In summary: 100 days of dance

100 days, 55 different places, 4 countries, 2 continents, and 14 other groups/people (besides me) later, 100 days of dance has come to a close.

It was an interesting experience and I'm glad, in the end, that I did it. In the sense that I wanted to show a bit of my life in Cambodia as a dancer and choreographer I think it was a success. However in the idea that there's always a bit of dance in every day, I'm not sure the pictures showed that. There were many days that I took the picture because I had to and as such had to think about a position or something else that would show 'dance,' but it was five seconds out of the day and didn't necessarily mean that there was 'dance' that day. It's also difficult to show movement in a static picture, so more often than not it was not really "dancing," but a "dance-like" pose that I can do because of my training.

It's impossible to show in pictures how dance factors in my life. While I'm not in rehearsal or dancing in the streets every day, I am always thinking about it -- planning a project, considering something, reflecting, watching, etc. It is not something that I think about or am necessarily aware of, but it is always present. It's hard to capture in photos -- for example, walking with my friends or jamming to music I hear somewhere, I'm always in movement or trying something, but it's not something that I can easily capture in a photo. After, most of the time I was alone, which makes it more difficult. In those cases I had to come up with solutions like take pictures of my feet under a table or use the shadows or mirrors or whatever it might be. In that sense it was excellent creative work as I was forced to find other solutions but doesn't necessarily reflect my daily experience of dance.

In short, it succeeded in some ways I expected and some in others, and failed in some ways I expected and some in others.

Much like any other creative project, in other words.

I will leave you with a couple of montages -- one with all 100 photos laid out (though not in order), above, and the other a mosiac of Day 7, my favorite picture, with the other pictures (repeated several times) making up the whole.

Until next project!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 100

Day 100

Where: Cyril's apartment, Paris 13e, France

Why dance?: Here we are at the end of the project! I admit, and I'm sure you noticed, that finding 100 positions, 100 places, 100 little moments of dance was quite a struggle and I'd gotten quite tired of the whole thing by the end, but now that it's done I'm glad I did it. Here I'm enjoying a little breath of sunlight at the end of the day (though it won't be dark for another four hours or so), in one of my favorite places in the world. A good way to end, I think!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 99

Day 99

Where: Some park somewhere near the Centre Pompidou, Paris

Why dance?: Jumping off a table in a park somewhere near a café where I was meeting a good friend for our annual catch up, that is, whenever I find myself in Paris. :) And also because I'm almost done with this series!!!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 98

Day 98

Where: Courtyard of the Louvre, Paris

Why dance?: This series goes to France and I have nothing more to say. Summertime and the livin' is easy, indeed....

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 97

Day 97

Where: Rue daguerre, Paris 14e

Why dance?: Crêpes and another beautiful day in Paris!!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 96

Day 96

Where: Arnaud's office in Paris 7 Denis Diderot, Paris 13e

Why dance?: This is what happens when I haven't been to class in over a week and my friends get involved in the project.

#100daysofdance (v; Cambodia): Day 95

Day 95

Where: The esplanade at Paris 7 Denis Diderot, near Bibliothèque François Mitterand, 13e, Paris, France

Why dance?: Some crazy art (?) and a beautiful day in Paris!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 94

Day 94

Where: At my friend Margaux's apartment, St. Mandé, Paris, France

Why dance?: Because I'm in France!!!! My poor Margaux is working like crazy on her thesis in the background, in this tiny little Parisien studio, but nothing can go wrong because I'm here. And home.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 93

Day 93

Where: The Guangzhou airport

Why dance?: My fingers are doing the mini version of me throwing my arms into the air -- at the time of the photo I was stuck in the Guangzhou airport, about 4-5 hours into what was supposed to be a 6 hour layover and ended up being closer to 8 thanks to a 'bad weather' delay. Despite other flights leaving at the same time ours was supposed to. Go figure.

Mostly my frustration was due to the fact that all of the best time wasting sites -- Facebook and anything google related -- are blocked in China. I spent a lot of time wandering around the terminal, buying extortionately expensive drinks, and trying to get proxy sites to work (unsuccessfully). I did end up watching the beginning of the Belgium v. Algeria World Cup match with some enthusiastic Algerians before a somewhat severe Chinese lady kicked everyone out. Every day an adventure!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 92

Day 92

Where: The Flicks

Why dance?: Because I'm going to France!! My Instagram has done some strange things to this picture but the spirit remains. Last night hanging with Stephen before I leave to France and he leaves to England and we see each other in a month! The last seven days of this series will take place somewhere  very far from where this picture was taken...but in another place that I call home. There are beginning to be quite a few of those...

