alonewiththemoon

Raks Spooki II has now come and gone. I think this was my favorite of all the events I've put on so far--everybody was so on their game and into their music. I was just so proud to be able to provide a venue for people to present this kind of work to a welcoming, enthusiastic audience. I loved seeing the goths expressing themselves, I loved seeing those who wouldn't really call themselves goths exploring powerful/darker themes in their dancing. I loved looking over and seeing a little gothic belly dance shopping mall with all the vendors set up. I loved seeing the rapt attentive faces of the audience, spellbound by the presences on the stage. I loved seeing friends blossom like night jasmine and reach new places in their dancing. I loved the music. In short, all was full of love. Dark spooky gothic love, but love nevertheless.

Still some issues with the venue--the music was SNAFU as we pretty much expected, but thanks to Mr.

meddevi we were able to get the house sound up and running for the second and third acts, and my boombox was more or less adequate for the first act. I wish I'd remembered to turn off the bass boost, because then we could have turned it up louder before distortion set in. And there was a little thing with the stage lights that thankfully I was mostly oblivious to, and resolved itself easily enough in the end. At one point, it did look like we had no sound and no stage lights, and that wasn't really a very good point for me at all. But I was able to maintain my equanimity, and Maman Brigitte, to whom my performance was dedicated, was smiling on us and fixed everything.

Huge thanks to

rojagato and

talesinsdaughtr for taking care of the door--it takes a big load off of me as the event producer to know that I have good reliable people right where I need them :-)

Sashi was a wonderful teacher and a great human being--I would really like to have her back if I can raise more awareness about who she is and what she has to offer around here, and also hopefully time things better in terms of the other events going on around town. I gained a lot just eavesdropping on her workshop while I was doing administrative stuff and yoga in the other studio. Her dancing of course totally rocked. I loved the subtle quality to a lot of her movements, and her musicality and timing is superb.

I barely remember my own performance, but I enjoyed it, I think. I like surprising people with the sound of the anklets. One dancer in the audience told me that the sound made her skin crawl, to which I said "Good!" ;) The one photo I've seen so far definitely has the look I was going for with the piece, so hopefully I'll like the video when I see it.

After the event I ate an entire small pizza, made myself a hot toddy and fell asleep on the couch before I reached the bottom of the mug. Between all the work that went into the event and my lingering plague, I am completely wiped out, but I'm already thinking about next year... muahaha! *insert evil plotting laughter here*