The beginnings of my ' Dance' career in 1953......was...tapping, as a 'minstrel' in 2nd grade, in some kind of, now forgotten, performance to Nelson Eddie's 'Rose Marie'.......few 'Southern' boys had the courage to put on patent leather pumps with metal taps, satin pants and jackets, with sequins.......not much of an issue for me....or, then, for Raymond Wilensky, Ronnie Falt, Tommy Noojin, & Billy and Steve Tucker.....We were given the opportunity to avoid 'playground madness'... and another, to dance on stage at West Clinton Elementary School, while the 'other' boys wrestled and tackled one another in the Playground 'War Zone'.....I 'took up piano', mainly to avoid the Playground War Zone, and spent most of my 'recess' time, not on the Playground Madhouse, but in the Auditorium of West Clinton Elementary School.....practicing Piano or twirling a baton....or, just reading, in relative silence....This morning, having watched an episode of Our Gang/Little Rascals, I conjured up memories of 'this long ago'....wondering....what my classmates in Mrs. Layman's Class....were/are 'up to' now....Most, I'm sure, are dead now, alas...