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 91

Day 91

Where: Gasolina Restaurant

Why dance?: The picture is a screengrab of a very short instagram video (below) from a performance by Dance Made in Cambodia, the community outreach program of the Central School of Ballet (www.dancecambodia.com). The 27 dancers performing have been practicing for about 8 weeks and most of them had never danced before. They came together under my friend Stephen's direction to put together a beautiful piece of dance. Their focus was incredible and watching them was enormously inspiring! 

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 90

Day 90

Where: CTN

Why dance?: The usual people, the usual suspects, the usual place. Sunday mornings at the TV station...

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 89

Day 89

Where: Le Bouchon, St 242

Why dance?: Night on the town. That's all!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 88

Day 88

Where: My kitchen

Why dance?: A totally unglamorous picture, but it accurately expresses what I've been doing most of the day -- remembering that I'm going to France in five days' time and hopping around in a fit of excitement. And probably what I'll be doing for the next several days, in fact.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 87

Day 87

Where: Cambodiana dance room

Why dance?: Performing tomorrow on short notice -- rehearsal to do (selfies to take, of course), jazz to brush up on, and some Marilyn to channel. Of course.

Oh you want to know where I'm performing? Grand opening of the club Nomads in Phnom Penh -- and I'm doing Diamonds are a Girls' Best Friend. Just because I can. :)

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 86

Day 86

Where: Le Moon Skybar, on the Riverside

Why dance?: You can't see the view of the river, but it's lovely. I was out with my colleagues from the old office, listening to some smooth jazz and hanging out. Simple enough!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 85

Day 85

Where: The Flicks

Why dance?: Holding back the rain -- or dancing in it. One of the two.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 84

Day 84

Where: Kuching Airport, wherever that is.

Why dance?: We were supposed to go from Sibu to KL to Phnom Penh. But the flight from Sibu was delayed and we were going to miss our connection, so we were rushed on a flight (literally, when we were at the check-in counter it was leaving in fifteen minutes) to Kuching to then connect to KL to get the original Phnom Penh flight. We didn't have time to get all the boarding passes, so we arrived in Kuching -- really though, where is that??? -- with no clue of when we were leaving, and proceeded to spend the rest of the day hopping around the Malaysian peninsula. This picture describes how I feel about the whole process -- totally twisted up and unsure which direction I'm going.

As a final note -- we made it back to Phnom Penh. I want to sleep now.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 83

Day 83

Where: Inside one the Michael Ancho Longhouse, the Longhouse village somewhere near Sibu, Malaysia

Why dance?: The longhouses are long. They've existed in this place for over 100 years and currently house 2,000 people -- sometimes over 300 in one longhouse. They are counted in terms of doors and each family unit has a door, next to each other and down the row. The houses are divided into apartments with this wide open, covered space in the front, leading out to another door. Some of the houses are really, really nice, despite the shabby outward appearance.

It was here we met Auntie Irene, who has a homestay in her particular apartment. I don't remember the name of the ethnic group that lives there (will google later and update this post), but like all of the traditional cultures and ethnic groups, they have their own dance -- and Auntie Irene knows it. Here she is teaching one of the other dancers in the group -- from Saba, Malaysia and interested in all things classical and traditional dance  -- the finer points of this particular dance. Learning from the Master!!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 82

Day 82

Where: Sibu Civic Centre

Why dance?: No, there is no dance happening right now, in this picture. But there has been and there will be. It's just an empty stage, right?

No. It's magic, actually.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 81

Day 81

Where: Sibu Civic Centre dressing rooms

Why dance?: I've gotten in trouble before for posting a stretching picture but I thought this looked awesome. We were warming up before our second and final performance for this festival, as part of the 3 night dance concert series. It went well -- and from me that's a resounding success. People seemed to like it, it happened, Dara didn't take any creative liberties with the choreography, so all's well!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 80

Day 80

Where: The Red Bridge, Sibu Esplanade, Sibu, Malaysia

Why dance?: I'd only seen this in pictures and designed a dance piece for it. Here I finally got to stand on it, feel it, see how different the weight shifts on an uneven floor, check out the ground feels in shoes. Later in the evening, we danced on it -- but rainsoaked after a lengthy rain delay for all the outdoor performances -- and it was slippery!! The performances lasted past 11pm due to the delay...I guess if you do outdoor, you risk it!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 79

Day 79

Where: Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Why dance?: Killing time during our transfer to Sibu -- did I not mention, Dara and I are going to the Sibu International Dance Festival this week to perform! You've seen our rehearsal pics in this series and now the day has arrived. We are now in Sibu and very tired but our first performance is tomorrow!!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 78

Day 78

Where: The Flicks

Why dance?: Simply put: how packing should be, and how it actually is.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 77

