My Most Eventful Trip EVER - 1 Year Later

   Yesterday, February 28th, was an anniversary for me.  Exactly one year ago yesterday, I sustained a pretty serious injury that required surgery, and a big rehab.  More on that later.  It also is one year since I was last at TribalCon, one of the biggest bellydance festivals in the country.  This trip was amazingly wonderful, pretty painful (physically and emotionally), and certainly very eventful.

View of ATL from the airplane.  Added bonus: it's pretty warm in February (for an Alaskan, anyway)!

   Myself and other members of The Sovereign Collective dance troupe traveled to Atlanta, Georgia for the second year in a row to attend TribalCon, and perform a piece choreographed by our ring-leader, Donna Mejia.  If you have not been to a bellydance festival before, they are amazingly fun.  At this festival, there are haflas with performances and food, workshops by some of the best teachers and performers in the industry (Donna included), and lots of shopping!  Vendors sell their wares day and night: skirts, veils, coin bras, jewelry galore, pants, belts, hip scarves, zills, CDs and DVDs, shirts... everything you could want for practice or performance.  Suffice it to say, I came home with exactly what I could afford: a couple pairs of amazing pants, a choli, and the coins and bits to make a proper coin bra on my own.

Yes, I am a sucker for soft leather.
I would have bought this if it fit me!

Gorgeous skirts I could not afford.

I got a choli (bra top) very similar to this.
Note all the amazing jewelry in the background!

Beaded, blinged & bedazzled bras!!!

   Besides the great shopping, dancing, music, and learning, TribalCon also happens to be in a cool place - Decatur.  The 2010 and 2011 TribalCon trips were my first and only forays into Atlanta, but even before going, I knew I would like it there... probably because I listen to OutKast and Goodie Mob almost daily.  I even asked a gentleman at the hotel if he knew what "SWAT" meant because I hear it so frequently in OutKast.  He did.  It means South West ATlanta.  Thanks, random hotel worker!  Although I was only there for the weekend of the festival, and thus did not get a chance to explore Atlanta much, I did get to go to some cool spots.  The festival was held right in the heart of downtown Decatur, a pretty hip area of ATL, so when we had down-time we went out to eat, or for a beer after a hard day.

This place had great pub fare, and a ridiculously hot Irish bartender.

Amazing grub, from southern fried chicken bites (YUM!) to mac 'n' cheese
to salad.  But the beer list was seriously OFF THE CHAIN!  Tons of locals & imports.

Oh, and the menu was leather-bound.
Did I mention that I love leather?

   Not far from Decatur by car is another cool area called Little Five Points that has some amazing shopping, including funky boutiques and consignment shops.  Some of my fellow dancers went, and picked up some cool dresses on the cheap, but I was busy oogling the coin bras.  And the handful of hot guys who go to TribalCon; you know who you are!

Annie & Christa modeling their
fashion finds in our hotel room.

   But the main attraction is not Atlanta herself - I need to go there sometime to REALLY explore, and go to a club.  The point of TribalCon is getting swept up in the world of the professional and semi-pro bellydancers, and their fans.  Where else can you meet people called "Darbuka Dave" and "The Mistress of Mayhem," learn Romani folk music, stay up until 4 or 5 am with some accordian players, and have some of the best workouts of your life (usually only a few hours later)?

   This particular festival is held in the Marriott, and all the performances, vendors, workshops, and food are in the building.  So, if you are a performer with a room like us, it's pretty freaking convenient!  On Thursday night there is a lecture to kick off the celebrations, which last year was given by Donna and was about the various cultural appropriations that often happen in "tribal fusion" bellydance.  It was thoughtful, well-informed and researched, and very well received.  Then, in order to prep for a full day of grueling physical workshops, most people got hammered at this point.  :-)

   By early Friday morning, all of the vendors had arrived and set up just outside the workshop space.  All of the dance workshops, and some of the music ones, are held in the same large conference room.  There is a small stage that is set up in the center - which is CARPETED, much to my dismay!

Donna Mejia teaching a sold-out workshop in the main room.

