SinCity 2012 Update #7
There will only ever be one First Year of SinCity.
And we were there!
This event is destined to be hugely influential on our circuit … in 20 years they’ll be showing videos of the early years of SinCity (“look how young they look!” “OMG he had hair!”) telling stories about this first weekend.
My prediction: This event will be the leading edge, the “experimental” comp, the event to try new things, push the envelope, shaping the direction and trend of events everywhere else.
And we were there!
Have to say: Jordan is one bad-ass emcee. Of course Jordan’s been on a mic doing workshops for half of his life already so he’s relaxed, spontaneous, and most importantly funny. He brings a young hip elegance, an international flavor, dresses beautifully, and is linked-in to the culture, jokes, fashion, styles and tastes of the younger set around the world. His leadership makes for a fresh, exciting, new feel.
The whole event felt new. Newness and innovation were the defining characteristics of the weekend more than anything else.
The four-wall idea, for instance. “Theater In The Round“ style seating. An experiment which didn’t exactly work this weekend but I’m hoping Parker and Earl don’t give up on it because it could work – possibly – with a few adjustments.
This year the room felt a bit disorganized and confusing – an interior designer might say the room didn’t make sense somehow, didn’t flow maybe? Or create activity centers? A feng-shui person might say the energy was flying in too many directions at once? Okay a feng-shui person might not use those words but you get what I’m trying to say.
Felt to me like it was missing a focal point. There was no backdrop unless you consider the shoe vendors the backdrop. DJ booth right beside them.
Small 2-person tables all around the edge of the floor, two sets of risers behind.
It’s like you walked into the room and had to stand there for a long time trying to figure out what was what, like maybe the room wasn’t finished being set up.
It’s human nature to naturally form stage and audience – our species does this without even being conscious of it, it’s ancient behavior at this point hard-wired into our big brains.
So almost immediately, and unconsciously, and despite the seating arrangements, a “front” was created in the room. The videographer moved his camera to that side as did everyone else who wanted to view the stage where it seemed to have settled.
I’ve been to center-staged “theatre in the round” plays and when they work it’s through the use of careful lighting, an elevation difference (a dropped stage,) a clear circular-seating design, and – maybe most importantly – a different acting style entirely.
At a dance event we have our own considerations. A DJ booth, for instance, no small matter since the location of the DJ booth often determines the hot spots, traffic channels, and other social characteristics of the room.
In addition, we choreograph our routines to one wall, which probably affects our social dancing (and JJ’s and SS’s, and certainly our routines) where we are always at least semi-aware of an audience on one side only.
So it will be a challenge to make this idea work for west coast. But. I am hoping Parker and Earl stick with it. I can envision a circular, dramatically-lit scene, darkness around the periphery, risers all around putting the stage at the bottom center …
It could be exciting! And who else could pull it off but these guys.
Not enough Allstars for a prelim so Saturday night the Allstars performed for us in an impromptu “show.” Very funny. I’m guessing from their outfits that they were told five minutes before the show “you’re doing a show.” Hilarious, loved it.
Jordan brought them onto the floor saying
“Allstars! Let’s give a big welcome to the Allstars!
“I like you I just don’t like you THAT MUCH.
“It’s a job security thing.”
Six couples, two heats.
Louis DJing, so first heat began with a Two-Step! Second with a polka! Hugo Minez in shades, Tara Steineke still in her bathing suit from the pool party, (reminds me of stories of Phoenix back in the day) Joshua Sturgeon in white gangster hat, bad-guy shades, gray silk suit, Bella in the shortest hottest short shorts covered with tassles which spun horizontally when she did. Ben McHenry in jeans (Jordan: “Dude you knew there was a dress-code tonight, right? You knew tonight was black-tie and TOMORROW was jeans, right? So tomorrow, when all the rest of us are in jeans, you have to be in a suit!”), Kara and Katie in sleek tight party dresses and stilettos.
Saturday morning Jessica taught a Ladies-Only “Strip-Tease” class and Saturday night the class performed a Chair-Dance Strip-Tease routine! In heels and a man’s dress shirt! Oh. My. Gawd.
Jessica at the front. And beside her, dancing right along on a chair, well sort of dancing right along, not very well, was EARL!
He’s too tall, first of all. Second of all, everything else was wrong.
So damn funny!
That’s how Saturday night started off.
Pictures are in my Facebook album, here.