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My unusual Christmas : Pamela
I'd been on the Claymores Cheer squad just two months when I was offered the chance to spend my Christmas away from home. I had just ten days to buy, wrap and exchange Christmas presents with all my family and friends!
I had the opportunity to join a production team putting on a show in a huge casino in Slovenia. I have worked as a professional dancer for the past five years and was supposed to be retiring, hanging up my dancing shoes and settling down. But this job fitted perfectly with my job and the Claymores cheer squad as it slotted right into the Christmas holidays.I flew to Venice to meet the rest of the cast and we spent a whole week there, rehearsing for eight or nine hours a day, learning the new show. At one point I learned five routines in one day - way more hectic than our steady Claymores pace of learning! It was great fun to learn such a varied show. We had material to fill two half-hour shows with numbers ranging from Janet Jackson to Prince and Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend from Moulin Rouge. There was an Egyptian routine, an Arabic-style dance, a couple of Spanish routines and a lot of feathers!! There were 16 dancers, including 4 males and some Italians who couldn't speak English so it made rehearsing quite interesting at times! 
On the morning of the first show we travelled across the border into Slovenia, ready for the big night - despite the fact we hadn't seen, never mind, tried on the costumes. We arrived at the venue and had a technical rehearsal on the stage and set about trying on the costumes. Thankfully most of them were great - nothing a couple of safety pins couldn't fix - it's never as glamorous as it seems!The first show went brilliantly. We were all so nervous but I think it added to the performance. I spent an unusual Christmas Eve partying with all these strangers who had become my new friends and we continued with the show until moving to Austria for the last four days. It was picture-perfect skiing country, but I had to stare at the lovely mountains from my hotel window as our contracts banned us from skiing in case of injury. The closest I got was taking the ski lift to the top of the mountain and down again! I had great fun but couldn't wait to get home. I left at 5.30am and got back to Glasgow at 7pm, but still made Cheerleader Training at 8pm. I had a blast but I am home to stay now. We host the World Bowl in Glasgow this summer and I know I'm going to be happiest dancing my little Reebok socks off in Glasgow! Pamela |
