Alien friends in the Staadpark.

We are only in Graz one hour more – headed to Frankfurt today, and the time here has passed so quickly.  We’ve been here three weeks and yet it feels like only a few days.  This morning at breakfast Gabel showed me a photo he took of himself yesterday at the Schloßberg, and then showed me the exact same photo he had taken of himself 6 years earlier when we were in Graz to perform Poetics: a ballet brut. Time flies. Facial hair comes and goes. Only seven years ago we were here for our first tour in Europe with No Dice. I still remember everything clearly. Nothing from that time has faded.

Aliens abducting Kristin

I even still have the bottle of kurbis oil which was our closing night gift. The bottle had been labeled specially with a photo from our No Dice talk back. We were all sitting on the set for the show — Anne, Zack, Rob, Tom, Peter, Pavol and I. I remember being really impressed by being on the label of this kurbis oil and a kind of pride like “we made it! we’re on the bottle of kurbis oil with the steirischer herbst stamp!” and I have kept this bottle all these years. I even packed and moved it once. The oil has probably since gone bad. I don’t know. I could never bring myself to open it and use it. It was too meaningful a gift to me at the time.

Now we’re here packing up to leave again, and some of these friends from seven years ago are still here with us and some are gone — and we’re all seven years older supposedly, but I don’t feel it.  Maybe we’ve all just been time traveling with the aliens. I hear they do these things. Make 7 years pass suddenly in just a second, then fly off in their spaceships to other worlds.

Aliens molesting Gabel

Aliens studying Ilan’s bratwurst

A few pictures from our second full day of shooting for Episode 9 with steirischer herbst workshop participants.  On this day we went to the Postgarage Club and did a lot of hard and sweaty dancing.  Very grateful to all these guys for their playfulness, patience, and endless energy — and thanks to Yvonne, too, for spending her birthday with us.

Today we worked with workshop participants on a cheer for Graz.  I think it left a lasting impression on the few traumatized citizens.  One person we overheard on the street said “it’s for sure foreigners…”

A couple of stills from last night’s filming at the steirischer herbst offices…