dance

Plodding Through

It's a busy day. I don't really mind. Of course the instant I leave the office for a few days all hell breaks loose and I walk back into the middle of it. My co-worker -- the only other person in my department -- has been run ragged in my absence and called in sick today. I told my boss to stop killing off the help.

Still, the distraction from life is nice. I've got a lot on my mind and I don't mind digging into work full force so I don't have to think about the rest of it for awhile. I'm just plodding through. The work makes the day pass quickly.

Out of Time

Cheryl and I stand at the rim of the dance floor, watching the couples swirl around the room counter-clockwise. Dancers on the face of a clock running backwards. Most of the couples moving past us are swirling by in hoop skirts and coat tails, victorian lace swaying as white-gloved gentlemen lead graceful turns in a waltz rhythm. Here and there the timeline leaks or wrinkles. There goes Queen Elizabeth I, and here are Romeo and Juliet. That looks like it Regency-era lady over there, talking to a gentleman in a modern suit and tie.

Dress Rehearsal

In the anteroom, dancers silently cluster into group of similar costumes in the dark. They practice plees and tondues at the bar to warm up, kill time, kill nerves. They adjust each other's costumes, untwisting leotard straps and fluffing tutus. The weight of the world outside the studio in sitting on my shoulders and so I can ignore the nervous ball in the pit of my stomach for now. I need to shake this off. Plee, rond de jambe, arabesque... A fellow dancer taps me on the shoulder. She marks through a few steps from our piece and pauses with an eyebrow raised in silent question.

Nervous Ramblings

My gear is packed. Got my shoes. My costumes are hanging on a nail behind my desk with my T-squares and rulers. Several coworkers came by to peak under the plastic. Blue velvet. Very nice. Nervous?

Dress rehearsal is tonight.

We had tech and blocking last night. Our first time and only time fitting our routines on to the stage. One piece went well enough. The other is a disaster waiting to happen. Nothing much to be done about that now. Waiting.

Nervous?

Travel Tales: Victoria

Shawn and I just returned from a 5 day trip to Victoria, B.C. I didn't forget about you but I didn't have access to a computer until now so I'll slowly start typing up my hand-written travel blogs.

Fellowship

This past weekend was Vacaville's first Middle Earth Festival and my own little fellowship gathered to celebrate. On Friday, we met at my house for a pre-festival festival. In hobbit style, we prepared way too much food. We barbecued shish-kabobs and grazed through salads. We raised glasses of homemade mead and toasted to Frodo. We played some Lord of the Rings Trivia and watched The Fellowship of the Ring.

Catching Up With Myself

On Saturday morning I woke up to dreary light. I rolled over and stared at my alarm clock, willing the numbers to come into focus. After a week of early days at the office, I'm not quite sure where I'm supposed to be just yet. 7:00 am. Field work today? Think think think. Slow moving gears turn and click. No. Saturday. Sleep in? Think think think. No. Ballet this morning. I smile.

3-of-8

My ballet recital piece is spinning wildly out of control. The music we're using is "Rhapsody in Blue" and before you sigh and say, "Oh, I love that piece!" think about the complexity of the music for a second. Chaos. Now picture 30 ballerinas running on and off stage in groups within groups within groups and then regrouping again. Now picture it for nine minutes. Now picture rehearsals where half the people don't show up. Jenny and I found out on Tuesday that our group of 6 is really a group of 8 but two girls just didn't bother to show up to class for the last month and a half. Charming.

Blisters

Shawn and I went swing dancing on Friday night and on the second song out there I got a blister. I felt it bubble out in my little saddle shoe. I finished out the song and dug through my dance bag for a bandaid. No luck.

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