   After a full day of classes on technique, stage presence, drumming, improvization, and any number of other topics, there is a short dinner break, and then it's time to party!  The main room is set with chairs and tables all around the stage, a buffet is set up in an adjoining room, and the performers retreat to get ready.

   Friday night's show is set to live music.  All of the dancers are expert at improvising, and work so well with the the musicians, who are all amazing.  Some improvise, but many of the dances are choreographed in advance.  Most of the performers on Friday night are soloists, but there are a few exceptions.  Some of the performers that dance on Friday to live music also have pieces (usually with their dance company) in Saturday night's show as well.  After a rousing hour or so of dance, during which all the dancers in the audience are shimmying in their seats, everyone is ready to party.  The hotel staff make short work of clearing some tables out so there is room to dance, the ouzo gets passed around, and the musicians - God bless them, every one - just keep going.  And going.  And going... until either no one can stand, or until enough people collectively decide that they need at LEAST three hours of sleep... because there is that amazing 9am workshop that they are signed up for.

Pacita Prasarn giving a stunning performance during the Friday night show.

The beginning of a lovely evening!

Aaron, a member of Alternacirque - it was his birthday!

The amazing Christy Smith, modeling hats with
The Sovereign Collective's own Megan Morrow.

This is what fuels the musicians into the wee hours!

An impromptu performance of a piece by
Awalim Dance Company.

Myself with Kira Disén, another Sovereign Collective dancer.
Photo by Dave Stagner.

Flying High - Photo by Dave Stagner.

  So Friday was great.  Saturday was great too, for the most part.  The day started with the usual fun workshops, great shopping, and general joking around with all of the Sovereign Collective company members that had come on that leg of the tour.  I even surprised them all with a T-Shirt that I designed & had custom made for us - kind of a tradition since Kira & Kendra started that trend at the Rakkasah Spring Caravan festival back in 2009.  We were all psyched and ready to rock the Saturday night show, the biggest of the two.  I felt very strong in my body, and we all had the choreography that we had been working for months deep in our bones by now.  We were 5th in the lineup of what promised to be an amazing show, and this piece that we were dancing was harder even than last year's.  I was pumped!

Members of Alternacirque backstage getting ready to perform.

Mattie Waters & Lacy Dickerson of Tribe Zanzibar
just about to go on stage.

   We took the stage and started dancing.  We could feel the crowd with us, willing us on, entranced by our movement.  Then, at exactly 2 minutes and 9 seconds into the piece (which was 7 minutes long), the unthinkable happened: I fucked my shit up.  BAD.  As I took a movement to the floor on my left knee, I felt a huge pop.  I knew literally the instant it happened that it was some serious damage.  My first thought was 'Oh, shit!  I fucked my knee up.  I bet I need surgery,' followed immediately by 'Oh, shit!  I have to finish this dance!'  Fueled by adrenaline, and a hugely overactive personal sense of "the show must go on," I did finish the dance.  All of it.  To my absolute amazement, no one on stage with me or in the audience had any clue that I hurt myself until I hobbled off the stage just after the bows.  Fortunately, that part was not in the video.  I was going to post that below, but have not gotten permission yet, so maybe at a later date.  I have seen it though, and when I watch it, my heart starts beating like a jackhammer and I get almost sick at recalling the sensation of a torn meniscus.  But no, even looking for it, I can't really tell.  Damn.

Members of The Sovereign Collective just after the show.  Top row, L to R: Megan Morrow, Donna Mejia, Cyndal Ellis.
Bottom row, L to R: Christa Whitney, Amy Cullen, Kira Disén, Annie Parker, Laura Markis.

