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“Tea for Two”
This #WeeklyWednesday is certainly the most special, eventful, and personal one I’ve shared! I hope you enjoy being part of our news! “Tea for Two” was written in 1924 and featured in the Broadway musical “No, No, Nanette,” with music by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Irving Caesar (though I modified the second verse from his original). My accompaniment is from a player piano! It’s US Roll 42296, originally played by Robert Billings. An especially big thank you to my exceptional #NYU dance instructor, Natalie Wisdom, for her original choreography! We learned this soft shoe for our musical theatre dance course this past semester and I modified it here to…
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On Human Dignity and Shared Experiences
I had afternoon tea yesterday. I had afternoon tea with a stranger. I met this stranger because I had afternoon tea yesterday at Patisserie Valerie, where tea is only served for two, in St. Pancras International Railway Station. Because the seating area at Patisserie Valerie is open to the rest of the station, I shared afternoon tea for two with a stranger who was asking customers for spare change. I shared tea because my heart was softened when the woman my stranger first approached shared some of her money with her and treated her with kindness; and because I am learning to listen to my intuition and to not be…
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A picture is worth a thousand words; or, Rusty the Red Panda escapes from the National Zoo
It’s pretty much every performer’s dream to be the focus of a media frenzy (especially for something positive!)… I got to experience a bit of that this week, in a very unexpected and wonderful way. Walking home from a family lunch in our neighborhood, about a mile from DC’s National Zoo, we saw an extraordinary animal emerge from some bushes. I recognized him almost immediately as a red panda – one of my favorite animals at the National Zoo and one I had often admired at our previous home’s wonderful San Diego Zoo. What I couldn’t figure out is how he could possibly be just a few feet in front of us, alone, strolling down our…
