Azaleas at Savill Garden

Having a heart attack is something one is never prepared for. But unlike other life changing events, such as childbirth, instead of leaving one awed by the miracle of life on earth, it leaves one shocked by the fragility of human existence.

My mother's right hand

Last Friday, my mother called me saying she felt unwell, and wanted to see me, urgently. That night, I flew from New York to London. When I arrived at her house, she wanted something to help her breathe, so we called NHS 111. After refusing an ambulance twice, my mother agreed to let them come.

The paramedics said that my mother was having a heart attack. They turned on the sirens and raced to Harefield Hospital, one of the UK’s leading heart hospitals.

My mother's left hand

My mother, who had always refused medical treatment whenever possible, now lay strapped to a cot with tubes coming out all over. She lifted the oxygen mask briefly to say, “In for a penny, in for a pound.”

“There’s going to be a lot of fuss when we arrive,” said a paramedic. “Just go with it.”

Medical staff wheeled my mother into the operating room and paramedics said the angioplasty would take about half an hour. In fact, the surgery took upwards of two hours, during which I threw up three times in the hospital bin.

The doctor told me he had placed two stents in my mother’s heart and that it looked quite good, but that things could go either way in the first twelve hours. Tubes and wires threaded from her body to bags of liquid, an oxygen tank, and a monitor that dinged intermittently, bringing sudden visits by nurses.

A bird I tried to save

Near my mother's house, I found an injured bird, which I failed to nurse back to health, and a sick hedgehog, which I had no idea how to help. I saw rabbits frolicking in the horse’s field and wondered why life came with its promise of lush exuberance, and later drained it all away.

Elizabeth

I met a new family member, Elizabeth, and saw in her face what we have all felt at times: wonderment at being alive. My mother is at home now, happy to be here, and hoping that what has been wonderful in life will continue to be so.

My mother in more carefree days

La Gente Es La Gente is a monthly performance by Aera, an aerial dance company based in Brooklyn. Aera quote Oscar Wilde in their publicity for the show: "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."

Because the last show at Casa Mezcal was on April 20^th, the theme was 420, and each dancer created a performance about drug or alcohol use inspired by a character from popular media that has influenced them.

Casa Mezcal is a basement room with an alligator on one wall, a bison head on another, a stage with tasseled red curtains and space for about 100 people. The red curtains closed and opened music hall style between each act, while the dancers cleaned the pole themselves.

The first performer, Stella Fink, skipped on in a summer dress, followed shortly afterwards by a man dressed as a cannabis leaf. They then smoked a herbal cigarette, and Stella stripped down to a cannabis leaf-decorated bikini to do some amazing moves on the pole while the cannabis leaf man relaxed.

Jessica Linick at La Gente es La Gente 420

The next performer, Jessica Linick, came on in a striped shirt and wasted-looking make-up. She put on a fantastically desperate and creative performance, throwing herself around the pole as if she wanted to choke the life out of it.

Next came NYPD instructor, Caitlin Goddard, who slinked on in a black dress, taking swigs from a bottle of whiskey. The character she chose was Meg Ryan in the movie, When A Man Loves A Woman. At the end of her performance, she threw a glass of whisky at the pole and lolled against the back curtain.

Kelly McLaughlin strolled onstage wearing a floral dress with a man dressed as some kind of animal on a leash. A psilocybin mushroom poked in from the side and after she took a bite, she started indulging in shenanigans with the animal man, and I think she might have killed him at the end, but I’m not sure.

Jessica Mari at La Gente es La Gente 420

Jessica Mari followed, doing a sultry dance around the pole with a black bob and black leotard. She brought to mind Louise Brooks or Liz Taylor.

The elegant Nasty Canasta, came on and drank from a bottle while washing herself in a tin bath. This was not pole dancing, but the audience seemed to love it.

Steven Retchless danced to Johnny Cash’s "Hurt." Steven emerged to screams, removed his g-string to more screams, (he was wearing underpants underneath) and revealed a pair of plastic breasts to even more screams. Steven’s dancing is fierce and fluid, and I admired the strength with which he handled the pole.

Danielle Romano's bucket hat and khakis made me think of 70’s tv series Gilligan’s Island. She did a funny pole walk while suspended on the pole, and combined some very creative and strong moves.

What I love about Aera is that they combine dance, props and performance to create something artistic, surprising and often very funny. I look forward to seeing what they do next.

Aera photo by Christopher Butt, Golconda.org