   Directly after the performance, The Sovereign Collective retreated backstage & were congratulating one another, when they noticed that I had limped to the nearest seat and was shakily attempting to examine my at this point immobile leg.  They asked what was wrong and when I told them, there were offers of a hospital trip, which I refused.  They secured ice and ibuprofen for me while I called my husband.  I sat alone backstage sobbing as I told him what happened.  He had been through a severe knee injury and surgery himself, so I knew he could relate.  I told him that more than anything I was devastated at the implications - no dancing in my near future.  (We both knew enough not to pretend that it was a minor injury.)  Then he told me the only thing that could have possibly made me feel any better: he said "Hey, at least you hurt yourself doing what you love.  You literally put it all on the stage.  What's more, you finished the piece.  I'm so proud of you."  **Insert "AWWWWWW" here.**

   By the time my friends returned with a medic and bags of ice, I had collected myself somewhat.  A couple of them supported me & led me into the audience so I could see the rest of the show, which was actually a very nice distraction from thinking about what had just happened.  After the show was over, they got me food from the buffet, made sure I was settled, and again offered to bring me to the ER.  I told them that from what I could tell, it would do no good.  I knew it was not fractured - I had broken enough bones to determine that right away; and based on other information, I felt strongly that it was probably a medial meniscus tear, which I could do nothing about immediately anyway.  I had worked in an Orthopedic clinic for a year as a receptionist, and seen my husband go through his injury and surgery for his "Unhappy Triad" (tear of the anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament, and meniscus), so I knew the drill.  It goes like this:

1. You hurt yourself.
2. You have to wait a few days for a reduction of swelling & to see if your symptoms improve.
3. You see your PCP or an ER doc, who just in turn refers you to an Orthopedist.
4. You see the Orthopedist, who fiddles with your knee (it hurts like a motherfucker) & determines that it's probably a tear.  They order an MRI to confirm.
5. You go back to the hospital for your MRI (usually a week or so later depending on scheduling).
6. You go back to your Orthopedist, who then schedules you for surgery.  Ortho docs are busy.  This can easily take over a month to get the surgery, from the time of your last visit, which may well be a month since the injury.

   

Making bubble wrap tops for the party.

    So you see why I wasn't keen to go to the hospital.  I knew the damage had been done and it would not do me any good.  So what did I do?  I sent one of my new friends on a liquor store run to get me a bottle of ouzo for the evening, I gimped my way back up to my hotel room with a little help from my friends, and I got dolled up for the after-party!  Cyndal & Kira had the genius idea to put me in the desk chair that was in our room so I could be wheeled around, rather than leaning on everyone's shoulders.  They wheeled me right into the elevator and down to the party, ouzo and ice bag and all.  Now, I'm usually pretty good at making lemonade from lemons and all that, but no lie - I had a fucking blast!  

   I was comfortably seated with ice and ouzo in hand, and the people at the party kept coming up to check on me and dance with me.  I got to meet and talk to a lot of dancers who I'd only seen on YouTube prior to that night.

Me, Jenny C. Cohen, Jaia McClure, an ice bag & bubble wrap.

    I just sat in my chair and danced from the shoulders up.  I did not come all the way to Atlanta to TribalCon to sit in my hotel room, watch HBO & feel sorry for myself!  As the crowd thinned, I once again stayed up until nearly dawn with the die-hards: the musicians, the newbies like myself, and those folks who are dear friends that only see each other once a year at TribalCon.  I have some of those friends now too, and I wish I had been there this year to see them again.  The Sovereign Collective has a different festival to attend this year, so I will have to find my own way back when I can.

Me, Kira, & Denys Proteau

"I have ouzo; I'll be fine!"

Al Cofrin

Teejei Brigham

Sparrow

August Hoerr

Christy Smith & Natalie Brown

Kira in our hotel room, post-party.

It's 5am & I just hurt my knee...
but I still have a smile on my face!
Thanks, TribalCon!

   So after all the madness, I slept in.  I still cannot believe how much fun I had despite my injury - a testament to the cool people that show up at these shindigs.  

   The next day, the organizer of TribalCon, the indefatigable Ziah, had her husband run out to CVS to try finding me some crutches and ice packs.  He found a pair of crutches at a thrift store a few blocks away for $2.00!  I still have them.  I crutched my way around to do some shopping, and sat in on Donna's Sunday workshop, which was the last of the festival.  After that, I still had a few hours to kill - our flight home was not until Monday morning.  I said goodbye to Donna, Annie, Christa, Amy & Megan, who were all leaving that night.

