What if I claimed that I ride inside white chocolate to work everyday? Who would believe me?
Well, it’s true. White Chocolate is the name of Halo’s car. She named it such because the small white car may be old, but she always goes down (the highway) smoothly. Each morning Halo picks up me, Merl and Erl K, and Broadway at 7:35am to drive to Mission, where we are rehearsing for the next two weeks. Mission is aptly named; it takes at least an hour and a quarter to drive there from North Van and the traffic is totally unpredictable. So is White Chocolate. She often overheats and threatens to stall on the highway. Halo’s solution is to draw the heat away from the engine by blasting the heater inside the car. Team White Chocolate always arrives in Mission with hot faces, stinky feet, and sweaty armpits. Combine that with our daily belting of “Edge of Glory” by Lady Gaga and we barely need to warm up for ballet class!
Rehearsing in the university/high school theatre in Mission reminds us that we’re working on a real show. One that is premiering at Bangkok’s 13th International Festival of Dance and Music, under the Royal Patronage of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. Serious stuff.
At lunchtime, the company congregates in the high school cafeteria to eat and tell funny stories. This is how we get through the grueling hours and the 9-day workweeks (and my blue toenails which are growing darker and more painful from dancing in pointe shoes). One day, the girls told tales of public peeing. I recounted an anecdote from my high school years when we used to watch scary movies at Polly’s house. Me, B-Girl, Polly Pocket, and Doodle—I am tempted to nickname her Doody because she’s so proper when in comes to bathroom stuff but I know she’ll get mad—were best friends growing up. Polly is literally small enough to fit in your pocket so unfortunately, we could never share clothes. Until the night we watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The girls were watching the movie in the basement with three boys from class. Doodle leaned in to whisper something to me and when I opened my mouth to reply, an enormous belch escaped my lips. The likes of which I had never heard before or since. Doodle was so offended that I couldn’t help but burst into hysterics. The laughter overcame my kiegel muscles and too late, I realized that I had peed in my pants. Right there on Polly’s couch. Since there were boys in attendance, I tried to alert Polly discreetly. She nodded and went upstairs to fetch me a change of clothes. When Polly returned, she opened the basement door, threw her rain pants at me and said, “Put these on in case it happens again!” I was mortified.
Kam had an even funnier story in which a dancer peed in her costume in the middle of a show. The urine trailed behind her on stage as she ran into the wings. I’d take my rain pants over a urine covered stage any day.
After lunch we feel refreshed and ready to put in our last few hours of the day. Team White Chocolate is pretty quiet on the ride home, except when “Edge of Glory” replays at 6pm. We always sing along at full force. When Halo drops me off at the North Van plaza, my legs can barely carry me up the hill to Pixi’s house. That’s where I’m staying this month. Pixi’s parents have a spare room with an en suite bathroom that they often rent out. Pixi is one of the dancers in the company and she has her own place downtown. I love staying with her parents because they’re sweet and welcoming and it feels like home. Although I’m having a blast in Vancouver, I can’t help but miss my own home and family. That should be remedied when Uncle Salmon and co drive up to visit me this weekend. I can’t wait to see them! It’s been more than a year since I’ve seen Baby Blue.
List of #’s:
Hours clocked in White Chocolate: Let’s just say my sweet tooth is satisfied
Members in Team White Chocolate: 5
Days until Uncle Salmon, Auntie Crunchy, and Baby Blue visit: 2
Weeks behind I am in blogging: approx 4
so fun! love the blogs! Love, Mum