Tin Dancing

I've been selected to be an official, 24- hour on-call backup dancer for the musical group known as Tin!

Let me explain: two guys, Mike and Will, formed a musical percussion group titled Tin. It all started when we were waiting on line to wash our dishes after dinner, and Mike started up an impromptu rhythm chain with the tin plates on which we eat with our tin silverware.

From these origins, Tin was born. The band has continued with this musical tradition, and hits include "Kiswahili," "Spears," and "Wash All Day."

On Monday, after lots of hype, the group held their first performance after dinner had finished. They jammed in the shadows of tree, while the rest of us grooved to their sweet rhythms. I knew right then from the way their music spoke to me: I was born to dance for this band.

So I made inquiries with their manager (Jesse, also my banda-mate) about the possibility of auditioning for the role of back-up dancer for the band with Cybil, my partner in crime. After lots of urging, the band finally decided to hold auditions last night.

Cybil and I were VERY nervous. After all, this was Tin we were talking about, and the audition was pretty much do or die for us. I mean, auditions hardly ever come all the way to Kimana where we live. So we worked ourselves to the bone in preparation, and eventually, though still nervous, we felt ok about it.

And then it was time. We watched two more groups audition before us. The nerves were pretty serious, and we made sure to pray a lot before getting up there. But it was our time to shine in the study banda.

I explained that the inspiration for our dance troupe, The Fifth Leg (from the bush), came from the stimuli around us: animals, tourism, the bush itself. Equipped with our high 80s pony-tails and patterned headbands courtesy of Cybil, sunglasses, and bikini tops over our shirts (see the tourism influence?), we began the choreographed portion of the audition with cloths bought from the local markets. We then continued with a lot of mechanical spirit fingers and robotic-animal moves, finishing with a bang with the SNL Spartans-through-the-legs move. It was fierce.

For the improv section of the audition, Tin actually played! To make the setting more realistic of their actual performance venue, they turned off the overhead lights in the study banda and lit the stage area with the strobe headlamp light. The band played "Wash all day," and we delighted with some interpretive washing moves, the wave, and some swing kicks, making sure to use all levels.

Then it was done, and it was just a waiting game. Tonight after dinner, the band posted the audition results, and I admit I couldn't bring myself to look at it at first. But then when Mike and Will started making serious positive hints (like Will telling me "congratulations"), I figured things probably went pretty well.

And they did! We made the official back-up dancer position! It's a pretty grueling touring schedule from now on, but I think I'm up for the challenge. I can't wait for the future as an official back-up dancer for the triple dung-platinum recording artists, Tin!

(Oh, and in case you're wondering, we have the entire audition on video.)