I was grateful to perform at Colors Of Love again, a multicultural, multi talent show organized by marvelous teacher, dancer and creative, Yulia Maluta.
I wanted to write about it sooner, but I went straight to work the next day and actually had quite a difficult week there. But I’m at home now and can write a few words about this amazing show.
Firstly, there was a good spectator turn out, in fact, the show was sold out! I think last time there were fewer people watching and some left before the end, but this time, even though the show was long, with 27 dances, everyone stayed until the end. This speaks to the selection of performers, as performing in Colors is by invitation.
I had 3 dances and I drummed. I danced an intense Argentine Tango with Yulia to Piazzolla’s Libertango. It was technically very demanding and I had to go up a steep learning curve in order to perform it. I think to the very end, neither Yulia or I were sure how it was going to turn out and we were mentally prepared for a fiasco (at least I was) because the timing in that dance was very important, not to mention the technique. It ended up being a great dance to perform, I loved all of it, the music, the intensity, the focus and the connection, and I heard others enjoyed it too. I posted it on IG so you can see.
I also danced a Rumba and a Foxtrot with Vasily Golovin, instructor extraordinaire. Despite his being mostly in Idaho (I’m in Cali), we were able to create and practice choreography in time for the show. The Rumba was very short and beautiful. More and more, I like dancing to short pieces of music because I can focus on the quality and expression of the steps as opposed to focusing on a longer choreography. Sadly, for this dance, the music was messed up (they had ONE job! whoever they were) and for the first 40 seconds of this 75 second song, there was another song being played at the SAME TIME as ours! That threw me off a bit but we plowed through, though I still feel cheated because I worked hard with that dance.
The Foxtrot was fun; with this dance in particular, I felt I didn’t ‘bring it’- you know when you think you’re dancing your heart out, but in reality, on the video you look like you’re shuffling. That’s why they say you have to practice at 200% so that you can perform at 100% (someone said that, I think).
In case you’re thinking that I was the only one in the show, I wasn’t! Someone did ask me if I was in 8 dances though! There were lyrical, hip-hop, salsa, belly-dance, Traditional Chinese, Traditional Indian, modern, capoeira, latin ballroom, standard ballroom dances, also singing and drumming. These dances were performed by people of all ages, all levels and with very different day jobs (or schools), but everyone had in common the desire to learn, practice and share their dances with each other and the community.
I can’t imagine what it must like for the spectator to experience such a wide variety of dances all on one stage, but I think it must be quite inspiring and overall very enjoyable. I think Yulia put on a great show for our community, and amateurs, professionals as well as spectators were certainly enriched by participating in this event.