“Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans; it’s lovely to be silly at the right moment.” ~ Horace Mann
This weekend I did absolutely no training and indulged in all the yummy things in life!
However, as promised (in A Slice of Pudding for Breakfast x 2) , I did a whole lot of shaking of my God-given bootie on the dance floor till 1am the following morning, and I think this more than enough made up for my lack of training!
You see, this past weekend two of my very beautiful and dear friends, Johan and Ursula tied the knot in Heidelberg, Western Cape and after the formal ceremonies we moved on to Witsand, where we were all staying to celebrate the night away and this is how it came about that a whole lot of shaking unfolded on the dance floor.
Although we hit the dance floor even before the main meal was served and the speeches were done, my trouble started when the bride was getting ready to throw her bouquet. Now for anyone who knows me, yes it would be nice to get married one day (I have a few mountains to conquer first) but one thing I hate is having to go and stand in the middle of the dance floor with all those seriously crazy single chicks who will do literally anything to get that bouquet as it flies through the air! I have attended countless weddings over many years and I usually attempt to become invisible but they always seem to notice I am not there and go on to call my name.
This time I made a deal with my friend, Lili, who would avoid marriage at any cost. I said if she went up I would go up too, thinking this would work well in my favour. Much to my horror, without any fuss, she got up from the table and said, “come”. We get to the dance floor and I hide nicely behind her ~ I’ve attended countless weddings over the years and have purposely avoided an attempt to position myself in the trajectory of the tossed bundle of flowers. My plan, as always, when the moment comes I will put my hands up and look like I’m trying to catch that thing and hope I don’t get knocked to the floor in the scuffle that will no doubt erupt as flowers fly through the air!
As the bride was making sure all the single girls were on the floor, I made my first mistake. I put my hands on Lili’s shoulder, who was standing in front of me blocking me nicely, whispering some friendly advice in her ear that when she lifts her hands up not to be overly eager in jumping up due to the fact that she had a strapless dress on and well, I think we have all seen what can happen in that moment. As imparting this invaluable piece of advice she moves to the side and with her hands firmly planted on my hips she swings me next to her. Suddenly I was standing in the front line and there was no time to do anything about it.
*I think this is where I started to panic*
This is just to show you the craziness of girls jumping for these bouquets. I am usually the one standing at the back looking totally disinterested!
Things were racing forward at about a million milliseconds to none; the next mistake happened far too fast for me to even know what went down. The bride ushered us to all move closer, the next thing I knew, as if in unison I was shuffled forward with the throng of girls, the bride turned her back and the next thing I knew the bouquet was in the air and heading straight for me. Then it was in my hands. I have no idea how that happened and I’m sure any photo’s people have will show a mixed look of horror and surprise on my face! Many gave me feedback later that night saying I jumped so high for it. I don’t believe them because I just don’t do that and I have come to the conclusion my friend Lili, who was standing on my right, once again placed her hands on my hips and lifted me in the air like a rugby player in the line out, grasping for the ball!
Talk about team work.
Next up, the men.
The single (not married) boys eagerly awaiting the garter!
Take Note: The person who caught it is NOWHERE in sight at this point!
All the single boys were up there eagerly cheering the groom on as he stuck his head under his new wife’s wedding dress and before I could get my camera in place the garter was up in the air and I caught a few boys jumping and looking up other the other way.
It was a good throw, the garter was in the air and heading towards the men at the back!
At first I didn’t see who caught it and when I did I doubled over laughing, really loud and really hard! There, standing in the distance was my dear friend, Paul, with the biggest smirk on his face and the garter firmly in his hands! I heard afterwards that he almost punched one in the face while jumping up for this and he had to hand wrestle another to get a firm grip on it. Hahaha, classic!
But the best was yet to come!
For those who know Paul and I, know that we don’t do anything by half measures and although people often confuse us for a couple, we are in fact just good friends. You see Paul likes boys as do I!
After telling the bride again I thought this was rigged, I tried to scurry between some people back to my seat but a few grabbed my arms and firmly placed me in the middle of the dance floor. Paul, headed back to the table to remove his jersey and as the music started playing, he turned to me as I still stood in the middle of the dance floor.
It was time for us to dance.
Our song, “Simply The Best” by Tina Turner started filling the room. I stood there, bouquet in one hand, with other hand calling Paul to me with a come hither look on my face….
What followed was a bit of blur, watching each other we moved across the entire dance floor, singing word for word and seductively moving around each other, only once or twice coming in close to dance as one. The sides of the dance floor that didn’t have the photographer and *GASP* the lady who was videotaping our dance, was lined with wedding quests, singing, dancing and clapping. I felt like I was back at my Rose Theatre (for those in the know)!!
I laughed when I heard the next morning at breakfast from one of the guests who knew both Paul and I, that someone at their table had commented “ah, how nice, they are going to get married now.” Apparently they had seen us earlier in the evening and thought we were a couple. Hahaha, like so many before. Little did they know….!
Thank you for the dance ~ that was crazy fun!!
Such a pity this picture is blurred! Paul and I after our catching the bouquet and garter and after our dance, with the bridal couple…
Apparently, we are next! Lol
That was far from the end of dance floor shenanigans…
Fast forward a few hours of dancing, the Can-Can song starts to play so what else is there to do but link up with those next to you and start kicking those legs…
Picture from Wikipedia
Suddenly there were about 7 or 8 of us linked up and the dance floor had yet again emptied with everyone lining the edges, clapping and cheering on. All the girls in the line had dresses on, the legs went higher, the dresses went up and the boys in the line just followed our lead!
Around and around we went.
Does anyone actually know how long that piece of music is and how fast it goes at the end?!! By the end of it we were all in a circle practically hanging onto each other’s shoulders trying to support each other. To say we were panting at the end of it was an understatement….
Wikipedia has this to say about cancan dancing:
“the cancan[citation needed][original research?]; French pronunciation: [kɑ̃kɑ̃]) is a high-energy and physically demanding music hall dance, traditionally performed by a chorus line of female dancers who wear costumes with long skirts, petticoats, and black stockings. The main features of the dance are the lifting up and manipulation of the skirts, with high kicking and suggestive, provocative body movements. There is also a men’s cancan that uses the battement, along with backflips, cartwheels, and splits; it is intended to show off the dancer’s energy and athletic ability.”
Now I don’t recall the men doing backflips, cartwheels and splits and I’m pretty sure we didn’t look as graceful as the “real” thing, but there we were giving it our best shot!!!
So after a beautiful weekend of celebrating the love between my two dear friends, and no official training for Kili, I am happy to confirm I have in fact had plenty of training for my lungs and muscles this weekend ~ between singing, dancing and doing the can-can, I got an overall 100% workout!!
Who says you need a mountain to get fit anyway?!
To the beautiful couple, Ursula and Johan,
Congratulations!!
Thank you for sharing this extra-special day with us all.
We had the best time celebrating you!
I wish you so much happiness and love in your life together!
Watch this space;
Apparently Paul and I are next….
But first, I have a mountain to climb!
Walking4Air 