Odin and the Runes

About a month ago, I ran into a friend from my distant past who, I knew, was a dancer. I asked if she had any performances coming up and she said she did. She then mentioned that they needed an Odin for this piece--theirs had recently disappeared or flaked out. Specifically, they needed someone who was both male and willing to be suspended upsidedown from a tree. I met both criteria so I volunteered (after asking myself, "What would Feynman do?").

The group has been working on this for months. As of tonight, I've been involved for less than two weeks. The performances are this Friday and Saturday nights. It's billed as a work in progress and will be performed at the choreographer's home studio. (If anyone's interested in attending, she's asking for a $15 donation to help with the cost of a longer version of the piece at FronteraFest. Ask me for details.)

Highlights of the experience so far:

• Rigging up a large pecan tree so it's suitable for rappelling. Thanks for the loan of the rope, Travis!
• Trying to rescuscitate the right side of my brain (needed in order to make sense of instructions from choreographers).
• A visit from Sally Jacques Wednesday night. She was concerned about the safety of the rigging (how sweet) and came by to offer advice at Sumi Komo's request (Sumi being the choreographer). Her advice was very helpful--she worked with me on moving into and down from the tree like a dancer rather than a monkey.
• A visit from Brenda Ladd Thursday night. Brenda (another friend of the evidently well-connected Sumi) is an excellent photographer that Lyn hired years ago. She took pictures of the whole affair and I'm hoping that some of them will be make me look more like dancer than monkey. (If anyone can do this, she can.)