Etc.

Every so often we have these things called etc. performances at school. I went to one for the first time tonight and I had a blast. This particular performance was a performance art piece where you make art while you are performing. We had a group called Red Hand come to school and perform.

I know this will probably seem weird, but it was about hair. Anyone in the audience could be in it. There was a professional hair stylist on stage and she cut some of our hair Just a trim, which I actually needed... Then we contributed it to a circle of the others' hair. There was a rack of costumes set up on the opposite side of the stage (all red, for the group). You then could go over and pick through the costumes and put on whatever you wanted. When you had your chosen piece you could walk into the spotlight and say something about hair. Whatever you wanted. For example, I put on a plaid shirt and told the audience that it reminded me of something my uncle would wear. Then I said, "He is bald except for this little piece of hair that he combs over the bald spot. You aren't fooling us... We know you're bald... It's okay."

This little seven year old went and got his hair cut. He then came over to the costume rack and proceeded to plop a Cat in the Hat esque hat on his little head and pulled on some big red ski boots. He kept clomping around the stage preteding the hat was stuck. His presence made it much easier to play, which is what performance art is about... Play. Seeing him clomping around made me realize that it didn't really matter what the audience thought about what I did, as long as I was having fun doing it. The kid then put on a silk robe and said, "I'm a jedi knight! Take that, Hans Solo!"

Then I decided to put on a punk-y looking jacket and tell about the time I dyed my hair purple. I said, "The summer before my freshman year in high school I dyed the ends of my hair purple because I thought I would look punk. I turned out just looking like a nerd with purple hair..."

All in all, it made for an interesting, fun night. I certainly have never done anything like that before, so I was a bit out of my comfort zone at first, but I soon was just fine!

On the knitting front... No Purl Monkey number one is done! Despite all my Christmas knitting plans, I really want to cast on for Hey, Teach! :\