My Shamadan performance

[alonewiththemoon]

So, I danced with my shamadan yesterday. The major unfortunate discovery of the day is that the sticky stuff I used to hold the candles in place gets melty in the hot sun and high heat, so I lost a few candles during the show. OTOH, I think I dealt with it professionally and I didn't step and slip and fall on any of them. It's not so obvious when the video is shrunk down to YouTube dimensions, so here you go:

That rumble towards the end of the shamadan part was indeed thunder. That doesn't really put your mind at ease when you've got a big old lightning rod on your head, but luckily the rain and storming held off until after the show was finished. I have a million technical criticisms of myself, as per usual, but I think the shamadan part is not bad for a first performance with it, apart from the candle issue. I think in both songs I rushed things a bit, or rather didn't stay with some movements long enough. But, whatever. I'll happily accept shamadan tips/critique from any experienced shamadan users!

The show was a ton of fun. We had a dedicated audience who had come for the show, and several passersby who stopped to watch. Each of us did something really different, so it was a really nice variety of performers. A little girl came up to me afterward to express how totally cool my shamadan was, so that made me feel quite good :-)

Comments

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

I think you did a great job with both! And you did handle the candle issue very well. My favorite bit, though, has to be the end of the cane dance. Very dramatic finish!

[pink-kimono.livejournal.com]

Very cool.

I think my head is too knobby to balance things on it. :o)

[bluemoonsaga.livejournal.com]

don't feel bad a buddy of mine had the same thing happen. every shimmy & candle fell off.

good job!!

[bintblue.livejournal.com]

Not only did we both do shamadan last night, we used the SAME MUSIC. We rule.

That doesn't really put your mind at ease when you've got a big old lightning rod on your head...
Holy shite!!!

Nice clip, very entertaining, I would have been hooting and hollering!

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

V nice! I would love to do shamadan in principle, but I am really shit at balance. I liked the floor bits especially (there is really no reason, apart from my pathetic physical weakness, that I couldn't do one of those kneeling layback thingies. I should work on it.)

What was the Saidi piece? It occurs to me, watching you, that an actual cane-focused choreographed saidi solo from me is LONG overdue, and I like that music. (Your cane looked good too. My hatred of all props means I don't do a hell of a lot with mine and I really should force myself to do more *things*.)

[sanguineempathy.livejournal.com]

That looked really great - I love the Shamadan :) Look forward to seeing more :)