3rd Annual China Salsa Congress

http://www.china-salsa.com/

Had a great time at the JW Marriot a couple days ago (thanks to the invite from my friend Brian Zhang - check out his moves in the video below, ha) at the 3rd Annual China Salsa Congress pre-party. Lots of fun, though I didn't wear the right shoes to "get my groove on" on the dance floor, I did enjoy watching the show. :)



After seeing the show, I realized that its been *waaaaay* too long since I last went salsa dancing. I lived in Guatemala a couple years ago (only for a couple months in the Summer) and went salsa dancing every night... but at least I've got some good tunes (aka: Celia Cruz) to keep me in the mood.

I hope everyone has a great October holiday! 国庆节快乐！

~ Elyse

chinese in motion: pilot episode

Well, I spent far too much time yesterday prepping and filming the pilot episode for a 6 minute slot on a TV show (I think the English title is "Chinese in Motion" but I can't be too sure), but at least I got to vent my opinions on mooncakes.

Yes, the first episode is about mooncakes. Now, I personally don't mind a good mooncake, in fact, if its a lotus seed filling (minus the egg!) I'm all about scarfing them down. But this one had a preserved rose petal filling, which was very sour, and yet I had to chomp on the sticky sweet thing for like, 5 minutes, as they got *just the right* shot, all while holding a straight face! Thank ye gods for my superb acting training, its all finally coming in handy! ;)

Seriously though, it was surprisingly fun to be a TV pundit, spouting my random opinions on things. I hope that the pilot gets picked up (its meant to be shown overseas, not sure where, really, but would be cool if it got on air in the States). Maybe I could some day give Mr Colbert a run for his money (or, ideally, just manage to get a spot on the Daily Show as their Asian correspondent, ha!)

Today has been a mixed bag of productivity, got some quality work done on the new press kit for Cheeky Monkey (and also thought of some possible names for the as yet untitled 'Experimental-show-about-Chinese-characters-with-modern-dance-thrown-in" and the ode to Shakespeare piece. Not going to share those names with you just yet (wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, now) :) Suffice it to say, they are going to be *awesome* and *cool* (or so says the PR Director, Tabitha).

Ooh, and a quickie shoutout: We're going to do an artWALK in November (the police have already said that this wouldn't be a problem, so no more cancelations, yay) and we're looking for volunteers... you know you wanna :) (pretty please?) 798 has grown way too much over the last couple of months, so I figure that another artWALK is a great way to familiarize myself (and those of you lucky enough to be able to participate) with all of the new galleries and cafes.

Anyhoo, I need to get back to work on that as yet untitled "experimental" show, I hope that everyone else manages to get some sleep tonight...

~ Elyse

Cheeky Monkey Theater

I'm currently in London and am overjoyed to discover that I can access blogspot/blogger again! :)

So... I'm putting up a wee little post, but since I'm going back to Beijing in a mere 3 days, I thought I'd also point out that if anyone who stumbles across this would like to see my actual blog, they should just go to this website here:

I Heart Beijing

~Elyse

PS: So, how do I look as a Blue? (rather than my typical "Blonde") :)

猪年快乐！ ：）

猪年快乐！ ：）

我原来希望过年之前写一封信。告诉朋友们我的2006年（农历的，哈哈）过得怎么样。想问问朋友们狗年应该是什么样子，以及我做过什么事情，我的猪年的愿望是什么等等。但是，我太忙了，没有时间做这些。春节到来之前，我就是像一只被砍了脑袋还跑来跑去，东撞西撞的鸡。真抱歉。

我的希望就是今年可以好好儿保持跟我的朋友们联系。北京的好处就是天天都能认识新的人。而且这些人什么样子都有。有北京人，有外地人，有外国人，连外星人都有！（也许吧。。。）所以，刚过年的时候，我按照美国的传统，写好了我的新年的愿望。最重要的就是第6个：经常跟朋友们联系。我想，最方便的办法是用电子邮件。短消息也是挺好的，但是太小了，也没有亲密的感觉。那么。。。电子邮件好了。

我去年开始踏上我梦中的路。那条路就是艺术（戏剧，摄影，写作）。我写了我的第二个剧本：《我爱北京》，还指导并演出了它。今年春天还要再演出一次。我也去过很多不同的地方，有的时候为了工作，有的时候为了看亲戚，有的时候为了玩儿。但是，总觉得时间还不够。我的愿望就是可以有更多的时间，去更多的地方，在新的地方慢慢散步，拍照片，认识新的朋友。

在我的第一张名片上职务写的不是”老师”而写的是”吉普塞异人”。因为我认为我就是一个吉普塞人。我当然是一个美国人，做美国人的好处是我们的文化基本上很乱，很开放。任何国家的人都移民到了美国，所以他们的文化也加上了美国的文化。但是，我不觉得我只是一个美国人。我是一个地球人。而且，我写给你这封信因为我觉得你也算是一个地球人。我希望可以经常跟你这样的老乡联系联系。：）

祝你天天开心： 笑口常开 ：）

〜柳素英

火树银花合，星桥铁锁开，

暗香随马去，明月逐人来。

－苏味道 《正月十五夜》