"That stage is sooooooo questionable." Summer dancing adventures begin, 2017 edition...

Happy new week, everyone, and I'm super perky and glad to be back with you. I have to say though, waking up Monday morning to get ready for work, it wasn't so easy getting out of bed. Every muscle in my body ached. I had rehearsals on both Friday and Sunday, and my troupe performed on Saturday afternoon. I do love the dancing life, but there are a few more aches and pains involved than when I was younger. ;-)

We have two new choreographies, and I was feeling decidedly apprehensive about performing them for the first time as I strolled to the festival site, clad in my hot pink coverup mumu. The ridiculousness of me being worried about forgetting a hip bump or moving my arms in the wrong direction during the travel section in the new drum solo, while walking around in public looking like Mrs. Roper on her way to a particularly exciting evening, was lost on me, apparently. I found all of my mumu-wearing soulmates, and we congregated near the stage. A band was currently playing Brazilian music on it.

So the stage was...a problem. I remembered it being small from last year, and since then we've added a few more members. Not only was the stage small again this year (and by small, I mean SMALL. The three person band with their instruments barely fit on it!) but it was also topped by plywood that was gappy and uneven. There was serious lippage going on between some of the boards, and I was fearing disaster for the ankles of the clumsy among us. (ah hem. ME). Luckily, when Claire, our fearless leader, arrived, she took one look at the stage and declared that we would dance down on the street. :0 And that's what we did:

We're the super colorful specks in the distance. :0

And it went well! All hip bumps and new arms were accounted for. We wound up in different spots at the end of our new Shaabi number given that our surface area was so different from where we usually practice, and it was decidedly difficult to spin on blacktop. We also changed our directional front-facing during our set so that different people could see us, and twice I started facing the wrong way. Hey, a discreet hip circle to right oneself never hurt anyone. ;-) Oh, and the wind situation was not so good. Silk veils in wind do NOT make a good combination. Mine was wadded up between my arms at one point, and then cascaded down to cover my entire head. Lovely. But the new drum solo kicked booty! :0

We attracted a large audience and received a good reception from the crowd. I call that a successful festival. And we'll do it all again this coming Saturday!

How was YOUR weekend, dear reader? Don't forget, book club tomorrow!