Thank you, Frederic Fekkai, for your magical hairspray that did not turn hair crunchy, nor did it take several washes to get out.

I cannot believe Madame Principal made us go first. As expected, I tripped during rehearsals, so I made sure I flicked the skirt slightly when I lifted my feet so it didn’t get caught. But that was the least of worries, when each of us suffered a mental blank when people started filtering in and taking their seats.

After the performance we could breathe and also pick at some of the tapas on offer… unfortunately we still had to pay for the wine (seriously, we should be getting it free). It wasn’t a good idea to drink right after performing, considering our part in the show wasn’t over yet, as we had to partake in the sevillanas at closing.

But that’s okay, since there were so many people on the floor and space was limited, I doubt anyone noticed us resorting to the macarena when Madame Principal left the damn sevillanas CD on repeat.

Hoo boy. We tried on costumes today. There was a great variety – purple and black stripes; black polyester with velvet polka dots with red and black striped trimmings; green and black polka dots. /end sarcasm

They are so FUGLY. After struggling to fit in the hideous red one, Deb settled for the gross purple and I into the digusting green. Even then she was struggling into hers, but it was longer than the green and she’s much taller.

Sara got the red – because she showed up last haha! She only just fit by sucking her breath in. That would have been me. The green skirt is a little loose, but it will have to do. As suspected, the length of the skirt caused me to trip several times. I’m going to have to pin the skirt up next week, unless someone wants to pay me to fall flat on my face.

There’s still no music for the sevillanas. Madame Principal suggested a few tracks from a CD for us to practice and choose, but we totally could not count a rhythm what with the wailing by the singers. Seriously. In flamenco, guitarist follows the dancer, and the dancer follows the singer. Why this has not resulted in hilarious YouTube videos, I will never figure out.

Perhaps ours will be the first.

Dear Rosita,

Please encourage* your class to perform the farruca and sevillanas at the winter fiesta at the end of this month. We want to showcase some of the syllabus. Thank you.

- Madame Principal

*encourage = coerce

EXCUSE ME, WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?! WAT WAT WAAAAAAAAT?! PERFORM? IN PUBLIC?! YOU. HAVE. GOT. TO. BE. KIDDING.

I hate performing. In public. Absolutely despise it. But noooo, Ms Rosita has not only twisted our arms, but has started working on turning both dances into a performance i.e. positioning everyone around the stage etc. She’s nuts. We’re only in second grade, for god’s sakes. That would be like, showing people that when you’re in segundo, you will suck monkey balls.

Madame Principal took our class the last two weeks, and she was most definitely not short on criticism. I don’t understand why she wants us to perform when she spent the last two weeks telling us off for every damn little thing. I kid you not. Hold an arm the wrong way and she will totally pick it up. I work ten times harder with her out of sheer terror.

Performing. Good god. I totally did not sign up for this when I started flamenco.