EJ's Travels

Of all the things I imagined myself doing during my stay in Antarctica, making my debut belly-dancing on stage was most certainly not one of them. But, alas, life on the ice is chalk full of surprises. Every year the women of McMurdo Station organize and are invited to participate in the women’s soiree, a variety show and fundraiser. A pre-event wine social started the evening at which time raffle tickets were sold for more than $1800 worth of donated goods. This year’s raffle raised $3200 for the Breast Cancer Support Services of Caterbury in New Zealand. Performances included three belly-dancing acts, tap-dancing, a bassoon solo, guitar playing and singing, storytelling, poetry and a documentary about ice fishing here in Antarctica. Although some of the old school townies avoid the soiree claiming it is a bit painful, a far greater number of both old and new community members squeeze into the galley (standing room only) to support their friends and colleagues. Those that do show are incredibly receptive and supportive. We were either stunning on stage or incredibly entertaining. As nervous as I was before going on, I have to admit it was great fun thanks to the amazing women I was dancing with and our adoring fans. Here we are in costume and a whole lot of make-up.

Me, Helena & Amanda before the show

Back row: Me, Melissa, Helena, Karen & Allison
Front row: Kat, Becky, Wendy, Sam, Deb & Tami

Closing shot!

see more of my photos at: http://ej.smugmug.com

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 17th, 2005 at 4:19 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.