The dance of time

Ah, history. One man's trash is another man's treasure. Or, one girl's recital is another girl's "Your hair looked like that?!?"

When I was growing up, I was a dancer. Well, a "dancer." I did what most little girls did, and I danced. Tap and ballet, then jazz, and much later, pointe and modern. This is how I spent 17 of my formative years. And of course at the end of every year, there was a recital. Choreography, costumes, feathers, sequins... and lots of hairspray.

I've had a few projects this summer, all documenting my years of recitals. It began when I wanted to make a CD of the songs I had on tape (At one of my studios, the teachers would tape your recital music for you, so you could practice at home. I now have 5 60- and 90-minute tapes' worth of music from recitals and various other performances); that somehow led to wanting to take pictures of all of my costumes. And I also finally got around to a project I've been meaning to do for years: transfer all of the VHS tapes I have of recitals and other performances to DVD.

So as I'm watching these performances, I'm looking at the backstage footage of people before the shows. The more recent performances barely registered in my mind, other than things like "Oh, I remember her" and the like. But the older shows.... those are funny. I see the adults from 1988, and I think to myself, "OH MY GOD! LOOK AT THAT HAIR!!!!! HER HEAD EXPLODED!!!!" or "MAN PERM!!!!" And footage of people in rehearsals? "FRENCH-CUT LEOTARDS!!!!! AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!?!?!?" (And to top it off, or maybe to bottom it off, they were worn over bike shorts, usually cotton, not the spandex ones. Because a French-cut leotard over *spandex* bike shorts would just be ridiculous. French-cut leotards over bike shorts...what were we thinking?!?! Oh, fashions.)

Oh, history. Oh, fashions. Ugh, those fashions. Not so fashionable anymore. But it's all History now, and a nice little time capsule. An anthropological look at hairstyles and dance attire styles of the late 1980s and early 1990s. One person's "style" is another person's "What were you thinking?!?!", even if it's the same person, just decades apart. (But isn't that the way it always goes when you look back at yourself, years later? Think of your prom pictures, your graduation pictures, your elementary school pictures, pictures of you at parties with your friends.... Years later, they're almost always an embarrassment.)

(And let's not even go into the music of the times -- a tap dance to Bell Biv Devoe?!? a jazz number to Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. EMF. the theme to 21 Jump Street??? Not to say I don't love those dances, but 20-some years later, the music choice makes me laugh. Or giggle with nostalgia.)

Yeah, we thought stuff like this
looked good.