Checking In

Update from yesterday's post: It wasn't a wedding -- that's today. The offending black people were from a gospel choir! Hilarious.

We finished early today -- no dancing, just check-in and admin stuff -- and the word had apparently gotten out that West Coast is a vegetarian, organic, Bay Area, woo-woo California dance company. We were taken to the organic/health food store. REAL food! I bought organic fruit, veggies, natural products (running out of deodorant, soap, etc.). Apple sauce, apple and cranberry sauce, organic dried fruit, nuts, juices, proteins. And my favourite indulgence of late -- salt and vinegar kettle chips. I grew up eating Walker's salt and vinegar crisps, and I miss them. OK. Gonna make it through the next week. I have food, clean clothes (there are times when it is appropriate to go commando and times when not. Tomorrow would have been a so NOT), and a care package from Wizard on the way.

About touring. It's not just that you are away from your partner, cats, friends, bed, medical professionals, favourite restaurants (not in any order), etc. It's not just that you can't call your friends in other parts of the world because your schedule is suddenly changed (rehearsals etc at usually social hours). It's also that you are being asked to live in close space with people you usually only see in a professional context.

I mean, what do you know about someone when all you do is dance with them for 20 or so hours a week? You go into the studio. You chat a little. You get a sense of what they did last night, what movie, what they ate, their pet etc., but you don't really get a sense of how they are. Touring teaches you that. West Coast is full of sweet people, thank god. BUT some of us are quirky. One of us has no sense of time. Another one of us gets stressed out if we are even 5 minutes late (I admit to belonging on this side of the time issue). One of us has groupies (no, not me). Another one of us has difficulty sleeping. When we move as a group, it is always a scene. Right now, I am charmed by it all. But I can also imagine that at some point, my patience might run out -- 2 hours to grocery shop?

Bodily, I am mostly doing all right. I was dismayed this morning to notice that my ankles are all puffy, cut, and bruised; I knew about the bruises on my arms, but somehow missed the fact that my legs were/are getting bashed up. I am doing some good things. Wheelchair technique coming along nicely -- bumped backwards down a flight of 25 stairs to the consternation of those watching. They should see our other manual dancer -- forwards in wheelie down the stairs. I'm still learning that kind of control; I'm good for 3 stairs, but not 25. Confirmed: fall backwards, catch with hand, and ride it back up (but only when working with a strap). Confirmed: fall sideways, up, and over to the other side. Confirmed: no handed wheelie turns and balances. Been attempting the forwards dive roll with chair -- beginning to think that the long front end is not helping the physics. Am now working on the handspring with chair attached. (Note to self: should buy a strap -- tying myself in with a pair of pants or dance tights prolly isn't enough support.)

Tomorrow, we return to the studio to dance as a group -- we've been working in 2's and 3's. And then on Monday the whole big thing starts again.