Thursday, July 06, 2006

Breaking Storms

For a while I wondered if this wasn't going to be the week Border Crossings fell apart. Maybe it was the heatwave...... Anyway, as the rains refresh the earth, the company is well and truly on course again!

The one thing we did lose was Denise's workshop. Sadly, we just didn't get enough takers, and had to cancel. This is very odd, given that all previous workshops have sold out. I guess it might be the combination of words in the title: "Dance" puts the theatre people off, and "sub-text" puts off the dancers. Anyway, it's a lost opportunity. Denise was very stoical about it, and hopes we'll be able to arrange it again for the future. I'm sure we can make it work as part of a series (maybe that was the mistake?).

For a few days there seemed to be a question mark over our venue for Dis-Orientations. We all had mini-coronaries. But it's all confirmed now - and we open on September 13th. Activity will now be manic!

I was at the Chinese Embassy last night. Ke Yasha had invited me to a reception, marking the visit to London of a group of folk musicians from Xinjiang. This is right by Khazakstan, and the people look and sound more like Turks than Chinese - but they are Chinese. They sing their love songs and their comedies with the most incredible, rooted passion. It feels strange to see them in the austere surroundings of the Embassy, with the suits looking on. Strange, but rather wonderful. Music like this reminds us where we start from.

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