Had I dreamed it? Did it happen? I turned again to Google and was delighted to find this biography of Cilli Wang, whom I saw in perform at the unlikely venue of West Hartlepool town hall in County Durham in the north-eat of England. I was about ten or eleven so the year would be 1963 or 64, I think. She also appeared at the Bristol Old Vic theatre at this time. It was a junior school outing and I don't recall any preparation or follow-up lesson from a teacher- just an entertainment. I recall her dressed as a man and dancing round the stage with a huge doll fastened to her feet and hands. It was a momentary interval of surreal middle-European cabaret in a mucky industrial town. I found her performance enchanting and intriguing and never forgot it. Through Google and memory I discovered today that it was not a dream. Cilli Wang was a reality - an enduring and formidable one in the cultural life of Europe. Thank you JWA. By the way, does any film of her performances exist?

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