enjoying the moment, just me
What a night! The last month or so our drum class has been putting together a piece to play at the end-of-year student gala thrown by the dance school. We only finalized it two weeks ago, so had to practice like crazy, emailing around various different scores and MP3s. Some of the guys were drop-ins and had almost no experience playing dumbek, but we really pulled together to make this performance something special. Tonight was the big night, so i got made up all pretty and headed down to the venue at 6pm to rehearse.
I didn't realize the venue was a freakin hall! We went up on stage and played our bit in front of hundreds of empty seats and a gaggle of belly dancers jingling around in the aisles practicing their pieces. After a pep talk from the founder of the school i went to sit in the audience with J to watch the first few performances. I was so nervous i couldn't even enjoy the dancers, and hearing all their arrangements was throwing my focus off ours! I went down to our little drumming green room about 15 minutes before we were on and we all went through it one last time - really, really quietly.
The performance went great. Our teacher was doing sound and lights on the side of the stage and we surprised him (and the audience) by adding a comedic flourish to one of the measures that got everyone cheering and eased our tension. I screwed up a few times, and so did everyone else, but for 7 of the 8 of us this was our first ever dumbek performance so i'm really proud of how it went. Hell, for me it was the first time on a raised stage since elementary school productions. What a buzz! I am on such a high right now.
We closed out the first act, so straight after performing i got a giant hug and a much-needed Diet Coke, and after intermission i could relax to watch the rest of the show. It's been a long, long time since i saw a live belly dance show. Actually since T and i broke up i've made a point of avoiding them, which was kind of hard when they happened every night at the Lebanese restaurant round the corner from my house in Melbourne. There was just too much association there, i would end up in tears instead of enjoying the show. But tonight - perhaps it was because i was performing or who knows - tonight i could enjoy the show. It was wonderful to see students just like us performing what they learned, and inspiring to see the professionals close out the show with a crazy ass veil choreography that looked like something out of a movie.
I forgot to get a program. Oh well. Drum class is over now till next February and i am really going to miss it. I want to perform again! I think some of the other guys in class were pretty excited by it too so we might try get together over the break to practice. I really hope that pans out. I think i have some classes left on my card that won't be used, so i was considering taking some dance conditioning classes to augment my work at the gym. Not ready to actually dance in school yet, nope.
You know i finally got my work permit Friday which means i can get my social security number Monday and immediately start looking for work. I really should be over the moon about this, but yesterday was one of those days i spend half of in tears and today i was just too buzzed about our show. I don't even want to think about it all, updating my resume, trawling the job classifieds, wearing interview clothes and going out to play the corporate game. I feel like i am going to lose all these things i love at the moment when i do. So right now i am just going to close my eyes and love today and the hell with tomorrow.
I didn't realize the venue was a freakin hall! We went up on stage and played our bit in front of hundreds of empty seats and a gaggle of belly dancers jingling around in the aisles practicing their pieces. After a pep talk from the founder of the school i went to sit in the audience with J to watch the first few performances. I was so nervous i couldn't even enjoy the dancers, and hearing all their arrangements was throwing my focus off ours! I went down to our little drumming green room about 15 minutes before we were on and we all went through it one last time - really, really quietly.
The performance went great. Our teacher was doing sound and lights on the side of the stage and we surprised him (and the audience) by adding a comedic flourish to one of the measures that got everyone cheering and eased our tension. I screwed up a few times, and so did everyone else, but for 7 of the 8 of us this was our first ever dumbek performance so i'm really proud of how it went. Hell, for me it was the first time on a raised stage since elementary school productions. What a buzz! I am on such a high right now.
We closed out the first act, so straight after performing i got a giant hug and a much-needed Diet Coke, and after intermission i could relax to watch the rest of the show. It's been a long, long time since i saw a live belly dance show. Actually since T and i broke up i've made a point of avoiding them, which was kind of hard when they happened every night at the Lebanese restaurant round the corner from my house in Melbourne. There was just too much association there, i would end up in tears instead of enjoying the show. But tonight - perhaps it was because i was performing or who knows - tonight i could enjoy the show. It was wonderful to see students just like us performing what they learned, and inspiring to see the professionals close out the show with a crazy ass veil choreography that looked like something out of a movie.
I forgot to get a program. Oh well. Drum class is over now till next February and i am really going to miss it. I want to perform again! I think some of the other guys in class were pretty excited by it too so we might try get together over the break to practice. I really hope that pans out. I think i have some classes left on my card that won't be used, so i was considering taking some dance conditioning classes to augment my work at the gym. Not ready to actually dance in school yet, nope.
You know i finally got my work permit Friday which means i can get my social security number Monday and immediately start looking for work. I really should be over the moon about this, but yesterday was one of those days i spend half of in tears and today i was just too buzzed about our show. I don't even want to think about it all, updating my resume, trawling the job classifieds, wearing interview clothes and going out to play the corporate game. I feel like i am going to lose all these things i love at the moment when i do. So right now i am just going to close my eyes and love today and the hell with tomorrow.