Tonight I went to a BYU-Idaho Dance Alliance performance. While I was there I remembered that I was in a Dance Festival 36 years ago today! Let's go right to my Treasures of Truth to get the whole story. It was honestly one of the coolest things I've ever done. There were almost 10,000 Mormon kids from Southern California that participated in the event at the Rose Bowl. All of us did the opening dance and the finale and there was a bunch of dances in-between. It was a sight! We practiced for months, made our costumes (and they were complicated), and shared a once in a lifetime experience. I'll never forget how I felt running through the tunnel and down the stairs and onto the field of the Rose Bowl. I was so happy and excited! My cousins and our good friends the Jensens and my friend Mimi Eccles were in it too (doing different dances). There was another Dance Festival in 1980 and I went with my parents and my youngest brother Chuck. When the kids started running through the tunnels onto the field I started bawling. It was the first time I had ever had my emotions take over like that. I just cried and cried remembering what an amazing experience it had been for me four years early. I remember Chuck saying, "What's wrong?" and not understanding that I was overcome with emotion and not sad or hurt. Then about four years after that I was in charge of the all-girls dance for my stake. I'm not a dancer (really, I'm not) but I'm a good organizer and made sure the girls learned their dances, got their costumes (that year they were professionally made), and were ready for the final performance. The girls did a dance to "New York, New York" complete with top hats, black tuxedo dresses, and canes. I was lucky to have had some very memorable Dance Festival experiences.
A funny memory: in 1976 we each had to bring two toilet paper rolls to attach our red/blue streamers to for the finale dance. Our young women president has this brilliant idea to take us all TP-ing to get the toilet paper rolls so we decorated some houses in the ward -- all for the Dance Festival!
5 comments:
I was in a dance festival when I was 16 at the rose bowl, too. and your description of it brought the memory flooding back...running through the tunnel down onto the field. Unfortunately, as I was entering the stadium, I twisted my ankle and sprained it...but I had so much adrenalin running through my system I was able to make it through the number. By the time the show ended, I was THROBBING in pain. Thankfully, I just happened to run into a guy friend of mine, and he picked me up and carried me to the bus. The song we performed to was Singing In The Rain, and we had different bright colored dresses with clear rain coats and umbrellas that we twirled around. It looked magical.
I never really documented my childhood in my treasures of truth album like you. I love how organized you are! ♥
I went to the 1980 dance festival. That was right by my house (we can literally walk to the Rose Bowl from my parents house.)
We were at LHS last night too! It was fun.
Look at YOU!!!
And to think you missed your opportunity to dance in the aisles last night...
:)
I just found your post while I was searching for photos, video or something from the 1976 Dance Festival. Both my now husband & I danced the Varsity Drag set that year. It's still so vivid to me 40 years later, remembering going through the tunnel as you described, not getting to listen to Elder Dunn because the sound system had a problem, staying at hosts homes. I have no memorabilia anymore and my daughter was asking about it so I was "googling" trying to find something. That was a fun time indeed, a week after the Dance my husband & I had our first date we went to see Threads of Glory, over a year later we were married. Thanks for sharing your pages online it sure brought back memories. ~Marijo Young~ (Originally from Southern California now in Utah.)
I was also in the festival we danced the Rockford files theme on the 50 yard line. Best of years gone but not forgotten.
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