Embarrassing Stories aka "Things That Keep Me Awake at 4 AM"
My favorite silly photo taken by Sarah O’Brien
Nobodies perfect. Myself absolutely included. To lighten the load, I thought I’d share a few of my most embarrassing dance-related stories to remind you that everyone is human. Please sit back, relax, and enjoy… or cringe.
That Time I Almost Stepped on Ashley Lopez.
I had decided to attend a semi-local dance festival. It was so wonderful and I got the opportunity to perform in the evening show thanks to my podcast, Shut Up and Shimmy and Elise of Jamballah. The dressing room was packed with dancers from all over, so space was limited. I had gotten there early and gotten ready so my job was done. All that was left was to be a good team player and stay out of the way so other performers could get ready. If you don’t already know I’m very tall for a female. At 5’9’’ I can sometime miss things that are around my feet. While standing by the door realized that I needed my zills from my bag to perform. Two large troupes were sitting in the main room so I focused on my bag across the way and started slowly swimming through a typhoon of dancers. Just as I’m about to reach my destination, a shiny object on the floor catches my eye. I left my foot up to see that I was not about to just step on a piece of jewelry. Oh no, it was not just jewelry, there was a whole dancer attached! I suddenly felt like Andre the Giant. I immediately blurt out, “OMG I’m so sorry.” The person’s head turns to the side and politely responds, “It’s no problem.” That person was Ashley Lopez. Ashley had found a corner of the room and had wrapped herself into a tiny pretzel with her head touching the bottoms of her feet. Mortified, I grabbed my zills and took off backstage. What an introduction.
The Time my Bra Top Exploded.
Every dancer has a costume mishap. I’ve had many over my years of performing, but one will always stand out. The first time my bra top snapped was when I was a newbie. I had just bought a fancy new costume that had originated from Egypt. It was super heavily beaded and I really didn’t know how to reinforce costuming. A local hafla had come up and I was signed up to perform. My music was set and ready on a CD and had been turned into one single track to make the dj’s life easier. My time slot comes up and I nervously make my way to the backstage area. My music begins, which happened to be high energy an jumpy. As I begin an undulation, I feel a “snap”. My bra band had completely obliterated itself, I grab my chest and run backstage. I’m met with another dancer friend and a pin. She says she can pin me so I can continue but I protest. “I really don’t want to go back out there!” I blurt out. My friend encourages me as well as the hafla producer and I get talked to getting back on stage. However, they won’t can’t start my music from my second song. I have no choice but to perform both songs ALL over again. For 7 minutes I gently wiggled off time. The positive? I got some amazing photos out of it!
That Time I Farted in a Quiet Restaurant.
I’m a vegetarian. I promise I’m not telling you this to be an annoying vegetarian. Being a vegetarian means you consume a fair amount of gaseous foods. It was a typical Friday night, performing at my usual restaurant gig. I usually perform for about 30 minutes or so. The crowd was more quiet and reserved than usual. Lots of tourists who had never seen a belly dancer before so they sat and smiled uncomfortably. I continue my show as normal. My music transitions into a slow taqsim and the room falls even more quiet. It’s at that moment that my butt decides to betray me with the loudest and longest fart. EVERYONE heard. I tried to quickly move around and clank my zills but it was too late.
That Time I Called a Long Time Student by the Wrong Name.
I teach a lot of classes and I see and meet a lot of people. I do my best to remember everyone’s names but often make mistakes. Usually people are okay with it, but sometimes it turns into a Michael Scott from the Office kind of situation. I had been teaching one of my regular, long-running classes and was lining up my students for a choreography. I was calling them out by name when I got to one student. This student had a look-a-like and her look-a-like was also in the belly dance class. I switched their names and loudly called out her incorrect name in front of the whole class. I continued teaching but noticed the awkward looks on my students faces. Finally another student said something to me and I realized that I had royally messed up. I instantly apologized and tried to move on but the damage was done.
What was your most embarrassing moments? Share them in the comments below!
Kat teaches, dances, and produces shows in Tacoma, Washington. You can find out more about her belly dance classes, belly dance performances, and belly dance shows at www.tacomabellydance.com
