Rockin’ the Casbah Notes: Soloist/Nat

Nat did a fabulously fun dance to a fabulously fun piece of music called “Chicky”. I was so excited for Nat because she was so excited (her excitement is contagious! Stay away if you don’t want to catch it!) She also bought her first “real” (her words) costume for this piece. A gorgeous bedlah (bra/belt  set).

Nat’s was the only solo piece I had to “interfere” with. She originally picked Sway. That is a really great tune and I was happy to have her choose it. But then! Oh no! I realized that Sway is actually a Big Band standard – and it would be really odd to have Nat dancing to a canned swing tune when there was a real live swing band sitting right behind her. But then! Oh yes! I had the great idea to buy the chart and have The Big Band play it live. Nat was willing, so I did that.  The band was really happy because they really liked that chart – especially our vocalist, Rebekah Bell. But then! Oh no! This version just didn’t work for Nat. Now this is not a big deal because the band would keep the chart anyway. And the most important thing for a dancer is the music. And if the music doesn’t work, it doesn’t work – nothing else needs to be said. But I felt bad for Nat, and Nat felt bad because I had purchased the chart already. But then! Oh yes! Coreen loved it and decided to dance to it instead (more on that next posting!). So all is well that ends well. And Oh yes! Even better than that!  – because Nat ended up dancing to Chicky and I honestly can’t think of a better song for her. She is a true joy: fun and funny and kind. And her happy personality just shone through. She shone! Yes she did!

Nat was the final number in the show before the New York New York finale and just after the Khaleegi piece. Chicky was the perfect piece of music to transition us from the Arabian Gulf back to swing music in much the same way that Andrameda’s music was the perfect transition between swing and sharqi. I just could not believe how everything came together that way.  Anyway, we needed to transition Nat onto the stage in a creative way that would fit in with the theme of the 2nd set. In the 2nd set, items magically “appeared” on stage to be discovered and then danced with (more on this also, later). So after the Khaleegi piece was over we all formed a circle (in the dark) and Nat snuck onto the stage (in the dark) and entered the circle. When the stage lights came back up, we were turning in a circle to the opening bars of her music and she was hidden inside the circle behind our thobes.  We dispersed and !voila! There she was! Magically appearing on stage to be discovered by the audience. What a perfect ending to the show. Thank you, Nat!