let's dance!

from 7:

okay i was just at dance class,and i saw one of my BEST friends named olivia. in dance class me and olivia were so silly! and after dance class, we got (two) starburst(s). and we ate both of them before our mom's were even there to pick us up! and i usally get picked up after olivia, but this time, olivia got picked up after me!

from 37:

There wasn't much in the way of dance studios where I grew up in Tinytown, USA, but my mom managed to find me a place to get my tap, ballet, jazz on. Tammy's School of Dance it was called, and let me just say Tammy had a lot of other things going on in her life besides dance back in 1982. I remember specifically a time when all of us sat lined up against the wall, decked out in our leotards and legwarmers, most of us rocking side ponies, waiting for class to begin. Tammy was sitting opposite us, against the mirrors. Her mascara was all smeared. She wasn't talking, just sitting, and I'm not sure whether she even knew she had 15 young girls in the room with her. I remember we were whispering to each other; I think something in Tammy's face triggered our fight or flight responses, and we were just waiting to figure out which one we should use. I can't remember who started the yelling, but I remember it was loud, and it was maybe the first time I'd ever heard a grown-up yell in my life, outside of a football game. But before I knew it, it was a full-on scream-fest. Half of the yelling came from somewhere off-stage, from a deep voice that we quickly learned was her soon-to-be-ex-husband. The whole thing was very other-worldly, Tammy and her almost-ex yelling at each other like that. I wish I would have known then what I know now, so I could tell Tammy that nobody deserves to be yelled at like that, and that people who yell aren't really the sorts of folks you need to be palling around with anyhow. But we all just sat there, side-ponied, prepubescent wanna-be dancers, waiting for class to start and wanting our teacher to stop screaming and for that mean guy to magically hush. That's the only time I can distinctly remember Tammy and her almost-ex yelling, but I could be blocking out the other times. Regardless: not exacly the year I mastered my shimmie OR my chasse.