Just the usual weekend for us!!!

THAT Photo is by Lee Corkett of Weathervane!!! He is awesome & I hope it's ok that I posted this picture because it doesn't have his watermark on it yet!!! But I can hardly contain my excitement about life in general and this photo has something to do with that!
people pictured from left to right are
Khani, me, Gigi (Lee's wife), Michaella, Heidi, & Nancy, in front of the Acacia Mansion in Ojai, technically behind the mansion actually!

This weekend was busy as usual, it started with Saturday morning a 2 hour practice with Heidi because Ayse was unable to do the show at the Acacia Mansion with us as planned. This practice was for She'enedra (I'm in 2 troupes the 2nd being Nataraja which I am director of, but I don't always dance with time being limited like it is). So even though our dance was basically going to be improv, there was a little fidgeting to be done to keep the dance interesting with only 2 bodies, one very tiny (me) one very tall (Heidi).

Then the usual day stuff and off to the show in beautiful Ojai at the even more beautiful Acacia Mansion.

BOTH Nataraja & She'enedra were slated to perform, I had quickly made Nataraja new costume parts in order to distinguish them as separate from our sister troupes of She' & Wild Routes (ayse's new group which used to be the Sisterhood). Lacy beige tie tops with stand up ruffle collars, & for the skirts side tied tribal minis short in front & longer in back tacked up at the sides to create a ruffly bum drape. Nataraja had done quite a bit of extra practice in preparation and this was the first time since Tribal Caravan that we had ALL of our new members dancing together. So this was something of a momentous event for Nataraja!

As we drove down the residential Ojai street looking at numbers, we came upon this gorgeous Spanish style 1904 mansion, it was obvious where we were supposed to be! No looking for numbers any more...just a parking place.

The inside of the manse was gorgeous! We dressed in a large parlor complete with antique furniture, mirrored vanities & large cockatoo.

Nataraja was scheduled fairly early in the set...I have video which I would love to post on You tube asap! They were great, even though at one point I knocked a dumbek over...it was so fun dancing with these girls!
I ran back inside the house after a very shorty solo and ripped of my clothes to change for She'enedra and to my surprise a man was in the room! Arrrgh! I hate it when dancers bring their husbands/boyfriends in the room without consideration for other dancers! I mean how unprofessional! What is a dressing room for anyway if not to change clothes? Anyway, I ducked behind a chair and finished changing my bra. And really, I'm hardly a prude, but I don't provide that kind of entertainment!

Heidi & I entered through the audience and danced our set. It felt kind of funny because most of the time I had one foot or the other in a hole. The dance surface was covered with Persian rugs and I think they did the best they could but it was very uneven. So I didn't dance as well as I felt I could but it was good. And we had fun!

Afterwards we had a photo session with Lee, drinks in the saloon (a made over garage with beautiful bar & pool table). We laughed and explored the mansion, watched the other lovely dancers and had a blast!

Oh yeah then there was Sunday...that is another post!