Dancing the Night Away

Najah: Kate! Come with me to Lunar Fire! It's a masquerade party - you know you like playing dress-up!

Kate: What's lunar fire ?

Najah: They're great! You'll love it!

Kate: Okay.

Kate: So, I'm redoing my fairy wings for winter, for this masquerade concert/party thing..

Chef: I'm doing your wings! And a mask!

Kate: Okay.

(I'm not usually this docile. I'm working saying 'yes' to opportunities.)

On the way, we stopped at Shanti's to drop something off. She lives near the club that was hosting the masquerade. It should have been easy, but it's that part of Denver where the streets stop and start and move around apparently at will, so we ended up getting turned all around but eventually wound up where we were going. Shanti's living room is festooned with sheer fabric, softening the angles from ceiling to wall, low couches piled with cushions - a sort of gypsy, bohemian seraglio sort of thing. It's the sort of thing I'd do if I lived alone or was in charge of how things look. But I don't, and I'm not.

I looked amazing in the dark ballroom with the lights from the slowly spinning disco ball dancing over me - this photo doesn't even come close.

Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom is worth visiting just to see the ladies' room - it's muralized with scenes from the Wizard of Oz, and has sayings and poetry all over the walls and ceiling and stalls. The stalls are chalkboard, chalk is provided, and grafitti is encouraged. I didn't write anything, being somewhat preoccupied with wing management. Whoever designed the average bathroom stall did not take wingspan into consideration.

Lunar Fire started playing around 10:30, and played straight through until about 2am, with one ten minute break around 1am. I was dancing the whole time - so not like me. I usually hide in a corner, if I go out at all. They started with an invocation, chanted over percussion and guitars, as dancers came out one by one and created an altar at the front of the stage. Four dancers, three women, one man, who came and went and changed costumes throughout the night. I alternated between being lost in the beat and being entranced by the dancers - veils, wings, fire, swords, lights on cords that surrounded the dancer like tiny faeries, fans streaming veils that rippled like water, balls that seemed to float in the air......it was amazing, made me want to paint, to make costumes, to transform myself, to create......
I danced so hard my pointed ears popped off, my wings bent and the feathers in my mask curled over. By the end, my feet hurt, my calves were screaming, and I kept going until the music stopped.

Today I put my wings and mask on the wall, hovering up in the corner of my room. A fey touch of wildness in a serene sea of blue.
It's a start.