Daybreaker all I ever wanted

If there are two things I try to avoid at all costs they are: 1) waking up before dawn and b) dancing. The first is self-explanatory. As for the second, well, I used to love to boogie back in the disco age, but it all came to a startling end in 1984 when I attempted to do a “run-and-slide” after ingesting a small handful of mysterious orange pills one night at Area. I wound up slamming head-first into the DJ booth and having to be rushed to St. Vincents. I was fine, but that was the last time I ever “danced with abandon.”

But, when my dear friend and favorite Bay Area doyenne Carole Shorenstein Hays invited me to Daybreaker on Wednesday morning I decided to throw caution (and good reason) to the rolling fog. Daybreaker, for the uninitiated, is a roaming early morning dance party — usually starting with an hour of yoga and ending with two hours of wild, uninhibited dancing — all before work. Weird? Sure. But admit it, you’re intrigued.

Well, at this particular installment of Daybreaker, which took place on stage of the Curran, yoga was done away with and replaced with 1980’s-style aerobics. DJ Matt Haze spun 80’s beats, but the centerpiece was Kat Robichaud, of “The Voice” fame, in an oversized wig at the tippy-top of a terrifyingly tall ladder, to belt out “We Got The Beat” — which I took to be a mystical foreshadowing of Curran’s next production: the pre-Broadway run of the new Go-Go’s musical, HEAD OVER HEELS.

Someone known as “Aima the Dreamer” (not her Christian name, I’m guessing) played emcee in a flamboyant ensemble. For an added dose of surreality/entertainment, the San Francisco Circus Association provided an umbrella juggling act that can only be described as… nope, it can’t be described. But it was stunning! Even a proper string quartet added to the hits-of-the-1980’s underscoring.

The only troubling moment came when I was forced into an embrace with a stranger upon entry, as everyone who entered “got a hug.” I must say, even as a staunch germaphobe with social anxiety, I rather enjoyed the physical contact.

By 9:00am, the party had ended, and we all went into our days with our heads full of endorphins and 80’s tunes. And Carole Shorenstein Hays discovered yet another way to create a sense of community upon the Curran stage.

As always, a toast of something sparkling to you and yours!

Kisses,