Detox through music and dance

With all the time I've been spending at the studio lately, I needed a break from the choreography, counting, forms and techniques. So where else would I go to release pent up energy and get silly stupid in dancing and singing along to Depeche Mode's " I Just Can't Get Enough and Erasure's "Oh L'Amour"?

The Cat Club of course!

Thursdays is always 80’s night at The Cat Club. The DJ and I were definitely on the same wavelength last night or should I say “New Wave” length :) He played some really fun 80’s songs that all of us can really dance to and sing along with. Even the French dude and the two Japanese girls in our group were belting out A-Ha’s “Take On Me”. How’s that for crossing cultural barriers.

I think that music in general whatever your preference at the moment might be and in this case the 80’s for me, always bring people from all walks of lives together. For that brief moment in time, we let go of our differences and truly enjoy each other, enjoying the music. It was an extra interesting crowd last night. There were cross dressers, hippies, Goths, a bachelorette with her cronies, and of course the Asian invasion of girls…ahem, that would be us ;) all dancing and singing along to New Order’s “Bizarre Love Triangle”.

Yup, the dude that looks like a lady shook his groove thang, the dreads of the hippie couples were swinging all over the place, while the goths swayed back and forth and did their own intepretive dance; the bachelorette screamed her head off, and the group of us bounced up and down in unison; that my friends is unity through music. Somehow we all connected through the melody, the vibrations of the energy and the lyrics, experiencing it all at once.

So prior to hitting the club, I did some retail therapy in the shops at Union street. There’s this one store in particular that I’ve been going to for years. It is virtually impossible for me to walk out of Ambiance without buying an article of clothing or an accessory and in most cases both. That was the case last night. I got this really cool short, trenchy looking, black jacket to replace my other favorite Hurley one that is now in jacket heaven :( I’ve also been searching everywhere for this really cute headband that has those feathers and I also found it there. I’d say that therapy session was a success!

So I was telling my friend about Ubuntu and how I wanted to take her there one of these days and she thought that I should try The Plant Cafe which was only a few blocks away from the store. So the girls met up and had dinner there. It felt like I was eating at IKEA with their Beech wood paneled wall contrasted by the plastic-metal chairs. It totally had the sanitary feel to it. Nonetheless I liked the fact that they have the WC sign for the bathroom. You don’t see that too often. WC is the French initials for bathroom but translated in English means Water Closet.

So The Plant is more like a café hence the name rather than a restaurant like Ubuntu. You walk in, you order from the counter, you find a place to sit and they bring the food out to you. I like the zero fuss factor of it. I love food but I also like non-fussy food. I want to be able to recognize, let alone say what I’m eating :) Glancing over the menu, my eyes automatically zeroed in on the grilled eggplant panini.

Side note: I heart eggplant. Growing up, it was the only vegetable that I ate without any consternation. I think it had a lot to do with the color. Whenever my mom came home from the grocery store with the eggplant sticking out from the shopping bag, my eyes glazed over. To this day, whenever I see an eggplant dish on the menu, it is almost guaranteed that it will be ordered.

Do you know that there are types of wild eggplants out there that can grow as big as 7ft long? That is incredible and crazy-scary at the same time. I love eggplant but I also like it on my plate not as a prom date. Talk about a freak show! Ha ha ha! Can you conjure up the image of my 4’11 stature consuming a 7ft long eggplant? That is just so absurd and funny as hell!!!

http://www.theplantcafe.com/

Would I go back? Maybe to try the smoothies or the juices. They stopped serving it by the time we got there :(

Was my Panini good? It wasn't memorable but it definitely hit the spot.

How does it compare to Ubuntu? Not even close.

Should you try it? Absolutely!

- And if their plethora of vegetarian food does not satisfy your taste buds, Izzy’s Steakhouse is right across the street ;)

Going back to the topic of dancing. Now that the foot is back in full action...

I have a couple of dance shows coming up. I’ll send out the e-mail invites soon. I know you’ll be there in spirit, Lianne and Marge :)

As for my local bloggies, come okay? It will be tons of fun. You can see me massacre a hip-hop move or do an interpretive dance of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours”. Ooh, ooh, maybe even a Hawaii 5-0 routine.

Just kidding...

We will be dancing to the music of the Broadway show "In the Heights". Here's a video from Youtube that will kind of give you an idea of what's in store. Fast forward to about 2:30 and check out the crazy choreography.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgYUqTcXvZY&feature=related

If that's not your cup of tea, fret not, the other show will be a contemporary ballet piece OR you can just crash private parties and watch me and 7 other girls shake our booty to the crazy drum beats of Tahiti.

Hit it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgSyWfhDS3U&eurl=http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=114523084&feature=player_embedded

I hope you're just as excited now as I am! Whatever the case may be, it’s guaranteed good times if not good laughs or both!

dancing queen,

jakey