What a week, highs and lows galore - apart from dropping a kettle of boiling water and burning the hell out of my right leg and foot and having to squeeze blistered feet into one-size too small dance shoes, I spent the week stressing because I hadn’t heard from my 21 year old daughter, Jacqueline - who recently left for the USA to work. I hadn't heard from her since she phoned me to find out how the show had gone two Thursdays ago.
Thank goodness she contacted me last Wednesday night to say “Chill Daddy” which gave everyone else the opportunity to say “I told you so,” for a change (ok so I’m a just a little protective of my offspring and I’m finding it a tad difficult to let go).
Then, before the start of the show we heard that Gugu’s girlfriend and Rob’s sister-in-law were both involved in smash and grab incidents on their way to the show.
During the show Hayley (the prodigal dancer back after missing Season 4) and I “the dancer trapped in a bodybuilder’s body” (tvsa), made a comeback of note after our disappointing quickstep with a “surprisingly light jive” (tvsa again) in “an S&M-inspired patent leather outfit” (tvsa AGAIN) (Never thought of that myself - would probably have brought it home if I had. LOL!)
Then we arrived backstage for me to get a message that my vehicle sponsor, Mahindra, was also involved in a smash and grab incident on their way and had decided to return home.
This was followed by a call from my 20-year old son Damian on Saturday to say that he had had an accident with the car (mine - his ’72 Beetle was killed by a maniac in a BMW last year). His accident was apparently caused by a lapse in concentration and a lamp pole (Yeah right my boy) - the car coming off second best and ending up unusable.
Saturday night started with a highlight (we attended my great friend Lebo Mashile’s show “Threads” at the Wits theatre - if you get an opportunity to see this collaboration between Lebo and Sylvia Glasser of MIDM then GO SEE IT! It moved me to tears) but ended with a serious lowlight when I reversed out of the parking lot and due to a lapse in concentration hit a lamp pole. (Sorry Damian! And Mahindra :))
There’s a Japanese proverb that says “We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance,” - it now makes sense to me. I may not be the show’s best dancer YET, and it may not look like I’m having as much fun as one or two of my competitors but believe me, I am having the time of my life on Thursday night’s and I am getting more comfortable with this “out-of-the-box” experience every week.
If by any chance it so happens that I do make a fool of myself on the dance floor then hey, at least it happened on the dance floor and not in a parking lot with a lamp pole.
One of the problems we’ve been having is my apparent inability to hear the beat in the music which is, as you can imagine, a major setback for a dancer. Hayley spoke to Godfrey (the drummer from our live band) and he arrived at our training session on Saturday with a couple of percussion instruments and proceeded to prove to me that I could hear the beat by making me drum and sing (or was it croak?) simultaneously and walk to the beat.
Apart from the fact that Godfrey helped me plant a seed to nurture and grow, it was an honour to meet and spend some time with this soulful gentleman, I gained more from this man in an hour than one could imagine. God bless you Godfrey.
So now we’ve established that I can hear the music and last week I think I proved to myself and the rest of you that there is a dancer in this “bodybuilder” somewhere. He’s fighting really hard to come out and set the ballroom floor alight again and again until Hayley and I hold that Strictly Trophy aloft on the 4th of December when we'll pay tribute to each other, our respective fiancés, Jackie and Warren, who have given up a lot for us to get this far and who tirelessly support us in this quest to achieve MY best - it would be impossible to do this without them.
An unknown person once said “Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another.” I feel that! So join us on Thursday nights on SABC 2 at 19h30 and I’ll share my heart with you all.
May God bless and keep you all safe.
Garth
Till next week, please keep up the support and remember to sms “10” to 34766.
Where can you catch me this week?
Monday 27th October @ 07h30: Tuks FM 107.2
@ 14h00: UJFM 95.4
Tuesday 28th October @ 06h00: Highveld 94.2 - on The Rude Awakening.
Saturday Polokwane - Strongman Competition at Suidskool in Thabo Mbeke street.