Last night I returned to the local Greek restaurant for my first performance since The Jackass Incident. We had the absolute best upbeat song set and we had the just-for-sassy fun-gypsy skirts. Add to that some of the cutest kids and the fellow dancers in the audience, the house was packed.
The set list was less than 21 minutes, but it had three of my all time favorite songs and three totally new to me songs. I also was wearing my teacher's skirt since my big skirt does not go with any of my bedlah sets. It was a little less length than I am used to, but it looked great with my green set.
Between the music, the prop, and the crowd, last night felt absolutely wonderful. It was playful, joyful, and rewarding to get out there and just have fun doing what I absolutely love. At one point, a toddler from one of the hallway tables followed me into one of the other rooms. He had been closely watching me dance and even hopped off mom's lap to hand me one of the tips that had fallen from my hip belt. He was precious. I did a spin into the blue room and saw his mom running at me. Then I noticed he was right there in front of me. Stealthy little fan he was. Anyway, he was adorable.
In the blue room, the Greeks had come to dinner. They are always quite vocal during performance, which is allowed because quiet belly dance audiences are actually uncommon. Well, the one lady who always gives me pointers shouted at me, "Just wait until you have arthritis. You won't be moving like that then!" I laughed, but in my head I thought, "Well, I have lupus, fibromyalgia, and Sjogren's syndrome and I still move like this. Ha!"
Profound realization at how very lucky I am that my body still wants to play from time to time. The freedom, the fun, the fatigue: all totally worth it. To create what I feel to be my closest brush with beauty in this lifetime provides me with the most sublime contentment.
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