WEBVTT

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Welcome. My name is Simon Doug. I'm Chair of Heather and College Dances.

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And I'm very happy come see you with
these lights to welcome you very

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special evening dance. Elina lineage.
Many people have asked me mean by

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the lines lineage, but I hope by the
end of this evening have a real

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understanding of what that is for us.
We try to put together a concert

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that gives you a sense of what uh a
real lifetime of dance, making dance,

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performing, inspiring dance, creating
dance, teaching dance means there's

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work that you will see that was
originally performed in 1969. And there

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are two pieces that are receiving
their world premieres tonight. So that

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represents a good 40 year span. And
what we wanted to really do is

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celebrate, what is the life of an
extraordinary uh myth. In fact, a member

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here of a U Elana N who has really
given an extraordinary and probably the

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most powerful uh testimony to the, the
there is a common notion, I think

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that um a dentistry is necessarily
short and I think the line is life is

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one that is a testimony to the
falsehood of that motion, people feel that

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as your movement changes over time,
you have to change the way in which

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you're thinking about your practice as
a, as a dance artist. And I hope

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you'll see this evening that there
really is an extraordinary power and an

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extraordinary evolution to the way in
which a dense, a denser and a dense

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make matures over the years and can
still both present extraordinary work

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and maintain that extraordinary
presence. Part of this evening, you'll see

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uh a rare archive film from uh the, it
was actually the first solo she

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presented when she moved here 20 years
ago, made for her by her partner

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Cliff Painter. And it was performed
over at the Gage Auditorium. And

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you'll have a sense then of the
extraordinary power she was, and you'll

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also see a new piece of portrait of
her by her, the collaborator B Ker

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who's made AAA real touching, I think
and very powerful portrait of Elana

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, which we end this evening's concert
with. So welcome everyone. I have

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two very special guests here with me.
Um We'll get to Beth in a moment.

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But first, I just want to introduce to
the Dean of Agri Culture of the

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Arts Dean HWK.

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It's a great pleasure and privilege to
be here this evening. I have to

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tell you that I think I have the most
privileged and probably the easiest

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position on this evening's program,
which is really to thank Elena. I have

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been here now for two years. And I
regret that I have not had the

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opportunity to spend more time with
Elana. But in my acquaintanceship with

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her, I have come to know her as an
individual of extraordinary artistic

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integrity, an individual who is
completely dedicated to her art and her

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students and to the future, which I
find quite remarkable and quite

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laudable. Um on behalf of the
Herberger College, I want to express our

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thanks to Elina for her many, many
years of service to her artful

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dedication and to the fact that she
has positioned many students over the

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years to be successful, creative
individuals in the world. I hope that you

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will enjoy this evening's tribute to
her. And I thank you again for being

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here this evening. Thank you

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and to give some sense also the
continuity that Elena and uh her

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partnership and collaboration with
Cliff represent Beth Massard this year.

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Now, Beth, I think many of, you know,
Ben, but Beth was the, the chair of

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the College Dance when Elana. And Hi,
so she also represents the moment

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that they first came here. And Beth
will give you a little context and the

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framework I hope, which will add to
the way in which you can enjoy what

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you will see this evening. So here's
Beth

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regard and welcome. And I'm very
excited to be here to be part of this.

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And I'm so glad you're all here to
enjoy it, I have to use my notes

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because if I don't, you know what, all
you have to pull me on stage, I'm

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going to try to stay with my notes. Um
We're celebrating Elina Mooney's

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retirement tonight and giving credit
extra, the individual professional

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accomplishments for 47 year
collaboration.

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It's interesting, you know, when I was
a graduate student studying dance

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history, I was seeing their name in
print. They were in New York making

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history. And I, I thought, oh wow, ok.
Then later I learned in a workshop

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, those gorgeous bronze waltzes.
Charles Weidman choreographed, well,

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guess who? He choreographed them on
Elana movie. So it never occurred to

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me that we would have the opportunity
to work together. We did. It's great.

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Um I'm gonna give you just a little
bit of background, not much uh living

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in New York. Uh Elina and Cliffs
studied with and or with just about all

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major icons in modern dance. Uh They
soon were established as performers

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and choreographers in their own right?
And both formed companies, Elina

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Mooney and dancers and Cliff Ker dance
company for whom Elina was a

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principal dancer. Sometime after the
birth of their first son Matthew. In

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1977

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they received an invitation to come to
San Jose State University as

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visiting artists who one semester,
Elina went first and as soon as Cliff's

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company schedule permitted, he joined
her, then they decided to make

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California their home and moved there
in 1978.

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And in time, both Ilia and Cliff were
burning up the freeways. They

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divided up their teaching and
choreographic respon that floated among San

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Jose State University, Santa Clara
University and the University of Santa

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Cruz. Then Cliff started the
wonderfully successful new dance company in

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San Jose and Elena was a soloist with
that group. They both continued to

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guest choreography all over their
second son, Nathaniel was born in 1979

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and they continued to do their work in
California for about 10 years. How

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did they get to count up? How did they
get to Arizona?

