Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Tamarind Tribal!!!

So, tonight at Belly Dance Wednesdays, the lovely and ridiculously talented ladies of Tamarind Tribal stopped by!  They drove to Bolingbrook from Milwaukee, just to hang out and dance with us. They opened the show, and WOW. Much talented. Such beautiful. They are gorgeous dancers and we were all blown away that some real life ATS celebrities graced us with their presence.

Of course, they joined in at All Tribes, and the Eastern Fire and Amaranth dancers were all bursting out on stage to have the opportunity to dance with them.  And then me.

I hadn't necessarily meant to dance with them... since they are like SERIOUS PROFESSIONAL DANCERS and I'm still working out what to do with my zills, I was kind of like, "Okay, maybe I'll go out like once for All Tribes, I am performing later too, the other girls are super excited about them, don't want to step on anyone's thunder..."

But fate was not with me. Still keyed up from a performance that ended with Grace tearing up and giving me a special hug, I noticed that the amazing Ashley from Cassia was heading up. I figured, what's the harm, let's go, I've got my half wrap on and everything.

GUESS WHO ELSE WENT INTO FORMATION.

Yeah. Whoa.

I'm surprised I was able to keep up with them. For awhile, I was feeling okay. I've only been dancing for a year and a half, so I'm nowhere near their level, but it was going okay. I recognized most of the cues they were throwing down, so that's a huge plus.

And then they started spinning.

We've talked about spinning a little, we've tried some, I've been drilling at home. But I'm not yet ready to start whirling around in front of people, and I dont' want to risk torquing a knee or falling on my skirt.

What's a baby dancer to do?

Hopefully said baby dancer is in quartet (Tymora was smiling upon me), so once the grownups start spinning, she can quietly and seamlessly slink off into the quartet and pretend like she was there the whole time.

Yep, I ran out of there like I stole something.  Nobody seemed to mind, and even Grace said I disappeared well.  So ladies, if your teacher is cool with you bailing when famous people are dancing, then you made a good life choice.

A brief primer in Bailing Like A Boss:

Wait until you're in quartet. Then take a few steps backwards, glance to the chorus leader, and begin doing what she's doing, Smile the whole time. Above all, move with purpose. And remember, you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.