Friday, October 31, 2008

Black and Orange!

Happy Halloween all!

There's something about this holiday that brings out the kid in all of us. The weather is always just about right, charity and laughter abound, and there's candy galore! I bought a pumpkin yesterday that I'm going to carve tonight to sit on the doorstep. And yes, I'm one of those people that does a ridiculously hard design. Here's a picture of my last year's pumpkin:

I'll make sure to take pics this year too, so you can see this year's design.

Anywho.... it just so happens that black and orange were also my college colors. [Insert hilarious Halloween themed college jokes here.] So, I thought I would regale you with the stories of my dance career...

It all started when I was a wee child. My mom stuck me in dance classes as soon as I could walk, and I took to it like a duck to water. I loved it, and I went as much as I could. While still living in California, I starred in the Sacramento ballet's 100 year production of the Nutcracker [Note: When I say "starred" I mean "had the most minor role in the whole production".].

Here's me back stage, fresh out of curlers, note yet in my costume, with stage makeup that would make a French whore blush:

When we moved to GA, I gave up ballet to continue my illustrious soccer career. Somewhere around middle school, I realized that I rather sucked at soccer and tried out for my highschool dance team. Well, I made it. And found out that I was actually OK at it. I danced hard my freshman year, and the next year the captain of the team handed over the reins to me. From my sophomore year on, I was the captain of the team (and I must say, this looked great on my college applications!).

I'm proud to say that I took us from ugly-ass skirt uniforms with nothing but ribbons and pom-poms to a team with lovely pant uniforms, metallic poms, ribbons, flags, wings, and props. I even did a solo with a cape. [Note: If all of this means nothing to you, it's OK. I didn't expect you to get it on the first try.] I'll even take credit for encouraging the band director to ditch the old band uniforms for something more snazzy and modern. (I couldn't have them making us look bad!) We even went on to get superior scores at a state band and dance competition [Band Geek Translation: "Superior" is the highest score a team can get]. During my reign, the dance team size went from 8 to about 15 girls. (I tried my best to find a picture on my hard drive from highschool days, but, alas, I couldn't. If I do, I'll update this post.)

In college, I tried out for dance team my freshman year and failed to make the team. *GASP* I know. I worked harder and tried out the next year, and *tada* I made it! We were basically a jazz squad, and we danced at all the basketball game halftimes and made the sideline look pretty. I continued through my junior year, and my senior year, I became captain of the team, but found it hard to muddle through a lot of the college admin bureaucracy to actually make any notable changes other than being more in sync with the cheerleaders and suckering the school out of new uniforms.

Here's my college dance picture:

I sure do miss dance these days, and I can't quite kick as high as I used to (although I tried a high kick in the gym mirror yesterday, and I got to about neck level - WOOO!). But I did get good posture and flexibility out of all that time spent shakin' what my momma gave me, and I laugh at people who wonder how I wear high heels all the time without falling on my face.

Note to Self: Black and Orange! Go Bears!

14 comments:

Matt said...

Awww you were adorable!!!!!

Rachel said...

check you out girl!
You rocked it back then too!

Anonymous social worker said...

you pretty are you!
happy halloween.
you should show us a video of your routines

Anonymous said...

What a cutie!

I was a dancer until I got preggers.. cheerleader in high school and on the gymanastics team.. I was in the best shape back then! I could not do a high kick to save my life now... but, I can still do the splits :D


Happy Halloween MJ! Hope you have a great weekend..

Girly

Bobbinoggin said...

okay, i am seriously in awe of your pumpkin from last year. amazing!

colbymarshall said...

Thank GOD you got rid of those ugly leotard-plus-ruffle outfits. Ick. And weren't you also responsible for getting them to start calling you guys "dance team" instead of "drill team?" That was a good change, too!

MJ said...

Matt - Aww thanks!

Rachel - LOL, yeah me and my missing tooth, we rocked it :)

Franco - Hmmm.... I have some routine vids somewhere... that will take some searching though...

Girly - I can get pretty close to hittin' the splits, but I've lost a lot of flexibility.

Bobbin - Thanks! I have little time to do this year's, so I hope it turns out good too!

CM - No kidding. Remember those white uniforms from my freshman year? Ick! Oh yes, I had to convince people that we did not "drill" anything, that we, in fact, danced on the field... duh. And before I left, I was this close to getting them to put us under athletics instead of the fine art department. Duh x 2.

Anonymous said...

I have one daughter that is a dancer, the others are athletes. Our little dancer endures a lot of good-natured kidding.

Love your pumpkin from last year. I don't get that elaborate. Triangles and circles for me! :-)

Anonymous said...

WOW! That pumpkin is awesome. I have no artistic ability except doing stick people. Therefore, any pumpkin that I would carve would be a stick pumpkin.

MJ...you are really a knock-out. That's a great picture.
My youngest daughter took dance for about 8 years. My oldest daughter does not have a single co-oridnated bone in her entire body. She will tell you that herself. One year during the taking of dance pictures, I dared my oldest to grab a dance costume and act like she was in dance. The photographer had no way of knowing any difference. She put on a yellow costume that made her resemble big bird. We got a good laugh out of it until....bwahaha....during that year's recital, pictures of all the dancers were projected onto a big screen before the recital started. And, there SHE WAS...in all her big bird glory! She was about 15 at the time...the right age to be horribly embarrassed!!! Now, we laugh about it.

Loved the post. It brought back some good memories for me. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Aww, you were/are adorable. I think dancing gives a kind of high like runners talk about getting so you must miss that after a while of not doing it. I know I do. That's why I love listening to my dance music when nobody else is around. ;)

Ashley. Unscripted... said...

Hi from LOTD! The pumpkin is awesome and you're adorable!!

Love the fish by the way.

Maki said...

Oh my goodness, look at the cute little girl and pretty dancer!!!

I have been a big fan of your gorgeous smile (i do sounds like a stalker. LOL).. But really, I love your smile!!!

Dr Zibbs said...

Beautiful!

pure evyl said...

That is one awesome pumpkin.

And you wear the dance outfit well. Dayum.