jelliebeers

My dance / song recital is creeping up on me.  I am finalizing all of the music and memorizing lyrics and dance moves.  My leotard arrives tomorrow and I am praying that it will fit.  The most challenging measurement to obtain is the “girth”.

When thinking of a song for my big recital, for some reason Whitney Houston kept coming to mind.  Of course there is the 1992 mega hit, “I Will Always Love You” – 1992 but there is also, “The Greatest Love of All”.  I remember singing (well, shyly mouthing the words) this song in elementary school for one of those ridiculous student recitals.  It was for my 6th grade graduation.  It was the kind of performance where you stand on risers under extremely hot lights.  Every year someone was guaranteed to faint causing a hilarious domino effect of small children.  I recently learned that this often happens because people lock their knees for an extended period of time.

Whitney Houston was born August 9, 1963, in Newark, New Jersey.  She died on February 11, 2012.  She was found in a bathtub after having drowned after suffering the “effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use” (wiki)  I blame it all of this one that fucking asshole Bobby Brown.

I used to want to be some kind of entertainer when I was really young.  I took dance classes, but was awful and NEVER sang.  I wouldn’t even sing “Happy Birthday”.  (I only sing in the shower when I’m sure no one will be able to hear)  One time, I took out my tape recorder and sang Britney Spears “Hit Me Baby One More Time” -1999.  This tape was fortunately lost and I hope it is never found.  At that time, I really liked the Backstreet Boys, Savage Garden and an assortment of other adolescent bullshit.  I eventually became a cubby tom boy and those dreams were crushed.

I was just taking a shower and thought: this piece is an homage to my earliest performances.  The dance recital and 6th grade graduation were performances.  (Lets not even go into the difference between performing arts and performance art right now).  I never really thought of them as performative but why not?