Festival Fiasco

"I totally loved your dance group," said the young girl as I was leaving the Roy Wilkins auditorium. I collected myself enough to say thank you, although it was the last thing I expected to hear. I was still reeling (no pun intended) following a performance that will probably go down in Traed y Ddraig history as one of our most remarkable efforts. I certainly won't forget it any time soon.

We have been doing the Festival of Nations in St. Paul for quite a few years now. It is the highlight of the year and follows months of dedicated rehearsals. Last year we outdid ourselves with two different programs, performing each of them twice. For the featured performance we did Ty Coch, Pont Caerodor, and Powell's Fancy. According to the rules of the Festival, all dancers at the featured performance must be 14 or older. Since I had three children in the group, all excellent dancers, we did an alternate program so that they could dance with us. For that program we did Llanover Reel and Dawns Gwyl Ifan. They enjoyed it so much we decided to use it as our featured performance this year. Because we had a Friday night time spot this year, it wasn't feasible to do a second program.

All dance groups are required to do a "review" two months before the Festival. The program is timed to be sure it meets the 8-minute time limit. Our review was flawless. For the first time ever, I think, I felt that we were ready. We had been working on this program for the last two years after all, and so there had been time to really polish it. We had 10 dancers this year, since the two boys were not dancing with us. I told Catherine, age 11, "If anyone asks, you're 14!" Because Llanover Reel requires multiples of three dancers, I was the one who stepped out, so that all the others would be able to dance.

So the moment came, and we went out on the stage in front of 2,000 or so people. I stood off to the side like a proud grandma, where I could join the set for Gwyl Ifan. And I was proud! The music started, and they all looked so wonderful. The figures were perfect, the lines were even, all the dancers were in synch with each other. And I was concentrating on looking like part of the group even though I wasn't dancing. And then, just as the dancers got to the figure where they are all in a circle, the music ended. What?! How could that be? That wasn't the end of the dance! I heard Veronica yell "Bow!" and everyone acted as if that was exactly how the dance should go.

Then the music started for Gwyl Ifan. Except that it wasn't Gwyl Ifan. It was Pont Caerodor. OH MY GOD! It's the wrong music! Should I stop and have the group just exit the stage? What do we do? I couldn't think fast enough. I yelled to Veronica "It's the wrong music!" Well, bless her heart, Veronica decided I wanted her to call the figures, and the next thing I knew she was yelling "Five, six, seven, eight" and the dancers began the steps for Gwyl Ifan. I shrugged and took my place, thinking "Oh well... I wonder how this will come out?" The music really didn't fit Gwyl Ifan very well. It was too slow and sedate. I'm sure by this time, all the dancers knew something was wrong. But nobody batted an eyelash. I don't even remember where we were in the dance when the music ended. But as soon as it did, I yelled "I need three couples for Powell's Fancy. Quick!" And although we hadn't rehearsed this particular dance in over six months, somehow we pulled it off. Polished it was not. Dancers didn't go the right direction, or forgot some of the figures, but the basic structure and stepping was there.

I think we all left the stage in shock. My sister had come to see the performance. She's been to enough performances that she knew this one wasn't great. As she came up to us, I said "That wasn't the most stellar performance we've ever done." She said "Yeah, I thought you usually rehearsed more than that." I said "We didn't rehearse that at all! They played the wrong damn music!!!!!!!" "Oops."

Veronica told one of the Festival staff on the way out that they didn't have the right music for our performance. She said "I didn't know what to do, so I just started calling figures, and they did it." The woman thought that was remarkable. "There aren't too many dance groups that could pull that off." One of our young men, Jeremiah, seemed especially pleased with himself. "I was a professional on stage," he said. Indeed we all were. What a fantastic bunch of dancers to keep going under unexpected and difficult circumstances. And the audience didn't know anything was wrong at all.

Audrey suggested that maybe next year, instead of all that hard work rehearsing, we should just tell them "Oh, play any music you like, and we'll just improvise." Rehashing the event afterwards, Mike said "I thought maybe the Mexican Hat Dance was next. " Audrey thought Llanover had gone very well. "But why did the music end in the middle of the dance?" I said, "Because it wasn't Llanover Reel. It was the music for Ty Coch!" And we all laughed hysterically.

And then we find out that Mike and Audrey's basement had flooded that day. Morgan had whiplash from being hit in the head with a soccer ball that morning. Veronica brought 12 year old Lance to fill in "just in case..." And she had also had to take Tyler to the hospital earlier in the day for a scratched eyeball. And yet they were all there that evening ready to perform. What a dedicated bunch!

I totally love my dance group!