Lauren Edson, TMP's Boise-grown dancer, sent this from Guangzhou, China. That's where the company is today. This entry covers her time in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, and a bit of Guangzhou.

Lauren writes:

Our time in Vietnam was filled with many experiences that left lasting impressions on all of us.

Nancy Napier, international business professor and executive director of the Centre for Creativity and Innovation at Boise State University, dropped in on the Trey McIntyre Project’s performance in Hanoi last night. The company is in the second week of its DanceMotion USA tour of Asia.

Napier ran Boise State’s involvement in an $8.5 million capacity building project at the National Economics University in Hanoi for nine years. She happened to be in Hanoi this week and was able to get tickets to TMP’s sold out performance for herself and a few BSU alumni who live in Hanoi.

She also heads a think tank at Boise State called “The Gang” that includes TMP’s executive director and dancer John Michael Schert (the tall blonde on the left), Bronco football coach Chris Peterson and others who focus on best creative practices.

“TMP was a smash last evening,” Napier says. “Maybe we even saw a little bit of world peace in the process!”

Pictured below: Napier, third from right in the back row, the company dancers, McIntyre, center back, Vietnamese graduates of the BSU program in Hanoi, and their kids.

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Brinn Waibel Sterling, 10, a student at St. Mary´s School in Boise, is one of the 15 winners of the children's drawing contest “Éste es mi México” ("This is My Mexico"). Brinn's drawing depicts of the Battle of Puebla, a decisive victory of the Mexican army over the French on May 5, 1862. (Yes, that's why we celebrate Cinco de Mayo.) It was chosen out of 4,000 drawings from 7 to 11 year olds around the globe.

Brinn is the first Idahoan to win this award, said Sebastián Galván Duque, press attache for the Mexican Consulate in Boise.

Dancer Lauren Edson is blogging for the Idaho Statesman, while the company is on its DanceMotion USA tour, sponsored by the U.S. State Department. Edson grew up in Boise and is having the time of her life, she says. The company is now in Hanoi. Check back for more reports from Edson as the company continues its travels through Asia.

The last few days have been packed full of some really exciting things.

We traveled from Manila to Iloilo, Philippines, to do some more creative work with a local company and for a performance at Central Philippine University. The flight to Iloilo was just one-hour, but it was extremely bumpy—we were all very happy when we landed safely in the city.
(Below: Edson rehearsing McIntyre's "Blue Until June" at the company's Boise studio in February.)

The next morning we worked with a group of Panay-Bukidnon dancers and musicians from the Calinog region. We first had the opportunity to watch them perform some of their dances in beautiful costumes, which had hundreds of coins fastened to their headdresses, belts, and bracelets. These dances (like the ones we learned in Manila) mimicked the beautiful movements of birds. We then got to participate in the movements. The coordination was much trickier than we thought it would be. One of these very talented dancers began at the age of seven and is now in her 80s. She had such a beautiful spirit and it was a privilege to be in her company.

We then traveled to take a ballet class at the Central Philippine University. It was our first class in some time and it felt really nice to get moving. TMP then performed alongside three local companies that evening and we received an overwhelming response to Leatherwing Bat—I’m not in this piece, so I had the rare opportunity to sit back and enjoy the rest of the company in their element. It was such a nice treat.

The following day, we returned to Manila where we had time to do some sightseeing and a little shopping. In Old Manila, we wandered through the streets taking photos and happened upon the sweetest little black-and-white kitten tucked in between some rocks. He was so precious it was hard not to take him with us.

We finished off our adventures in the Philippines with a performance at Market! Market!, a venue inside a bustling mall. We danced alongside the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group and Ballet Philippines. It was an honor to share the stage with these artists.

Yesterday, we had a long journey from Manila to Hanoi, Vietnam. It felt so good when we finally arrived at our hotel, exhausted from a big day of travel. Today is an off day for the company so we’ll all get a chance to relax, do some sightseeing and perhaps throw in a load of laundry.

Lauren Edson

Click here to see photos of the trip by the company dancers.

Seeking wisdom from your elders is a time-honored tradition in female communities. We seek out those who have traveled the paths of love, marriage, childbirth, divorce and senescence before us, hoping for guidance, or at least affirmation that we’re not alone.

Actor Andrea Caban does just that in her one-woman play “Questions My Mother Can’t Answer,” in production this weekend at Boise Contemporary Theater.

It's official: Jazz crooner Curtis Stigers will sit in with the Boise Philharmonic at its Sept. 1 "Patriotic Pops" concert, the finale for the orchestra's summer pops series "Picnic at the Pops."

Stigers fell in love with performing with a symphony orchestra in London, where he performed with John Wilson and a hand-picked orchestra at the BBC Proms, an annual classical music festival, in 2009. Along with singer and "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane, they performed tunes from 75 years of MGM musicals.

Writer Christopher Farnsworth has cancelled his book signing scheduled for 7 p.m. May 2 — along with the rest of his book tour — for the third book in his “President’s Vampire” series “Red, White and Blood” (Putnam and Son’s, $25.95) at Boise’s Barnes and Noble.
Farnsworth is sick and posted on his Facebook page that he has “some kind of mutant virus” and is heading home to Southern California.

Farnsworth grew up in Boise, so chance are we’ll get another chance at this one, but at this time Farnsworth is not rescheduling anything, says Boise B & N community relations manager Shira Hotvedt.

Boise jazz man Curtis Stigers talks about his new CD “Let’s Go Out Tonight” on Huffington Post.

Link here to read Mike Ragogna’s Q & A with Stigers.

Last week "Three of a Kind," a thriller by Boise-based writer-director Greg Green, won the Platinum Remi Grand Jury Award in the suspense genre at the 45th Annual Houston WorldFest International Independent Film Festival.

Now, Green's film also won the Houston Critics Choice Award for Best Picture and Best Actress for one of the film's stars Jodi Russell, pictured below.

Green also won two directing awards — one from the Houston Critics Association and another from the WorldFest jury.

The Center for Healthy Teen Relationships, a non profit that helps young people avoid abusive relationships, announced the winners of its 2012 “Love What’s Real” writing contest.

The group received 1,600 submissions of poetry and essays from teens across the state and will publish 100.

Angel Salazar, Jr. of Homedale High School took first place. Second place was a tie between Stephanie Martinez-Reyes of Marian Pritchett High School, in Boise, and Edmy Vega of Homedale High.

Third place, a three-way tie, went to Purni Adikari, Marian Pritchett and Delaney Rowe of Boise High School, and Kathryn Thatcher, Homedale High School.

More winners are listed here: