2005-09-11 - 1:18 a.m.

This has been an exhausting 3 weeks! Every single day I have been to hours of rehearsal, all leading up to this weekend. We danced for the launch of BMW’s 3 series (whatever that means) tonight at the Shanghai International Circuit. I can’t even collect my thoughts and find a suitable starting point to this extraordinary tale. Do I start with the racetrack itself, which is shaped like the Chinese character “Shang” –as in Shanghai? Or maybe the producer of the event, a bald little man who barked at us over the microphone at one point to “SHUT UP…or else!” (or else what?) Or maybe I should start with the attire. Yes, the attire is as good a start as any. Think white-washed ‘Logan’s Run” get-ups, or for those of you not pretending it’s 1976 like I am so fond of doing, even though that particular year is one year before my time, then think “The Island” with Scarlett Johannsen. Actually, we wore basically the exact same outfit worn by the clones in that movie. And for those of you who haven’t seen either movie, well, that’s your own fault now isn’t it. Do your homework and you can imagine me in this nylon, screaming- white nightmare. I didn’t take pictures because my camera wouldn’t work and there were rumors that security guards were roaming the track complex, searching for renegade photographers and then swiftly punishing them by giving them the good ole’ Chinese security guard you better stop that stink eye. My friend Erica took some cool pictures though, so you will have to wait for pictures. My goodness I am rambling. I am delirious, sorry. On with the story…There were 24 dancers, and like any group of humans, especially the kind in the 18-30 age range, small, impenetrable cliques formed as the day waned. It was interesting- the Russians, the French, the English, and the Chinese. I kept waiting on one group or another to break out in some sort of battle cry and charge at another group. The Russians broke out in several battle cries throughout the night, but it was all in good fun, thank goodness…everyone for the most part was really friendly. Most of us didn’t speak the other’s languages, so there was a lot of that smiling and nodding that I always tell and re-tell you about. At this point in my life and this story, I am sorely disappointed that the human brain and the learning process-language acquisition in particular- is so darn complicated. I would be fluent in several languages after this weekend.
We had to be at the complex at 11:30 am. We ran through our number on the track a few times with our choreographer, Swift, shouting at us from the seats every .5 seconds. It took us 4 hours to get all of our positions correct. It wouldn’t have taken so long, but our pesky friend, Mr. Language Barrier, is always hanging around our happy camp of dancers. Swift was so frustrated that in the middle of shouting “Left, go left Anita! Vanessa, back up!...” and other confusing directions, he just stopped and said, into the microphone, “Oh my god. You’re all deaf. It’s so crazy…’ And then he walked away. Swift might have killer moves on the dance floor, but logic isn’t one of his fortes obviously. (Maybe if they spoke your language, Swift, they’d go where you tell them…)Ten bucks to anyone who can guess what I did upon hearing Swift’s announcement---if you guessed “fell over laughing”- you are right. My eyes are watering just thinking about it. Finally, several translations later, we were finished for a while. For a long long while. 5 hours of doing nothing. I read a book, played catch with oranges with some new friends, and took a nap on a concrete floor. Oh yeah and I also did a lot of staring at the aliens they found to be models for the fashion show part of the extravaganza. These girls were freakishly tall, tan, and gorgeous. There were a few foreigners in the mix, but most were Chinese. I have never seen such a collection of tall Chinese women. At 10:00 pm we finally danced. It was a sort of futuristic/minimalist theme, and we got to be robots for a bit of the dance. I had so much fun. My hair made me look like a rooster- AND I ate a fish ball on accident during lunch. Tomorrow I get to go do it all over again. (minus the fishball) Hopefully I will have pictures soon. My rambling story doesn’t do the event much justice. I hope everyone is well! Xoxo, julie UPDATE--- I cannot get my friend Erica's photos to upload onto this site, so if you REALLY want to see them, leave a comment on here or email me at rollinsjulie@hotmail.com, and I will send you a link to the pictures....julie

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