Spooky Yoga also thrilled audiences at The Set NYC on Fri. Oct. 16 at 8PM at The Sullivan Room, 218 Sullivan St., NYC.
Presenter Robert Taliver invited me back to perform at the next The Set event.
This was a joy to be part of despite the lousy, dim lighting that nobody could change and I gave a flawless performance.
Presenter Bobby Hedglin invited me back to perform at the next STREB event on Valentine's Day (I can't wait)! STREB has an amazing space equipped for every possible aerial skill including a full flying trapeze rig! All three shows were awesome - fun to be in (I wobbled a little in the first two shows but third time lucky - it went perfectly) and to watch - the array of talent was extraordinary and all to a good cause - Kids in Control - which enables youngsters in need to take classes at STREB for free for their artistic and fitness benefit. This event was also a mutual admiration society, an excellent networking opportunity and a social gathering - so many of the performers knew each other from being in other shows together and that goes for yours truly. This was one of the happiest experiences of my life!
The very talented John Leo
www.johnleo.net accompanied me on his musical saw and the interaction between us created theatrical magic! It was wonderful to perform to his spooky sounds!
Spooky Yoga with John Leo's marvelous musical saw accompaniment made theatrical magic again at Mongrel Vaudeville on Thurs. Oct. 22 at 9PM at Freddy's Bar and Backroom, 485 Dean St. @ 6th Ave. in Brooklyn.
http://mongrelvaudeville.blogspot.com/. Presenter Julian invited me back for the next show in the Spring. I had such joy performing flawlessly and with John's musical saw and enjoying the other really fine acts and I actually got PAID, $20, but it's better than the nothing I usually get!
Spooky Yoga triumphed (despite a wobbly ending), at Recovery Rocks on Fri. Oct.23, 8PM at The Cup, 388 Van Duzer St., Staten Island, NY
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=141469671363. This was a really nice venue and the event was interesting because all the performers had some kind of addiction (mine was bulimia) and my Yoga has literally saved my life and kept me going. I loved the supportive atmosphere, but there were so many acts, the program ran very long. I got paid $15! Finances are improving slightly! I felt even better when organizer Scot Magri invited me back to appear in the next show. I was also delighted to be sharing the line up with two of the same acts that were at Mongrel Vaudeville yesterday! We are becoming friends and thinking of working together more.
Spooky Yoga opened Mon. Oct. 26 at 7:30PM for The Candy Janes Unwrapped! Rock 'N Roll Burlesque Comedy Cabaret at the Broadway Comedy Club, 318 W. 53rd St., NYC.
http://broadwaycomedyclub.com/candy-janes.htmhttp://www.myspace.com/candyjanesnyc. This was really an audition and although I performed flawlessly, and everybody had nice things to say to me, they were noncommital about when I would return to do any more openers. Very disappointing. The venue is in a great midtown Manhattan location and has a nice stage and technical facilities; the Candy Janes, 4 gorgeous women all young enough to be my daughters, are exceedingly talented dancers who perform very well choreographed and tastefully erotic routines dressed and undressed in lovely costumes and the comedian who fills time while the dancers change costumes is very good too. I'd love to perform there regularly, but it is not up to me.
On Halloween morning I auditioned Yoga Trek for America's Got Talent at the Javits Center. It was an exciting experience. Although one was allowed only 90 seconds to perform, the judges responded well and I was able to give them a DVD of my full act and a picture/resume. I was also singled out for extra special interview treatment on mike and camera - a very positive sign. I won't be notified about whether I will make it to the next level until early in 2010.
Later that evening, Spooky Yoga was a huge success at the Theater For the New City's Village Halloween Costume Ball on Sat. Oct. 31 at 9:30 PM in the downstairs Womb Room, 1st Ave. bet. 9th and 10th Streets, NYC. Live synthesizer music by Zaak greatly enhanced the presentation. http://www.theaterforthenewcity.net/halloween.htm I gave a flawless performance and Zaak's eerie synthesizer sounds really worked well with it. The audience and staff all responded enthusiastically and it was very gratifying. I also had great fun enjoying some of the other acts and the 'House of Horrors' attraction there!
