Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Feet!

'The show must go on'............



well, it did tonight....despite what happened.


I was on my final set of the night (4th, since 2 shows).. and dancing saaidi. It was going well- that is to say , the first 10 seconds went ok... then i spun on the stage over the part on the stage when the wood joins (or doesn't unfortunatly, which was the problem in this case) and cut my foot. It was a pain worse than the usual torn foot while dancing type of pain. It's a common occurance when you dance bare foot to cut them up occasionally, however......


as I said... the show must go on....

so, dripping blood all over the stage (now a lovely tie-dye effect floor), I continued to wow my very appreciative audience with my saaidi, baladi and , if i say so myself a very nice, drum solo.



HOWEVER... when i got back to my room, and the adrenaline from the show had subsided a little, I looked at the damage...





....... to discover that not only did i still have a splinter in my toe, a splinter the width of half a match stick at that.... but that it was all the way through- from the bottom of my toe to the top. I'll repeat that - ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Wood sticking out a hole in the bottom of the toe, and the same piece of wood sticking out through the top of the same toe.



Like a spear through my stomach, an arrow through my heart.... my toe was speared.





Quite frankly I am quite impressed that i didn't actually faint there and then. I have rarely seen anything quite so grotesque!

After some hysterics- i was in shock after all, I managed to limp my way to the nearest chemist (thank god they are open 24/7). 2 of my drummers joined me (bless them) and held my hand as the pharmacist, who was very impressed with my injury, covered my toe in anaestetic and antiseptic... then pulled the huge log (slight exaggeration allowed- it really felt like that!!) all the way through. He didn't let me see the offending article, because it had bits of me stuck to it, seemingly.....! YUCK!!!!



I was quite proud of myself when the drummers started discussing between themselves how if that had been anyone else they would have quit dancing straight away, or been on the ground in pain, but not Lorna, she's strong. I have to ask, is that a good thing????!!!

The toe is still numb, and I am hoping it will stay that way so I get a decent sleep tonight... but am dreading dancing tomorrow!

Other than the toe, life is going well......................



oh, but i forgot to tell you about last thursdays 'stage v's feet' experience....


Last week my place of work here in Cairo decided to repair the stage, which was hugely appreciated and much overdue. HOWEVER, they varnished it at 2pm..... The boat sails at 7pm. The floor was still totally wet when i went to dance, barefoot as normal! It was like dancing on glue. In fact it was so sticky that I left the top layer of my feet on the floor... it just ripped right off me- like a plaster! Very painful- every step. OUCH! I was worried about hurting my knees or something since once the feet were place, there was no pivoting allowed, the varnish held tight. I most uncomfortable dancing experience EVER! I got them to lay a carpet over it so i could dance the second sail that night, but OUCH, carpet burns on already raw feet. That whole night really was bad! The tannoura described trying to dance on it as jumping like a 'catcoot' (chicken) on a hot floor, and, then he forgot, and he lay down during one part of his show and his head stuck to the varnish!!!!!!!!!!! dancers feet and tannouras hair- sounds like a recipe for a witches brew.

so far the score is ; stage- 2 points, feet- nil !!! ...

NOT a good week for feet. Lets hope this coming week is a good one for everything!!!!!!!


No photos of injured feet , you'll be glad to know, but thought I would add this photo taken of me by Michelle Dillon, in Edinburgh this month, chatting and stretching at the end of one of my workshops... you can see from the colour of them how much the , as well as everything else, had been working!!!



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