Chris to come up on stage. She's there, and now we are 30 seconds into it. We both kick out the confetti a little bit to make room and make it a little safer, and then we begin.

I've done this dance so many times, and I am so used to working around a crowded dance floor that I can look all around at what's going on and still do everything in the dance. The people behind us are now all moving about, sometimes forming what looks like a conga line, sometimes getting a little too close to Chris and I. We keep dancing, and go through our three pre-arranged special moves, and fill in the rest with standard swing dance styles of Lindy Hop, Charleston, and East Coast Swing. We hit all of the special moves, except for the throw-over-the-head which does not execute well due to the people too close behind us. The previously mentioned confetti is not limited to the floor. It's also hanging from the ceiling, in long thin strips which have not complete vacated from the ceiling cannons. 3/4 of the way through, Chris is completely entwined in one of these pieces, and we have to stop a few seconds to pick it off of her. Finally, I hear the end of the song is approaching, and I tell her so. "We're going to finish off with the around-the-back move." She says ok, and I set up so that we will be facing the audience when the move completes. I plant both feet, and grab her firmly by one hand and around the back. Then I step in, sweeping her off her feet like a judo throw. I keep hold of her as she swings in front of me, then twist a little as she comes around my back so that she lands with the tops of her legs on the small of my back. She's upside down, and she and I are facing the cameras and say Bye Bye! That part worked rather well.

Boom. That's it. It's over, and all the music stops, and everyone clears out. I look at Chris. "Thanks!"

We go into the dressing room, say goodbye to folks then head out. I tell her I'll see her tonight, because we are teaching together at 6pm, our usual Sunday swing dance night.

1:30pm: I am in a taxi, going back towards my old apartment. We have an appointment at 3pm to meet the landlord, the agent, and the new tenants to arrange for the handover of the keys are return of the deposit.

1:45pm: arrive outside the apartment, paying the taxi driver. I look down and I'm still wearing my dance shoes. Oh Poo, I say again. I check my bag. Where's my street shoes?

1:55pm: Back at the studio. Pick up street shoes.

2:30pm: Back near my old home. Got 30 minutes to kill. Go into Internet Cafe and play some computer games! Whoo hoo!

3pm: At apartment. Old roommate and his girlfriend arrive a few minutes later. New tenants are present. My ayi (maid) is present, too, doing the cleaning up. Through the bi-lingual real estate agent, I hear that the landlord and new tenant are making all sorts of claims of damage, moving furniture, and so forth. This is going to take a while.

3-5pm: Go back-and-forth with new tenants, landlord, agent, and eventually the management company. They will have to repaint a few walls due to damage, marks, etc. Costs originally run crazy high, then are brought down to just moderately painful. Once my old roommate and I have gotten to an agreement which we each just find mildly displeasing, we cut our losses and get the partial rent refund.

5pm: Walk with my ayi to my new apartment so she can see where it is located. She speaks no English at all, so it's good practice for me. I was actually able to explain to her that I have a new place, however I still want her to clean the old place one last week. I want her to come to my new place beginning the following week. Not bad, I say to myself.

5:10pm: Get a phone message from Chris. A new typhoon is coming. (We had one about a month ago, and the water was a foot deep in some roads). She says this typhoon will be worse than the last one, and she's not coming tonight. I tell her I'm still going, because my new home is just a few blocks away, anyhow.

5:30pm: Show apartment to ayi, People on the street are saying "Tai fun lai le", which means Tai Fun = Typhoon. Lai = come. le = present tense indicator. Meaning: A typhoon is coming! The Chinese people all know.

6pm: Only foreigners come today. Our intermediate class has three people, but it's good in a sense because they are some of my most loyal students anyhow, and I can work more directly with them.

7pm: Intermediate class: again, 4 foreigners, plus a few out-of town swing dancers from America and Canada.

8pm: Social dance begins. I'm tired. I dance with Andrea. The first time ever, she corrects a fault in my lead. I tell her, "I know; I'm not surprised. I'm barely standing I'm so beat!"

9:45pm: The dance night is under control. I hand off the DJ responsibilities to some of my friends. I'm going to take an early night.

10pm: To the Eager Beaver bar for a burger!

10:30pm: To the Internet cafe! Get my computer games in!

1am: Taxi home. The water is coming down something horrendous.

But what a beautiful day!

5:30pm: At home, pick up dance CD.s Get a phoen

Posted by: Jimbo / 2:48 AM

2005-09-04

It never rains, but it pours

So...

In the past few months, nothing too incredibly much has happened in the swing dance scene, or in my personal life (besides the fact I was feeling fatigued.) In the past two weeks, a whole bunch of things have begun rolling.

First is the party. I'm working on another 1930s style party. This one is called Casablanca, and we have secured a 17-piece big band to play at the event. Now we're looking for a sponsor, plus a venue large enough to hold it. I met last week with two different potential sponsors, and on Monday and Tuesday I meet with two more.

