. . . 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
. . . 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
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 . . .
