Tuesday, January 30, 2007

A magical tent

We went back to the Spiegletent on Saturday. The last night had an air of 'the-place-to-be' to it. With plans to meet at 11pm, it was wonderful to see 10 of us there. We were all the in mood to try something different, be different. Even our clothes. We each had a touch of eccentricity to us. Glittery tops, wild earrings, tailoured pants for men with proper leather shoes...no trainers. What had that old German wooden tent done to us ?..brought a bit of swagger & swish to our evening.

The band, Juke Baritone & the Swamp Dogs, played long forgotten tunes. The amplification was non-existent. This was loud crashing instrument music. We danced in ways we had never done. Bending knees like a country fair or beer hall. Swaying to cabaret sounds. It was not an evening we had ever experienced and yet we all fell into its rhythms.

Couples were dancing and kissing like the war was over. Men grabbed us to dance 50's style. We felt like women, all hips and hair tossing. Men did the asking and guiding of moves. Neither sex dominated either.

Where was our modern 21st century too cool Sydney attitude? The tent had transported us to another era of entertainment that we created, not just scantily paid attention to while waiting for a more important text message or person to arrive.

Resting between dances, we leaned against the timber and mirror columns. How is this structure so impermanent? Floors of parquetry, booths of wood, mirrors & stained glass windows. The only clue being the vaulted dark material ceiling. The tent is a little like ourselves. Sometimes we feel so sure of our lives. How we spend our time. What we do and don't want. And then it passes & we feel different. Just a phase, or a re-occuring theme? In this case an experience that fun can be had in other ways, so easily, yet we rarely experience it. We can dress differently, move to different music without having ever heard it before. There were no reviews, we just went along, knowing the tent would work it magic, and it did.

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