Good Morning Baltimore!

So, I just got back from a journey to Baltimore to see danceRINK's production of Alice in Wonderland. There was a great review of the show in the Baltimore Sun on Thursday. Choreographer Scott Rink put together a pretty amazing show. Just as amazing was the art created for the show by my boyfriend David Berube. Some of the choreographer was on the cliche side while other of it was inspired. Particularly fun and inventive was the choreography during the scene where Alice meets the Duchess and the transformation of the babe into the pig. The performance was set to an old recording of Alice in Wonderland starring Dinah Shore with additional score added by Scott Rink from older jazz era recordings.



David and I started a fledgling t-shirt business called Ocean Monkey Bottom T-shirts. The t-shirts were a hit. We sold almost 40 t-shirts at the four shows where we were present. Here is a picture of the dancer that played the Caterpillar wearing our Cheshire Cat Tee.

All in all it was a great trip. It was David and I's first adventure working closely together, and we fell into a natural rhythm. It was a good partnership. It is a good partnership.

While in Baltimore we checked out the Walters Museum. One of the traditions that David I have is to go to museums together. So far we have hit the Walker in Minneapolis, the Met in New York, and now the Walters in Baltimore. While touring the Walters, which is a smaller museum with a fantastic antiquities through 19th century collection, we came across a painting of the daughter of Duke Alessandro d'Medici. Please note that the little girl is obviously not white. Indeed, her father (1511-1537) was the son of a Medici Cardinal and an African serving girl. So, to spell it out, just as race based slavery was being developed in the Americas, the most powerful family in Europe at the time (the Medicis) embraced a black relative. The little girl in the photo is thought to be the first person of African descent depicted in European art.