cabin, I started slipping on the pine needles and dried leaves. OK – it wasn’t
too smart to be wearing high-heeled Pumas especially when I don’t do hills.
How, I wondered, was I going to help Susu manipulate hills, when it was
me who was going to need help? They told me where she was teaching.
It was down a really, really, long windy steep (to me), path that was full
of rocks, gravel, holes, tree roots and other dangerous things including
mosquitoes and bugs. Susu!!! “I’m a city girl!” Oh, well, I thought. Gotta get
over this. I volunteered to be a pack mule for the celebrity drummer with a
broken foot so I needed to do all my slipping, sliding and stumbling before
I got to the bottom of the “mountain.” Finally, I reached the bottom and
found Susu teaching a drum class. Hurray! My first duty was to be another
body in her drum class. After drum class, we stayed for a Persian duf class
and then Susu wanted to go up the hill. For exercise or what? She said she
wanted to build strength in her arms to become a more powerful drummer.
Well, I wasn’t quite ready to exercise or trek up the hill yet. The mosquitos
weren’t biting me too much yet and since I was born on an island prevalent
with mosquitoes, I’m pretty immune anyway.
Georges’ violin recital
So I shirked my duties and let someone else accompany Susu up the hill
while I stayed behind to take another drum lesson. After that drum lesson
I was free to try to conquer the mountain and found it was a bit easier
going uphill. I then found Susu and tried to assist her going down the hill
as she had to teach another drum class. After almost stepping on her casted
foot and almost grabbing her crutches for balance at one point, I finally
got the hang of being a mountain climber. Thank god we had left all our
instruments at the bottom of the hill so it was easier going down the hill
without all the drums. I only had to worry about not grabbing Susu for
support and she only had to worry about staying out of my way. It did get
better after that and Susu proved to have lots of help from other people
besides me. This was a good thing.
Susu and dancer irina
Susu and debke teacher Hassan
Lebanese dance teacher Samira and
Lebanese Debke teacher Hassan
Georges Lammam and Susu
36
The Belly Dance Chronicles
October 2015
Musician Raman