(c) 2009 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com
Our belly dance troupe was invited to participate in a festival in Green Bay this weekend. Not on one of the stages for a half hour or hour spot, but to have our own booth, like we do twice a month at the farmers' market, and perform both days there. They wanted us enough to wave the booth fee AND their usual 20% commission on any belly dance gear (scarves, veils, zills, that kind of thing) we might want to sell, so we figured why not.
It ran from 10-6 yesterday and 10-5 today.
I am so stiff! Already! 15 hours of belly dance in two days is crazy! Sure, I wasn't dancing the whole entire every minute of time, but there were only 3 of us on Saturday and 4 on Sunday to share the time, and when you figure we do a fair amount of songs together, that's a LOT!
All in all, it was fun. They gave us a booth right at the join of two streets, near an edge of the festival at the top of a T, so that the street coming in faced us. It was a great location; our tent looked fabulous; and we worked hard.
Saturday it also never hit 60F and poured rain the second half of the day. Like, as in, the front third of the rug we dance on, even raised up above the ground on plastic flooring, squished when we stepped on it, and water squoozed up between our toes. I forgot that at the end of the day when I was doing my sword solo, and rolled over right into it doing floorwork! COLD! WET!!! At least my harem pants were black and it didn't show!
So yeah, that part wasn't great, and there weren't many people there at all that day, but we stuck it out anyway. ('Cuz we're tough, dang it! :) )
Also not great - we'd been asked to do a 3 minute morning spot on live local TV... at 6:05 am today. (Not that that's bad - that's very exciting!) And to be there at least 20 minutes prior. So I got up at 4am, out the door on time, and walked up to the stage at 5:30 am on the dot.
To find nobody there. No camera crew, no on-air personalities, no NOBODY! No big lights set up, no cameras (rolling or not), no NOTHING! I was just pulling out my phone to call our troupe leader/instructor when it rang anyway - it was her. Turned out there was some big labor dispute with a local BIG business with sudden stuff happening overnight that they'd decided to cover live instead. They'd called her at like 2 am, but her phone was in the car (so she wouldn't forget it) and so she hadn't gotten the message until she was heading in.
So, back in the car, 45 minute drive home, and hop back into bed to snooze for just a tad longer. It would've been fun to do the TV bit, but such is life.
Today's weather more than made up for Saturday's. Cool for most of the day, but reasonable, sunny and gorgeous. We'd much rather have it cool than hot, because once we get dancing, we heat up right quick! It was HOT though, for about an hour when the sun shone straight into our tent and heated up the rug (dried, thanks to our instructor taking it to the laundromat & using an industrial dryer!) so that it was almost too hot to dance on! Mr. Kluges brought the girls, so they got to see the festival, and Mommy dancing, and I took a break and ate lunch with them. A good day.
But, MAN, am I stiff now! Too much floor work, and leaning back using the muscles in the front of my thighs. I got out of the car after the 45 minute drive home and almost couldn't walk I was so frozen up! I walk like I'm 50 years older than I am and I take each stair down with both feet like a toddler! So, a little tylenol, a glass of wine, and a hot bath are in order for tonight... if I can stay awake that long!
Here's hoping that helps and I can stand up out of bed tomorrow! ;)