This event was pure bliss. I gave a flawless performance helped considerably by Alan's lovely drone, flute and sax music during both shows of my straight 'A Bit of a Stretch' act retitled because I wore gold and copper sequined accents on my basic black Yoga costume and I wanted to relate it to the season. The other performers were all dazzling and many were familiar and beloved from sharing line ups at previous shows. It was also a good networking opportunity. I am so greatful to Tanya, the presenter, for allowing me to participate on only a week's notice.
Urban Yoga: A Bit of a Stretch charmed the audience on Mon. Nov. 9 at the Raising The Roof Benefit at Theater for the New City (1st Ave. bet 9th and 10th St in NYC), 7PM.
http://www.theaterforthenewcity.net/raiseroof.htm. I was the only dance act in a program of playlets, poetry reading, songs and dramatic scenes and I closed the show with Alan Ozier's excellent music helping me to give a flawless performance. I hope this leads to more performances at this venue which I love very much.
Autumnal Yoga was a hit at Creative Vibrations Studio Dance Showcase and Party on Fri. Nov. 13 at 7:30 PM, 22-55 31st St., 2nd Fl., Suite 200, Astoria, Queens, NY.
http://creativevibrationsstudio.com/events.htm. This is a lovely new space where monthly showcases are being planned for all kinds of performing arts, not just dance. Presenter Lalita loved my presentation (no wobbles, went smoothly), and wants me back regularly! This first show featured plenty of excellent belly dance, some modern dance, yours truly and an incredible 8 year old girl contortionist/acrobat who did extreme back bends. I do extreme front bends which she didn't do. Our performaces complemented/contrasted each other perfectly. It was extraordinarily interesting and entertaining.
I also got some very gratifying feedback from this event.
Dear Amy,
Thanks so much for bringing your amazing talent to our studio. This is a quote from our meetup member about your performance:
“ I had an amazing time, re-connected with an old friend, experienced some beautiful and soulful dance, including a yoga dance which truly shook-up and re-arranged what yoga means to me. A fun and inspiring evening by any measure! ”
Keep in touch for future dance performance events at our studio.
You are an amazing talent!
Lalita
The audience loved Yoga Yenta at my third appearance at the Night of Renegades Variety show, at Lava Dance Co. Studio, Sat. Nov. 14, 8PM.
http://www.lavalove.org/calendar.html. I gave a flawless performance greatly aided by Harlan Muir's excellent klezmer accordian playing. I love the warm, relaxed and fun vibes at these events and the exuberantly eclectic mix of talented folks sharing the line up.
From the Lava Studios I went to perform at a late night party at The Glasslands in Williamsburg,
http://glasslands.blogspot.com/, a Bon Voyage for Trapeze Loft doyenne and Wau Wau Sister Tanya Gagne who is leaving next week to perform in London until next Spring. Tanya sang with the Vic Thrill Band (who performs for her Team Animal Spirit Squad Shows) and performed her terrific multiple hula hoop act to their music, followed shortly after by my Yoga Dancing which was a resounding crowd pleaser! I had a ball - I so adore performing to live music! Everybody loved each other and the event was a huge success! I am very happy to be in Tanya's good graces for she is a wonderful, talented person and very influential in the NYC circus and variety show world.
Last night I performed my Yoga Trek act for the fourth time as the opener for the Start Trekkin' Comedy Improv Group (The Tank at 9:30 PM). I just adore doing this - one of my favorite gigs that satisfies my inner geek and my passion for performing at the same time plus I get to enjoy the improvised Star Trek episode that follows me and that is always hysterical! I wish this happened more than once a month!
I gave a flawless performance - Arelah and the audience loved it and it was for a very worthy cause: to raise funds to help establish Arelah's dance academy in Bed Stuy to fulfill her dream of helping the community through the performing arts. The other acts at this event were all excellent and diverse: modern dance; hip hop/popping and locking; Salsa ballroom dance; jazz dance; body percussion and step dancing; ballet; capoeira; and gospel and rap singing. I hope Arelah's dream comes true!
