Animated! [Friday night]

Friday’s rehearsals for Dandelion and the Propeller show went great! I “animated” the silent auction without a hitch and the Propeller show was sold out. So sold out that there wasn’t even a place for me to sit so I had to wait until Saturday to see the show. The perquisite: hanging out with all the amazing support people running the silent auction and the snack bar. Propeller has amazing supporters and I had a chance to get to know some of them a bit better … and to suss out the silent auction items for Saturday!

Jess her very usual welcoming self (her job was to welcome people as they arrived at Arts Court and to direct those using wheelchairs to the very awkward—but accessible!!!—wheelchair entrance). At first I wasn’t sure how she would handle not performing in the show, but she took her role as greeter seriously and she does have this innate ability to draw people in and make them feel welcome.

After the show I couldn’t find her anywhere and grabbed Shara to ask if she had seen Jessie. “I think she’s in the theatre dancing,” she said. I peaked in and sure enough, there was Jessie with the stage lights on, the music blaring (apparently the technicians turned it all back on for her), dancing her little heart out. I won’t make a big deal of the fact that she actually took her street clothes off (she had her dance clothes on underneath from the Dandelion dress rehearsal) and flung them into the seats then was in her element hanging off the railings—an amazing set constructed for the Propeller show. She had an audience too! It was hard to tear her away (by now it was after 10:30), as I think she handled the fact that she wasn’t performing extremely well. One thing about Jess, she is also a great audience and if I had to perform anything anywhere I would gladly hire her to be in the audience! Her whole face lights up and she actually vibrates (I have this from someone who was sitting next to her) as the performance mounts or as different dancers take centre stage.