A fun dancing recap, amidst some Monday grumpiness...

Hello all! I had a perfectly lovely weekend (about to be detailed), followed by a perfectly mediocre day so far today (I will spare details, but...). I think the following conversation that I had with Mike over Gmail chat sums today up pretty well:

Mike: *makes off color joke* Because he does that very well. :)

CL: *silence*

Mike: "Well, since you're laughing, I do think we should...*gives thoughts on topic we were discussing*

CL: "Sorry Honey, I guess I'm not in a very good mood. I'm not feeling 100% today."

Mike: "Why not come home early then? Why stay and be miserable?"

CL: *silence*

Mike: "How is your leg feeling?" (I strained a calf muscle yesterday)

CL: "A little better. But it's not totally back to normal." *whines* "This is what happens you get older. You get hurt while WALKING."

Clearly, I have my grumpy face on today. But I persevere.

The weekend was really fabulous, though. On Saturday, I spent some time with Mike and the kids in the morning picking out things we needed for the house at Home Depot, and generally focusing on quality time. Anne is really into puzzles right now, and so we've all done the same 4 puzzles with her an uncountable number of times. :0

Later, my friend Amy came to pick me up to drive about an hour south to watch one of our troupemates perform her senior dance project. All of the dance majors at her college have to present a 10 minute piece (either a performance or a choreography; if you perform, you cannot choreograph the piece, and vice versa) prior to graduation, and 3 performances were scheduled for that night. I love watching dance, of any type, and so I was totally excited about this.

Therein followed a full hour of dance chat on the drive down, which was extremely enjoyable. Then we got to the campus and got lost trying to find the theater. But we made it, only to have to wait about a half hour since they were running behind from another show. We paced and gossiped.

Finally, the theater was ready for us. It was a lovely little space with seating in the round, creating a very intimate environment. I excitedly read my program. Of the 3 performances that night, Mackenzie's (my troupemate) was the only one that wasn't modern dance. Hers was a classical Egyptian piece, highly unusual for this senior project.

The first performance was a friend of Mackenzie's, and she was fabulous. Absolutely beautiful dancer, and the music was haunting and emotionally evocative, a gorgeous performance. But can I make a confession? Modern dance: I really don't *get* it. As a child, I studied ballet, tap, and for a shorter time, jazz. I never even heard of modern dance until I was an adult. And to be honest, I really can't fully describe it to you now. :0 It's very, let's see...

Dramatic, to be sure. There is acting ability that needs to be implemented. And this would be one reason that I would be terrible at it, to be sure. You need to be very strong, there are a lot of lifts and leaps. And the dance is clearly trying to "tell a story" with the movements. I didn't always *understand* that story, but alas. There seemed to be some violence and hurt feelings involved, but other than that, I just tried to enjoy the show and not figure anything out. :)

Then Mackenzie came out. She was SUPER FABULOUS! Her piece was divided into three segments: classic, sword balancing, and drum solo. She is always a superb dancer, but Saturday night she brought her A game. It was awesome. And such a beautiful and tasteful demonstration of Middle Eastern dance to an audience that may have never seen it before. My dance teacher is Mackenzie's mom and choreographed her piece. I knew how much it meant to her to see this choreography brought to life, and I teared up at the end, it was just so lovely.

The third piece was choreographed by a graduating student, and so a group of other dancers performed it. It was VERY good. Again, modern dance, so a lot of lost in translation for me, but there was one male dancer who just stole the show, he was that good. It was an excellent piece.

I had SUCH a good time, and I felt very inspired afterward. Watching others dance always has that effect on me. I've been going through my music to plan some future solos, and I'm feeling very happy. Assuming, of course, that my leg starts to feel better. I may whine again.

How was everyone else's weekend? Leave a comment. :)