Mavi & Olivia Kissel in Donna's workshop.

Kira, Denys & I.  Note my cool T-Shirt.

   Kira, Cyndal & I had all traveled together, and were all graciously invited, along with some other revelers,  to the home of Doug & Christy Smith, who did not live far from the hotel.  We got a ride & made our way.  Doug, a professional chef, cooked us an amazing meal and poured tasty local beer, while Christy & my Sovereign peeps made sure I was comfortably reclined on the chaise.  Despite not being able to go in the hot tub, I had such a nice time just hanging out with new friends.

Christy Smith & Kate Sisson
at the Smith house.

   That evening, I went to my hotel room to chill and lick my wounds (metaphorically, of course).  I called my mom, a nurse, and told her what happened.  She agreed that it sounded like a medial meniscal tear, based on the fact that it hadn't improved at all.  I couldn't bend or straighten it, or put even an ounce of weight on it.  If anything it felt worse now that I was out of adrenaline and ouzo.

   When we woke up Monday, I was already on the phone with the Orthopedic clinic that I used to work at.  I knew how this was going to go, and it's really good to know people.  I told them I wanted to be seen tomorrow (which was basically when I was back in-state anyway).  They obliged.  I also got an MRI appointment for just a couple of days after that and a follow-up the very next day.  Yup, tear of the medial meniscus.  Extra bonus: it was rolled up on top of itself inside my knee like a little meniscal burrito!  Which explains a lot, actually.  I got to pick the surgeon that I wanted, and even had him fit me in his surgical calendar on the exact date that I wanted: Friday, March 18th.

Me in my standard issue airport wheelchair, with Kira & Cyndal
at the ATL Airport.  My gimpy ass got us an earlier flight,
no lines at security, and rows to ourselves on the way home!

Pre-Op

Post-Op

   In the past year, a lot has happened.  Three days after I returned to work following my surgery, I got fired. 

During Recovery

 I was going to Physical Therapy three times a week for months, and couldn't walk for quite a while.  I remember the first time that I tried running after I got the go-ahead from my doctor.  After maybe a quarter mile I had to stop because of my knee.  I started crying, not because it was too painful, but because of all that I had lost.  I had to turn down an opportunity to be an extra in a film; I couldn't attend an audition that I was scheduled for at a theatre touring company; and I missed the last leg of the Sovereign Collective tour - on a big stage in NYC.  I didn't even get to go and see them perform.  

   But now, I do not take my physical health for granted as much.  As soon as I could dance again, I made a vow to myself that I would dance every single day.  I now know how important it is to me.  I remember the day that I ran three miles without stopping, without having to worry about my knee at all.  I cried then too, because I was so thankful to have my strength back.  God willing, my knee will get even better in the coming months.  They say that after a full year from surgery (March 18th), it's like it never happened.  The only limitation I still have is that I cannot squat all the way down onto my heels.  Big deal!  At the beginning of this month, I performed with Sovereign again, at the MFA Dance Concert at Smith College.  And I fucking rocked it!

Sovereign Backstage at Smith.  Top Row, L to R: Cyndal Ellis, Kira Disén, Laura Markis, Aiden Bartelt,
Christa Whitney, Annie Parker.  Bottom Row, L to R: Megan Morrow, Tamsin Maxwell, Donna Mejia.

   I just want to thank all my Sovereign & TribalCon peeps for getting me through the trauma in good spirits!

   Stay tuned: I am going to Seattle in April to get in trouble with visit my best friend Seth, and God willing, I will be at the Elevations Belly Dance Extravaganza in May!  For more info on some of the things I mentioned in this post, please see below:

TribalCon - http://www.tribalcon.com/

Donna Mejia - http://www.donnabodyvision.com/

Rakkasah - http://www.rakkasah.com/

Alternacirque - http://alternacirque.com/

Tribe Zanzibar - http://www.zanzibarstudio.com/

The Sovereign Collective - http://www.donnabodyvision.com/the-sovereign-project/index.asp?id=12

   LOVE, LOVE, LOVE,

         -Laura