Townie Strange
Feb. 25th, 2009 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancerjodiWe got going later at the studio last night. It seems as if when a new calendar year begins we are less and less able to start the class on time. A series of interruptions would cause us to get off track with our studies, though interruptions seems such a harsh word for them.
A woman that used to dance at the studio years ago showed up unexpectedly for class again. She was in the class with my mom, and she, Mom and Gloria were like three peas in a pod together. They would help each other out with steps, teach the others having problems with the routines and would share stories of their similarly aged daughters who were also dancing at the studio. Maria has a son around my brother's age too, and the two of them used to pal around together. Her life has not been so wonderful in these years. She mentioned that her husband left her 8 years ago for another woman, that her parents 'back home' were sick requiring a lot of overseas travel for their care and had since died, and that now both kids and her daughter's spouse are living with her and not helping out with any of the bills. Still, her infectious energy and sense of humor remains - she came out to dance again since she said that she deserved "something just for myself". I was sad that Mom wasn't there to join in with she and Gloria again and I almost teared up when I saw their reunion. Maybe her appearance will make Mom want to stick around the city after work on Tuesdays for class.
A bit later the Tiggerette came up to celebrate Mardis Gras with all of the studio ladies. She brought me a green tiara and a vase with a single white rose and some chocolate rose lollipops. She ran around putting beads on everyone and dumping a pile onto Peggy's old desk.
Before starting our jazz class Miss Pat pulled everyone together to discuss the fundraiser for http://www.carepages.com/carepages/Anna_Ives . Anna is the 4 year old great-granddaughter of my original dance teacher. She is living in Boston (they live in TN) for the next three months with her parents and 6 month old brother to receive specialized treatment for a rare brain tumor (usually only found in adults, so the treatment of this particular type in a child has been delicate). Folks at the studio are throwing a fundraiser dinner for the family to help with expenses, because both parents are on unpaid leave for these three months in Boston while still paying bills back home and paying (albeit subsidized through an arrangement with MGH) rent in the city during treatment. There will be food and music and raffles galore at the benefit, and Pat was hoping to drum up interest for folks to go and to throw their money at these lovely prizes. We help out with these kinds of things via the http://www.alderaanbase.com/ or http://501neg.com/ quite often, but its strange to be involved with something like this more directly since Peggy was always like a grandmother to us. Dad is going to donate some of his art prints http://marmontiart.com/ and I'm hoping to get Brian to contribute a piece of his new maile jewelry. Alas, the benefit is the same day as the St. Pats parade, so I'm not even going to try to amass some troopers for it (Anna hasn't even seen Star Wars anyway). I'll buy us some tickets to support the cause and try and make it for some food after the parade if we are up for it. Pat's goal is to raise at least $1k, which would pay for one month's rent at their MGH apartment in Boston.
Between Maria, Mardis Gras, Anna's benefit and our jazz teacher's bum foot preventing her from dancing, it was such an odd, emotional and slow-motion kind of night. Its nice (but sometimes quite intense) being a part of this extended studio family.
A woman that used to dance at the studio years ago showed up unexpectedly for class again. She was in the class with my mom, and she, Mom and Gloria were like three peas in a pod together. They would help each other out with steps, teach the others having problems with the routines and would share stories of their similarly aged daughters who were also dancing at the studio. Maria has a son around my brother's age too, and the two of them used to pal around together. Her life has not been so wonderful in these years. She mentioned that her husband left her 8 years ago for another woman, that her parents 'back home' were sick requiring a lot of overseas travel for their care and had since died, and that now both kids and her daughter's spouse are living with her and not helping out with any of the bills. Still, her infectious energy and sense of humor remains - she came out to dance again since she said that she deserved "something just for myself". I was sad that Mom wasn't there to join in with she and Gloria again and I almost teared up when I saw their reunion. Maybe her appearance will make Mom want to stick around the city after work on Tuesdays for class.
A bit later the Tiggerette came up to celebrate Mardis Gras with all of the studio ladies. She brought me a green tiara and a vase with a single white rose and some chocolate rose lollipops. She ran around putting beads on everyone and dumping a pile onto Peggy's old desk.
Before starting our jazz class Miss Pat pulled everyone together to discuss the fundraiser for http://www.carepages.com/carepages/Anna_Ives . Anna is the 4 year old great-granddaughter of my original dance teacher. She is living in Boston (they live in TN) for the next three months with her parents and 6 month old brother to receive specialized treatment for a rare brain tumor (usually only found in adults, so the treatment of this particular type in a child has been delicate). Folks at the studio are throwing a fundraiser dinner for the family to help with expenses, because both parents are on unpaid leave for these three months in Boston while still paying bills back home and paying (albeit subsidized through an arrangement with MGH) rent in the city during treatment. There will be food and music and raffles galore at the benefit, and Pat was hoping to drum up interest for folks to go and to throw their money at these lovely prizes. We help out with these kinds of things via the http://www.alderaanbase.com/ or http://501neg.com/ quite often, but its strange to be involved with something like this more directly since Peggy was always like a grandmother to us. Dad is going to donate some of his art prints http://marmontiart.com/ and I'm hoping to get Brian to contribute a piece of his new maile jewelry. Alas, the benefit is the same day as the St. Pats parade, so I'm not even going to try to amass some troopers for it (Anna hasn't even seen Star Wars anyway). I'll buy us some tickets to support the cause and try and make it for some food after the parade if we are up for it. Pat's goal is to raise at least $1k, which would pay for one month's rent at their MGH apartment in Boston.
Between Maria, Mardis Gras, Anna's benefit and our jazz teacher's bum foot preventing her from dancing, it was such an odd, emotional and slow-motion kind of night. Its nice (but sometimes quite intense) being a part of this extended studio family.
