A Mummer Summer
All work and no play makes a dull (and stressed) Pilates teacher…
Over the past year, I have moved to a new location, sent my only child to College, fought a few health battles, embarked on a new career and opened my own business. It’s been chaotic and exhausting - but there is no time like the present and I’ve accomplished more than I ever imagined.
While Pilates, my clients and my practice are a passionate avocation - I needed to find a way to have a little fun.
In Midland,Texas, we have Summer Mummers. In 2023, I tried to get tickets. Sold out. I decided to volunteer for the 2024 season to have a bit of fun.
April
“Would you like to audition?” They asked me when I arrived at the Yucca Theater.
“I was coming to volunteer,” I tried to explain. I was on stage acting once …. in 1986.
“Melodrama, Olio, Card Girl, or dancer?”
“Oleo? Like Crisco?” I shrugged. “I don’t know what that is, but okay….”
The dance captain spied my Pilates t-shirts and asked, “You’re a dancer, right?”
I Zumba and I can shake my butt on the dance floor of a wedding, but an ACTUAL dancer? “ I’m interested in how dancers work because I teach Pilates.”
She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the dance group. “We’ll teach you everything. With a background in Pilates, you’ll catch on in no time.”
Pilates is not dancy. I’m coordinated enough not to fall off my equipment but a far cry from a pirouette. I admire dancers for their strength and endurance.
Over the next thirty minutes, I learned some choreography… badly. Everyone else had been practicing for the audition for weeks. I was an absolute trainwreck. The people at the theater were so encouraging and FUN!
I was floored when they cast me as a dancer. The rehearsals were 5 nights a week for six weeks! I always felt behind. Prior to the ‘producer’ night, I was nauseous, dizzy and could barely take a deep breath. If my legs hadn’t been so wobbly, I would have fled the theater and never returned. I froze and couldn’t move.
****** Note: I used to be a musician. Piano, voice, flute, percussion. With the except of working within an ensemble - I stopped performing because I would freeze up.
The dance team was so supportive. I gritted my teeth, got up on stage and was perfectly AWFUL. The one thing I did correctly was to keep going.
Then came the dress rehearsals. I stopped thinking and just moved. Yes, I turned in the wrong direction, kicked another dancer in the head and nearly feel of the stage during the Can-Can dance.
By the time the 2024 season is finished, I will have danced in fourteen shows. Some shows are better than others . I STILL can’t get the steps down for the Can-Can - so I just make it up.
I think less, move more and belly laugh at all of the antics. It’s exactly what I needed.
