Eish! London 28 August

Friday, 28 August – I saw 6 shows and went to a lecture

Yay yay yay, my Dad has officially sold my car inSouth Africa. Very excited! Can’t believe that the market has become so difficult for selling second hand cars; but at least now it’s one less thing to worry about back home and I don’t have to pay the insurance for it any more. Brilliant!

What a busy Fringe Festival day. The two main highlights were a John Fletcher show and an AMAZING live Cuban band where I got to practice my salsa flat out in a church! Awesome!

The Wild Goose Chase written by John Fletcher (1621). “A rare chance to see Shakespeare collaborator John Fletcher’s battle of the sexes comedy. Unjustly neglected for over 300 years, it shows that where men, women and commitment are concerned, little has changed over the centuries.” I couldn’t believe this play was over 300 years old. In the play the boys have their ‘little black books’ and both sexes were ‘playing games’ with each other in the name of ‘love’, or ‘avoiding commitment’. I did nothing but laugh! It was a pity that this show wasn’t watched by any critics, and it never received an official review.

When I looked at the programme I saw that the group was based in Ealing, London. I was very excited and went through to the change rooms / toilets (there isn’t room for glamourous change-rooms and backstage at the Fringe) to see if I could chat to the director about getting involved. In chatting to the cast I walked passed one of the very attractive male leads. Man he was good looking! Then I found the director and told him I was keen to get involved. He said he wished I had found them sooner; they had to hire a guy to come in and do the lighting for them because there had been hassles with the person who had volunteered to do it when they were back inLondon. He said that they generally only did one show a year, but he gave me his email address and told me to keep in touch and things could go from there. Shame, he wasn’t happy that they had put in all the effort to perform at the Fringe and no-one had come to review the show; but he said he heard me laughing all the way through and thanked me for enjoying their work. I thought that was really kind of him. Hopefully I would get to be in one of their shows soon.

In all my chatting I had lost time to get to my next show, so I took a run and as I ran out the attractive lead guy was leaning on the railing; I smiled and he grinned back and gave me a wink. I almost stopped dead to chat. I almost stopped running for the charisma of that grin; and then my brain told me: “You’re only here once Shannan, get running girl!” So I left a gorgeous guy behind again, and smiled for the rest of the day.

Nina was supposed to join me for a dance tonight, but she ended up getting a little too ‘happy’ with her work colleagues after work, and between that and the hard work on her doctorate she ended up asleep before my last show was over. I wasn’t about to give up a chance to dance. I found my way to the ‘church of salsa’, scored myself a fifty percent discount on my ticket from the fabulous man on the door (absolutely loved that!), changed into the high heels I’d been carrying in my backpack and got ready to dance.

The event literally took place in a church. They had moved the pews back and put up a stage where the alter would normally be. I must admit it did freak me out a bit, and I was thinking that this could seriously be deemed as blasphemous; but then God did create music, although I’m not sure how impressed He was at the drunkenness and musicians dressed in clergy outfits all performing in His home. Either way, when the music started I was in rapture; absolute rapture. Then the space in front of the sensational live Cuban band Sonora la Calle and Sister Samba from Brazil opened up for dancing. I was the first on the floor using all the Salsa dance moves I could remember; then I was joined up front and very personally by an amazing male dancer. We rocked the dance floor until the sweat was steaming. Being able to dance with someone who actually knew exactly what he was doing, who had rhythm in his blood and moved with complete self-assured confidence was a euphorically elating experience for me. If I had made my trip all the way toLondon to be in that moment, then it was worth it!

We didn’t chat much at all, we just danced. I figured that he must be one of the performing dancers for the show, but when we chatted at the end of the evening it turned out that he was a professional French ballerina! He was in a physical theatre production for the Festival and their show had received fantastic reviews. He was based in Londonand said he was keen to get back into Salsa dancing once their current tour was complete. Like he’d have to ask me twice? Never! We exchanged numbers before I got onto the bus, and I was still elated all the way home. Imagine if I did get to Salsa with him again? That would be incredible! (We did keep in touch for a while, and I did manage to see one of his shows in London, but we never danced together again, which was sad for me, but it seems that’s the way things work in London. Eish!)