Many people don’t know that I, in fact, was quite the ballerina back in the olden days. I had a role in the lesser known ballet, Swine Lake… the sequel to Swan Lake, but with swines instead of swans. I was the understudy to the understudy to the understudy of the 15th background swine. It’s a shame that ballet never caught on… it really did bring an awareness to the swine population… they ain’t all snorting and mud rolling.
Well… wasn’t that a sweet little story… moving on. This weekend, I ventured with the family to Idaho Falls… about a 2-1/2-hour jaunt from where my couch lives. We went to see my cute cuzzin, Jennifer’s much anticipated ballet recital. Jen-Jen is pretty much like my 2nd sister. We all grew up together and she stayed with us many summers as a kid/teenager. Lindsay and I love to tease our little cuzzin… mostly about her slow progression into an old lady (aka our grandma’s twin). We like to call her little Ella (grandma’s name) because she enjoys wearing her bathrobe and slipper socks all day, carrying rotted bananas around in her purse, and using phrases like I’ve never had that before! Which is code for, I want a bite of whatever you are eating, but can’t come right out and just say that. We sure do love our little Ella!
Me, Jen-Jen, and Lindsay with our new friend, Marlboro Man, John Wayne... and to think he never offered us a cig... what a drag!
To be brutally honest, I think pretty much the only ballet I’d seen in person was The Nutcracker. PERIOD! I’ve always thought that ballerinas were beautiful, graceful, strong dancers, but I’d just never fell into the craze. I take that back… I did take ballet lessons when I was like 5 and 6 years old… and by ballet, I really mean moving my arms in a stiff fashion to some music and being the tallest and largest kid in the class. I stood out like Andre the Giant in a pile of kindergartners… and I was horridly unflexible. While all the other little girls were busy doing their splits, I was still trying to master reaching down to touch my toes. Needless to say, I have always admired folks who can dance!
The ballet was based on a Japanese folktale entitled The Bamboo Princess and featured all ages… from little bitty kids to adults… and I’m pretty sure every last one of them dancers had more coordination in their pinky fingers than I did in my whole danged body. It was fun to watch the story told through dance and even an uncultured nondancer such as myself could keep up with all the pirouettes and plies and crochets (oops… wrong line of business). Not to be biased or anything, but I thought Jen-Jen’s class did the best of all the groups. Not that I know anything about ballet, but I thought that they were the most organized and synchronized and I loved their pretty gold-leafed fans. Jen-Jen, I give your performance skillz a 10/10… and the dude sitting behind me who kept whooping and hollering like he was at a cow ropin’ competition… I give you a 2/10. Thanks for inviting us, Jen and for culturing this girl with the rhythm of a deadened tree trunk.
Beautiful Jen-Jen posing for and with her fan(s)!
Question of the Day: Do you like to dance? If so, which kind of dance is your preferred boogying method?
craving a life 