Summary
The cast enters to the strains of the song ‘It's My Life' coming from a tape recorder carried by one of the group. The tape recorder is placed on a bench and they begin an energetic aerobics class.
BUSI: Sanibonani. Hello. Welcome.
A month before the elections, I made the following entry in my diary.
'I woke up at six o'clock this morning. I wiped my face with a wet rag. I put on my tracksuit, took my sports bag with my tights in it and rushed to the Holiday Inn Health Club in the centre of town. That's where I do my aerobics. I was early because I wanted to ride an aero-bicycle for fitness. I did so for half an hour and this way, the whole of me was nicely relaxed when the aerobics class started.
There is an old white man in this class. His name is Herman. He always impresses me with whatever he is saying or doing. He told me that he's been training for the past twenty years and now he is seventy-six years old. His body is firm and strong and he looks as if he's only forty you know. So he confronted me this morning and said:
'Busi, you worry me a lot, my darling.'
'Why?'I asked him.
'I've watched you when we exercise and you're not doing them the right way.'
'Oh no, how can you say this, because I was trying to put more effort in to these exercises. I feel embarrassed.'
'No, no, no, no don't feel bad about it. All you have to do is to stand next to me so that I can show you exactly what your muscles need. You just watch me and do exactly what I'm doing and I promise you that within a week you'll be fit and see the difference.'
I did that and after the class my muscles felt so sore. I realised that Herman was right. I hadn't been doing the exercises properly before. I thanked Herman and went into the changing rooms where I had a shower before going to the steaming room.
While I was smearing my body with oil, I chatted with a charming coloured lady. She told me that when she was eighteen years old, she was having this nice body but now she's worried about her protruding belly, big bums and huge breasts.
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- Information
- My Life and Valley SongTwo Plays, pp. 1 - 32Publisher: Wits University PressPrint publication year: 1996