I think it is fair to say that this has been one of the most bizarre, amazing and beautiful evenings of my life. This morning I gathered through the all-knowing, allseeing book of face that there was some kind of even at the Amersham Arms in new cross by a group called tan a Deptford. Truth be told, I didn’t know much about it, but in the description it said something about getting to wear all kinds of costumes so I thought it might be worth a look. More importantly, a couple of my old uni mates, Jodie and hollie, have connections with that group and I thought it might be a good chance to catch up with them.

At seven this evening, then, I made my way over there, normal clothes over a pink leotard, just in case the occasion called for it – from the photos on Facebook I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to don one in public again. I did not quite know what to expect however, and now I have come to describe it, I’m not sure I can. I find they do a kind of physical theatre: everyone who wishes to participate moves to the music, using props and taking costumes on and off to create tableau or small dances. It apparently comes from brazil; I found it captivating and was almost instantly drawn in, Jodie very kindly helping me off with my boy stuff.

I know I probably should not have imposed hat upon her, but she said she was happy to help.*

It went on for over an hour, the four main performers constantly changing and creating scene after scene, dance after dance. I was really getting into it by the end, but I kept thinking about how much Lyn would have liked it. I’m not a dancer or a musician, but Lyn has been and is both. I really think she might love it, especially if she could do the music – the DJ being the person who controls the rhythm of the whole piece. After the performance had stopped, all those who had participated sat down to talk, and I learned that tonight was the first of four such events, happening every two week. I certainly intend to go to the next time, hopefully with Lyn and our PA but probably without the leotard. We have been looking for some type of hobby we could do together – I think this might be one of the solutions to that problem. It was an amazing evening, and an experience I’d loe to repeat with lyn: rather bizarre, yet intriguing.

*Sadly, Hollie was not there