This was a really serious yoga place, so Alan Ozi who made marvelous live music for me, and I, gave it our all and the audience LOVED it and many individuals complimented me afterwards and told me how I inspired them to pursue their yoga practice with more zeal. I did my job. I am so happy. Presenter Prakash invited me back next year.
YOGANIME! made a rousing return to Reni's Japanese Maid Show on Sun. Dec. 6 at 6PM at Top Tunes, 303-305 East 53rd St. and 2nd Ave., NYC.
http://renirenireni.blogspot.com/. My movements went fine except for one slight, barely noticeable wobble. The music, from Miyazaki's 'Nausicaa' anime feature was a disaster. The mp3 sound file I sent to presenter Agent Sato from my PC to his Mac was incompatible and got garbled in the process and the audio was completely messed up. I gamely performed my act as choreographed and the audience responded warmly, but the crappy sound definitely was a downer. Painful lesson learned: always download music files to a back-up CD just in case! Agent Sato reassured me that he still loved my act and that I would return at the next Maid Show, date TBD.
SUCCESS! I WAS INVITED BACK BY PRESENTER VANESSA PAGE to the January Showcase after the SOUNDANCE STUDIO THEATER DECEMBER HOLIDAY SHOW
281 N. 7th St. (between Havemayer and Meeker)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
212 767 9406, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12 at 8:00 pm
FEATURING THE AMAZING AMY as The Yoga Yenta with HARLAN MUIR'S KLEZMER ACCORDIAN. And this was despite being a little wobbly at the end of my dance. I also enjoyed the other presentations sharing the program in this lovely, intimate studio space.
Yoga Yenta, met with gratifyingly positive audience response at my 5th Bindlestiff Family Circus Open Variety Show appearance on Mon. Dec. 14th at 8PM, Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn.
http://www.galapagosartspace.com/events.htmlHarlan Muir's klezmer accordian accompaniment was terrific and enhanced the proceedings. The other acts were all an excellent eclectic mix, typical of Keith Nelson's shows and included some familiar folks it was great to see again and some new to me that were valuable contacts. We were all a mutual appreciation society and I had a wonderful time and felt great about my presentation and about being there, period.
Yoga Yenta with Harlan Muir's excellent klezmer accordian accompaniment was a sensation celebrating Chanukah at Consume! A Holiday Spectacular presented by The Giddy Multitude Vaudeville Co. on Thurs. Dec. 17th at 8PM at WOW Cafe Theater, 59-61 East 4th St., 4th Fl bet. 2nd and 3rd Aves. in NYC.
http://www.wowcafe.org/index.htmlhttp://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=189196152654. It was a great venue, a great show, a flawless performance by yours truly and host/presenters Evangeline and Nicoletter invited me back to their next show in Feb. JOY!
Solstice/Yuletide Yoga with Alan Ozi's lovely musical accompaniment, made a warmly received 2nd appearance at Creative Vibrations Studio's Bellydance Show, Fri. Dec. 18, 7:30PM, 22-55 31st St., Suite 200, Astoria, Queens.
http://creativevibrationsstudio.com/events.htm.
I gave a flawless performance in this lovely, intimate studio space with an informal, relaxed atmosphere and a great roster of Bollywood and Bellydance and Modern style dancers! Presenter/host Lalita invited me to be a regular at their monthly shows!
Despite a near blizzard, the show went on with a decent sized audience that braved the weather and loved it and even me though I was wobbly at the end.
There followed a period of no performances for days on end and on Jan. 6, walking home in the dark, I tripped on the sidewalk and smashed both my knees, the left one worse than the right one. my knees were badly bruised but nothing was broken. It was and IS badly painful and affects my work-outs and performances.
I attempted an audition for a group project called Flight 18, on my Birthday of Jan. 14 and it involved an improvisational dance jam rather than my usual act and I was thus able to avoid stressing my knees too much and acquitted myself well enough. I love dance jams!
