A glimpse of touring in a show
Friday 22 Jan 2009
Barrels number (tap dancers): involves jumping over, into and onto barrels, dancing on them and in them as well as banging them with sticks…
3 out of 4 of us have recently switched to using bigger sticks for banging the barrels in the number but we’ve not really had a chance to practice with the music or on stage before the show. On Thursday it didn’t go too badly for me – I got out of the barrel with the sticks and made the quick transition to the drumming section. Friday was different story though:
First I couldn’t grip the sticks to get them out of the barrel (they’re attached with velcro). When I finally got them I dropped one in the barrel whilst I was still in it so had to duck down to get it. Since this was all during the show I didn’t have time to figure out that it would’ve been easier to get out the barrel as usual and then tip the stick out since I needed to turn it over anyway. Once out of the barrel I turned it over and then dropped a stick AGAIN. I missed the first drumming queue whilst picking it up and at the same time spotted that Sim was half in the barrel on the floor and that Gweni was also late with her sticks and getting the barrel over. Lee – who has practiced and perfected the transition in earlier shows – was the only one in position but had no other barrels to hit cos the rest of us were still flaffing about. After a slight pause of shock on his face he made up his own drumming and carried on while the rest of us caught up. By this time it must have looked like a comedy act and it was hard not to burst out in hysterical laughter. Then when I got on the barrel it wasn’t completely stable so I could barely do the steps and my arms were waving all over the place as I kept my balance. I was glad to jump off in one piece!
We all laughed so hard when we got off stage and were still laughing hours later when we got back to the hotel. It didn’t help that later I nearly fell off the box in the “boxes” number. Can’t wait to watch the video this afternoon…
