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For three years, I have been in China teaching Swing Dancing. Now I'm wandering yet again...
2005-09-23
Today
6am: Alarm Goes Off
7:15am: Finally get up, quick breakfast and shower. Grab my bag with dance shoes, music, and food. Also take garment bag with zoot suit and other swing dance outfit items.
8:10am: Arrive at Shanghai Television Station, ten minutes late. My teacher for Peking Opera, Lui Laoshi (Teacher Lui) has already arrived and is putting on his face makeup. I wait in a chair while he finishes. Chinese and foreigners are running about the ten-seat dressing room. Have a few small chats with different folks (at least those who speak English well enough.) The TV Show host "J" is present but either does not recognize me or for some reason does not strike up a conversation or make eye contact.
9:00am: My turn to put on the Peking Opera monkey makeup. Lui Laoshi applies it for me. I cringe when he does the under-eye liner. I always hate that part, and I don't know how women can do it on a daily basis.
9:30am: I am in monkey makeup, and dressed in the silk outfit of the monkey. My teacher has the monkey King outfit on, which is the one I wore last time I did this show in the monkey performance. I assume that my outfit is the 'under-monkey' outfit, which is quite fine under the circumstances. Both of our face makeup designs are the same though: a red base, with alternating lines of black, white, and gold in different areas for the complete effect. It's an oily makeup, so if you touch your nose or scratch your face, it will smudge on your finger and will have to be reapplied. So I'm kind of 'stuck' in it for a while.
10am: Liu Laoshi and I go over routine in the lobby of the station. Outside there is a very light rain, but the sun still shines, making it very hot and humid. The monkey outfit contains several layers and covers head to foot. The sleeves go down to the wrist, and on top if it all you wear a monkey hair wig, making it pretty warm once you get moving.
The routine we are going to do today involves both Liu Laoshi and myself. He, of course, is very good. We met yesterday for four hours to go over the routine, which was fun in parts but tested my patience and attention. Today we do the routine again, best we can with people walking in and out. It starts and stops, but it seems OK. I feel alright about it, but I don't really feel I have it down all that well.
10:10am: My dance partner Chris shows up at the station. I have asked her to bring a straw with her, since the makeup includes a lip painting and I can't drink from a cup. She sees me in the outfit and makeup, and said, "oh my. No no no no, I don't want to look at you..." She's cute.
11:00am: Waiting
11:30am: Waiting. 'When are we going on?" asks Chris. "This is what show-business is about," I tell her. "Lot's of waiting around."
12:00 Noon, approximately: We go onto the sound stage. It looks like a medium-budget American production you might see on a local channel like Chicago's Channel 9 or 32 (if either exist anymore). There are two groups of Chinese in the audience, flanking left and right of the stage. One camera is at the end of the stage, and one floats all about on a crane. Others are in other places. I've been here before, and it feels more familiar. Finally, we are called to go on.
They are filming an October National Holiday special, inviting everyone who's been on the show back for a big gala. It looks like there's about 20 acts being filmed this day. The director, a thin, young-looking Chinese woman, looked harried and tired. Every time I try to talk to her she seems to get upset. It reminds me of how I get when I 'm trying to do 15 things at once. We are told to go up in the stage.
We begin the routine. Liu Laoshi goes out first, carrying his monkey stick (like a thin staff made of pine wood). I run out with the dancing sword, and Liu Laoshi yells 'cut'. The director and he have a hurried exchange of words in Chinese, and I figure out that I'm in the wrong part of the routine. I should have come out with my own stick and done some other part. I say OOOPS and go back, and we start again.
Second time I have the stick. I go through the routine, and the audience claps quite enthusiactically a few times. Then, I drop the stick. I pick it up again and back up a little bit. (I saw what the editors did last time with the tape. I know if I go back, they can edit it all together to make it look like there were no problems). I enter into the moving about and whirling the stick around part, and everyone claps. That's kind of cool. Then I drop the stick again. It's much harder to do the performance than it is to practice. It's not just the audience, it's the clothing you have to wear. Sometimes it gets in the way, or you hit your stick into your silk pants or monkey crown. Hate when that happens.
After the third, or fourth stick drop, I finish up the routine part I have and we continue on. Fortunately, I make no more detectable mistakes for the rest of the routine, but Liu Laoshi of course knows when I've screwed up. We alternate between different areas, and I'm not in my best form, but for the camera and audience it will work very well. Should have gotten more sleep last night. Got to bed late, then could not fall asleep because of excitement. Probably got 3 hours.
Finish up the routine, then we have a meeting of all the hosts, Liu Laoshi, and myself on the main stage. They ask a bunch of questions, all in Chinese again, and I'm again the silent monkey. Good thing I can do a little dance. We finish the talk on stage, then I head back. I look at Liu Laoshi and he does not seem entirely happy with me. I assume because I made too many mistakes to his liking. Fair enough there.
Back into the dressing room. Got to get this makeup off. Chris said I did a good job, and the director is happy, too, so that's good. I quickly get the makeup and monkey outfit off, then I get into my zoot suit. I tell Chris the dance floor surface is made up of glass, and the pieces are not firmly fitted into each other, so we won't be doing any spin-on-the-floor moves. She's asking why it's taking so long and why she has to wait, and then asks if the director intends to use us at all. I tell her it's a pretty sure thing. The director specifically asked me about the dance yesterday, and said she wanted two minutes in length. So that's specific, and she keeps to her word and he plan on things.