I then attempted a real performance: my favorite gig, Yoga Trek opening for the monthly 'Start Trekkin' Comedy Improv Group on Sat. Jan. 16th at 7:30PM. My slight modification to my movement to protect my left knee helped a lot and I got through it fine except for wobbling a little at the end, but no worse than I've wobbled in the past when my knees were fine. The audience loved it enthusiastically so despite the pain in my knees, I can get through my act.
The next day, Sunday the 17th, I found out by phone and e-mail that I got the Flight 18 job! This will involve a lot of time rehearsing/work-shopping and multiple peformances. This could create some serious conflicts with my own solo gigs. I hope this can be worked out because there is some small amount of pay involved. I won't know the details until the first meeting on Wed., Jan. 20th.
Yoga Yenta went swimmingly, I didn't even wobble despite the still awful pain in my knees, at my third appearance at the Down Town Clown Revue on Monday Jan. 18th at 8PM at the Kraine Theater. Harlan Muir's excellent klezmer accordian accompaniment was a huge factor in this success. The audience response was enormously gratifying proving again that I can overcome the pain (on top of all my other permanent bodily injuries), in my knees when I'm performing.
Had my first and second Flight 18 rehearsals and yes, I am able to accomodate my own gigs and still do this show! Flight 18 is going to be incredibly fun and refreshingly different from my own solo performances. It involves all kinds of group (about a dozen people evenly divided between men and women and very ethnically mixed) improvs and theater games and songs revolving around the concept of the Flight 18 Star Ship on a voyage of creative and free discovery and playful fun and adventure. There will be lots of audience participation and interaction with the performers.
Urban Yoga was warmly received at my 3rd appearance at Creative Vibrations Studio's Bellydance Show, on Sat. Jan. 23, 7:30PM, 22-55 31st St., Suite 200, Astoria, Queens. Despite my painful knees, I gave a flawless performance - no wobbling!
http://www.yogaastoria.com/events3.htm
'Sloppy Yoga' performing with the band, was a real crowd-pleaser at Quiet Colors Sloppy Circus on Sat. Jan. 30 at 9PM at The House of Yes, 432 Maujer St., Brooklyn.
http://quietcolor.com/qc/?cat=2001. House of Yes is a wonderful space, it was fun performing to heavy metal/punk rock style music for the first time and I hope presenter/producer Alex will invite me back for another of his shows. I also loved the fire eaters/dancers and aerialists who also performed and it was a good networking opportunity.
New act, Yoga Cougar (flirting outrageously with audience to Pink Panther theme played by Harlan Muir on his accordian), debuted to great success at my 6th Bindlestiff Family Circus Open Variety Show appearance on Mon. Feb. 1st at 8PM, Galapagos Art Space, Brooklyn.
http://www.galapagosartspace.com/events.html.
This is one of my favorite regular gigs. This time was my first feather boa experience and it was so much fun! Harlan's music was terrific and it would have been impossible to do this act nearly as well without him. The eclectic mix of acts sharing the bill was a delight as always.
The next day, Harlan and I gave a flawless audition of Yoga Yenta for a Purim show on Feb. 28th. Will we get the gig? I'll know by next week.
A week later - YES! We got the gig and are still awaiting message with exact time and order of show details.
I love performing with these folks, especially T-Pow aka Tanya Gagne, a very well-connected person in the variety show/circus scene. It was a wonderful show in a pleasant venue with a decent stage and friendly vibes. I gave a flawless presentation to Vic Thrill's happening music and had a terrific time and was able to network at this event too. I even got paid $10! That's better than the ZERO I usually get! Other acts making the evening great were: Drummer Lone Wolf and trapeze soloist Cub, Magic Brian, and Tanya and Miss Saturn displaying their awesome skill with multiple hula hoops.
