I brought my traveling collection, plus several new dolls to the Musical Olympus Foundation Charity Ball on May 21st, at the Catherine's Place in St. Petersburg. This was my exhibition room at the Catherine's Palace. Not too shabby.
Setting up for the show later in the evening.
The new doll 'Wife', was exhibited too.
The weather was beautiful and really warm and the palace grounds were like a fairy tale.
It's show time! Chad and I are making our way through the palace chambers to the ball room.
Explaining the concept behind 'State Property' to a theater director.
Believe it or not, but this is almost 10pm in the evening in St. Petersburg in May. The days are very long and darkness only lasts for about 3-4 hours. In mid June it doesn't get dark at all. The room was filled with golden light and everything glowed.
The ball was magical and at the end, there were fireworks in the gardens. The show had to be taken down that same night after the ball, and I had to do it very quickly in my ball gown.
I'm exhausted from a day jam-packed with working, dancing and unforgettable impressions.
But the night didn't end there. As we took down the show, and the palace emptied, Chad went to inform the organizers and got locked out of the palace, leaving me all alone, stuck on the other side. I spent almost 40 minutes trying to find the rest of the crew and Chad, wandering around through the darkening mazes of cavernous gold rooms and staircases, all on huge heels and enormous skirt and with 2 heavy suitcases full of dolls. Chad in the meantime was running around in the dark gardens, going from one locked entrance to the other. Every now and then I would run into some staff member of a take-down crew and plead for their help, but in such an enormous place and with several different crews working, there was a real communication problem and nobody could help me. I was beginning to think that we were accidentally left behind to spend the night there with the ghosts of Russian monarchs.
Eventually I was found, or I found them. I was substantially frightened and exhausted and my feet were bleeding by that point.
But it makes a good story.