Tour Bus Blues

by Livia Vanaver
1/23/08
1:30 PM Central Time





Well, here we are on the bus zooming along from Iowa,  just 91 miles outside of Minneapolis.  Michael brought a dvd of Stomp and we all thoroughly enjoyed seeing this fantastic movie on the bus today.......  a great show with kindred percussive dance spirits!    All in all, this is a well paced and comfortable tour with Herman Jones of Stagecoach bus tours at the helm.   We all get out every time Herman pulls into a rest stop and have a brisk walk in the  snow and some crispy fresh air!!....as per Diana Byer’s suggestion  (she toured with Allied Concert Series many times over the years  in this area with her amazing company,  New York Theatre Ballet)   Her advice has been invaluable and we’ve found ways to save time and money by doing a good grocery shopping yesterday for supplies for the next few days.   Last night’s concert at the Memorial Auditorium in Burlington, Iowa was just great.  The outside of the theatre resembled a ship.  We were told that the marines did their drilling actually in the theatre at one point.   The theatre was built on the banks of the Mississippi with Indiana seen just across the ice floes.  Many huge  bald eagles greated us when we arrived.   We performed for a  very full and receptive audience and wow could they sing!    Our sponsors and stage crew were all so warm and welcoming.  It’s a pleasure to set up, rehearse and perform when you feel an immediate rapport with the whole team involved; from Roger the concert coordinato;,   to wardrobe mistresses Jeanie and Sherry, who pressed costumes, to a delicious, hot home cooked meal before the show. 

Tonight,  some of us will stay at Days Inn  (Mall of America....one of the biggest mega malls in the US....complete with indoor amusement park) and some at Lisa Channer’s and Lara Ciganko’s homes.  Lisa and Lara were 2 of my first students in New Paltz when we the Arts Community first began.  Lisa is now an established theatre director and professor at the University in Minneapolis and Lara  is on the faculty of the Main Street  School, a performing arts high school where Nathan, Evita and Michael with do some swing dance workshops tomorrow morning  (early).  Tonight we’re all going to Lisa’s for dinner and then off to a choreographer’s showcase.  We’ll get  to see Eileen Channer, Lisa’s mom, who is visiting. Eileen was on our first Board of Directors for many years as well as being the assistant to the Dean of Fine Arts at SUNY New Paltz,  where we held our Institute classes for about 15 years. We’ve got a hot game of chess going with Nathan and Elijah. Evita is  crocheting an amazing, expanding round item that she says will be a dress,  Michael, Talli and Isa  are finding bizarre ways of stretching and warming up,  hunkering down with  good books,  Bill and I are finally  having the time to edit over 8,000 of the Caringbridge e-mails in preparation for publishing a book about how a community came forth to heal and found healing for themselves as well....... and Amber is studying the gowns in   bridal magazines.

On tour-The Midwest

by Livia Vanaver
1/21/08

Several people have asked us to keep close touch while we’re on our 3 week tour in the Midwest with our Woody Guthrie show, to that end, we’ll try to keep a blog during our travels...Taking you on tour with us.

I have vivid memories of being little,  bicycle riding age, and sitting in my kitchen in Queens drawing a map at the formica table:  Go  4 blocks and make a right.   Then go 3 blocks and make a left,  10 blocks and go right, make the next left and go 13 blocks.  On and on I would draw my map, not having a clue where I would end up and excited by the prospect of great surprise.  I would then  pack a sandwich and a can of Mott’s apple juice, put it all in the basket in the fron tof my bike and away I  rode...with a plan.  This could have been a good staging for a Merce Cunningham piece.   Life hasn’t changed that much for me.  Somehow looking at the itinerary of this Woody Guthrie tour that we’ve just embarked upon,  the memory of my bicycle journeys keeps flashing strongly in my mind.  

We just arrived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and were met by  Herman Jones, our bus driver with Stagecoach Tours, and new traveling companion...or rather we’re his new entourage of gypies..  Flying in was so beautiful ...everytime I woke up, the cloud formations were morphing from perfect patterns to completely being engulfed by a snowcloud.  I’m so glad that Herman is driving and not us because we’re going through a wintry mix. on the highway heading towards Burlington, Iowa where we’ll do our first  2 concerts tomorrow.  The bus is brand,  spanking new complete with couch and card table in the back and a big space for grand battements holding onto the seat tops, or  stretching on a yoga mat...alternately.  I see that Herman is following a big sand truck...good move I say.   I hope I made the right decision to plow ahead to  our hotel eat dinner there, as opposed to eating now and having travel time later.  We’re all hungry but I think it would be so much nicer to have a relaxing dinner together and turn in for the night.   Aside from Amber’s luggage getting eaten by a conveyor belt, the trip was uneventful.    Meeting up with  Talli in the Chicago airport on his way back from San Francisco to join us on tour was heartening...so far everything is going well...We’re folllowing the plan.