Friday Jan 17

This morning we had to get up early and be on the bus by 8:30.  We were headed to the National Theater to have our full day of dress rehearsals before our show at 6pm. We did a quick walk through of all of the dances before lunch. During lunch Krissy, Denis and I created/finalized our tap dance battle piece. It was insane to be creating a dance hours before it was so be performed. Also during lunch Tacha I went back to the National Theater Market right behind the theater to pick up a small gift for our co-teacher Brian. We found a beautiful painting of a lot of different instruments that he has been playing during our rehearsals. Brian is an incredible drummer and also plays the adungu (a harp instrument) so the picture was perfect.

Once lunch was finished we did a full dress rehearsal from start to finish. I have never had so much fun being as gross and sweaty as I was. The costumes they brought for us to wear during our two Ugandan dances were beautiful! I can’t wait to get some of the pictures from Brian’s camera from that day. I had most of my valuables locked in our dressing room all day. I didn’t want to risk loosing anything else on the last day here.

After dress rehearsal we had about 20-30 minutes before show time. Usually this is when my nerves kick in. It’s funny no matter how many performances I have I still get so anxious and the waiting and anticipation before a show is the worst. After our dress rehearsal though I had no nerves at all. It was all excitement! This is HUGE for me. I just couldn’t get enough of everyone’s energy especially our NYU group. We were so excited and happy to be about to perform. Also toward the end of our dress rehearsal people started to file into the theater so we had a little taste of the audience. Before we knew it, it was time to get to our places.

We actually started off stage in the aisles of the audience. We entered singing and walking up to the stage. When we were waiting in the aisle about to begin my friend Justine from church came up and said hello. Again, seeing people I know in the audience before a show usually kicks up my anxiety, but this time was different. I was just more pumped to have support in the audience that was there for me and me alone. I felt so much love! The fact that I met Justine at sacrament meeting almost two week ago and yet she remembered my mentioning of the performance and made the effort to come and say hello was incredible. So much love. 

The show was a whirlwind of emotions. We had pieces of high energy and super fast and also pieces in memory of teachers that have passed that brought out emotion in all of us. It was a beautiful performance. I don’t think I have ever been in so many pieces in one performance. There was a point I was in 3-4 dances in a row. I came off stage, put on my tap shoes, went back on to tap, walked off to kick off my shoes and walk back on for a different dance, I loved every minute of it. I can’t WAIT to see the video of the show! It was a solid hour and a half of dancing and drumming on stage under the hot lights. The audience was the best audience I have ever had. Their reaction was so energetic. No matter how tiered and out of breath I was their cheering kept me going. I couldn’t stop smiling! It’s crazy to have as much confidence on the stage as we did considering we had finished most of the dances the day of or the day before. The fact that we pulled together the show in 4 days still blows my mind. We ended the show with a revision of “We are Family” and at the end walked to the end of the stage and motioned for the audience to join. The lyrics we had were “We are Family,

I’ve got all my dancers with me,

We are family,

Get up everybody and Sing.”
Everyone was out of his or her seats by the end. It was incredible. What I would give to relive that moment. Absolutely incredible!

After the show I packed my things in the dressing room and rushed out to say hi and goodbye to Justine and my girl Jocelyn. I was able to snap some photos and tell them how much they meant to me promising to keep in touch. Also, I was able to speak with Sylvia who helps bring sponsors into the village to support the children at Jjemba’s village and I hope to be in touch with finding how much it will take to support Jocelyn and her school fees. Also, I saw Peter my friend from BPU. I wasn’t able to see him on Wednesday when we went by BPU, but I left him a graffiti sketch I made of his name like I promised I would when we first met at the screening. Anyway, Abramz gave him the sketch from me, and so on the night of the show he showed up with a graffiti sketch of “Huish”. It was so awesome for him to remember and bring it! He also remembered me mentioning when we first met how much I am loving the soda called Stoney. It tastes like Ginger Ale but much stronger ginger flavoring. He put the Stoney bottle in the sketch! How thoughtful! We are also staying in touch via Facebook. I also met Mabingo’s sister after the show. How fun it was to meet her since I know Mabingo so well. It made me really miss my brothers talking about hers.

After the show we returned to the Fang Fang for our cast party. All of the Ugandan teachers and us NYU teachers had a buffet of Chinese food and drinks for several hours. Us NYU students reworded the lyrics to “Let it Be” by the Beatles and sang it to our teachers including their names and what we will miss about them. After the second line Mama Judith was in tears. Everyone kept saying how we were the best group they have had in a long time, but that last night I actually believed them. Saying goodbye to most of our teachers was really hard. I can’t believe how close we have gotten in just two and a half short weeks. Oh, and how could I forget haha, the people from Fang Fang brought out a carved watermelon for Deb to celebrate her birthday. They had carved out the words “Happy Birthday Debulah” instead of Deborah, so funny and so thoughtful and so awesome. Gotta love the Fang Fang!

We all stayed up much too late talking and reminiscing and avoiding sleep. It was sad to go to sleep knowing that tomorrow we leave, but around 1am a shower and sleep just couldn’t wait anymore. It was such a long, emotional, and successful day. 

Me and Bagonza

Krissy, Gaspare, and me

Sorting out the kids certificates

Happy Birthday Debula! (Instead of Deborah)

Graffiti art