DJing and WCS Outdoors

Hello All!

A couple of West Coast Swing related things happening in the near future.

A.  Join me at Connelly's Pub in Manhattan on Tuesday, September 24th.  I'll be DJing from 8:30 pm - 12:00 pm.  Visit Strictly Westie for all the details.

B.  The last WCS Outdoors of the year will be on September 28th.  Join us from 6 pm - 9 pm at West Harlem Piers Park (West 125th St. and the Hudson River).  There will be a free lesson from 7 pm - 7:45 pm (ish), as well as great dancing with local West Coast Swing enthusiasts.  WCS Outdoors is presented in partnership with The Riverside Park Fund.  For more details visit the Riverside Park Conservancy website here.

TIPDI and Other News 2013

Well... after a long hiatus from this blog, I am back.  It's been a rather epic year.  Here's the lowdown...

1.  I spent eight months working as a cartoon producer for a post-production house in NYC that specialized in foreign language cartoons.  It was a very interesting experience that used all of my production management, casting, and language skills.

2.  I have continued to compete on the WCS circuit.  Most recently, I placed 1st in the Novice Division at Liberty Swing, one of the largest events on the East Coast.  I am now in Intermediate, which is a considerably more difficult level.  Cross your fingers for me.

3.  I served as the Artistic Director and co-producer for "The International Partner Dance Intensive" (TIPDI) - a 3-day, 4-night multi-dance intensive for adult dancers held August 15-18, 2013 in NYC.  The cross-training program I designed included 7 hours of class per day in Argentine Tango, Ballet, West Coast Swing, Modern, Salsa, and Afro-Haitian dance with world-class instructors.  60 dancers from the United States, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, the Czech Republic, and Germany, joined us for the first of what we hope will be many more TIPDI events.  We have received amazing feedback from our first year participants, and I am currently working on making our 2nd year even better.  You can check TIPDI out by clicking here.

4.  "Burn the Piper", my feminist sci-fi series, may actually come to life!  Keep checking back here for all the details as everything gets more confirmed.

5.  The last WCS Outdoors event will be held in Harlem on September 28th.  I have been asked by a few people to continue running a dance during the winter.  I am still debating about it, but if I decide to hold an event, I will post information about when and where the winter dance will be held, here, and on Facebook.

I will most likely be updating this more regularly now that I am not producing cartoons full-time, while also attempting to coordinate a dance festival.  LOL!  Hopefully I'll have more cool things to report!

Post-Summer News

Whoo!  Haven't updated this since God was a boy.

Lots of stuff happening...

- Spoke in Dubai in March at TESOL Arabia 2012.  The teachers who attended my workshop and lecture were awesome.  It was a great experience.

This summer, I have been going back and forth between stage managing, choreographing, and performing.

- After serving as dance captain for "Urban Odyssey" with Loco7,  I headed to Syracuse, NY with them, to stage manage the remount of, "In Retrospect".

- I have been competing on the international West Coast Swing (WCS) circuit since early March, and I'm having a blast.  I've managed to reach finals (Top 12) and/or place in the Top 5 in three out of the four competitions in which I have participated so far.

- Choreographed "Story Time with Mr. Buttermen" directed by Christian de Gre for Mind the Art Entertainment.  The show was part of the 2012 New York International Fringe Festival.  The cast was amazingly patient and incredibly talented.  It was an honor working with them.

- I co-organized an outdoor WCS event in Harlem that has become quite popular.  September 1st is our last date currently, but if the parks department agrees to extend us, we'll be dancing until October.  I'll post more info here as soon as I know what's doing.

- Next up, lots of writing, lots more WCS competition, teaching a dance workshop in September, and sleeping on occasion.     

Early 2012 Projects

After a whirlwind of traveling between South America and the UK at the end of 2011, I am now back in the US. Just finished appearing in "Hypnotik" with New Stage Theatre Company at Theater for the New City, and I am currently serving as the dance captain for "Urban Odyssey" with Loco7 at La MaMa, ETC.

Upcoming projects...

