What we did in winter

So, David and I are not the bloggers we expected to be. Sorry for the news blackout.

We are currently busy with preparations for the “Imagining Bodies” symposium (May 13-15) and our dance concert at Kanuti Gildi Saal (May 25-26). Cid’s mom, Laurie, was supposed to visit but there was a volcano in the way. Spring is finally springing at bit, though we did have a few minutes of snow the other day.

We will be inundated with friends for the symposium. Dan Bear Davis and Ana Flecha arrive from Santa Cruz (via Berlin), Philippa Kaye is coming from New York, and then there is a whole cadre of WAC alum (the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA) coming: Hana van der Kolk, Sandra Chatterjee, Rebecca Alson-Milkman, Christine Suarez, Rebecca Pappas and Kevin Kane. I’ve probably forgotten someone.

Here’s a mini-update on what has happened since mid-December:

• Cid finished teaching her first semester at Tallinn University

• We house-sat a great apartment in Vanalinn for the holidays

• We went to Portugal to visit out friend Lisa in January
  
  
  
  That's Vasco da Gama
  
  
  
  
• David toured with Koolitants, visiting towns from one end of Estonia to the other.
  

• We moved to Kadriorg, and now live in a great flat by the park

• We spent a couple of days looking at dance and art in Helsinki over Spring Break

• We had a record cold winter, with lots and lots of snow, but there a signs that Spring is on its way. It was 50 degrees at one point yesterday

Cid says:

My time here has been extraordinary. With less than three months to go I am keenly aware of all that I will miss when I leave Estonia. David and I return to the U.S. at the end of July. We will fly in to Seattle, and make our way south, visiting family, and picking up our scattered belongings along the way. We expect to arrive in Santa Cruz around the first few days of August.

Estonia continues to inspire me. One of the new dances I am making is called “This is what we do in winter,” and the other is called “Keerulised Keeled” (Complicated Tongues/Language). The titles of both pieces evoke, for me, the process of making dances with these dancers, at this time and place, here in Estonia. I’m looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.

David, Rain and Alexis in rehearsal for "This is what we do in winter"