A Sexy Rump

I've been freakishly busy, lately. On Friday morning, I went to Saint John with random_echoes and snowy_kathryn for the Lala Hakim dance workshop. I didn't actually participate in the workshop this time, due mostly to a lack of funds. Instead, I did some vending and went to the performance on Saturday night. But more on that in a bit....

On Friday, I bummed around town with Kathryn, killing time until I could set up for vending. We found a vast array of interesting items, including microwaveable spotted dick (in a can!), Fabulous Rimmers ("taste all you like, but only lick the stick once" (flavoured powder for dressing up cocktail glasses)), Nut Twisters (some sort of device for opening walnuts and the like), and a downright obscene wine bottle holder shaped like a chef. The chef holds the bottle like he's chugging from it, but when there's no bottle, the chef looks like a dildo stand. Aside from the spotted dick, all of these items came from expensive houseware shops. The spotted dick was spotted in the City Market.

Since we'd been going since about 5:30 in the morning, Kathryn and I needed to take a break from walking. Around 3:00, we went to the public library for a rest. I picked up a pile of interesting books, and when I opened one of them, I found the following quotation from Hesiod:

Do not let a woman with a sexy rump deceive you with wheedling and coaxing words; she is after your barn.

The Saturday night dance performance was the highlight of my weekend. A few performances really stand out. Sephira of Moncton, New Brunswick opened the show with a beautiful veil dance. I've never seen anyone who comes close to her in veil-handling ability. I hope to have her come to Fredericton to give a veil dancing workshop. Her students are all very good with the veil, too, so I know she can teach it as well as she can perform it.

I was also very impressed by the first tribal-style zilling performance of Genies of the Mist from Halifax, N.S. Their costumes are gorgeous and their choreography very tight. Normally, group performances leave me cold. Genies of the Mist really impressed me with the fluidity of their movements.

Cleopatra of Fredericton, New Brunswick gave one of the strongest performances of the night. She used to be a student of mine not so very long, and I'm amazed at how quickly she has progressed. Her movements have a lot of power to them, and her work in flamenco, yoga, and modern dance is shining through. She did a dance with a staff and then switched to a sword after doing a backward tumble. Her tumbling scandalised a few people in the audience, but I think it was very appropriate for the acrobatic style of dance she was doing. Oddly enough, it's quite similar to the sort of thing I do in my experimental dance venues. I got in touch with her after her performance and told her I wanted to train with her. We can show one another a few staff tricks. She's all self-taught, and I can share with her what I've learned from my kung fu and fire dancing.

Elizabeth Boone, also of Fredericton, was the people's choice of the night, for sure! The show opened with crippling technical difficulties. It was a show orchestrated by Murphy of Murphy's Law fame. For starters, the sound and lighting crew didn't bother showing up, and also didn't bother calling to let the organizers know they'd cancelled. So a replacement was found more than an hour after the show was scheduled to have started. Secondly, the feature performer--Lala Hakim of Montréal, QU--didn't perform. I still haven't found out what's up with that, but I am disappointed not to have seen her dance. Thirdly, and most crucially for Elizabeth Boone, cassette decks weren't working correctly.

I'm figuring that the replacement sound people probably didn't have much time to get all their equipment in order on such notice. When the emcee announced Elizabeth, she came out to centre stage and stood with cane raised over her head, waiting for the music to start. The pause was long. The pause was uncomfortably long. Elizabeth stood with that cane over her head for about five minutes, and not a peep of music came from the sound system. I'm pretty impressed that she didn't falter even once. Finally, she was called over to the sound system, and after a quick powwow, went backstage again. The tape deck was not working.

The emcee announced Elizabeth would be back on after the next performer, and sure enough, she came out again. This time, the tape was plopped into a ghetto blaster--not the most ideal sound system for a large venue. Still, it was better than nothing. Once again, she took her place with cane held aloft, and once again, there was a long, uncomfortable pause. When the music finally did start, it was the wrong song.