-Participating in the first stateside staged reading of "Our Planet" by Yukio Shiba in February. Directed by Alec Duffy at Japan Society.

-Heading to Dubai in March to speak at the TESOL Arabia Conference on using theater in the ESL classroom. You can check out the conference here: http://tesolarabia.org/conference/

-Then I'm off to Texas to shoot the first episode of "Immortal U", a webseries about a group of immortal scientists racing to save the Earth. More info here: http://www.webserieschannel.com/immortal-u/

-Continuing to dance and teach as time allows, and writing, writing, writing. Did I mention I was writing?

-Oh! I have a national ad for Bailey's Irish Cream running currently (though I only appear for about 4 seconds - LOL!)

Writing, Writing, DSA, and "Split"

April 2011 will forever live in my memory as the month of writing ridiculous amounts of text for other people. Six industrial scripts on food safety for the British company, Human Focus; over 2000 celebrity bios for celebritynetworth.com; spec program scripts for two companies - one of which hired me as head writer for their ESL project in South America (Whoo-hoo!); and, of course I continue to plug away on "I-High" and "Burn the Piper".

When I wasn't writing, I was working on Dance South America (DSA). DSA is a joint venture between myself and Balaio Estudio de Danzas Brasilenas, an incredible dance school in Buenos Aires that is devoted to dance forms of Brazil, run by master teacher Claudio de Oliveira from Curitiba. We hope to bring dancers from abroad to Balaio for intensive one or two week programs on Brazilian dance. In the future we hope to expand the program to include an additional week at Claudio's school in Curitiba as well. Look for the launch of the website in mid-May.

"Split" has its own page in the Internet Movie Database now (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1880335/), as we hold our breath regarding festival acceptance. Huge thank you to the management of the band whose track we used. (I'm not allowed to name drop as part of our agreement.) So, all I can say is "Thank you."

Next up - performances and more performances. Now that I'm back in the dance studio everyday, I am remembering what conservatory was like. Wow. I spent years being this sore. How did I do that? LOL. I am waiting for the moment when I am used to it again. Waiting... waiting...

Performing in BsAs-Hipodromo San Isidro

March 12th
13:00 - ???

Hipodromo San Isidro, Buenos Aires
Avenida Santa Fe y Martinez
Rotonda Av. Marquez y Fleming

March 12th there is a VERY LARGE festival of Latin American culture at Hipodromo San Isidro. Dance and music delegations from multiple Latin American countries will be performing and there will be food, games, and cultural displays. I am performing as part of the Brazilian delegation. The choreographer saw me in a dance class and invited me to join the cast. (Apparently, I can pass as Brazilian!)

If you're in BsAs, come check it out! It should be a great event!

Intro to Horton Technique Workshop/Taller de Introduccion de Tecnica Horton

Calling All Dancers, Movers and Shakers!!!
Llamando a todos Los Bailarines, Los Motores y Las Coctelera!

Join me for an introduction to Horton Technique!! Horton is a modern dance form, taught primarily at the Alvin Ailey School in New York, that improves strength and flexibility, and is completely applicable to tango technique. Over the course of the two-hour workshop you will learn the basics of the technique and a short combination. No previous classical dance training is required. Just bring yourself, a bottle of water, sweats and a t-shirt (no shoes!), and your enthusiasm!

Unete a mi para un introduccion a la Tecnica Horton. Horton es una forma de danza moderna, enseno en la Escuela de Alvin Ailey in Nueva York, que mejora la fuerza y flexibilidad, y es aplicable completamente a la tecnica de tango. Durante el taller aprenderes los basicos de la tecnica y un combinacion corto. No experiencia previos se require. Lleve usted mismo, una botella de agua, sweats y un t-shirt (no zapatos), y tu entusiasmo!

Estudio Fuera de Eje
Jeronimo Salguero 1708
Piso 2
Sunday, January 16/Domingo, 16 de enero
14:00-16:00

Cost/Cuesta: 25 pesos

For more information/Para obtener mas informacion:
paula@paulawilson.info
www.paulawilson.info (Click/Haga clic en "Current Projects")