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