She went over to the sound people again, and the uncomfortable silence stretched out even longer. She took her place again, and nothing happened. So she went offstage again, only to emerge after the next performer.

The third time was the charm, though. When she came out to thunderous applause and shrill zaghareets, she had a huge grin. This time, the music worked, and she finished her cane dance to another huge rush of applause.

I chatted with her afterwards, and she told me that her performance was all the stronger because of the delays. She said that the obvious support of the audience really buoyed her up. I'm really glad she went through with it. I know a lot of people wouldn't have.

The next workshop is scheduled for June 12th and 13th in Saint John. It's an American Tribal Style workshop with Carrie Hiebert of Winnipeg, Manitoba. I plan on attending, vending, and performing this time. I've never done any tribal dance before, and I'm excitedly anticipating learning a new dance style.

And if I can somehow scrape together the money (which looks doubtful), I also want to attend the Bangor, Maine workshop with Mésmera. I'll have to pull a miracle out of my ass for that one....

Something's Fishy

Normally, I'd still be at kung fu class right now, but I feel like shite and came home a half hour early. Despite feeling like a load of guano, I still learned stuff while at class. For instance, I figured out the secret to a plethora of wrist/elbow/hand locks is that the opponent's pinkie side of the hand should point straight up away from the floor. Any other angle and I begin to lose control. My knuckles and elbows have a mild, dull ache from all the practicing. Dmitrii was my partner, and we had each other collapsed on the floor a few dozen times apiece.

Today was my first day of work at Rising Artisans. We didn't get much done--just a bit of cleaning, some paperwork, and a run-through on how to give a tour of the college. I also made a bracelet of sterling silver wire, garnet disc beads, and strawberry quartz nugget beads. I'm working on a necklace to match. Tomorrow morning, we're painting the store. It really needs it.

I went for a bike ride with f00dave early this evening, and while at a pawn shop, scored a Sony DVD/CD/MP3 player for $50. It's our anniversary present to each other (our tenth anniversary is this Friday). I still want a working VCR, but can't find a decent one for under $40. I'm sure there must be one out there for about $20, but I still haven't found it.

I spent yesterday fishing in the rain with my sister and snowy_kathryn. It was Kathryn's first time, ever, and she's (pardon the pun) hooked. She caught several small perch, and tore the heads off each of them with her bare hands. My sister caught her limit almost right away. I fished for hours and hours and didn't catch a thing, but kept catching fleeting glimpses of a very large fish nosing around my lure. I was determined to catch this monster, but we all got too hungry and took a break for supper.

Afterwards, we came back to the same spot for a second go-round, and within the next ten minutes, I finally caught the sucker! It was the second-largest freshwater fish I've ever caught, and was over a foot long. I've never eaten perch before, but tomorrow I shall have him for my supper. I was so excited at catching the giant fish (the size of all my sister's and Kathryn's fish put together) that I was all shakey and trembly and hopping up and down. This delerium is probably what contributed to my dramatic fall on the slippery muddy river bank a few minutes later. My feet sailed out from under me and I whumped onto my back and arse in the oozing mud. I'm really lucky I didn't end up in the river. It is deep and cold.

Just before we left for the night, a beautiful osprey (or some other raptor-type bird) swooped down toward us and screamed several times. I think he was pissed off we were catching all his fish. Either that, or he was laughing at the mud on my back. I looked like the victim of an explosive diarrhea attack.

Link and Load

I forgot to mention how I played Mahjong for the first time, last night. Dmitrii and Linda brought over their very stinky Mahjong set and folding table. The rules confused me for a while (probably partially because I was still tired from the day of fishing). But by the end, although I still hadn't won a round, I was at least getting close. I like that game! It would be a lot easier if I understood the Cantonese number system, but that will come with time.

In the meantime, here are some links. ( Hoorah. )