It was more beautiful than I expected! Below is my drive through the forest:
And when I got to the lake, I found it so peaceful:
So I played in the sand a bit.
You know, when I was in high school and college people said those were the best years of my life. They were wrong. Life just keeps getting better.
-The Dauntless Princess-
Jake Sully, the grizzled Marine with spectacular scars, and the crew of scientists are featured nowhere in the show. Toruk transports us to Pandora long before all of them arrived on the planet.
The story line honestly left something to be desired (even my imagination couldn’t quite understand how a dinosaur stopped a volcano) but the rest of the show was, well, Cirque du Soleil. This company has a huge budget, the best performers, the most imaginative artists. Every detail is attended to. And there are so many details! Costumes had richness in detailing that the audience could barely appreciate… Props were made of the very best materials, ones you could see had been carefully chosen to produce the desired effect. The sound design was on point every second and the set, the massive arena, was one giant, dynamic stage rippling from desert, to water, to jungle, to Hallelujah mountains!
The two Cirque du Soleil shows I’ve seen showcase the artists’ pride in their work. They’re the best, they’re excited and passionate, and the finished product is 100% glorious.
– The Dauntless Princess –
Photo credit to bbsoileau, Instagram
Photo credit to bshep_2, Instagram
Photo credit to nickbeyeler, Instagram. He’s one of Cirque’s performing artists! His website is: www.nickbeyeler.com
My friend, Princess Sanet de Jager, is an Afrikaans princess in South Africa. I met her when I was eighteen on my family’s royal African tour. My castle was directly adjacent to hers, but diplomatically we waited to be introduced through a mutual friend and then began sending one another letters over the wall that separated our gardens. She was clever, loyal, and under her cool demeanor burned a passionate soul. I was overjoyed to find such a beautiful soul, but as was proper for a foreign visiting princess, I waited for her to extended her invitation to visit. Before long, she did.
She welcomed me cordially, speaking beautiful English, pushing aside the growling, rolling-eyed boerbull guardians of her house who tried to lunge as I entered the gate. Inside the castle, I felt eyes on me from every side. Later I discovered this was because thirteen cats guard the inside. Matteus, the huge gray cat, stalked past eyeing me defiantly and I didn’t dare stroke him.
This visit being a success, we had more and more visits, and finally one day, we realized we were friends. In the wake of her personal tragedy and my struggle with side effects of acne medication, we became very close friends, even though most days all we could do was email one another over the wall. Together we learned that unity was our only hope for survival. You see, in that place, almost all of the other eighteen-year-olds had started university in other countries. We were both isolated and desperately needed eachother’s support.
Next April marks seven years that I have been away from Africa and have not seen Sanet. Things are so different now: we both live on our own and travel freely, we flirt at will, we’re both enjoying careers we’re passionate about. Our friendship stays strong and will continue to do so… because we are both strong women determined to love one another through the distance.
I don’t send Sanet letters as often as I should, but recently, I decided to make and send a special one. Sometimes, in antique stores, you find lovely vintage letters on aged yellowed paper with elegant stamps… and the finest handwriting! I got interested in making paper look aged (without cheating by using coffee, which is acidic, eating your precious paper over time). Below is a step-by-step of my method for making Sanet’s letter.
First, I stamped my paper with gold:
Next, I treated the edges with water for a ripple effect:
When that dried, I brushed the edges with an ink-pad for a rough-edged, dirty look:
And last but not least, I burned the pages with fire… Putting a few spots on them as if they’d been read at night by the light of candles.
Then, I took a while to decorate the envelope.
The final touch… And of course the most fun… Was the wax seal. You can find these at any big craft supply store. I love gold, so I sealed the letter with a gold fleur-de-lis.
When the letter arrives at Sanet’s palace in Cape Town, where she lives now working as a University interpreter, I hope she has as much fun receiving it as I did making it!
And maybe one day soon, I’ll make the journey to the Cape.
I can’t wait.
-The Dauntless Princess-
As I’m on my own and far from home, I’m free to take on challenges that, honestly, I probably wouldn’t dare if I had a life based in one geographical location. Out here, the consequences of failure are low.
I’m about three miles from the necessary things in life: Walmart, Starbucks, a hospital. On that three mile drive, just before the open fields that showcase the sunset, is a small strip of shops. In that strip is a dance studio called Theatre Dance Academy.
I’m not a dancer. I’m barely coordinated enough for step aerobics sequences. But when I was small, my parents drove me into town many times so I could dance with my church group. Someone anonymously provided me a pair of shoes: I still remember that trip to Buster Brown’s to fit my shoes and proudly making all my friends admire them at my birthday party. I wore the little white leather slippers and practiced every chance I got.
Later, long after I’d outgrown those shoes, I sewed together an enormous length of yellow fabric into a circle skirt. A self-conscious preteen, I twirled magical midsummer afternoons away to Enya’s Shepherd Moons while my family played outside.
So the little dance studio drew me. Why not? I went inside on pretense of castle business. Inside, preteen girls in leotards and white tights fluttered around. At the little front desk, a reed-thin brunette with kind, soft brown eyes smiled at me. Her name was Sarah and when I asked for prices she unfolded from behind the desk and ran lightly for a pamphlet. She was wearing gym shorts, white tights and worn leather slippers.
I committed to an intermediate class on Monday night, then bought white leather dance slippers at Shreveport Gymnastics. “Are you like a dancer or something?” frankly asked the associate helping me fit my shoes, and I chuckled. Not really, but why not get the shoes?
Tonight I showed up early for Sarah to inspect my shoes, which suddenly felt silly and much too large. “They’re fine!” she encouraged me. She was tired from being at work since 4:45 a.m. but still had a loving aura.
Class started! Everyone in my class was between twelve and fourteen. They were unfazed by my presence and chattered amongst themselves as class started. They were all preparing for the Royal Academy Dance Exams. To my delight, I could keep up with about three-quarters of the exercises! Then they got too difficult, and I was a supportive audience member as the girls practiced their dance for the March exams.
We filed out of the dance room, tired and happy. Across the way another class started. “Emily!” I asked the studio owner, who was walking by. “Is that the modern dance class?”
Emily shrugged. “She was with Cirque du Soleil,” she smiled. Emily has a halo of blonde curls and stands 5’2″. “Sometimes it’s a very traditional ballet; sometimes she mixes it up.”
I stood and watched, putting my street shoes back on slowly. This was a more advanced class with older students. I could see their passion for dance, and was glad I joined in tonight; I was glad I took this dare. They were dancing to an old song from the eighties…
and all my instincts, they return
and the grand facade, so soon will burn
without a noise, without my pride
i reach out from the inside
– The Dauntless Princess –
