My weekend of dance started off on Friday evening. Henrike and I were invited for drinks. As the weather was hot and humid, it was great to be at Cathleen’s home - surrounded by trees in the garden rather than at a cafe. All three of us enjoyed the change to warmer weather - whilst sharing refreshing drinks and snacks.
Conversation flowed easily and it was not due to the presence of alcohol - but I am not saying it was absent. 😀 We are never at a loss for topics, opinions, chatter and laughter. It is great when there is so much common ground.
We covered many topics in a short time with stories overlapping and some left unfinished. When our husbands joined us - things changed - it felt like a party. We covered more topics - current events, politics, philosophical topics then we went to dance. Why? We were going to miss the presentation and dance of Henrike on Saturday in another town. We encouraged her to give us a sample - she decided to dance for us.
Henrike danced to Stromae's - "Papaoutai" - a song that never ages - it’s sad but powerful. Her dance was improvised and fun. Her moves morphed with the music which moved her body in ways that were unexpected for her and us. It was rhythmic, dramatic and fitting with the music. It was a beautiful dance.
The dance brought out our creative sides. Our conversations led to music, then suddenly we were reading poetry. Soon we were discussing uplifting experiences after attending performances at the National Concert-building or being moved to tears by Pavorotti during his concert in Central Park. Yes this ages us - it was in 1993.
The evening ended with a beautiful walk home on this humid pre-summer evening. Some younger city folks chose to enjoy this evening by or on Amsterdam’s beautiful canals.
The weekend of dance was just beginning. On Saturday morning, we took my youngest daughter to the theater. Her club had their annual ending performance, called “Dance around the World”. She had 2 shows to perform; 12:30-14:00 and 16:30-18:00. We were happy that this year there is a show as due to the pandemic - there was none for the last 2 years.
The show told the story of 2 young girls going on a trip around the world. The setting, costumes, dances and choice of music were all inspired by various countries. The choreography was appropriate, fun and entertaining. My daughter performed in Egyptian and Irish inspired dances. Here is my recording of the Egyptian dance.
The following are some of the performers in settings and dances inspired, amongst others, by:
Mexico
Sweden
Ireland
USA
Argentina
The performances ranged from children who were so cute and more intrigued by the audience, lights and bowing instead of dancing; to teenager and adult professionals and semi professionals.
Thé cheers and applause from the audience was based on the cuteness of the young performers but also the quality, skills and wonderful choreography of the dances. Appreciation was always shown for effort.
The final Dutch inspired dance was performed by the teachers, who were joined on stage by all performers.
The dances and the ambience in the theater was joyous and electric. It left us feeling happy; not only because we had family or friends participating - it was a fantastic show!!
Thereafter the flowers, hugs and kisses shared, were all well deserved. We left the theater feeling happy and bouyant. It was time well spent.
All photos and the video are made by me