Sweet!

[shanmonster]

I was very prepared for dancing tonight. My makeup was on, my costume was great, I was positively coated in glitter, and I'd even remembered to spritz the bottom of my dance sandals with hairspray to give them just that extra little bit of friction. I was wearing a new costume: a red liquid metal panel skirt, a matching circular veil, gold pantaloons, a beaded grey and red bra, a gold headpiece with beaded fringe, and a deluxe navy velvet hipscarf with heaps of gold coins and multicoloured beads. I also wore new jewellery, including an enormous double star sapphire ring and a silver and jade ring I made yesterday. I had a bottle of juice for a quick pick-me-up post-performance, and I also had an extra CD in my cover-up pocket just in case something went wrong with the DJ's copy. And to top it all off, I was psyched and ready to go.

snowy_kathryn and I walked to the Capital Winter Club in the rain. I held a giant umbrella over my extremely tarted-up self. We passed two young men. "Sweet!" one of them announced as we passed.

"He was talking about me," said Kathryn.

My performance at the Cultural Expressions Festival was a bit odd. First of all, some background.... I performed for them last year in an outdoor venue. It was fabulous. You can see some pictures from it here.

This year, random_echoes and Kathryn applied to perform. They wanted to do a dance to the Russian version of Tarkan's "Simarik." However, they were turned down in a rather rude fashion by one of the organizers. The organization seemed tenuous, at best. I was originally scheduled to dance at 8:36, then was bumped to 7:00, and then to 6:34. When I showed up at 6:00, the stage was barren. A desperate organizer ran up to me. "Can you go on now?"

"Just as soon as I lace my dance sandals on," I said.

"And can you dance extra songs?"

"Uhh, I suppose so. I'm not super familiar with the other songs, but I can improvise. How about if I get members of the audience to dance with me?"

"Oh, please? That would be excellent!"

And off she skipped with the extra CD I'd brought in case something screwed up with the copy they had. It's a good thing, too, because their copy only had my performance song and nothing else. I looked at Kathryn. "Do you want to dance with me?"

"Nuh uh!" she said. "I'm not dressed for it!"

"Ok, then."

And so I got ready to go on stage. The emcee, Santo, came up to me to make sure he had the details right. Then he went onto the stage and announced me. The sound quality was terrible backstage, so I couldn't hear everything he said, but what I did manage to hear sounded awfully grand.

And then I took the stage.

The stage was small and nasty. It was made of four platforms pushed together. A sizeable canyon between two of them ensured I dance only at the very front. Otherwise, I might be swallowed up in the abyss. The opening strains of Asena's "Warda" swelled, and I moved slowly. As the song built, I removed the veil and began spinning. By the time the zaar rhythm began, the veil had been tossed overhead, and my hair began flying around me as if of its own accord.

(Kathryn was sitting beside Santo, and in reference to me he said, "She has the most beautiful abdomen I've ever seen on a woman." Santo is such a sweetie!)

The song ended and my drum solo began. It went off fine, and the small audience (about 50 or so) was very appreciative. I announced, "Now it's your turn," and jumped off the stage. I beckoned to the audience to join me and a whole flock of girls hopped up. I grabbed a few faux-shy others by the hands and hauled them up, too. I tried some simple hip movements so they could follow along, and then we all danced together to Cheb Mami and Idir's "Azwaw." A woman who'd obviously taken a few belly dance lessons joined us, as did Kathryn. A teenaged boy also jumped up to dance with us, and he was really game! He did a big finale with me.

Then they all took their seats again, and I vaulted back onstage and did an impromptu performance to Mezdeke's "Shik Shak Shok." This afternoon was the first time I'd ever actually tried dancing to the song. I hadn't listened to it all that carefully before. I missed quite a few of the changes, because I was unfamiliar with it. But I was in my living room, so it was ok. Now, I was on stage dancing for my life! And somehow, I didn't screw it up. I shimmied through almost the entire thing, with a slow floorwork section through the taxim part. I'd no idea I'd be doing any floorwork until I was in mid backbend. That's the way it always seems to go! Just for the hell of it, I threw in a move I'd watched Rania do on the Bellydance Divas DVD: one knee in front, the other knee in back, with the rear foot raised and a backbend thrown in for good measure. I heard Kathryn scream from the audience. She'd just watched that video with me earlier this afternoon, and knew exactly what I was doing. Throughout the floorwork section, I could hear the kids in the audience hooting and hollering in excitement.

I finished the song with yet more shimmies and a whack of shiny red spins. By this point, exertion coupled with stage lights had sweat all my glitter off. On each spin, I saw droplets of perspiration fountaining off me. I was pooped! I made my bows and left the stage.

The organizer flew up to me. "That was great! Can you do more?"

Between glugs of my orange juice I said, "Uh, sure. Kathryn? You don't have any zills on you, do you?"

She rummaged through her purse. "No, but I have this!" And she held out her CD with the Russian cover of "Simarik."

"All right! You're dancing with me!"

"But I'm not wearing a costume," Kathryn said.

"Yes, you are. Tuck your shirt into your bra, and tie my circular veil around your waist. Then we'll even match!"

And so she put on an impromptu matching costume, and we danced to both "Simarik" and some other song I don't think I've ever heard before. Luckily for me, it had a steady 4:4 beat, and improvisation was dirt simple.

When we finished this two-song set, we left the stage. Fortunately for the organizers, another act had finally shown up, and we didn't have to float the show any more. That's when random_echoes showed up.

Had she been just a few minutes sooner, she and Kathryn could have done the duet they'd been turned down for. I think that's pretty ironic.

Comments

[mystic-savage.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a lot of fun and you sound far more professional than the "organizers" of this event.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

In all fairness, the disorganization may not be entirely the fault of the organizers. It's quite possible the entertainers were cancelling out at the last minute, especially when it became obvious the weather was less than perfect.

Nevertheless, the way snowy_kathryn and random_echoes were dismissed was very unprofessional.

[uber-wench.livejournal.com]

"Babies cost a lot of money
Please don't make me fuck you honey..."

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Being in love really sucks.

Bravo!

[montecristo.livejournal.com]

You are so radiant when you dance! It's fascinating.

Re: Bravo!

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

It entirely depends on the sort of dance I do. When I'm not dancing to a "happy" song, my expression is entirely different.