Get it, girrrrrrl!

Movement.

Geez.

How did I get myself into this?

Well, a couple reasons. First, So Cruel is a whole lot of following me around and listening to my voice in headphones. If I don't do something interesting with my body, ya'll are gonna get bored, wander off to a whole other park, and just listen like it's a podcast. Fine.

And second, we decided there needs to be a pop song in the middle. And I should dance to it.

Okay, okay, it's more relevant than that. My brother and I had this "hip hop . . . kinda techno cool dance music stuff" band (my mom's actual words, actually in the show) a few years ago, which is how a lot of the drama between us started (yes, there is a segment of the show that kinda feels like Behind the Music).

Part of this show is about me reclaiming that time, remembering that I was a pop star, that we were pop stars together, so that I can talk about that time like it's not just tragic, but hilarious, bewilderingly impressive if I do say so myself, and something that is totally still a part of me.

I get it, I get it. But do I have to dance?

Liz says yes. And the part of me that is not just chickenshit and wants to make this a good show says yes. So I summoned all my acting powers to email the fabulous Sarah Gladwin Camp and act like I was totally ready for her to bring the stun gun that is her choreographic game to rehearsals.

Now, Sarah did a lovely little movement piece in my show True Stories last fall. I've also seen Sarah do stuff that looks like this:

And this. And this. Dude, if you haven't checked out Green Chair Dance Group, I don't know what you are doing with your life. They are amazing. But, you know, more po-mo than pop stars.

Wait. Except for that time I saw them dance in gold lame in Tandem Biking and Other Dangerous Pastimes for Two. I can't find a photo of that, but this gets close:

What I'm saying is, I should have known how good Sarah's awkward pop dance suggestions would be. I should have been ready for a notebook full of moves like hip-hop-bike and bad-butterfly. And so-you-think-you-can-dance-dad-drop. And cool-DJ-stack-arms.

But somehow, I'm still reeling today.

Other things I wasn't ready for: Sarah transferring those dance moves to the part where I'm out of the secluded park and basically in the middle of an intersection, and the very talented, very amenable, very owed-a-beer Julius Ferraro joins me across the street to trade moves.

And passersby shout things like "Woot woot!" and "Get it, girrrrrl!"

Does a show qualify as boundary-breaking if it breaks the boundaries of one particular person? i.e. the performer? i.e. me?

After a few minutes of trying out this amazingly awkward pop dance, Sarah says, "Don't try to be awkward. The amount of awkward you already are is exactly enough."

Not only do I do an awkward dance in the middle of my show, I am going to have to be honestly awkward about it.

So, if you see me out rehearsing, just know it only looks awkward because it's honest. Otherwise, it'd totally look like this:

So Cruel: a sibling serenade

will premiere as part of the SoLow Festival

June 20-30, 2013
To reserve tickets, email socruelphilly@gmail.com