Date Night

My birthday date/ fancy-pants dance performance tickets made for a truly wonderful Saturday. My guy done good! We started the day with him working and me reading (of course) and I blew my way through another book. It got awfully chilly down here in TX, so it was nice to have a Saturday where my day needed to consist only of drinking coffee, reading and being doted upon.

While I may have failed in planning dinner reservations (we wound up at the suuuper cheap Vietnamese sandwich place- no complaints from either of us, it was just really awkward to be so dressed up in such a casual place), but the dance program was absolutely phenomenal. The show details are here. I may not have been the best dancer myself, but I know good stuff when I see it and I was really impressed by the quality of performance and the guest artists brought in. I made two mental notes: one of the performers, who trained extensively in Japan, was very technically proficient, but I couldn't tell if it was the choreography or simply how she manipulates her body in space, but I was physically uncomfortable watching how every precise movement was completed with a more forward or frontal focus. I felt as though her arms and legs very rarely went past the centerline of the side of her body (which makes me think the choreography was the reason) and she didn't open up and extend to the back, her back didn't arch backward. It was the dance equivalent of a musical chord progression never resolving. And it felt weird. (All you non-music or dance nerds, sorry 'bout that geekery) Second note: The wonderful juxtaposition of "perceived ugly poses" like a flexed foot at the end of an extended leg in the midst of a fairly traditional arabesque and a very graceful lift with limbs jutting out at odd angles were some of the most exciting moments in the choreography.

If you know anything about dance, you'll want to pee yourself when you see how daaaang good these two are. This isn't the video from last night, but it's the same two dancers and the same choreography. I'm still feeling so affected by how beautiful the whole performance was, specifically the female dancer, Stephania Figliossi. I would shell out a pretty big hunk of moolah to see her perform next time she's in Houston.

Dress: Banana Republic...Coat: BB Dakota via Piperlime..Belt: Banana...Necklace: Black House White Market...Tights: Gap...Shoes: Naturalizer

On our way home, we grabbed a bottle of Malbec wine and snacks, changed into pajamas and sipped our way through my perhaps-bootlegged-$1.50-from-a-crazy-Beijing-video-store copy of "The Kids Are All Right".

We came to the conclusion that we were able to do Dinner, A Show, Fancy Post-Date Drinks, and A Movie all in one night.

And I'm still promised a for-real Birthday Dinner out.

I might milk this one for a few more months.