When I was in 3rd grade, my BFF Susanna Cluthe and I decided we were going to enter the elementary school talent show by doing a dance to "Walk Like An Egyptian" by The Bangles. We tried to make up our own choreography, but 9 year olds who only had 1 year of dance class between them aren't the best choreographers. So we decided to focus on costumes. We were going to wow them with our bikinis and swirling scarves and glistening trays balanced up on our fingertips like the waitresses do at the Italian restaurants. We had really FANTASTIC makeup to use, since Susanna's mom was a Mary Kay salesperson.
When the time came to try out for the show, we got up there and swirled and twirled and walked like Egyptians till we could barely stand any longer, dizzy from it all. We didn't make it. I guess two barely choreopgraphed chubby little girls in bikinis adorned with scarves plucked from their mother's closets carrying silver platters bought at the thrift store weren't exactly what the organizers had in mind.
They gave us bit parts holding the cards announcing the "real" acts. I had to dress up as an eel. It was humiliating.
I still think the audience would've loved our act. It was pure. No help from the parents, no coaching from the teachers; it was all us, in all our little girl glory, proud to be who we were, when we were. *sigh*
What brought back this flood of memories was a song I heard while watching Grey's the other nigh. It was a Walk Like An Egyptian cover song, by The Puppini Sisters. It is fantastic. Drums and strings, folky and bohemian, with enough spunk to still take you back.
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