Mardi Gras From the Perspective of a Krewe Dancer
It’s that time of year we have been working towards all year long. Preparing three to four new dances, practicing 1-2 times a week in the parking lot of a local park, or if we are lucky indoors at a dance studio or a hotel conference room. We spend an hour going over and over the dances we will perform for the Mardi Gras season. There is lots of preparation from the committee members deciding which parades we will dance in, the formation and line up of the dancers, the recruiting of the walkers, the obtaining and decoration of the truck, the hiring of a DJ.
It begins at home, putting together the perfect sparkly outfit, deciding to wear or not to wear an outrageous wig. We have become proficient in glitter placement and the perfect makeup looks. We then put on marching boots or white tennis shoes and head out the door.
Mardi Gras comes in like a whirlwind, and it is suddenly parade weekend.
The goal is to get to the start of the parade an hour and a half before the start of the official parade. There the Krewe meets up to converse, to stretch, to take group photos and get in the correct formation. The parade begins and we follow behind the floats while we wait for the DJ to begin the music. We look to the crowd and get hyped up by your smiles and your enthusiasm as we perform. The louder you are or the more you dance, the more it energizes us. We repeat our dances over and over until the end of the parade route, which is usually approximately 3-4 miles, rain or shine. By this time, we walk a little slower due to body aches or sore feet. We are all smiles knowing another parade is checked off the list. We check our steps, and it is usually around 14,000 for the parade. Now we can eat. We earned it. Then we go home and take an Epsom salt bath or rub our feet and put them up for the night.
The next day we do it all over again for a different crowd, sometimes two parades in a day. We perform the following day and perhaps the next and then a final weekend. Is it all worth it? Yes, we love bringing you smiles and entertaining you, if even just to give you a small escape from the world for a bit. So, the next time you see us, say hello, wave and smile and know that it is fun and hard work to get it all together and we hope you enjoyed the parade.