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We had a job in 1988 and Daniel Nagre
who many of you know, called Cliff

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to encourage him to apply. Now, at the
time, uh funding and administration

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problems were making it very hard to
keep that new dance company going.

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And so Cliff was interested enough to
apply for the job DC. I Rosen was

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very impressed with Cliff and Elana
both when they came to their

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interviews and he knew that they would
make a great addition to the

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program. We only had one line and he
created a temporary position for Eli

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for that first year and then moved her
to a tenure track the next year. So

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rare, this incredible and seldom used
administrative action was a

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wonderful thing for all involved. The
department gave two extraordinary

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artists and for Cliff and up, it would
be the first time since they left

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New York that they would be
professionally based together, we're all able

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to sign for that.

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So here we are 20 years later,
acknowledging the end of the moony Ker era

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at a su in 2005, we had celebration of
Cliff's retirement. And on that

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occasion, I wrote him a love letter
which I read to the group in

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celebration of Elana's retirement.
Here is my love letter to her dearest

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Elina. You are such a special person.
I hope I can find a few words that

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will help create insight into the
qualities that I and others sow and en

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enjoy and admire. You lovingly
patiently taught a Brazilian classes and

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choreographed work for all levels of
students. You mentored graduate and

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undergraduate students and served on
many sometimes very difficult

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committees.

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You are a wonderful choreographer,
beautiful and inspiring dancer with

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national and international
credentials.

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You reach out for the unusual and make
inroads. Like working with the

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theater department being the dance
liaison for the Institute for has

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another name, collaborating with
artists like Native American composer

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Brent Davis and mask maker Zaro,
working for three years with the new

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music and dance ensemble,
experimenting with video with computer generated

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images and chant selection of events.
And boy, could you spot talent?

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You'd zero in on those students in
audition and you were never wrong.

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These observations tell us a lot, but
there's more you are a courageous

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woman. You're not afraid to take
participates.

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You appear to be a woman of few words.
But when you speak, the words

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reflect great wisdom and clarity in
difficult situations. You are always

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judicious in choice of words. You are
the voice of reason. You are strong

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and abound in grace.

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You may be a tiny little person, but
you have a huge heart. You are filled

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with compassion, understanding and
humor.

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Your powerful and enduring commitment
to the arts is similarly and

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intensely present in your personal
life as a devoted wife and mother, it

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has been a joy to be your colleague to
dance with you, take classes and

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work with you in many capacities. It
is just a joy to know you, Elaine. As

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you move into this new chapter of your
life. May you always remain in love

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with my, may all the things for all
time be and they dance forever. Love

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them.

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No.

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Yeah.

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Um,

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and,

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yeah.

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Mhm. And,

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ok.

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Yeah.

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Ok.

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Um, and,

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yeah.

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Ok.

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Yeah.

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Yeah. Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Ok.

00:25:20.680 --> 00:25:28.680
Yeah.

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Mm.

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Yeah.

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Ok.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

00:31:25.709 --> 00:31:33.709
Yeah.

00:31:39.559 --> 00:31:47.559
Yeah.

00:31:55.910 --> 00:32:03.910
I,

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ok.

00:32:09.420 --> 00:32:17.420
Yeah.

00:32:17.900 --> 00:32:20.335
Yeah.

00:32:20.368 --> 00:32:28.368
Yeah.

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Mhm.

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The,

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come on.

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Ok.

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Yeah.

00:39:37.208 --> 00:39:45.208
Yeah.

00:40:27.619 --> 00:40:35.619
Yeah.

00:42:08.619 --> 00:42:16.619
Yeah.

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Ok.

00:43:09.019 --> 00:43:11.586
Mm.

00:43:11.619 --> 00:43:19.619
Mm.

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:43.000
Yeah.

00:45:58.000 --> 00:46:01.276
Mhm.

00:46:01.309 --> 00:46:09.309
Yeah.

00:47:39.360 --> 00:47:47.360
Ok.

00:48:11.628 --> 00:48:19.628
Yeah.

00:49:08.639 --> 00:49:16.639
Yeah.

00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:54.517
Yeah.

00:49:54.550 --> 00:50:02.550
Yeah.

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Ok.

00:50:43.949 --> 00:50:51.949
Yeah.

00:50:51.978 --> 00:50:59.978
Yeah.

00:54:49.260 --> 00:54:57.260
It,

00:55:01.559 --> 00:55:09.559
yeah.

00:55:29.079 --> 00:55:37.079
Ok.

00:55:45.329 --> 00:55:53.329
I.

00:56:02.110 --> 00:56:06.717
Mhm. Mhm.

00:56:06.750 --> 00:56:13.037
And.

00:56:13.070 --> 00:56:21.070
Mhm.

00:57:55.050 --> 00:58:01.816
Yeah.

00:58:01.849 --> 00:58:09.849
You,

00:58:22.030 --> 00:58:30.030
yeah.

00:59:02.179 --> 00:59:06.425
Yeah.

00:59:06.458 --> 00:59:14.458
Yeah.

00:59:14.639 --> 00:59:22.639
Yeah.

00:59:33.280 --> 00:59:35.280
Yeah.