Dance, little lady

I was moaned at by several members at last night's committee meeting for not having written an entry on the blog for the best part of a week. It amazes me that there are folk out there who think I have nothing better to do when we're rapidly approaching opening night (in fact, six weeks to the day). And, lets be honest, the weather was so unusually good for a bank holiday the last thing one wants to do is sit at a laptop. Actually, I decided to take a trip over to Bourton-on-the-Water - possibly not the wisest move as it does get rather crowded with tourists. Mind you, I'm sure from the looks of most of them they'd have been happier in Blackpool than somewhere charming like Bourton. I came across a fantastic place called The Dragonfly Maze which is well worth popping along to if you happen to be nearby (and I said I'd give them a plug because they put a poster up, unlike that charity shop in the high street). You can read more about the maze here: http://www.completely-cotswold.com/bourton/attract/maze/dragon.htm

Anyway, I am digressing, and hopefully this will make up for the lack of action. Which is something that can't be said of our rehearsal on Monday night. We finally started to choreograph the big dance routine for Act II (you didn't know there was a song in this extravaganza, did you?)! This involves Sylvia and Thelma in their roles as Inspector O'Reilly and ingenue Daphne and includes some quite tricky steps and some striking poses, one of which you can see here. Of course, you won't get the full effect until you see it costumed, complete with hats and canes, and the special lighting our director has planned together with our technical guru Martin. It's only fair to say that Felicity proved extremely useful in helping bring this routine to life as the only one amongst us with any significant dance experience. In fact, young Felicity has decided to run tap classes in addition to her Pilates classes in September, and there will be a reduction for those ladies who sign up to both (and apparently tap does wonderful things for varicose veins).

We have another rehearsal tonight, so I will hopefully post something again tomorrow. Oh, and in case you were wondering - you were, weren't you? - the subject heading is a song title by Noel Coward. Although that's not the song we're performing in the show, which is actually by Sandy Wilson. Between you and me, I'd rather use one of Noel's songs, and of course we had a big hit with our Coward-Novello pastiche musical a few years back with We Found Love And An Exquisite Set Of Porcelain Figurines Aboard The SS Farndale Avenue. But I was outvoted by our director who says that the authors, David and Walter, have specified which song we must use. I always thought art was collaborative myself and that it should encourage creativity and original thought, but there we are. What do I know?