My Kind of Theatre...

One exciting moment in this fairly hectic last month or so was the revelation that one of my dear belly dancing friends is a burlesque dancer in her spare time. I had already seen another local burlesque troupe perform, but had never had the pleasure of seeing hers until recently (that's what she said). I couldn't have been more entertained nor more proud. The numbers and skits had -what I felt to be- a well-balanced ratio of humor to titillation with some audience participation sprinkled in too. The vaudeville feel was delightful! I'm looking forward to working with her on a comedic belly dancing number for us to perform at some venue... I don't quite know how that would look, but we'll see.

David Collins and Shane Dundas: The Umbilical Brothers. Source: Indiana University Southeast

Another fantastic theatrical moment took the form of my going to see the Umbilical Brothers. I'd posted about them way back in 2007 and my love for these Aussie freaks has not since waned. Not only were they absolutely hilarious on stage, they were awfully nice with the fans afterwards too. Frankly, I was surprised they had it in them to be so nice afterwards because the audience's average age was 92, leaving the laughter a little thin at times, and may have deflated their egos a tad. I know what it's like to play to an audience that barely reads a pulse and it really sucks the energy out of the performance. The one time I had a truly funny role in a play, it was like being refueled every time they laughed... I'd love to have that feeling again. Being laughed at by my students doesn't quite count...