Photo by Noah Ginex!
November 2014 Archives
MCAmy took this awesome pic during the She's Crafty show at the Cubby Bear Saturday night. I love it! The show was INCREDIBLE--we had the best crowd ever! They came out in the snow to party Beastie Boys Style, and we loved them for it. Playing at the Cubby Bear was surreal, especially considering that Foo Fighters just played there last month!
Next show is December 13th at The Original Mother's!
So the other day, I posted about my problems about being a dancer with hyperhidrosis and the fear of dancing barefooted. It sent me off on a mission to find a possible solution to the problem, without looking like the one weirdo who has to wear shoes on stage. I looked on dance supply stores, yoga sites, pilates sites, amazon, and more. I started googling "nude crew toe socks" and found some half foot options that were black or hot pink. The dance sites all had half shoes, too. That defeats the purpose for me--if my heels are exposed, they will sweat the same amount as if I was barefooted. I found some overseas sites that had potential, only to find that the sites were sold out. I literally had 20 tabs open on my browser, but nothing was right. Exasperated, I shouted to the crowd--I turned to Twitter.
I need low cut nude individual toe socks. Anyone know where I can get some?
-- Erica Reid (@drunkmonkeyshow) November 9, 2014
A little while later, my amazing costumer friend Angela replied.
@drunkmonkeyshow Maybe @SockDreams or a yoga retailer?
-- Angela Enos (@angelaenos) November 9, 2014
SOCK DREAMS! Of course! I see their ads all the time in Bust Magazine, but had never been on the site. After a little browsing, I found these babies. Beige basic 5 toes, 50% cotton. Only $10. I got excited, and bought 2 pairs. 2 days later, they arrived.
They are super comfy and fit great. I was excited to try them out. I took them to rehearsal...
AND THEY WORKED.
I cannot express to you what a feeling this was. My feet were still sweaty, yes, but the socks absorbed it all and kept the geyser from going off. My feet didn't go numb from being cold.
And my director didn't even notice I was wearing them.
With the fact that I am dancing more than I ever have and living my dreams in my mid-30s, having this new freedom feels sort of like a rebirth. It is pretty freaking awesome.
Thank you, Sock Dreams! Thank you, Angela!!
The new company I am dancing with, SHMIB Dance, will have our Chicago Premiere on December 3rd! We are performing a piece at the Untitled Project: The Show at the Mayne Stage! SHMIB is directed and choreographed by the amazing Melissa Talleda, and all the dancers are just incredible. I can't wait for this show, which will feature a number of other dance companies and soloists.
SHMIB Dance
Untitled Project: The Show
Wednesday, December 3rd
Mayne Stage
1328 W Morse
7:30pm
Tickets Here!
Look at these guys! This is a photo from my friends Renee and Bill's wedding in September. I love it. Photo by the always amazing Greg Inda.
Please enjoy this not safe for work video from Halloween Night's She's Crafty show!
Thanks, Fuzzy, for taping!
I've had hyperhidrosis my entire life. I know this. Everyone knows this. I have made adjustments accordingly since I was a child. I know that I can't wear shoes without socks. I know that I freeze to death all summer and winter long. I know that I feel drained after sweating through my clothes and socks. The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is put on socks, because I know if I don't, I will not only be drenched within 3 minutes, but I will leave puddles all over the floor and slip. I can't wear cute capris cause I know that my footwear needs will not be cute to match. I had life-changing surgery (in whatever year now cause I can't remember) to stop my hands and underarms from sweating and it was in the top 3 best decisions I have ever made in my life, though my hands and underarms are now starting to sweat more. This is just how things are. This is how my body works. It is a major part of who I am.
I am dancing with a modern dance company right now, and as is the standard, the director would like us to dance barefooted. This fact scares the shit out of me. I've only danced barefooted twice in my life, once in high school when we did this awesome lyrical piece to a Mariah Carey song and on the DAY BEFORE THE RECITAL, Mrs Atwater asked us to cut the feet off our tights to dance barefoot. This sent me into a panic, but I did it, and I baby powdered my feet beforehand. It was unpleasant, but I did it. When we did Dido, Queen of Carthage with Camenae, my character was barefooted, and I bought little dance paws to wear. I was barely onstage and it was ok, but again, I hated it and froze. So for weeks, I've been trying to find a way to make this work for me. If I am previously wearing socks, and I take them off, within seconds, I will have beads of sweat all over the sides/tops/bottoms of my feet, so I would try going to rehearsal without socks. In the cold weather. Didn't work. I would wear little socks and pull them down slowly throughout rehearsal. Didn't work. Last night, I was determined to go barefooted the whole night, and I sweated all over the floor, and froze so badly I couldn't wear enough clothes. My toes were numb, and I was drenched from head to toe.
