Last night was ... so dang magical.
So it was the first evening performance of my dance company. We've been doing dance stuff all week and I've been super tired but it's been so worth it, and I finally realize that after so much time and so many weeks full of dance classes, because of what happened last night.
My class's first dance went off without a hitch. We were dancing in pajamas, which was sweaty but awesome, and it didn't feel so much like a real deal performance because you can't see the audience with so many bright lights. But then they started cheering at the end, and I knew they were there.
It was our second dance that did it, though. It's about the Berlin wall, so we have these giant black PVC pipe blocks that are stacked to make one. The first half of the dance is depressing because we're trying to get through the wall and one of our dancers falls off the wall and "dies" but then the song changes and as we all walk towards the wall with what can only be described as hope and defiance ... it's just so good, especially being up there. And then we start taking it down and a smile floods my face under all those lights, and my end position is looking up with my arms wide open. And despite the fact that I am staring right into several bright lights while I do it, I'm still smiling.
So that's my second dance, but what was the best about tonight was the intermission, when we set up the wall and my class, in our lovely red and black costumes, gathered in a circle for a group prayer. Then we went around hugging each other, but it ended in a giant group hug. Then someone said "Let's do a balloon!" and we grabbed hands. We started as close together as possible, then we expanded. Every time we came back, someone said something good about our class.
"We're awesome."
"We can dance."
"We look great in red."
"We can smile!"
"I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!"
And that last one was echoed around everywhere. Because last night we realized that a year of friendship and playing dance tag and games before class started had made us friends. We made dances together, and although we may have put together that wall, we took it down, down, down.
"I'm going to cry," said one of my classmates when we had finished the last prayer after the balloon and some of us gathered in the wing to start offstage. "If my makeup runs tomorrow, you know what happened," said another of my classmates as we walked up the stairs at the end of the show.
But I see no reason to cry. Because dance is so much for me.
Long live the walls we crashed through, and long live the walls we took down. Together.
So it was the first evening performance of my dance company. We've been doing dance stuff all week and I've been super tired but it's been so worth it, and I finally realize that after so much time and so many weeks full of dance classes, because of what happened last night.
My class's first dance went off without a hitch. We were dancing in pajamas, which was sweaty but awesome, and it didn't feel so much like a real deal performance because you can't see the audience with so many bright lights. But then they started cheering at the end, and I knew they were there.
So that's my second dance, but what was the best about tonight was the intermission, when we set up the wall and my class, in our lovely red and black costumes, gathered in a circle for a group prayer. Then we went around hugging each other, but it ended in a giant group hug. Then someone said "Let's do a balloon!" and we grabbed hands. We started as close together as possible, then we expanded. Every time we came back, someone said something good about our class.
"We're awesome."
"We look great in red."
"We can smile!"
"I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!"
"I'm going to cry," said one of my classmates when we had finished the last prayer after the balloon and some of us gathered in the wing to start offstage. "If my makeup runs tomorrow, you know what happened," said another of my classmates as we walked up the stairs at the end of the show.
But I see no reason to cry. Because dance is so much for me.
Long live the walls we crashed through, and long live the walls we took down. Together.
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