I've been following this shop as an eBay store for about one year. I knew they were literally in my back yard, but I had not made the time to visit and I am disappointed in myself for not having stopped by sooner. Simply put, the Trolley House Emporium store is awesome! This store takes up half a block on Broad St. in Quakertown, which appears to be enjoying a little bit of a renaissance. There are a lot of antique shops and boutiques and cute little places running through the heart of this little borough. Why isn't anyone talking about it? Check it out, people!
The Trolley House Emporium has an eBay store where the user name is “Glittering Generalities”; a perfect name for a shop that has a little but of everything: junque, mid-century modern, early twentieth century and older. There are three main rooms chock-a-block full of stuff; everything from Fiestaware to horse tack. The back room is mostly full of furniture, ranging in age from the 40's through the 80's. There is an upstairs room full of chairs and beds and other randoms stuff. The eBay story truly doesn't do justice to the amount of things that this store has. The owner, Jen, is friendly and willing to bargain. When I visited, she and her partner were unloading new arrivals into the store. This is what thrifting and recycling should be like. I saw at least two items that are haunting me.
I will definitely be back!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Good Things in Small Packages: A Review of Ten Tiny Dances: Ten Different Visions. One Very Small Space
April 30, 2010. Bethlehem, PA. Touchstone Theater. I attended this event at the invitation of a friend who was performing. I had not had the opportunity to see any of her recent endeavors even though we've been living within an hour's drive of each other for the last 2 years or so.
The organizing principle of the show was that each dance had to be contained within a small space. In this instance, the space was defined by a 4'x 4' platform raised about 8" off the stage. Anyone who has danced in their living room knows how hard it is to keep from tripping over your coffee table, so I was anticipating the challenge posed by this kind of space limitation. But every performer pulled it off without a hitch.
The first performance, "A Bend in the River", featured a dance performed on a spinning wheel. The effect was somewhere between a dervish and Pilates class. But you could appreciate the athleticism of the dancer and what a challenge it was to stay balanced on the wheel. The music also added to the dervish feel, a mystical voice over primal rhythms.
The next performance was that of my friend, who called her piece "Early Onset", with music "Eet" by Regina Spektor. "L" incorporated her stage presence into the dance and told a story of longing and frenzy. I could see the drama presence and I was drawn into the story through her facial expressions. I don't need to mention that it was a complete thrill to see my friend perform. Bravo!
"Shoulders Down, head raised, a pleasant expression upon your countenance" was the next dance. This comic piece wove classical ballet with spoken word and mixed classical music. I think it offered a little of everything to everyone. While the two dancers moved through typical ballet moves, a spoken word track played over the music, providing narration (presumably ballet theory) about how you should move and look and think while you are dancing. The performance offered some comic relief as the dancers played off each other's moves and tried to "out ballet" each other on the tiny stage. Among many things it was a marvel to behold the choreography that went into keeping two fully grown dancers contained in such a small space.
"Choice" was a bold piece set to a tango. The dancer strutted and sashayed using a red ball as a prop. I have my own theories about what the ball might represent, but in the end, she was able to lose it...gracefully. I have never seen a tango executed by one dancer before. But I think one of the key themes of this show was to change our perception of what dance can be and overturn our expectations of what we thought we were going to see. A large component of dance is discipline. The space limitation creates a certain amount of tension by limiting where you can go and the types of moves you can do, but doesn't throwing out one convention liberate you to explore a host of other possibilities?
Another humorous pas de deux featured two young and devastatingly attractive dancers. "Lovers Being Lovers" (Barbara Streisand "People") set the two dancers against one another, each wanting to be part of the other but wanting to be separate as well. Most remarkable was the opening pose where the woman completely supported the weight of the man. This is a remarkable feat when you consider the size of the woman, but at the same time, it was a wonderful demonstration of how dancers use body mechanics to defy gravity.
After a brief intermission, we resumed the journey with "Buried in the Brain". Of all the pieces, this one was the least accessible to me. I was looking for a connection between the spoken word (I am not overly familiar with Emily Dickinson's poetry, but I recognized one line from "My life had stood a loaded gun", I think.) and the dance; I sensed a descent into madness, a rage. The dance itself was well executed, I liked the movements, but I found the spoken words distracting and maybe a little overwrought. I would have rather just seen the dance and left off the poetry - but maybe I wasn't in a head space to receive the message.
In "BodyRock" our devastatingly attractive couple returned for a street-influenced number performed to Moby's "BodyRock". This set was not as playful as I would have expected. The dancers didn't appear to feel the movement until the very end - when they loosened up and enjoyed the music. But I think it was paced perfectly. It served as a perfect foil to the previous piece and set the tone for the rest of the performances.
"Rocking", another humor set, was one of the most interesting pieces of the entire show because it featured three women and three rocking chairs. With their chairs as partners, they rocked, moved in, through and around within that 4' X 4' space. It was an innovative and at the same time languorous performance. It reaffirmed to the audience the endless possibilities that remain when you through off convention. Who says a pas de deux has to be two people? For some reason, (maybe it was the music or the general pace of the piece) it reminded me of the scene from "Oh Brother, Where Art Though" where the Sirens are washing their clothes on the rocks in the river. I don't know why, but it provided a very pleasant association for me.
No off, off, off, off, off, off, off Broadway performance would be complete with out a "drag" number. "Lip Syncing for My Life" was less about dance and broke more of the "rules" about using the limited space than any of the other numbers. And it seemed clear to me that this performance was part of a larger piece (that I would love to see). The performer lip synced "I Need You" from the Eurythmics with an energy worthy of any cabaret I have ever seen. It was funny, irreverent, cheeky and it clearly had alot of fans in the audience. I don't know that it met the letter of the constraint, but it surely embraced the spirit.
