Monday, November 3, 2014

Also-Rans and the Dawn of the Mentor Program

also-ran
"neither a loser nor a winner, inescapably more pathetic, less evocative of empathy, less romantic than winner or loser."
Yep that's me...and a few others. I'm all about talking the walk. We talk about 'the dance game'. We critique it.  See lots of shows so we do support it. Network in it. Go to all the classes and festivals. But we seem to find reasons NOT to participate...usually we reach in and pull out and play the "RL" card. For me its fear of failure or meeting up to the stupid standards I've set for myself (in my own delirious mind). 

We will help out groups short of performers. Sit on pose-ball, etc....but putting an act together takes cahunas. We fall short, repeatedly, but we have good intentions that that big day will come some day. We're coming. hold on. /me sings "Hold on, I'm comin..." /me sings "Somewhere, over the rainbow".  /me sings "Any day now"

Well great-ideas are planted in the firmament above where we all draw on them like a wiki and thus many of us can appear to come up with the same great new idea at the same time; not unlike how animals on different lands separated by water, learn new tricks at the same time; like monkeys/apes on different continents learning to crush coconuts with rocks.

And alas we welcome the dawning of the 'mentoring program'. It goes by a few names around the dance community. Suffice it to say its meant to help support and train dance-show-newbies with every element of putting on a show who normally would be too shy or too ill-equipped skill-wise to take that first step on their own. A great idea to get new blood and a new strain of blood into the dance folds. Seems there is about 90-day boot-camp. Wonder if it because an SL study shows that the average relationship in SL lasts 90 days? So if you are in a relationship, it provides enough time for you to shake your demanding partner who doesn't want to share you with something else you really love.

 So much more goes into putting on a show than just a year ago...especially 2 years ago. Better dances, better choreography, mesh costumes, new sophisticated tools, classes, more and better use of custom particles,  multiple sets, large group numbers, complex group exchanges, more use of humor, waaaaaaay better sets, use of stage mechanicals, special fx, live MCing, use of dramatic music, big production story-telling, festivals, venue-swapping, not to mention the added intimidation of packed-houses reaching up to 101 avatars on the sim to see one show. 

I've no idea if I would be intimidated today if i was just coming into this new past-time as opposed to when I came into it years ago when I did. 

They say, imagine everyone in the audience is naked. Hmmm not sure how that works or if it works. What if an audience was forced to be naked? Would a newbie feel less angst? I would love to see that tried as a social, psychological experiment. What better place than SL to try it? If nothing else, I bet you get a packed house. Make your own jokes.

Lat "Yummy" Lovenkraft