The audience loved 90's Yoga to the music of Band of Bicycles! Appeared in the Totally Freakin' Awesome 90's Variety Show, Sat. Feb. 6th at 9PM at The House of Yes, 342 Maujer St., Brooklyn, NY.
http://www.houseofyes.org/events/totally-freakin-awesome/http://www.facebook.com:80/event.php?eid=302078257188. Awesome was the word for this truly fun event in which I gave a flawless performance to the band's wonderful music and all the other acts were terrific. There were very clever, laugh-out-loud parodies of Titanic and Jurassic Park and much creativity and wit on display all evening. For all this joy I even got paid $10! More awesomeness!
I was a bit wobbly during a difficult balance on one leg I do at the end of my brand new act during both late shows and did my best at the 3PM show. I also had a lot of fun working with an extra costume prop - a fancy glittery fringed shawl - I entered with, manipulated/flirted with and then tossed aside to perform the Yoga dance.
Harlan's music was his best ever! He really outdid himself at all 3 shows - what a treasure! Reaction by the audience, Host/MCs Bobby and Doug, was extremely positive. I adore being in these Benefit shows at the Streb/SLAM studios and I hope I can be a regular participant. The other acts were all terrific - totally top quality. Backstage mutual admiration societies abounded.
Flight 18 is beginning to gel. Lights and sets and painting the space are progressing and the 'Flights' are coming together. Cast members now have promotional post cards and business cards to hand out and I've already begun to give them out with my personal promos. Cast photo was taken at Sunday's rehearsal by photographer from Time Out NY magazine. I hope I'll see it soon
Had my 7th Yoga Trek opener for the Start Trekkin' Comedy Improv Group on Wed. Feb. 17th at 7:30PM at the usual The Tank venue where on a weekday night, the audience was smaller than usual. Despite the bad pain in my right groin tendon, I managed to get through it OK with a bit of a wobble at the end. Audience response was excellent and the Start Trekkin improv was inspired when member Frank introduced a muppet-like puppet character dressed in a miniature unifrom shirt - as a non-human sentient crewmember - hilarious and brilliant idea.
Yoga Trek delighted the crowd at the February Sky Box Variety Show, Sat. Feb. 20th, 9PM at The House of Yes, 342 Maujer St., Brooklyn, NY.
http://theskybox.org/performances. This was despite the fact that my upper right groin tendon pain had become so bad that I had to stop doing two of my best moves - both kneeling back bends - and modify my choreography. I feel very diminished and inadequate, but the audience doesn't know what's missing and I managed to fill out the time of the act and make it look smooth although I did wobble a little at the end. Judging from the positive audience and presenter reactions, I was fine (and felt not fine at all inside and the pain was awful).
I have an appointment to see Dr. Padgett, the same Orthopedist who operated on my left hip replacement. That is on Mar. 2nd. I will see what he suggests I do about my sprain. I just can't stop now that after a year of performing, I'm getting a momentum going of connections and contacts and gigs. I just wish the pain would go away and I could let go and enjoy myself totally.
This was a really fun show that I loved being in despite the terrible pain in my right upper, inner thigh that forced me to modify my movements. The house was only half full because of a blizzard, but the spectators there were very enthusiastic!
Yoga Trek soared successfully in 'FLY! Matchbook Productions Benefit Show' on Sat. Feb. 27 at 8PM, at Soundance, 281 N. 7th St., Brooklyn, NY.
http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2qjqtnh9497e4b4&oseq=
Yoga Yenta with Harlan Muir's klezmer accordian accompaniment, celebrated Purim and charmed the audience at the We'll Never Have Paris Variety Show 4 on Sunday Feb. 28th at 7PM, 107 Suffolk St., NYC.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=201111827297&ref=ts
Yoga Yenta and Harlan Muir continued to celebrate Purim schlepping from one show to another, on Sun. Feb. 28th at The Crazy Kinky Purim Extravaganza and the packed house loved it. This event started at 7:30 PM but My Yiddishe Yoga appeared about 9PM at The Delancy, 168 Delancy St., NYC. http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/The_Delancey_Presents_CRAZY_KINKY_PURIM_EXTRAVAGANZA_228_201002 11
