yes, believe it or not, the story continues after that exceptionally long post! where was i? i made it through friday eve. saturday, got up kind of early and tooled around. went to target. it was one i hadn't been to, so i really stayed too long. i was able to get out of there without buying too much crap. they even have pink-handled tools in the dollar spot which i did not purchase!
after target, i went to meet my dad to "strategize" about the move and upcoming plans for the semester. this strategery session consisted of my dad telling me that he's not ready to sell his place, so he wouldn't have the money to buy something in chicago. ok. i was surprised at what a relief it was when he told me that. but, that settled, we talked about timing for the move and ways i could throw in a trip to see my baby before i move. and my brother, sister-in-law, and grandparents, too.
after we coordinated our efforts (this took about 20 minutes total), it was time to eat. we were at my cousin christy's for a cookout. i got to see her babies - and watch them play in the pool and the sprinkler. they are so cute! ashley starts kindergarten in the fall. i can't believe she's so big! and my cousin helen came with her grandson benjamin. hadn't seen either of them in some time. benjamin is a cute little guy. a bit of a devilish grin; his mom will have her hands full when he grows up!
i only got to stay for a little bit at the cookout. i had registered for a dance workshop in dc. the workshop was intro to popping (break dance isolations) and bellydance-breakdance fusion. can i just say ouch! my arms were so sore after the first session. the popping was taught by phil thorn. he is adorable! and such a great dancer & teacher. great energy. he's at dc dance collective. i think his classes are on sundays. if you're interested in learning how to breakdance, i would highly recommend. the second part was taught by kaeshi chai. she's a belly dancer with a crazy-impressive resume. she has a troupe (belly queen) and has danced with the belly dance superstars and started a dance movement called pure (i think the website is pure.org). very cool. she showed us some great moves and fun combinations. all stuff i have to practice and play with.
the workshop was organized by my new dance friend alexis. i met her in faten's class. she's fabulous. i will have more to say about her in a later post (maybe called ode to alexis...this girl is cool "and by cool i mean totally sweet").
anyway...after the workshop, i went to a wine tasting hosted by kate and andrew. got to see a cute pregnant lady (mrs. kim fleming) and some friends that i don't get to talk to much and some people whose names i can't remember. i drank too much wine. i knew i was drinking too much, but i haven't been drinking much at all since january and i'm in a fairly self-indulgent mode right now. ok, ok. who am i kidding...i'm generally in a self-indulgent mode.
kate and i got to chat a bit which was cool.
sunday...the big day. i got up and started walking around from point to point in my apartment. i was totally unorganized. i had to finish fixing my skirt for the show. i had to lay out all my costumes. collect my makeup. gather up my snacks. shower! pack my bag. and get out of my apartment by 10:00 am. walk-through started at 10:30. high stress. we were jittery and some of the steps got messed up. i think this was the most stressed out i have seen faten at any of the three shows i've performed in with her. i felt very odd. i wanted to hug her and tell her i would do my best to make her proud. but i always worry that i'm going to look foolish and strange in comparison to the other dancers. i still have a pretty warped self-image when it comes to performing. i know i'm good, but it's hard when you're the short, stocky, squishy one among the lean, tall, muscular girls. plus, i totally wimped last year when she tried to put me in the front. i wanted to be in the front this year. so the one piece i was in the front, i flubbed and it was with the cane. i accidentally hit katie with my cane. i felt really foolish. i tried really hard to pull it together and finish strong. i want to see the video to see how it looked from the audience. also, when i did my solo, i had a really hard time. that was the first thing i did for the show, and i knew it would set my tone for the rest of the pieces. i tried really hard to make a connection with the audience. bonita tells me that this is a weakness i have; that and i need to be more confident. so i was trying to put myself out there completely and trying to connect with the audience. most of the people i tried to smile at and look at returned cold, stern faces. it was probably the worst reception i've ever felt while dancing. the people i got the best energy from were my friends who dance, my friend michele who came to see me, and the table of faten's guests. her friend karima was there. karima is so sweet! she smiled at me a couple times when i was performing. roger (the photographer) asked me why i was so stressed. i couldn't verbalize it well then, but i tried. it's really hard for me to know that this was my last chance for some time to make faten proud of me as her student. and to have danced to an audience primarily of unsmiling faces was really painful.
so, that's enough of the whiny, sad stuff. overall, the show went well. i think faten was happy and relieved when it was over.
after our show was wrapped, i grabbed a shower and headed over to joy of motion for the performance class showcase. i got to see my buddy mindy in a "bollywood" piece. it was so cute. choreographed by laurel victoria grey. lvg has a quirky, offbeat side to her. i like to watch her choreographies performed. the other pieces i've seen have been more traditional. it was great seeing the bollywood set.
so that in a (rather expansive) nutshell was my weekend.
