This performance of Die Fledermaus happened to fall on the exact day of my 1-year anniversary of dislocating my kneecap!! The theatre's Executive Director knew that and presented me with this beautiful anniversary gift of a decorated mask!! (Check out the photos in the other Die FLEDERMAUS blogs to see me dance with a different mask as part of my costume!) Rosalinde, when she attends the ball as "The Hungarian Countess", hides her identity with this mask. That gift is very special to me and will always be cherished!
I gave myself an anniversary gift of my own! I purposely choreographed one of my solo dances to include Fouettes and turns! (If you check out the blog entitled: "Swan Lake Variations", you can read in the postscript about my talent for turning!) As a present to myself, I challenged myself to see if I could perform fouettes and turns exactly 1 year after I was in a hospital emergency room (on a stretcher and with my kneecap at a horrible angle to the rest of my leg)...by the way, to everyone's amazement, I didn't cry once over that injury-not even in the ambulance or in the emergency room...never underestimate the inner strength of fragile looking dancers!!
In fact, a full 1/3 of one of my solos was all turns! Including my beloved fouettes!
Check out the photo above-I'm in mid-fouette!!
It was a night to remember and I will never forget the guts it took to "debut" again, after my injury, the return of those fouettes and turns during a live performance with everyone watching!
I'm sure there will be a day when I won't be able to do my beloved fouettes and turns, but hopefully it will be a day of my choosing-I'm extremely glad that injury didn't take them from me.
