This was my second year dancing at the Santa Fe Re Faire and it was a blast. The first year was special because I didn’t have a point of reference and the element of surprise made everything shinier. I had never been to a Ren Faire before this so the whole thing was pretty spectacular.
This year we took a lot of pieces from our annual summer show The Return. The theme was a celebration of cycles of life. I am particularly fond of this set because there is so much joyful energy in the music and a lot of vibrant colors in the costumes. We even had really beautiful headpieces featuring poppies, wheat shafts, lilies, and gold coins to add to the splendor of the costumes. I definitely felt like a forest/garden chandelier as we walked around with our jingling and swishing costumes.
Here is a little clip from a piece called Karlshlama which is a celebration of growth and harvest:
A balancing act
This was also the second time I got to feature balancing props on my head while dancing. This was for a piece about harvest abundance and it is easily one of my favorites. Balancing props while dancing can be…challenging. The first few times I tried dancing with a prop on my head, I think my brain broke from the number of neurons that were firing all at the same time while trying to remember the choreography and also balancing.
The first time I got to balance a prop was for our Christmas show for the Arabian Coffee piece and I danced with a sword on my head. I think that was pretty badass and I was glad that I didn’t drop it. My first performance with a balance prop was certainly intimidating. I think I did a good enough job in our Christmas 2023 show because I got the same part for Arabian Coffee this year too. And I also got better at not overthinking the balancing act! Sounds like a metaphor for life almost.
Here’s a clip from this year’s Arabian Coffee for the Christmas show:
More on the Christmas show later! (Maybe I need to write a post about our Christmas show soon).
At the Ren Faire, we got to do a piece we called “The Basket Piece” and I was in the front trio. This prop was less challenging than a sword because the basket had a larger contact surface and didn’t swivel around like the sword.
Here’s a clip from the Basket Piece:
We had many more pieces and it was a 45 minute show and we performed 4 shows a day on both the weekend days! Thats a lot of shows! The choreographies are in my BONES!
We always end with a piece called Shashkin which is a finger cymbal piece. I look forward to performing this piece every time we do it for the Ren Faire and for the annual live music performance Sherefe! Coordinating finger cymbals with the choreography is another brain-tickler and took a while to get used to. Here is a little clip:
The pieces we performed this year also made me think of how we evolved from the previous year. For the 2023 Ren Fair, we picked quite a number of pieces from the Radiant Tarot which brought a bit of a mystical quality to the performance as opposed to a more seasonal-cycle themed groundedness from the 2024 set. But we also had a few additional pieces in the 2023 lineup that were not from the Radiant Tarot show and one of them is my absolute favorite. This piece is called Cybelle and it features a diva who wants to take the center stage. I got to play the diva and it was absolutely hilarious. It did make me realize that I do indeed quite enjoy the spotlight haha. Here’s a clip:
Wandering through the medieval markets and collecting potions
Because we perform on both Ren Faire days we get quite a lot of time between the morning and afternoon shows to wander. Both years that I danced at Ren Faire, the event was sold out WEEKS before the event date. A lot of people are at the Faire and EVERYONE knows the assignment. The outfits are amazing as are the local vendors.
Las Golondrinas is quite big so it isn’t particularly cramped. It’s in fact really fun to get a lil snack at the “village market” and then wander around to people-watch with our parasols.
Ren Faire happens in September and brings in a reminder that summer will come to an end soon. I always make really sweet memories and take them into the colder months which closely follow the end of Ren Faire. Ren Faire memories definitely get me through the months when it is cold and the festive season hasn’t quite hit. Before I know it, it is time for the Christmas show and we’re already heading off to the next year!
