it's time for debbie to get her mojo ready.....

...her hula mojo that is.

This weekend is a very special event for those of us in Nagasaki City who belong to the Kyushu Hula Association.  Our annual Hula Festival will be on Saturday and, thanks to an incredible number of groups who are going to dance, also on Sunday.  Over 100 different groups are getting ready for their 5-8 minutes of fame.

It's a big day that we have all worked very hard to get ready for.

It's exciting....and for me, also nerve-wracking.

Getting on stage in front of 1,000 or so people who just enjoy watching the dance is one thing, but....add another, say, 800 women who know the dances and are watching for the mistakes?  Yeah.  That makes me wanna throw up a little.

So...for the next couple of days, I'm going to be desperately seeking some hula mojo to help me through this.  Though I come across as being a very confident, self-assured, super-woman (of sorts) kind of person,  I'm also....a big ole' scaredy-cat.

I have to admit that it takes everything I have to walk out on stage and remember, not only the dance steps for the next 5-8 minutes, but also my name!

So...that said....

I have my ticket.

 I have the dress.

 There are the flowers for my hair.

 And a lei to match.

Technically....I'm ready.

~~sigh~~

When I first started doing hula 6 years ago, I didn't tell many people. 

For awhile, it was something that was....just mine. 

Hula was not only something that I had wanted to do for a long time, it was also something that helped me keep my shit together.  Life is hard and having something you can count on to be there on a regular basis helps to keep everything else in focus. 

That is hula, for me.

I have downloaded a video of the dance my group and I will be performing on Saturday. 

Whenever we learn a new dance, I come home and have the K-Man video it to

help me remember the steps.

This is from a few months ago...I guarantee that I've improved...that's what is nice about recording the dances.....I can watch them and I can see where I made the mistakes...kind of like the way my brother, the football coach, makes his boys watch their games to see what they did that was good and/or bad.

Please be kind....it's far from perfect....but, it's helping me get my mojo going!

From HulaMay'10

I've been practicing this particular dance since May.

I'm ready.

I can do this.

Bring on those 5-8 minutes.