random thoughts – Day 1,131 – (Saturday) – earth day

We got lucky in that the weather wasn’t rainy for the Earth Day celebration. It was dry, cloudy, chilly and breezy. It was around 50 degrees and it reminded me a lot of a cold April day dancing in Tennessee a bunch of years ago as we gathered in a parking lot and did costume adjustments before putting our coats on again.

Pre-show, chilly Earth Day
morning in a parking lot.

Our costume plan for cold weather included long sleeve mesh shirts under our sparkly costume tops. To that, I added another long sleeve dance top that reminds me of Stevie Nicks, and then the costume top. There was a bit of regret I hadn’t worn leggings in under my skirt. Duh. I'm not as tough as I used to be. My giant dance bag held supplies including makeup, hair pins and clips, jewelry, multiple sets of zills, jeans and a shirt for later, and a water bottle. 

Despite being chilly, my feet were sweating in my vinyl dance shoes. My fingers were cold and puny and the normally snug zill loops were suddenly loose. The zill on the middle finger of my right hand started flopping around in the middle of the dance, making it hard to control, but at least it didn’t fall off and we used them for only one dance. The wind meant having hair in my face and stuck to the lipstick, but that is life with long hair.

Those were the “hard” parts and they were minor. The rest of it was smooth and fun. Right before our scheduled time, the DJ played "Love Shack" by the B-52s and we had a spontaneous song and dance party that was perfect for calming the nerves.

There were friendly faces in the crowd, which is always nice. We had a great response with an audience participation bit at the end. We worried we might not have anyone want to come up to learn a little dance combination, but quite a few did, including the gymnasts on the performance schedule. It was fun.

After the show, we had professional troupe and individual photos taken by a photographer friend. This was in addition to candid shots before the show and photos during the show. It felt very glamorous. During the posed photos, I realized I had never put on my earrings. Totally forgot and never noticed in the many pre-show checks in the mirror. I'm happy to report that the world did not end as result of this personal oversight.

 Afterwards, I hid behind a pillar to slip jeans on under my skirt and then take the skirt and sparkly layers off and jam it all into my dance bag. It took practically no time to become a civilian leaving a festival thanks to great training from years of recitals with multiple dances and complete costume changes. A makeup remover wipe helped to tame the performance makeup. 

That’s when my sister pointed out the security camera behind me and we had a chuckle. Then Mom, my sister, and I went for lunch at Bailey’s Bar and Grill across the street from the festival, which was my reason for wanting to change immediately.

Back at home, I sat with my coat on for an hour because I couldn’t get warm before finally changing into a fleece top and curling up under a blanket. Winston seemed uninterested in my presence, but that is the usual course of things.