12:30pm: Another act finishes. Chris is concerned that her shoes may slip off. I go hunting for some clear tape, and we finally find some. We cut it into long, thin strips and tape all the way around the bottom of her shoe over the top (it's a slip-on shoe). I tell her that Andrea, the German dance champion in our group, is the one that told me about this trick.
12:45pm: Another act finishes. We are waiting on the sound stage. Chris: are they going to use us?
1pm: Chris tells me, "They just said the show is over." Hmm.. Now I'm worried. They call me up on to the stage, along with all of the other performers for a 'goodbye' yell. Smoke machines shoot out some blasts, and confetti cannons pour all sorts of pieces of glitter and plastic ribbons on every inch of the floor. So it is over.
Then I hear the same TV show host girl I'd seen before say (in Chinese), "And now Jimbo will do some swing dance!" I look at her, then look at the floor, and think, Are you crazy? Then, I hear the music has started playing. Oh Poo Poo, I think. Chris is still at the far end of the room. I look to the director and give the 'cut' sign, but this is apparently a freight train and there's no stopping it.
The whole reason I agreed to do this show was to get some swing dancing on Chinese television. And they have been shooting very quickly all day, one take for everything. So this is my one and only chance, confetti or no. I motion to Chris to come up on stage. She's there, and now we are 30 seconds into it. We both kick out the confetti a little bit to make room and make it a little safer, and then we begin.
I've done this dance so many times, and I am so used to working around a crowded dance floor that I can look all around at what's going on and still do everything in the dance. The people behind us are now all moving about, sometimes forming what looks like a conga line, sometimes getting a little too close to Chris and I. We keep dancing, and go through our three pre-arranged special moves, and fill in the rest with standard swing dance styles of Lindy Hop, Charleston, and East Coast Swing. We hit all of the special moves, except for the throw-over-the-head which does not execute well due to the people too close behind us. The previously mentioned confetti is not limited to the floor. It's also hanging from the ceiling, in long thin strips which have not complete vacated from the ceiling cannons. 3/4 of the way through, Chris is completely entwined in one of these pieces, and we have to stop a few seconds to pick it off of her. Finally, I hear the end of the song is approaching, and I tell her so. "We're going to finish off with the around-the-back move." She says ok, and I set up so that we will be facing the audience when the move completes. I plant both feet, and grab her firmly by one hand and around the back. Then I step in, sweeping her off her feet like a judo throw. I keep hold of her as she swings in front of me, then twist a little as she comes around my back so that she lands with the tops of her legs on the small of my back. She's upside down, and she and I are facing the cameras and say Bye Bye! That part worked rather well.
Boom. That's it. It's over, and all the music stops, and everyone clears out. I look at Chris. "Thanks!"
We go into the dressing room, say goodbye to folks then head out. I tell her I'll see her tonight, because we are teaching together at 6pm, our usual Sunday swing dance night.
1:30pm: I am in a taxi, going back towards my old apartment. We have an appointment at 3pm to meet the landlord, the agent, and the new tenants to arrange for the handover of the keys are return of the deposit.
1:45pm: arrive outside the apartment, paying the taxi driver. I look down and I'm still wearing my dance shoes. Oh Poo, I say again. I check my bag. Where's my street shoes?
1:55pm: Back at the studio. Pick up street shoes.
2:30pm: Back near my old home. Got 30 minutes to kill. Go into Internet Cafe and play some computer games! Whoo hoo!
3pm: At apartment. Old roommate and his girlfriend arrive a few minutes later. New tenants are present. My ayi (maid) is present, too, doing the cleaning up. Through the bi-lingual real estate agent, I hear that the landlord and new tenant are making all sorts of claims of damage, moving furniture, and so forth. This is going to take a while.
3-5pm: Go back-and-forth with new tenants, landlord, agent, and eventually the management company. They will have to repaint a few walls due to damage, marks, etc. Costs originally run crazy high, then are brought down to just moderately painful. Once my old roommate and I have gotten to an agreement which we each just find mildly displeasing, we cut our losses and get the partial rent refund.
5pm: Walk with my ayi to my new apartment so she can see where it is located. She speaks no English at all, so it's good practice for me. I was actually able to explain to her that I have a new place, however I still want her to clean the old place one last week. I want her to come to my new place beginning the following week. Not bad, I say to myself.
5:10pm: Get a phone message from Chris. A new typhoon is coming. (We had one about a month ago, and the water was a foot deep in some roads). She says this typhoon will be worse than the last one, and she's not coming tonight. I tell her I'm still going, because my new home is just a few blocks away, anyhow.
5:30pm: Show apartment to ayi, People on the street are saying "Tai fun lai le", which means Tai Fun = Typhoon. Lai = come. le = present tense indicator. Meaning: A typhoon is coming! The Chinese people all know.
6pm: Only foreigners come today. Our intermediate class has three people, but it's good in a sense because they are some of my most loyal students anyhow, and I can work more directly with them.
7pm: Intermediate class: again, 4 foreigners, plus a few out-of town swing dancers from America and Canada.
8pm: Social dance begins. I'm tired. I dance with Andrea. The first time ever, she corrects a fault in my lead. I tell her, "I know; I'm not surprised. I'm barely standing I'm so beat!"
9:45pm: The dance night is under control. I hand off the DJ responsibilities to some of my friends. I'm going to take an early night.
10pm: To the Eager Beaver bar for a burger!
10:30pm: To the Internet cafe! Get my computer games in!
1am: Taxi home. The water is coming down something horrendous.
But what a beautiful day!
5:30pm: At home, pick up dance CD.s Get a phoen
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