Saturday Night--The Concert and the Vegas floor show.
So, I was riding pretty high after that afternoon. I was also just flooded with relief. The Company was really patient with the whole process which was slightly convoluted at times. Alex did a beautiful job with translating, and they all managed to get everyone where they needed to be. We got back to the hotel and I can't remember now what we did for food or down time--there must have been some, but who knows. We got to the theater with time to spare, because as you know, time is abstract.
Arisleyda had told us earlier that she was expecting the governor and a local representative at the concert that night. She had been exhausted and a nervous wreck the night before, not knowing how everything would turn out, but she was more confident now. So, it was time for the show to start (8:20pm) and the house was only half full, but the representative was there, so let's go. The show begins. Once again they are stunning onstage and once again the audience continues to trickle in, including the governor. Both nights I am stuck next to the CD player to play 3 music cues, and both nights I manage to delay or screw up that third one. Poor Alex! Waiting on stage FOREVER for me to get my act together. I want to blame exhaustion and the heat, and anything else I can think of, but really, I just blew the timing. But, the students were fantastic and didn't care. Of course, this was the night of the slap, so that took everyone's mind off anything I may have messed up. What? I haven't told you about the slap? Well, it happened during the improvisation piece. Most of the company was onstage in various places, doing various things (boy that sounds technical) and Christian and Liz were downstage left. They had been doing some work with Liz on the floor and Christian standing over her, then it morphed into them moving side by side, mostly with their right hands. It was like seaweed, or waving, and suddenly Liz's hand just leaped out and hit Christian's right cheek, pullling him into a different position. They kept moving and the piece progressed, but it was a little, well, humorous I guess, for lack of a better word. That movement did make the cut on the Nuestre Gente TV show (which is now posted on www.middlebury.edu/arts if you want to check it out!)
The show ended and there was much applause again. I had seen Arisleyda whispering with the governor during the show, so hopefully she liked it. At the end, Jacinto got up on stage to say a few words, mostly about audience behavior and the like. I found this to be interesting since he was late for the start of the show himself, but that's ok. As we said our good-byes, Jomaris, Arisleyda's daughter-in-law, was trying to get a very tired Elian into the family's tiny red car. He had played with all the Company members, but Sarah was by far the favorite. They played and chased and laughed all over the theater. So after a hug and kiss good-bye from all of the women in the company, waving, saying good-night, Elian threw out an offer no girl could refuse "Come to my house!" The girls all laughed, and Sarah said "My parents will be so thrilled to hear about my new Dominican boyfriend." They start young, those DR boys...
Back to dinner at Skina, where we had the MOST hilarious conversations at dinner. David Sedaris would have been enthralled with these stories, need I say more. I was dying to go dancing, but everyone was exhausted. I think we were begging Alex and Christian to salsa or merengue, because they always dance so beautifully, when the right song came on over the house speakers. They got up and did the most amazing and fantastic impromptu Latin improvisation--you just couldn't take your eyes off them. Quick, light, sensual, gorgeous. They were dancing in about 8 square feet and you would have thought it was the big stage at Caesar's Palace. They were only wearing their street clothes, and I think Christian only lost his hat once, but it was fabulous. The wait staff was fairly impressed--they joined us in applauding as well. I couldn't stand it anymore and dragged poor Cat out there and we practiced our salsa. Then, Christian took pity and came and gave me a little dance lesson. He teaches Latin at the college, and I am going to have to start going to that class, because sister, he is good! Well, we were all good and wired at this point, but it was 1:00am, so back to the hotel. We were having such a good time hanging out we stayed up very late, some of us seeing the light in the sky begin to change. Which is why I should not have eaten that papaya. But that's the story for Sunday.
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