Dance Dance, Sing and do it all again...

This was the plan… to update you on the long weekend Monday night. It’s now Thursday. (And now as I post and actually finish everything that’s happend it’s Sunday…) Somehow I thought there would be time. I was wrong. The only reason I have time now is because of a minor miracle transportation wise; we discovered the express bus! Now instead of an hour and a half ride home it’s only an hour! Woohoo! Annnd back to the various events of the week…

Sunday! Oh wait… rewind a little bit more some thing I forgot to add in the last post… Saturday morning I woke up early to bake the ole’ secret hoffman coffee cake for the host family. A little word to the wise… when you bake at elevation you have to make a few minor adjustments. One; add extra flower. Two; subtract from the amount of baking powder or other natural rising agent you may use. (And in this case for me… Three; Make sure you don’t use a specialty flower that is self-rising.) Otherwise when you put the baked item in the oven it will cascade over the sides like lava flowing out of a small volcano. Lots of noise and smoke! I created a massive, gooey, sticky, tasty, not so coffeecake mess!  Ah well, live and learn.

Sunday was a day to relax. Unlike most New England sports fan I was not glued to the TV for the disappointing performance of our hometown football team. I was watching as Eric, CJ (a friend of his) Mark and Naohiro absorb the sights and sounds of the national stock show. An earthy aroma intertwines with smoky BBQ, fried Twinkies and the occasional waft of manure to undercut the murmur and hubbub-- clashing voices, the bells of laughter and the questions of children and adults alike. Have you ever stopped to watch the people around you as they watch and absorb new things or a movie or theatre production or music? It is truly magical—light dances in dozens or hundreds of faces, eyes twinkling and faces caught in new universes of delight and awe and occasionally fear. There is something pure about those moments when a group is engrossed in these things they lose all sense of self-conciseness or doubt

A few favorite images and discoveries at the stock show; Massive, beautiful, lumbering cows being prettified by men in oil-stained cut off jeans and flannel shirts.  These Cowboys fluff their prize cows with vacuum cleaners. Golden plumage intermingles with pearly white feathers as monsieur rooster struts for the thousands of on lookers crib. Of course as soon as I whip out the camera he gets all-coy… And then there are the boys eagerly awaiting the start of the rodeo—fingers grasping pudgy fried Twinkies, faces aglow in anticipation of the bucking broncos and occasional rampaging bull.

Monday was MLK day. Nao, Michelle and I met up with the rest of the cast at City Park to join 30,000 to march from City Park to the capitol building. This day exemplifies our journey—it’s bigger than the individual. We were in the midst of a sea of ideas; High school sports teams and students, church members, families, political supporters and reformers… each walking with a purpose and to remind ourselves of how far this country has come and how far we have to go.

 After our march we spent the afternoon bonding and then had rehearsal in the Denver Post’s auditorium. The rest of the week has been pretty much a blur… I learned a number of crazy dances. They’re fun but I have to learn how to contort my body in unusual ways very quickly. I’ll be able to do them… but it’s hard to wrap my mind around the number of things I’m supposed to do in each three second span. Here are the list of dances I’m working on; Tuesday; a Gypsy dance, African Gumboot, Wednesday; Jai Ho (An Indian dance, the song is in Slumdog Millionaire) Friday, Love Medley (At the Hop—swing dancing with lifts and Footloose) Saturday; More Love Medley (it’s about 10 min); (What a Wonderful World—slow partner dance with lifts, I’ve had the time of my life—and a number of other short bits.) Of course in the midst of all this dancing we’re also learning songs and doing various cultural workshops. Then there are a number of songs I learned last week that we have to keep up with. Nao and Michelle are also in three more specialty dances— it’s hard to believe that in two weeks we’ll have this show put together.

As always there are more stories to tell but for now I’m signing off. Lots of love all around! —I’ll post some images and short videos later in the week from the various events!