Second is the White Countess movie is about to release. One of the people from casting, a friend of mine, called me to get my full name for the credits. I always just go by Jimbo all the time - easier for people to remember. So, I told him, please put my name on the credits as "Jimbo". Why not? Much more memorable. Besides, who could spell my name again if they saw it run by quickly on some credits? The good news is, they will be using the 'cat and monkey' dance in the final movie. I'm dressed up as a monkey of sorts, wearing traditional chinese Peking opera monkey makeup. My partner is a girl, dressed up as a cat, wearing makeup not unlike you'd see on the CATS set. The dance routine was put together literally in about ten minutes, using elements of a swing-family dance called collegiate shag, plus a lot of simply improvised stuff. There's a funny story behind how that scene happened at all. The musical director (one of them), John, had been talking during the entire filming about a "Cat and Monkey" dance which James Cagney originally did in one of his movies. He was really keen on redoing it for this movie, but he could not find a copy of the movie which contained the original dance. Much research was done, and you could almost count every day on hearing John talk about this movie and how we could get ahold of it before filming was over. We didn't find it within the first two weeks that I was involved in the film, so I figured it was just another one of those ideas which would not come to pass.

The movie filmed a second part which included dancing. This part was filmed a full month after the first part, and this was the part in which I was able to be Assistant Choreographer. The Choreographer, Karole, was delayed in New York two days, and since I'd been involved in helping her they just turned to me when the time came. When Karole arrived, she took back on her duties, and also was committed again to filming a 'cat and monkey' scene. She talked to the director about it all the time. Then, in the last week of filming, the music man John found the original film which contained the dance. As it turned out, it was unusable. It was just about five seconds long, and looked like a little tap routine. However, the momentum had been built up, and the schedule was made alread for a 'cat and monkey dance', so gosh darn it, there would be one.

Originally, two Russian ballet dancers were going to be in the scene. Again, by amazing coincidence, they had to catch a bus back at 4pm on the afternoon of the filming, so at the last minute, their involvement was scrapped. I happened to be walking past the table where Karole was talking to the director. And she said, How about Jimbo? I heard my name and came by. What?

She explained the situation, and I said, Sure, I'll do it. We ran through the dance, and I must admit I'd never have put something together like this myself. But somehow, when I performed it, it worked alright. After only 10 minutes, the makeup people said I had to get directly into makeup if there was any chance of filming this today. OK, that's it! Hope you are ready, Mr. Jimbo, I said to myself.

Anyhow, I think I told most of this already.

I bring it up because as I said, the casting guy called me and asked how I wanted my name in the credits, which is the first time I knew they were actually going to use the scene. I told the casting guy about our plans to hold a 1930's party, and he said, why not time it with the release of the White Countess? For that matter, why not make it THE White Countess release party? I said, Do you think they would go for that? He said, Sure! They'll love it!

So, I got a name and number from him for the Shanghai Film Studio rep, and I talked with him. I meet him next Tuesday to discuss the specifics and show my my presentation plan.

In other news, there is another film being made in Shanghai. It's called Milk and Fashion, and it is produced by a guy I had met on the White Countess set. Making this movie is all this guy has ever talked about since I met him, and he's finally gotten financing and a good amount of stars to take part in it. One of them is the Beijing ballerina who danced in the White Countess. The other person is Jeremy Miller, who most people know as the child actor on the 70s sitcom, Growing Pains. This sitcom was the only American program which was displayed in China during the 70s, so almost every Chinese person knows the cast and knows who this guy is, so the producer tells me.

Anyhow, since I had arranged many things with the dancing on the White Countess, and since I had a credit on that movie (credit counts for much more than I'd ever realized; it's like a currency or commodity), he offered to have me involved in making his new movie. My exact role is to be determined, but we are to meet about it very soon. In fact, he called me tonight and asked if 'our meeting was on for tonight'. I hadn't remembered even scheduling a meeting! It's obviously time for me to get back to work and keep an accurate schedule, budget my time, and so forth.

Also: This afternoon, while I was trying to play computer games, I received a call from a singer who I'd worked with at a bar almost 1 1/2 years ago. She says she's got a government sponsored activity in about 18 days at which she'd like 48 foreginers to perform a dance. We would be responsible for getting the people, training them to be backup dancers, and I and my foreign partner would be the focus of the show. She told me the budget, and the time frame, and that the show is on a Tuesday in one and a half weeks. I said, it's impossible. It's too many people, the time is too short, and the money is not enough. But this girl has some crazy energy. She went through the figures with me, and yes, indeed it is possible. So I said I'd give it a go.

Last Week: I had been on a television station, Oriental Arts and Entertainment Channel. On their program, they had shown some of the swing dancing, and I had to learn a challenge which I would do live on the show. This challenge was to learn the legitimate form of the Chinese Opera Monkey. I did this, and lots of Chinese people have seen it and recognized me from the show. The door gurards at my apartment, some guy walking down the street, the guy working at the coffee shop, and the guy who sells telephone cards all recognized me and did the little "Monkey Salute" which is part of the performance. Anyhow, the station called last week and they want me to film something next week for an October holiday show they are working on. I have not gotten back to them just yet!

Is that all? Yes, except for the apartment. I began looking for a place, and I was walking down the street and ran into some foreigners speaking Spanish. On impulse, I said Hola to them, and started chatting. They were standing outside a real estate office, looking for apartments themselves. So, I went with them to look at a place. Bad, it was. But I took the agent's number, and she showed me a place which is very convenient and cheaper rent than I have now, plus it is only one person. So just on Tuesday I signed the lease there, which begins next week. I informed my roommate that I was moving out, because the current apartment was too expensive. He was a bit surprised, but he took it OK. He's going to get his own place, too, so I've got to rent out the entire apartment soon or I'll have to pay double rent for a while.

OK, that is the whole thing, so far as I can remember.

Peace

Posted by: Jimbo / 1:41 AM