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Finished the parade!, originally uploaded by WTL-Ottawa.
Relaxing on the futon now over 24 hours later, it’s still a fresh buzz at having performed as part of the Museum of Nature’s Grand re-opening in Ottawa, on Saturday May 22.
The opportunity came as a result of another local group passing on it, due to their own busy schedule, and sending the contact info my way. When I called to find out more about this “parade” I was totally excited to realize what it was.
We have a friend on the board for the Museum of Nature and were able to get a preview last year of some of the new exhibits and are huge fans. So to be able to be a part of the event, it’s a big deal!
The parade organizer, Winnie, was great and while there were some minor last minute adjustments that had to be made for our outdoor stage performance, due to the enormous crowd out front, it all worked out great.
We had no way to get to the stage, so we had to abscond a volunteer who was very helpful at herding us as well as the Chinese dragon dancers – but we seemed to lose them along the way to the stage. I can still see our snaky line of sticks up in the air as we were led through the crowded museum foyer to the outside – it was really great that we had our sticks to keep track of each other!
Our music system was sad – and that was my bad. But we’ll work out something better for any future outdoor events. Even so, we managed to find the rhythm of the marching band behind us and another group in front of us to alternate between following. I think we had 4 fairly steady sill players dancing along, so we did what we could to keep us some danceable rhythms!
The weather was perfect parade weather. Slightly overcast, with a few sprinkles of rain to keep us cool, and loads of folks to cheer us on! And the photo ops were hysterical! And great for our egos!
So, major thanks to the lovely ladies who were available to join me on the latest adventures of Ottawa’s Belly Dancing For Fun!
BTW – the Banner was actually from the time we were in the Help Santa Toy Parade a few years back! Very cool to use it in a parade again!
UPDATE:
And apparently we made it onto the news that night! Check it out while it’s online HERE
And from @wtl:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMtHgtJoWXg&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Thanks Tracey for your amazing organizational skills and for offering us such a great performance opportunity at this important event. It was a real honour and pleasure for me to be included with such a group of supportive and accomplished dancers..despite the subsequent aches and pains!!
🙂