In the past couple of weeks there has been a sense, both here in the company and in all aspects of my life, that makes me feel as though everything is evolving,quickly and dramatically changing for the better. Evidence of this may not be immediately apparent, but there have been small and punctuated clues leading me to feel this way. And it seems that I'm not the only one who does.
To be more specific, with Velocity everything is growing in the sense that communication is becoming clearer, people are fulfilling their intentions, our business is growing rapidly, and we are rising to the challenge. All of Gregangelo and Jeffrey's generosity and giving is really coming back to them and to the artists who have been on that journey with them.
We have been cramming in our last rehearsals for "Heliopolis: City of the Sun", our upcoming arabesque show in Marin which shows next week. As is expected in this business, the initial merging of all our various acts which have been in the works independently, ran rough the first time through. We have about twelve acts including belly dancing, sword dancing, drumming, a snake charmer, fire dancers, our very own Whirling Dervish (that's Gregangelo, the founder and artistic director--I love telling people that one of my bosses is a Whirling Dervish!), and a lot more. This is all narrated by Kelsy Custard, who plays the role of a woman of Heliopolis, reading the poetry written in hieroglyphs on the walls of Egyptian tombs. (No, really, that's where we got the poetry. We have a book of it that Jeffrey and I borrowed parts of for our script. I actually posted some of it on this blog.) Well, to make a long story short, the script has been through many changes, and we've had a rough go of rehearsals, but last night I was finally able to hear Kelsy speak the poetry while moving across the stage..with the accompaniment of Jim, our world cultures/arts/music genius specialist, who is playing wooden flutes and Egyptian percussive instruments with the poetry. Jeffrey said he had chills up and down his spine as he listened to Kelsy's voice with the music, and saw her powerful energy. We all know how talented she is (she's also a V-Troupe member and a clown with her clown troupe...they all live together!), and last night we got another dose that talent. Not to mention, Jim is a truly connected, magical human being with great understanding and intuition. Very easy to work with.
My role in this part was very easy. I just gave stage directions, worked with the script, and listened, but I now finally feel that this piece has become what we had dreamed it would: a captivating, deep, and powerful journey of the spirit and a celebration of cultural arts.
I am very proud of all of our artists and everyone who works in this company. What a beautiful group of people, and what a great job to have.
I'm feeling profoundly blessed.