Jarkko Lehmus Diary

Mid-Week Epics

Did I write that update during the weekend? Yeah, right... The world premiere is gone, the bubbly has been drunk and a few constellations' worth of stars received. It's a great feeling to have full houses. Full houses that are enjoying themselves! Hats of to the man who devised the first ballet with three acts, for he was a genius: warm them up with the first act, let them have a few during the first interval, blast them during the second act, lube them up even more during the second interval and, finally, set the house on fire in the third act. And my god does it burn bright with the amount of alcohol the Scottish audiences consume! More hats off for the tag-team of gentlemen Page, MacDonald and Mumford for another stunning production. The Glasgow shows are pretty much sold out, Edinburgh is doing well and the rest of the venues I have no idea of. How we are going to fit on stage in Aberdeen is a total mystery, though. I see rattlers being thrown out of the prams... I'm sure we'll cross the bridge once were there.

It says Veuve Clicquot on the bucket, but... ©

It's a Thursday night. I've done two shows. My shoulder is mashed up, I have a treatment at 10.20am, but I'm still here tapping away. Why? Peter Jackson is why. I've just seen King Kong in a late showing. Some may say that it's an over-long piece of poncy shite, but I say that it's the perfect modern blockbuster. If anyone says: "They don't make them like they used to", I say: "Damn right they don't!" They make them bigger, dirtier, prettier, more humane, more emotionally engaging, more layered and even more larger than life. Mr Jackson is one of those people with vision and passion.The first time I heard his name was when it was associated with such underground Kiwi gore-fests as 'Bad Taste' and 'Braindead'. He's undoubtedly born in a sheep pen for a banjo palying farmer and his daughter and spent his childhood biting heads off cockroaches while cultivating his artistic genius. How he developed from a barrel-dwelling freak into a heart-string pulling global mastermind, I don't know. Loads of hats off form him though.

I've got a huge pile of hats on tonight, trilbies, flat caps and even a few top hats, and they all come off to these amazing people that create these amazing pieces of art and entertainment. I've had the luck, or guidance, to have already ended up working with a few during my relatively short career. People who have vision and genius, but don't always know how to communicate it to others. Keegan-Dolan, Brandstrup, Page... It's fascinating and frustrating to try to figure out the workings of a mind that operates on a constant overdrive.

Finding your personal boundaries and crossing them is always shattering and relieving at the same time. This is the size of my world... But it's so much bigger! You get the carpet pulled out from under the feet of your sanity only for the carpet to turn out to be a magic one that carries you to new heights that you'd never imagine even existed. Unsettling and exhilarating.

I hope I am capable of capturing at least something with my words. I have the priviledge of knowing , and working with, some extra-ordinary people that keep surprising and challenging me. Sometimes, most of the time, I find it hard to dress the feelings that I have into a verbal form. Even harder is to find a verbal form that is understandable to other people. That is why my preference lies in communication without words. A physical, visceral, primitive form of communication that doesn't have to be explained. That is why I am a dancer.

Being a dancer because I'm rubbish with words? Because I have shortcomings in communicating my feelings to other people in a more socially acceptable manner? That's how it sounds like to me at the moment, but I'll damned if it isn't just what the doctor ordered. I challenge you to get out there, move more, touch each other more and see how it feels. Go get drunk, forget yourself and take a salsa class or whatever. Get in there, get involved, have a life and come back and tell me you didn't enjoy it! And if you honestly didn't, the drinks are on me the next time around.

Posted by Jarkko at December 16, 2005 04:17 AM