Prague - Performance!!

Hello e-travelers - 

This has been my last day here in Prague and by far the most important!

The performance went beautifully!  We arrived at noon to set up for our show at 3pm.  Unfortunately, the tech people seemed quite distracted and bit annoyed with our requests, but they vowed to do everything we asked.  I was a bit nervous about this.  I needed the stage cleared after the performance before ours and I wasn't sure if the scary looking, long haired guy who was constantly helping everyone else (except us) actually understood our requests.  Then we met the man in charge - Steve Brown - who is supposedly a very important man in Sound design in England.  He finally made us feel like we were welcomed and appreciated.  

We watched the two performances before ours which were purely music.  They attracted a fantastic audience.  Then we took the stage!  Everything went flawlessly.  Its a small enough venue that I could see the audience well.  And I could see their wonder and delight.  Some confusion - but mostly delight!!  Even the scary looking guy was smiling the whole time and came up to us afterward to say "great job".  We got a lot of great praise.  People asking Omar about his live sound design program.  People telling me about the journey I took them on with my performance.  And Steve Brown called it "brilliant" and was so happy to have such a performative piece in the mix.  It felt really great!!

Then everyone split and went to their next things...hmmm...well, I guess that's over.  That's the problem with dance.  One moment it is here and the next moment its gone.  That's why I love rehearsal so much, rehearsal is there for me on an ongoing basis.  Performance is grande but rehearsal is what fulfills me.  However, Steve Brown did invite us to go out to dinner with all of the sound design people that night and that really pleased Omar!  

My plan after that was to watch a performance at 4:30, head back to the room and shower (I was soooo sweaty - this has been the hottest and most humid day here so far especially after dancing!) and then meet them back at the theatre to walk to dinner.  So I went to the performance which was really creepy and then I walked back to my hotel.  I got completely ready and then a major thunderstorm hit.  Well - I decided that maybe I should just let Omar take care of this networking and that maybe it was time for me to end my trip.  So I went to restaurant here at the hotel and even though they had run out of half the things on the menu, I stayed there and ordered what I could.  I needed that food.  Out of my nervousness, I hadn't eaten since breakfast.  BTW - while I was sitting in the restaurant the Beach Boy song "I wanna go home" came on.  

So here I am...packing up.  Looking forward to returning home to San Diego and Marc and Rosie.  Prague is a beautiful place with a dance scene that is clearly growing.  Writing all of you about my adventures is so much fun for me - it keeps me from feeling lonely.  Reminder though - Prague is not a place to journey to alone if you can help it.  Maybe New York, Berlin, or London...but not Prague!  This is a place for lovers or groups of young party-goers.  Its also a place for performance artists when these big festivals are here.  

Thanks for coming with me on this journey.

I love you all,

Alicia