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PAGE 3 |
FEBRUARY, 2012 |
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The
tale of one report card. |
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It is only now that I
can think without visibly cringing, about the day
when I shifted into neutral in the driver's-ed car in the
middle of Page and Pennsylvania Avenues during the morning rush hour
the week before Christmas. |
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REUNION 2012 |
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The
Friday Mixer and Saturday Night Dinner/Dance will be held at
the St. Charles Convention Center. The picnic is being moved
back to the St. Peters Cultural Arts Room located in St
Peters city Hall (5200 Mexico Road) which is the same place
it was held in 2006. It is easily accessible, has plenty of parking
and is enclosed for inclement weather. The room will hold 325 people.
If
the weather permits, the park can be used too. No commitment was required to attend the past two yearly picnics. You just showed up and made a donation to help pay for the park pavilion. For this picnic it will be a little different. Since the picnic will be held in an enclosed building, the cost is much higher. We are asking everyone send in a RSVP card so we know exactly how many to plan for and so nametags with your school picture can be made. To view who has committed and which event they are attending, just click the list. If you did not receive an invitation in the mail, you must not listed in the database. Email [email protected] asking for a RSVP card to be sent to you. Prices are listed on the front page of this newsletter.
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It isn't what you gather that defines you---but what you scatter |
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Page 5 |
FEBRUARY, 2012 |
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DANCING WITH THE …GUYS By
Joyce (Perkins) Sudbeck '53
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Last month I wrote about our balloon-legged gym suits and leg-wrestling which are a part of my fond memories of Wellson High School. There were other things that we did in gym class that were a lot of fun as well.
I have been ruminating about our “alternate Fridays” when, for whatever reason, some faculty member(s) decided it would be very beneficial and great fun to “mix” the boys and the girls. The purpose - to teach us to dance.
Now…their idea of “dancing” and our ideas were certainly not one in the same. They leaned toward the more conventional type of dancing and we were more into the modern, or current dance crazes.
I can still remember seeing the pained look on the boys’ faces as they lined up along the gym wall. They would much rather have been tossing the basketball, running track, or possibly even “hanging by their thumbs” than dancing around the gym floor with just any girl. The pairing, or partner selection, was done randomly. It was not based on any personal preferences or choices made by the dancers, themselves. No opportunities there, at all.
Once we had been given a demonstration of the footwork, we were expected to duplicate it. As the music began, we danced to the schottische, polka, foxtrot, jitterbug, or waltz, to name a few. Good old traditional dances that no one would ever do in the “school dance” world, I assure you. Think back to the Homecoming Dance, the Valentine Dance, or even the prom. Can you remember waiting breathlessly, on the sidelines for some handsome lad to walk up and say, “Hey, do ya wanna Schottische with me?” Oh…I think not.
Even the foxtrot (more along the lines of the popular box-step) was not a favorite. The one-step, or the two-step were more easily mastered, by the boys for slow dances. For the fast ones, well, the jitterbug was pretty similar to the swing, which later evolved into the imperial (double-time, fancier footwork). We didn’t dance many polkas or waltzes at the school dances, either, as I recall.
Anyway, I’ll admit it did turn out to be a lot of fun. There was something about music and dancing that brought out the best in everyone. Quite a few of the guys had two left feet. Their talent for dancing ended with slow dancing the one-step or two-step I mentioned. Lightly skipping around the floor to the lively schottische music with a “One, two, three, hop - One, two, three, hop - Step hop, step hop, step hop” wasn’t their thing. They made us laugh a lot as they “grumbled and stumbled.” They were not happy campers.
We all survived the PE dance sessions and lived to tell about it. I know the faculty meant well and hoped to instill some rhythm and dancing skills in us - maybe even a few social skills, too. They hoped it might “break the ice” so to speak, for our school dances and social events. Did it work? Maybe it did. What do you think?
When we danced back in those days, we actually touched the other person. That was before rock (Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis) hit the record counters.
A couple of years after our PE dancing days, I remember Dick Clark and American Bandstand graced our TV screens. Those kids danced up a storm and introduced a myriad of new dances. The imperial was #1, the cha-lypso (combination cha-cha and calypso, often danced to Paul Anka’s “Diana”), the stroll, the monkey, the mashed potato, the swim, and on and on. For most of the dances, the participants went solo, never making any physical contact with their partners. They had better be good at whatever dance they were doing or they would have looked pretty foolish. They sure couldn’t depend on any help from their partner - who was busily whirling about on their own. Only while performing slow dances, or the imperial, did they really dance with their partner.
Funny how I remember such trivial things, like the names of a couple of the kids on American Bandstand. Remember Justine and Bob (they were favorites that always reminded me of Ken and Barbie)? There was Pat Molateri, Carol Scaldefari… I remember a lot of the names were Italian. Most of the girls were pretty and the boys were handsome and they were all terrific dancers. Fortified with boundless energy, they “Rocked Around the Clock” for hours on end. Of course, Dick Clark (who remained, amazingly, ever-young over the years) was the perfect emcee.
Our “traditional” PE dancing paled by comparison, but I don’t think the faculty ever had it in mind to elevate us to the level of dance expertise performed on American Bandstand.
I love thinking back to my Wellston High School days. Life was pretty much fun with new adventures every day. Strangely enough, I soon began looking forward to those Friday “mixers” in PE class. Learning those dances and watching the boys suffering through them gave me something to smile about.
Fun was where we found it, wasn’t it? |
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A fire in your heart---can melt the lead in your feet. |
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02/11/2012 06:19:00 AM