Day 77

Where: Somewhere near Psar Kabko, St 294 ish, Phnom Penh

Why dance?: I was at a friend of a friend's house for dinner. There was nowhere to put the moto and I didn't want to leave it outside, just in case, so we put it in this minuscule hallway for safe keeping. The only problem was that after I parked it, there was no way to get in or out without climbing over the thing! So here's me, clambering over my moto. Oh, Cambodia!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 76

Day 76

Where: A friend's house, on the Mekong, somewhere along the road to Siem Reap, 10 km from Phnom Penh more or less

Why dance?: House party! A beautiful, big house along the river, albeit in the middle of nowhere which makes getting home a bit tricky. A terrace by the water where you can see the stars (the stars!!!!), a dance studio (no really), a big open space for a dance floor. There was even a DJ! We had a good time.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 75

Day 75

Where: CTN "dressing rooms," aka the toilets

Why dance?: On a pretty quiet Friday night at CTN, gotta do something to pass the time! Here's Robin working on some of his kpop movies -- I actually took a video, posted below.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 74

Day 74

Where: Java Café, Downstairs

Why dance?: This was a preview of a performance that will be taking place next week, by the Sophiline Arts Ensemble. Sophiline Cheam Shapiro is a fascinating woman and very thoughtful choreographer. She survived the Khmer Rouge and has created her own performing troupe, choreographing contemporary classical Khmer dance -- it looks only classical to outsiders, but she works in very contemporary themes, ideas, and stories. In this performance, "A Bend In the River" (performed as part of the Season of Cambodia festival in NYC in April 2013), she brought together a team to create puppets, an incredible set design, costumes, and reinterpreted an old Khmer story. I haven't seen the full piece, so I'll be looking forward to it!!!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 73

Day 73

Where: Cambodiana Hotel

Why dance?: The CTN team rehearsing, our usual thing, the usual place, the usual time. You can't really see Chanthorn's T-shirt, which says in large capital letters, HOLY SHIT. It goes right along with his other favorites, "Keep calm and smoke sisha," "Fuck Off," and "Sleep with me free breakfast." And yes, he does know what they mean -- I've checked. Boys....

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 72

Day 72

Where: The Flicks

Why dance?: Pretending that yesterday was not supposed to be Day 72 and I forgot to take a picture, I'll break my rule and take two today. The first is this.

One week until I go to Malaysia and three until I go to Paris. Life in Cambodia has become enormously confusing and a bit overwhelming and in very courageous fashion my grand solution to this is to run away for awhile and assume that things will look better when I get back. This picture very accurately expresses how I feel about being here right now.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 71

Day 71

Where: Home

Why dance?: Remember Day 43? Well, after Stephen scared the bejesus out of me by saying that holes in the toes of ballet shoes is a recipe for broken toes, I decided to go about getting new shoes. I asked the business director of the ballet school if she could pick some up in Bangkok when she was there, but instead, turns out she knows the people at the Bloch factory in Cambodia and wanted to learn how to make shoes, so with my size in mind, that's what she did! If you look on the tag you can see that lovely "Made in Cambodia" note.

Of course, part of a dancer's life is sewing the elastic on the shoes,  pictured here -- and in the inset, the finished product!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 69

Day 69

Where: Somewhere on the Riverside

Why dance?: One of the volunteers at the Flicks, now gone, discovered something called "Dance walking," a cross between a fitness craze and a viral video phenomenon. It's what you'd expect: people filming themselves dancing down the street kind of walking but really dancing. So naturally, her being a film person and me being a dancer, she decided we were going to make a dancewalk film à la Phnom Penh.

Normally I'm pretty shy about dancing in public (clubs excepted) for whatever reason. Performances are one thing as people are supposed to look at you but this is a bit different. However, my friend the volunteer was so excited about it I couldn't say no, and agreed to go dancing around in the heat to get some cool shots -- like this one, next to the river.

I'll be sure to post the link after she finishes cutting it together!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 70

Day 70

Where: CTN

Why dance?: The Philippines dance group doing their thing with CTN's special glow-in-the-dark costumes, which they imported from China before redesigning the programming system. I'm supposed to be able to use these sometime for my team, but it's been talked about for so long that I have my doubts about it actually happening. I'm not a big fan of this dance team for various reasons, but the costumes do look pretty cool.

Note: Day 69 will be posted later, I'm tracking down a picture from a little dance film project I did with the volunteers at the Flicks but forgot to get the files before they left this morning. Oops!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 68

Day 68

Where: Rambutan Hotel

Why dance?: I was very annoyed with dancers in general -- my CTN team and Dara -- for being flaky, as dancers have a tendency to be here. There's always something and always some story -- someone's sick, they don't have a moto to ride (families often share motos), the nebulous "busy" (whatever that really means, I've not quite figured), they have another rehearsal, someone's changed the time of something, yada yada. There's always an excuse, but the fact of the matter is that they are very rarely on time, which drives me, a very punctual person, batty.

