Dao and frame drum

When the senses wake up, people talk about altered states, but actually nothing about them is altered. The only real alteration is the sleep into which we often let them fall. Bringing them back to life is the only natural thing we can do. It is as if we defined the starting of an engine as an “altered state” only because we consider normal leaving it turned off. -Daniele Bolelli, On The Warrior’s Path


Turtle Drum: Because the weather was so nice, and because of Sea Fair, I expected a small turnout. I was not leading. It was nice to not have that pressure. In fact, I was so unpressured that I was 30min late (blush).

I had decided that if it was a small turnout, I would do a little sword dancing. Usually that type of thing is well recieved... even people who are initially unsure are more often than not converted after watching a bit. It's always a risk, though.... because there is the odd person whose trip is all "peace and love" and is totally skeeved at the appearance of a weapon because they think weapons are just bad things used by bad people to harm others.

I used the dao, and by the time it was done, I was literally dripping in sweat- so a good workout. Lots of Angry Snake mixed in; a little of the other stuff. Nice to freeform flow while trying to maintain proper form of stances, transitions, parries and strikes.

I'm not sure how it went over... nobody said anything, and I wasn't watching for reactions, although I did seem to get a vibe of one guy getting a little twitchy when I would pass behind him. They kept the drum energy going decent for a good while, though, which tends to happen when dancer(s) is/are feeding them well. Inconclusive. I decided to leave it at that for now. Tasara didn't say anything either, but I'm sure she will e-mail me if she disapproved, and want to discuss it with all three facilitators. I prolly should have asked her first... but like I said, many of the unsure are okay after experiencing it.

I did one chant; unfortunately no one stepped up to help, but it was good. Tasara was playing one of her Native American flutes, and it was a weird key signature, so it took me a while to parse it and get in key. But once I did, we were able to play off each other some, which was nice.

One person told me as she was leaving that I have a "beautiful voice."  :)