... what else?

Ah, a Hands of Kali roadtrip to LA--what could be better? We threw ourselves a drunken seafood feast sendoff at the Anthony's in SeaTac, courtesy of the airlines, who gave us food vouchers when our flight and several others were delayed and then cancelled. They used to call it "mechanical issues," and now they call it "maintenance." Excuse me, but isn't maintenance something that you do on a regular and convenient schedule--not when passengers are waiting to board.

so we had dinner (had to pay for our own booze tho), then practiced our routine in a nearly empty terminal, to the bemusement of the few people sitting there. our flight was going to arrive so lat that we wouldn't be able to practice in our hotel room as we had planned. then, Magi and I napped on one of the couches while Xtina and Kendra went outside for a smoke.

Once in LA, Gothla itself was amazing. We saw many innovative and dark performances, and lots of gorgeous costumes. Laura Rose was there, and we hung out with her for a bit; her Sekhmet piece in the evening gala was delicious, ending as it did with her taking a big blood bite out of a human (prop) heart.

We had a bit of an adventure procuring dry ice for our set, but we braved all that and taking our swords on the plane because the theme was Gothla: the Conjuring. Our first number, Angel, starts with Kendra and me doing double sword, and then black-veiled Magi and Xtina come out with a smoking iron cauldron to conjure forces that our warrior dance opened the gates to.

Then we danced to NIN, a piece about addiction and dysfunction.

Met a ton of cool people, including, finally! Tempest, Ariellah, and Asharah.

i'll post video on YouTube as soon as we have it.

Pic: glamorous jet-setting troupe life on the road