So in between rehearsals, I was invited to join the Flicks volunteers at the pool, and I jumped at the chance. And of course, anytime I'm in the pool, I have to spend some time upside down. It's just a thing -- but with impeccably pointed toes of course.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 67

Day 67

where: Central School of Ballet Phnom Penh

Why dance?: There is nothing remarkable about this picture. No one is dancing, it's a bit dark, it's just a room. Let me help you see it the way I do:

This is a dance studio at the end of class. The room is steaming by this time and all your muscles are wobbling, but all of the day's crap and mania has burnt away and peace of mind has returned. The mess of life is much more simple, vanished into the simple complexity of putting the body where it needs to be, balance and technique.

I've said it before: this is home. It doesn't matter what kind of day I've had, bad or good or somewhere in between, from the first step inside -- the feel of the floor in ballet shoes, the mirrors, the barre -- the world goes away. I know where I am, and what needs to be done, and that's all, for the next 1.5 hours.

No, there is nothing remarkable about this picture, but for me, it's most certainly not just a room.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 66

Day 66

Where: The movie room in the Flicks

Why dance?: You have not known heaven until you have rolled around on the pillows in the empty movie room in the A/C. That is all I can say.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 65

Day 65

Where: Brew House, Sothearos Blvd

Why dance?: I needed to get some work done and was heading to Brown's coffee on Sothearos when I noticed this place. I had to turn around and go back to it -- the terrace, the details on the metal work,  the doors. It just screamed very cool artsy coffee shop -- and I was right. Murals on the walls, very pretty (though uncomfortable) metal chairs, a miniature leaning tower of pisa somewhere randomly in the middle, and this lovely lady, dancing to her own music.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 64

Day 64

Where: CLA studio

Why dance?: A new skirt that does all sorts of wonderful things when I turn (bought, of course, for a dance piece), a bit of color and sunlight, and yet another rehearsal.

The things my life is made of. :)

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 63

Day 63

Where: Nomads bar, st 51

Why dance?: It was a night out, they were handing out roses, and well, why not?

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 62

Day 62

Where: Lucky Supermarket, Sihanouk and Monivong corner

Why dance?: Where's Waldo? There is a dancer in this picture -- can you spot her? (If you know me, it'll be all too easy).

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 61

Day 61

Where: The mirror in the corner at Cambodian Living Arts, the rehearsal room

Why dance?: At this point, what I'm looking for is just shapes and angles. This one is just simply some dancer legs, after rehearsal, in a studio -- and lest you accuse me of not 'dancing' per se, I say this only: balancing this and taking a picture at the same time was no walk in the park.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 60

Day 60

Where: The Penthouse bar

Why dance?: Happy hour, best friends, watching the light slowly vanish and the world go by. Reason enough in my book.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 59

Day 59

Where: Inside the Flicks movie room

Why dance?: Shadows, silhouettes, and dance, oh my!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 58

Day 58

Where: The Flicks

Why dance?: Imagining shapes against pretty lights. Nothing more or less.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 57

Day 57

Where: The Flicks, downstairs

Why dance?: Well, I discovered Thursday's performance was being re-broadcast, and decided to check it out. Taking a picture of the television is tricky especially because of the crazy camera things they do, but I did manage to get this one of the ballet.

I will concede: it was okay.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 56

Day 56

Where: The Flicks

Why dance?: Sunday afternoon killing time with the volunteers: playing cards, ordering food, drinking wine. What happens when you win? Victory dance of course!

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 55

Day 55

Where: Mondial Wedding Center, Mao Tse Tung and St 230.

Why dance?: It's wedding season! Over the course of April - May, three of my colleagues have/will get married. This one was -- as far as I know -- more or less an arranged marriage, but the girl was at least given the opportunity to say yes or no. Clearly, she said yes! Here the couple is having their first dance, with two other of my colleagues (the guy is getting married next week, though not to the girl he's dancing with, she's another colleague) stealing the spotlight.

#100daysofdance (v. Cambodia): Day 54

Day 54

Where: The Department of Performing Arts theater.

Why dance?: I wasn't dancing for this -- I was just watching. Amrita is the main powerhouse -- really the only powerhouse -- of contemporary dance in Cambodia. Tonight was their "Contemporary Dance Platform", featuring works-in-progress choreographed by some of their dancers. Every so often, it's just nice to sit back and watch what other people are creating!