Hello world :)
Ok, so i am obviously rubbish at this blogging thing, but i have no shame and no apology for my half arsed bloggery. I have not posted since returning from India (about 3 months ago or something)
You may have wondered if i had got lost in the desert and been eaten by tigers and pecked at by hungry birds or if i made it back to the uk at all.... probably not though and since i have returned to the blog it is clear that i am alive and well and back in my chair in lovely sunny (ahem...cough) England.
I got fed up with the slooooow internet speeds and ancient PC's in Indian internet cafes and basically gave up with trying to post things online.
Since returning to England, I have performed loads, taught loads and other than that i have mostly been sat my chair in my home office, working on stuff and promoting various things....webshite building...stuff and things.
I found this on my keydrive, It's a blog i had begun to write in India but never got round to finishing or posting. so here it is in it's raw, unfinished, unedited form:
'Monday morning we had our final rehearsal for the Odissi performance, the costumes had only arrived 2 days before the performance and my costume at this point was with the tailor having major surgery due to a 2 sizes too small issue. The tailor performed a miracle by 1pm it was good to go and fit perfectly. So a big thank you to the tailor in Pushkar who fixed my costume and saved the day!
We spent around 4 hours getting ready for the show, much make up and hair to be done. Whilst we were in the dance school getting ready a monkey snuck in and tried to steal some flowers, I was quite enthusiastic about the monkey joining us but i can see how it may have been impractical since monkeys are not best known for their make-up technique at least not as far as im aware.
After some photo opportunities and an interview for the dvd, we all got covered in alter (bright red paint stuff) which is meant to be painted on the finger tips and circles on the hands and then also the toes and sides of the feet, unfortunately I am rather like a 5 year old especially in terms of being messy and getting covered in paint on my hands looked like I had been finger painting.
Before the performance we waited in a small room at the back of the stage, trying to keep our garuga (ankle bells) from jangling too much and all very excited and slightly nervous in anticipation. After some meditation followed by lots of good lucks and blowing kisses at each other (and me getting a mouthful of flower petals which were for the offering...I was trying to stop them from falling out of my hands...with my mouth, our teacher Sudansu yelled "No No! flower not for eating!" hahaha)
Then it was time for us to make our entrance on to the stage.
The live musicians came from Orissa and included a famous Odissi singer who we were given the rare opportunity to take an Odissi music theory and singing workshop with yesterday which was amazing, she is a beautiful and inspiring lady!
...back to the performance....
We began our choreography, 18 of us, dressed in beautiful red Odissi costume and silver jewelry, all smiling from ear to ear, the stage lights were so bright it was impossible to see past the front of the stage. Then 10 minutes or so later it was over, we were all completely ecstatic, the hours of hard work and often not having a clue what was going on during the rehearsals, all paid off.
The audience was a couple of thousand, the temple grounds were full and people were stood on nearby roof tops watching the performance. This was definitely one of the most incredible experiences of my life so far :) Thank you to all the gorgeous ladies who I had the pleasure of sharing this with! and to our wonderful teachers for sharing their time and knowledge!'
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We spent around 4 hours getting ready for the show, much make up and hair to be done. Whilst we were in the dance school getting ready a monkey snuck in and tried to steal some flowers, I was quite enthusiastic about the monkey joining us but i can see how it may have been impractical since monkeys are not best known for their make-up technique at least not as far as im aware.
After some photo opportunities and an interview for the dvd, we all got covered in alter (bright red paint stuff) which is meant to be painted on the finger tips and circles on the hands and then also the toes and sides of the feet, unfortunately I am rather like a 5 year old especially in terms of being messy and getting covered in paint on my hands looked like I had been finger painting.
Before the performance we waited in a small room at the back of the stage, trying to keep our garuga (ankle bells) from jangling too much and all very excited and slightly nervous in anticipation. After some meditation followed by lots of good lucks and blowing kisses at each other (and me getting a mouthful of flower petals which were for the offering...I was trying to stop them from falling out of my hands...with my mouth, our teacher Sudansu yelled "No No! flower not for eating!" hahaha)
Then it was time for us to make our entrance on to the stage.
The live musicians came from Orissa and included a famous Odissi singer who we were given the rare opportunity to take an Odissi music theory and singing workshop with yesterday which was amazing, she is a beautiful and inspiring lady!
...back to the performance....
We began our choreography, 18 of us, dressed in beautiful red Odissi costume and silver jewelry, all smiling from ear to ear, the stage lights were so bright it was impossible to see past the front of the stage. Then 10 minutes or so later it was over, we were all completely ecstatic, the hours of hard work and often not having a clue what was going on during the rehearsals, all paid off.
The audience was a couple of thousand, the temple grounds were full and people were stood on nearby roof tops watching the performance. This was definitely one of the most incredible experiences of my life so far :) Thank you to all the gorgeous ladies who I had the pleasure of sharing this with! and to our wonderful teachers for sharing their time and knowledge!'
... That's as far as I got with the India blog.
Right anyway, as i was saying...
I am rubbish at blogging because writing journals or keeping logs (not the made of tree kind)
keeping diarys or anything like that does NOT come naturally to me.
I do like to have things thoroughly organised into files/boxes/folders and files within folders and boxes in boxes etc.... but writing a blog does not feel like something I can organise or tidy up and therefore I am rubbish at it. The files on my MAC (yes mac not PC) are so organised, you might say I am a little OCD and you wouldn't be far wrong, in fact, if I wasn't narcoleptic I would be putting much more time into obsessively organising things.
Unfortunately being eternally tired does not allow for such behavior and although my computer files are in perfect order, my bedroom floor, like some other areas in my life are not so in order....however
Being terribly stubborn I am not one to give up on a task no matter how long it may take to conclude, (especially if I want to prove a point or do the opposite of what everyone expected me to do....)
I will soldier on with this bloggery.
This afternoon I got my backside into our studio to record BDUK.TV podcast number II
with the fabulous and slightly mintol Maz and Shani of Lapis Lazuli as my guests.
I am now getting ready to perform at The Castle of Delights this evening....
that is a blatant lie, I am obviously sat typing, but I will be doing that shortly after this...
BDUK.TV Podcast II will be available to listen to, if all goes to plan
hopefully by the end of this weekend.
so keep your pies eeld ... or your eyes peeled & Watch this Spaz Space
Catch you later Bill & Ted ;)
READ PREVIOUS BLOGS HERE!
LISTEN TO THE FIRST BDUK.TV PODCAST HERE!
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