Thank Pelou You’re Back

Vado Diomande shows that the danger from anthrax exposure is probably overstated:

The African dancer whose rare bout with anthrax spooked the city a year ago is on the mend — and planning a thank-you concert tomorrow to celebrate.

“I was very bad last year,” said Vado Diomande, who lost at least 45 pounds during his ordeal.

. . .

His was the first case of naturally occurring inhalation anthrax in the United States since 1976 — and the first since five people died from anthrax-tainted envelopes in 2001.

Officials quickly assured New Yorkers that they were not in any danger, and Mayor Bloomberg went on television asking New Yorkers to pray for Diomande.

Doctors told Diomande that if he lived, he might never be able to perform again, he said.

His doctors said the 45-year-old’s impressive physical fitness played a key role in his survival, but Diomande believes it was something else.

“I have Pelou with me,” he said.

Diamande’s tribe believes that Gue Pelou is a mediator between the land of the ancestors and the land of the living. The spirit expresses itself through the acrobatic feats he performs on stilts during shows like the one he will do tomorrow at the Helen Mills Theater in Chelsea.

Backstory: Terrorists Aren’t Drummers, Are They?