. . . dancin' machine . . .

. . . last night i attended

a super inspirational fireside . . .

. . . the huge chapel

at the red mountain institute

was filled to capacity

with 1300 youth ages 12-18

and their young men

and young women leaders . . .

. . . the meeting was held

to kick off a dance festival

coming in april . . .

. . . in conjunction

with the 100th birthday

of arizona becoming a state . . .

. . . it will be known as

dancentennial . . .

. . . we all watched

an extremely well-done

video presentation

touting the virtues

of developing our talents . . .

. . . a swimmer,

a black belt in karate,

a quarterback,

a magician,

a vocalist,

and a violinist

shared their views

on the great reward

that results

from the hard work

and many hours

they devote

to improving their talents . . .

. . . i found myself reminiscing

about my own dance festival days . . .

. . . our big performance

was a regional affair . . .

. . . as i remember,

it involved youth

from all over

the valley of the sun . . .

. . . we danced

on the football field

of arizona state university . . .

. . . we were kind of a big deal . . .

. . . the older i get . . .

. . . the better i was . . .

. . . here's proof . . .

. . . from my first year

of teen elect . . .

{teen elect was a program we attended as twelve-year-olds

to learn manners and how to act around boys ~

but mostly to dance!}

. . . apparently, back then,

i was pretty good . . .

. . . probably because

of the time i spent

in lessons

at Jeanne's School of Dance . . .

{too bad you can't tell we're wearing hot pink leotards and tights

in these old black and white newspaper photos

and that we're standing on the sidewalk

in front of the mesa tribune offices}

. . . i was so good

in my first year of teen elect

that i got invited back

for an unprecedented second year . . .

{or maybe it was just because

they needed a few extra girls because there were tons of boys that year

~ who knows?}

. . . nevertheless, look!

i won another first place ribbon . . .

. . . a few years later

at good old mesa high,

our musical my senior year

was the music man . . .

. . . i was chosen as a dancer

for that production . . .

. . . picture this ~

cartwheels off of library tables . . .

. . . then picture me . . .

. . . i know ~ amazing . . .

{there i am pictured [seated] just to the right

of that stern-looking policeman}

. . . sidenote:

professor harold hill

was played

by none other than

matt salmon . . .

. . . former us representative/

current congressional candidate . . .

. . . debbie burnham allen

played marian the librarian . . .

. . . then in 1976 ~

the same year we celebrated

the bicentennial

of the united states of america . . .

. . . i got to participate

~ again as a dancer ~

in the mesa musical theatre presentation

of hello dolly . . .

. . . nice hat, eh? . . .

. . . dancing's been on my mind

{and in my sore muscles}

ever since last week at mutual

when we learned

the national dance day

party rock anthem . . .

. . . i use the term "learned" loosely . . .

. . . though i must say

that candace did a great job

teaching it . . .

. . . i left feeling more than ever

like the old grey mare

who ain't what she used to be . . .

. . . cutting the rug

doesn't come as naturally as it used to

~ that's for sure! . . .

. . . picture the running man . . .

. . . then picture me . . .

. . . NOT amazing! . . .

. . . here's the dance . . .