This morning, I googled "hyperhidrosis surgery for feet." When I had my surgery, they couldn't alter the amount of sweat produced from my feet--just hands and underarm. For years I've said that if they came up with a way to fix it in feet, I would do the surgery as quickly as I could. Now, today, I didn't really delve into massive research, but I stumbled across a site that said that the best ways to treat it in feet were: topical antipersirants like Drysol (did this for years, hurts like hell), botox injections (never tried this, but it is super painful and super temporary, plus, my feet are an important part of my career, so I can't risk messing with them), and the ion shock therapy thing (which I also did for years, and post-surgery destroyed my machines with a hammer per my dad's suggestion. It was very therapeutic.) Then this article essentially said 'do not attempt surgery for your feet. It is extremely dangerous and the complications are irreversable.'
Well, shit.
Now, I know this just puts me right where I already am, but it does make my heart sink a bit. This problem will never be fixed. It will always be this way. I look at people who can go barefooted or wear nice heels and I experience oodles of jealousy (and I try to not be a jealous person), and I wonder--I try to imagine--what that life is like. To be able to not be drenched all the time. To not have swollen waterlogged feet. To have my body temperature regulated. My brain cannot fathom what this dry-foot sensation is like.
And I mean, that's ok. I am super healthy otherwise! And so many people have such worse problems that I have. But it does make me sad to know that I am unable to do this simple thing that others take for granted, and there is nothing I can do about it.
Here it is! The archival footage of Modet Dance Collective's Future Perfect Tension. This is the full program--I will be posting individual videos soon. This was shot by Fuzzy Gerdes and filmed at the beautiful Bridgeport Art Center.
Modet Dance Collective presents Future Perfect Tension from Modet Dance Collective on Vimeo.
I love Halloween, yet for some reason, I never know how to do it right. I’m not the biggest party-goer, I hate scary things, and I always want trick-or-treaters, but rarely get them. I am really good at having high hopes for a spooky fun Halloween and then have it be a total bust. So this year, when we were approached with a gig on Halloween night with She’s Crafty, it was the PERFECT SOLUTION.
I LOVE playing with She’s Crafty. For this life-long Beastie Boys fan, it really is a dream come true. So to have a gig on Halloween night was ideal. The show was free and easy to get to, so it was the perfect party to invite friends to, too. We decided to do costumes—different era Beasties for Act I and Sabotage Beasties for Act II.
For Act I, I decided to go Intergalactic video.
I figured it would be relatively easy to put together, and in fact, it was. The whole thing cost me about $11 total ($5 for the suit, $5 for the duct tape to make the vest straps, and $1 for the hat.)
For the second act, we did all Sabotage.
My favorite part of the Sabotage video is “and Fred Kelly as Bunny.”
It has always been my favorite part of the video. I love Bunny, and all 2 seconds he’s in the video. Since, as DJ in She’s Crafty, I am essentially DJ Hurricane, it only makes sense that I be Bunny for the show. I took an old shirt of Dad’s and modded it to be for Bunny.
I had all the pieces and parts for this costume, and didn’t need to spend a dime.
The show was a total blast! It was packed, it was hot, people danced and sang along with us, and we all partied hard. I had a lot of friends come out, which was super exciting. It was a great time.
I also made my rap debut, doing the Q-Tip part of “Get it Together.” It was so fun. I’ve known that part since the song came out in 1994, and I had a blast coming out from behind my laptop to rock it with the ladies.
My DJ name is DJ ENRG, because those are the coolest initials in the history of the world (Erica Noelle Reid Gerdes.) I really lucked out there—I really love my name. The night before the show, Fuzzy was helping me put together some adapters and cords, and he said “Oh, there’s one more cord that you need for the show” and then he gave me a small box. This is what was in it.
I totally cried. Such an amazing gift! I love it sooooo much. I will wear it for every She’s Crafty show from here on out, and most days in between. I have the most amazing partner in the history of the world.
All in all, it was an amazing Halloween, the best I’ve had in years.
Upcoming She’s Crafty shows:
November 15th at Cubbie Bear
December 13 at Mother’s.
Info here!
Erica Reid