Nearly all the performers participated in the finale, where the first dancer returned as the centerpiece on his spinning wheel and each of the dancers took a turn spinning on the wheel and spinning around each other. I could have sworn the music was The Pixies, but alas I was wrong; it was the Ravonettes. It was probably not the most rehearsed of all the dances, but it was fun and a perfect dollop of joy on top of a wonderful exhibition of dance.
While some of the dancers were professional faculty and some were students, all are talented to one extent or another. It was impressive to see a wide range of body types, dance styles and interpretations, proving that big things can flourish in a small space.
The organizing principle of the show was that each dance had to be contained within a small space. In this instance, the space was defined by a 4'x 4' platform raised about 8" off the stage. Anyone who has danced in their living room knows how hard it is to keep from tripping over your coffee table, so I was anticipating the challenge posed by this kind of space limitation. But every performer pulled it off without a hitch.
The first performance, "A Bend in the River", featured a dance performed on a spinning wheel. The effect was somewhere between a dervish and Pilates class. But you could appreciate the athleticism of the dancer and what a challenge it was to stay balanced on the wheel. The music also added to the dervish feel, a mystical voice over primal rhythms.
The next performance was that of my friend, who called her piece "Early Onset", with music "Eet" by Regina Spektor. "L" incorporated her stage presence into the dance and told a story of longing and frenzy. I could see the drama presence and I was drawn into the story through her facial expressions. I don't need to mention that it was a complete thrill to see my friend perform. Bravo!
"Shoulders Down, head raised, a pleasant expression upon your countenance" was the next dance. This comic piece wove classical ballet with spoken word and mixed classical music. I think it offered a little of everything to everyone. While the two dancers moved through typical ballet moves, a spoken word track played over the music, providing narration (presumably ballet theory) about how you should move and look and think while you are dancing. The performance offered some comic relief as the dancers played off each other's moves and tried to "out ballet" each other on the tiny stage. Among many things it was a marvel to behold the choreography that went into keeping two fully grown dancers contained in such a small space.
"Choice" was a bold piece set to a tango. The dancer strutted and sashayed using a red ball as a prop. I have my own theories about what the ball might represent, but in the end, she was able to lose it...gracefully. I have never seen a tango executed by one dancer before. But I think one of the key themes of this show was to change our perception of what dance can be and overturn our expectations of what we thought we were going to see. A large component of dance is discipline. The space limitation creates a certain amount of tension by limiting where you can go and the types of moves you can do, but doesn't throwing out one convention liberate you to explore a host of other possibilities?
Another humorous pas de deux featured two young and devastatingly attractive dancers. "Lovers Being Lovers" (Barbara Streisand "People") set the two dancers against one another, each wanting to be part of the other but wanting to be separate as well. Most remarkable was the opening pose where the woman completely supported the weight of the man. This is a remarkable feat when you consider the size of the woman, but at the same time, it was a wonderful demonstration of how dancers use body mechanics to defy gravity.
After a brief intermission, we resumed the journey with "Buried in the Brain". Of all the pieces, this one was the least accessible to me. I was looking for a connection between the spoken word (I am not overly familiar with Emily Dickinson's poetry, but I recognized one line from "My life had stood a loaded gun", I think.) and the dance; I sensed a descent into madness, a rage. The dance itself was well executed, I liked the movements, but I found the spoken words distracting and maybe a little overwrought. I would have rather just seen the dance and left off the poetry - but maybe I wasn't in a head space to receive the message.
In "BodyRock" our devastatingly attractive couple returned for a street-influenced number performed to Moby's "BodyRock". This set was not as playful as I would have expected. The dancers didn't appear to feel the movement until the very end - when they loosened up and enjoyed the music. But I think it was paced perfectly. It served as a perfect foil to the previous piece and set the tone for the rest of the performances.
"Rocking", another humor set, was one of the most interesting pieces of the entire show because it featured three women and three rocking chairs. With their chairs as partners, they rocked, moved in, through and around within that 4' X 4' space. It was an innovative and at the same time languorous performance. It reaffirmed to the audience the endless possibilities that remain when you through off convention. Who says a pas de deux has to be two people? For some reason, (maybe it was the music or the general pace of the piece) it reminded me of the scene from "Oh Brother, Where Art Though" where the Sirens are washing their clothes on the rocks in the river. I don't know why, but it provided a very pleasant association for me.
No off, off, off, off, off, off, off Broadway performance would be complete with out a "drag" number. "Lip Syncing for My Life" was less about dance and broke more of the "rules" about using the limited space than any of the other numbers. And it seemed clear to me that this performance was part of a larger piece (that I would love to see). The performer lip synced "I Need You" from the Eurythmics with an energy worthy of any cabaret I have ever seen. It was funny, irreverent, cheeky and it clearly had alot of fans in the audience. I don't know that it met the letter of the constraint, but it surely embraced the spirit.
Nearly all the performers participated in the finale, where the first dancer returned as the centerpiece on his spinning wheel and each of the dancers took a turn spinning on the wheel and spinning around each other. I could have sworn the music was The Pixies, but alas I was wrong; it was the Ravonettes. It was probably not the most rehearsed of all the dances, but it was fun and a perfect dollop of joy on top of a wonderful exhibition of dance.
While some of the dancers were professional faculty and some were students, all are talented to one extent or another. It was impressive to see a wide range of body types, dance styles and interpretations, proving that big things can flourish in a small space.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
