Every gigging dancer has their "gig story". It's the show we talk about amongst each other about the wildest show they ever had. They are some of my favorite stories, and I want to tell you all mine.
It started as just a regular wedding show. We were going to do a zeffa, a little show, then I was going to go home. The bride wanted snake dancers and I was lucky enough to know two so that was and easy request to fulfill. She asked for a specific costume and I was happy to oblige. We packed the costumes, snacks, and snakes and drove to the venue, where we were given a place to hang out before the show.
Like almost every wedding in existence it was running late. That wasn't a problem, we just took selfies and warmed up. Finally we were about to begin the zeffa. A zeffa is a procession with noise, and in this case we were to escort the bridal party to the dance floor before the bride and groom came in. We'd walked the bridal party up, when the DJ began to turn on the disco lights.
Which would have been fine, if the bride hadn't asked for the costume with the biggest rhinestones. The disco lights hit the rhinestones on my bra, which reflected into more lights. And all of those lights caused a groomsmen in the wedding party to have a seizure. We were very lucky there was a doctor to assist the groomsman (who was fine), but we really struggled to get the party vibe back after the ambulance left.
The venue decided the chaos was 50% my chests fault and 50% the snakes. As we tried to get changed, the manager was standing outside threatening to call the police on us if we didn't leave at once. I was in a mood so I yelled back "It's hard to focus on getting dressed when we are being constantly interrupted, and I'm sure you want me to leave dressed with both snakes."
That convinced the manager to leave and a server gave me a box of food for the road. I guess they might not have life their boss. We left utterly surprised about how the night went and very assured of the power of my chest.