Today I’m Writing About:
Jen at Absolutely Bananas suggested this idea as a topic today on her site. I thought this would actually be pretty fun to write about. Here’s my embarrassing moment story:
As a little girl I was extremely shy. I don’t mean just your average run of the mill shy girl, I was terrified to even answer the telephone when it rang. My mom tried I don’t know how many different ways to involve me in activities that forced me to socialize with other kids my age. Finally, sometime around 3rd or 4th grade I decided to try dance classes. Because all the other girls my age were going to Jonie’s Dance Studio, not to mention the fact that the little town I grew up in only had a population of about 15 & this was the only dance studio within 30 miles, this is where I began my dance career. It worked, I came out of my shell. I started having girlfriends over for sleepovers, attended a few birthday parties and even talked on the telephone without wetting myself.
Dance classes were only once per week, but I was taking both jazz and acrobats (now called tumbling) so I went to Jonies twice each week. Each spring Jonie had a recital where everyone from both of her studios performed a dance or tumbling act in front of an audience of hundreds. These were held in the auditorium of Greencastle High School and lasted for 2 evenings.
How exciting was all this?
Not at all, now I had even bigger worries, the worst of which was “stage fright”.
Rehearsals went on for weeks it seems and my classmates and I had our acts down perfectly by recital time. A few days prior to our special night our sweet little costumes came in, I can call them sweet now, but at the time I thought they were hideous, I mean who would have thought of cutting a square out of a checkered blue tablecloth and patching it on the front of a leotard? These suits had elastic spaghetti straps and were made of satin which just wasn’t very stretchy.
My jazz act which wasn’t in the hideous “take me on a picnic” costume luckily, went off without a hitch, I survived my first performance and breathed a sigh of relief when it was over. I only had one more performance to go and I was much more confident going into this one.
Our song begins, and we start our little number. We begin with somersaults, we stand on our heads, perform a cartwheel or 2 then on to the fun part, front walkovers. I’m in a handstand, then go on over into my backbend, then just as I’m ready to come up I feel and hear a snap, then another. Both of my spaghetti straps were toast. Of course there’s nothing to do but continue on unless I want to go crashing to the floor. I stand up out of my backbend and am in such a state of shock just knowing what’s about to happen that instead of grabbing my suit and holding it up I just stand, completely frozen as my suit falls to the floor. In front of hundreds of people.
