For my first introduction back into the "offical performance arena" I danced at the Nari Women's Hafla Northwest. It was wonderful! All the performances were amazing. Nalini dazzled us with her cool and expressive Bollywood dancing. The Nari women danced several traditional dances from a variety of countries. A few girls from my class gave some fabulous performances. Plus, I got to meet Indigo. You know I have looked her up a bit and never met her until last night.Well, the time after intermission came for my performance. I was just going to get out there and improvise to Buda. I planned to sing this bit "My Own Home" from the Jungle Book. I thought, "Oh yeah, balance this bowl on my head while acting like the water girl, dance around a bit, do my party trick, Buda kicks in, more dancing and wowing the crowd, then I'd walk out singing the latter part of "My Own Home." But NO!
I had to go and grab the wrong frickin CD. I pulled some audio book I was listening to in the car instead of my Dance CD. OH MY Goodness!
So, I'm whistling and walking in with the bowl. I make my way to center stage and pose. No music. I'm waiting... waiting... waiting... I hear someone whisper, "Is she supposed to do something?" So, I smile at the audience quite coyly. Hee hee hee hee... I pose as for a photo. Oh, here's another photo op - next pose. And another... Then, the CD comes on and it's frickin Rhonda Byrnes telling everyone about The Secret!
Oh the terror you could see in my eyes. But, I played it off. I made some graceful gestures for "CUT!!! You silly man in the back pushing the play button! Can't you see this is entirely WRONG? There's no music going on! Good Gods help me now!" I said Gods because in crazy situations such as this, one must ask for as much help as one can possibly get. So, DJ in the darkness finally sees my desparate attempts to cut the music. I mean really! What was I going to do? Dance to someone speaking? I don't think so!
So, I tell the audience, "Why don't I just sing and dance for you now." To which I received much cheering. I think I started to become like one of those reality TV shows that is so utterly painful that it hurts to watch, but you CANNOT tear your eyes away. I couldn't even hear the audience breathe. But I did.
I took my bowl off my head, pretended that I was in the forest singing to my bowl because it was the only one that would listen. I imagined myself by the side of the water, singing of always having "to fetch the water". I sang the story to the audience of how one day I would grow up and "have a handsome husband and a daughter of my own." I finished the main body of the song, placed the bowl on my head, turned to carry my water back home, and with the bowl balanced atop my head, I curtsied so deeply my right knee touched the ground.
It wasn't my best day of singing. I kept forgetting to breathe and the key of the song; and with my adreneline pumping, I was afraid my voice would crack. I just hate to have an audience hear that. It makes me cringe. But - luckliy I avoided the crack-ege (get your mind out of the gutter!). I mean, I haven't tried to belly dance and sing simultaneously. That is amazingly hard!
It wasn't my best day of dancing. I had planned to so much more. I had ami's and turns and belly tricks tucked in my belt. But, alas - it was a wonderful performance.
Many dancers came up to me after and said that they could never do what I just did. They were shocked and amazed that I kept going. One woman told me she would have run off stage. After the show, many people thanked me and told me how amazingly brave I was. People even told me I had a wonderful voice.
I was in shock. Had I really done that? I had and I pulled it off! So - when's the next performance?
If you'd like to see a mini-video of it... check here:
