More Photos of Lucy and the Dancers

Hi. This is Lucy's Dad again. I will be posting some more pictures here, in no particular order. If I have time I will go back to the facebook album and capture some of the captions too.

up in the trees

Marty and I were walking to our car to drive to Zinquazi when we stopped and looked up in the trees. Above our heads were about 12 monkeys in the branches. We stood there watching them work, scratch, shuffle, and eat. They were watching us too...one would stop in its tracks, watch us, and shuffle a little closer. It was getting dark outside so we didn't stay for long, but it was amazing to watch the monkeys from below; a new view of an amazing world.

Adventures under African Skies

PE was amazing! we loved seeing Marty's cousin Sally and her husband Landers, and had so much fun with her two kids Logan and Hannah. On the first day we all went to visit the old house that Marts and his family lived in, which is now a guest house. In the evening we went to Sars, short for Sardinia, where huge rolling sand dunes lead to the beach. We had a picnic on the sand, and Logan and I rolled and ran down the sand dunes. It was really fun (and really sandy.) The next morning Sally took us to a game park where we saw all different kinds of buck, and wildebeast, zebra, giraffe, and lions!

In the little shop we had lunch, and Marty and I went into a pen to play with two 6 month old lion cubs (about the size of grown golden retrievers.) One was a white lion female, and the other was its sibling, but a yellow lion male, named Kobe. They were both very nice and used to people, but the male didn't hesitate to scrunch up his nose, snarl, and open his huge mouth wide! I was really excited, and we have some nice pictures if I can get them on soon.

We flew to Durban where we met up with our friend Hilton, visiting for a family wedding. Durban is amazing because the Indian influence is everywhere, and the sides of the road are thick with green tropical plans. It's winter, so not incredibly hot, but I can imagine that the summer is very humid. We see monkeys all the time, which is a huge hilight for me. We've spent a lot of time on beautiful beaches, and surfing seems as big here as it is in LA, but the waves are huge and intimidating.

It's my first time putting my feet in the Indian ocean, and it's so warm! If the waves weren't so scary, I'd be swimming all the time.

Marty and I drove about half an hour north to Shaka's rock, where we found some cabins at a place called "The Secret Spot. We are looking over the ocean with plants and monkeys everywhere. This is the first time that we've relaxed so far...we've stopped missioning around to just enjoy where we are. Yesterday we hung on the beach, fished, and cooked a huge brai at the lodge for ourselves in the evening: lamb, chicken, boerewors, everything!

A small white dog who belongs to the owners befriended us (because we gave her bacon yesterday morning.) She has followed us everywhere, and even weaseled her way onto the bed last night! I also just realized that there are geckos everywhere inside the room, (which if you know me, is awesome because I love lizards!!)

Tomorrow early morning we fly to Johannesburb (the flight is so cheap!!) where we'll get our last car, drive to Kruger park for a few days, and end the trip visiting friends in Joburg before flying back this weekend. I'll try to get photos of lions, Durban, etc up soon, but hope you enjoy the other ones my dad helped me post.

Bongi

Woo-hoo. Lucy and I just skyped and I got to see her and talk to her for the first time in what seems like forever. She sent me this picture of Bongi, one of the boys in her workshop, who apparently took a while to warm up to the idea of dancing with the Americans.

(But he really liked it when he did.)

In PE

Well we've moved on from Cape Town, driving along the coast to Hermanus, and then taking the garden route, R62, through the winelands on the way to Knysna. We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast in Knysna called "The Goose," where a very friendly older couple took us in for the night. Then we were on the road again, driving near the coast to Port Elizabeth.

Along the way we saw troupes of baboons in the street near the cliffs, as well as ostrich, cows, buck, and sheep on the farms we passed. I got a lot of photos that I'm now trying to post, but it appears to be as slow a process as ever. You can tell by all the plants, knarly trees, bright flowers, and clear smell in the air, that we really are in Africa. It's such a wild place! We've had great weather too, so it's sunny and warm even though it's winter here.

I've noticed that there are townships or low cost housing on the outskirts of all towns and cities. A huge part of the population lives in the same conditions as many of those kids I got to know so well. People travel miles and miles to work in the towns.

Marty has been amazed at how many of the locations he remembered have been built up. A tiny surfing town called Jeffries Bay has transformed into a huge attraction with zillions of homes all over the place.

We're staying with Marty's cousin Sally, her husband Lander, and their two kids Hannah and Logan. Today they showed us all around Port Elizabeth, Marty's old stomping groud. We went to Marty's old house, which is now a guest house, and saw all the old spots that he's told me so much about. I saw where their monkey Coco used to sit and wait for Sheilah, his mom, to come out on the way to her sewing room. Coco would spring onto her head along the way and bite her ankles!! We went to the beach, saw the new boardwalk, and went to the boy's old school Claredon. PE is really beautiful and laid back, and we're having a great time.

Next we're flying to Durban (the drive isn't the safest,) and then on to Johannesburg and Kruger Park. Will keep trying on the photos.

What an amazing show!!!

I would never have been able to foresee the huge abilities that these kids are capable of. Yesterday they had their show…a full evening production of individual pieces for each level; group dances choreographed by the teachers, choreography workshop, and repertory by the well known choreographers Mark Morris. Not only did all these kids learn and memorize everything they had to do, but for the show they all rose to the challenge and performed beautifully!

I’ll need a little more time before I describe the process of working with the yellow group. At first some of them were hesitant or timid, and I think disappointed that my “Caterpillar” piece wasn’t classical ballet movement (most of them love ballet.) I think some were hesitant of adults because they wouldn’t make eye contact with me, and didn’t want to answer questions. This all changed when I taught their class, and I began to see their motivation come alive. I am so proud at how they tackled the difficult John Adams music, and how they wound up counting some sections out loud, as a group. They looked like they really enjoyed dancing for an audience.

I’m rushing because we have another show today and I still need to eat breakfast and shower. I just wanted to describe that it hit me last night that I will be leaving after today, and that I won’t get to see these beautiful kid’s shining faces again, probably for a long time. I think about the connections I’ve made to so many of them: Bongi, Tasneem, Nosipiwe, Nuruneesa, Akosa, Odwa, Lwando, Phatiswa, and so many more….and a sadness washes over me and I cry on the spot. I have never been so sad to leave somewhere in my life. I think this is a sign that I’ll need to make an effort to come back as soon as possible. It means something profound for me to be in this place, and I’ll need time to figure out exactly what that means. For now, I have loved being here, working with these beautiful talented people, and I hope that I can return before too long.

Photos from Cape Town

Hello everyone. This is Lucy's Dad. Lucy asked me to download some of her Facebook photos from South Africa into my computer, and then upload them again onto the blog as a separate entry, so that you can all look at them here. We don't want the wide exposure of Facebook, and yet we want the excellent photos for Lucy's friends to see. You can get a kind of caption for each photo by looking at the file name. So, here goes: