a turkey tradition

The holiday season has just begun here in Germany. In Berlin alone, over 60Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas markets) have opened this weekend. These markets range from a few wooden stands adorned with fake snow selling ornaments to elaborate mazes of booths with handmade artwork, traditional Christmastime delicacies (stollen, anyone?), and tons of activities for adults and kids alike. My host siblings have raved about these markets and have told me many times that this is their favorite season of the year. They explained to me that, even though they don't celebrate Christmas, these events are such a traditional part of life in Berlin that everyone can feel included.

When they asked me about my favorite traditions from this time of year, I definitely told them about Thanksgiving and how my family celebrates. I don't know why we sing the "Star Spangled Banner" before we eat, but we do. After dinner, my cousins and I always end up walking to a nearby elementary school to play, talk, and make room for dessert :) With all the talk of delicious food and crazy family gatherings, I forgot to mention that for a long time, I had another Thanksgiving tradition -- one that did not involve any turkey.

For a good portion of my childhood, I spent the week before Thanksgiving in a sweaty dance studio in the Mission, rehearsing for the annual ODC production of The Velveteen Rabbit. "VR" or "The Rabbit," as we called it, was my alternative to performing in "The Nutcracker" - I mean, I am a modern dancer, after all :) We always opened the day after Thanksgiving, which only made the holiday that much more exciting with all that anticipation building up for the next day.

10 years ago (what!?), I would have been in the Green Room, backstage at the Yerba Buena Center. The children's cast had our own dressing room with crazy lights, and the politics of who sat in which chair for hair and makeup amazes me to this day. The Kid Wrangler (the adult in charge of actually getting us ON the stage) would give us the "5 minutes to curtain" call, and we would scramble around on an adrenaline high until the adult, professional dancers called us onto the stage to participate in their pre-show rituals.

While I can no longer recall the choreography (although, give me a DVD of the show and about 10 minutes, I could probably give you your own performance), there are a lot of things that I am surprised to still remember about my VR days. I met some of my closest dance friends over 16 years ago at our audition, and we performed together for years. A group of us used to walk over to SFMOMA in between shows on Saturdays for lunch and we thought we were superadult because our parents sat at a different table. During downtime in the shows, I read my favorite book, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, for the first time in the Green Room. I learned how to play chess and mancala. I realized that sitting in school isn't the only way to learn. Despite the fact that I got a lot of grief from my teachers about missing school to perform, my parents let me dance anyway. My experiences during that period - of professional productions, exploring the "life of a dancer," being in San Francisco, being on stage, learning that rehearsal paid off - were some of my earliest reasons for loving dance (until I could appreciate technique, different artistic styles, etc. etc.). Although I obviously cannot say this with complete certainty, I am fairly positive that my life would be very, very different had I not danced around in that theater.

Even though I have danced in, seen, or worked at The Velveteen Rabbit over 100 times (literally), I still highly recommend it as a lovely afternoon for the wonderful 5-12 year olds in your life. If you go, I was one of those kids in the white pajamas totally blissed out over being on stage and performing with some amazing artists, even if they are in bunny costumes.