Cultural Arts Event 1: "Hollywood Movies"

Summary and Analysis of “Hollywood Movies”

I left my house at 6:54 to head to my little sister’s school, ten minutes away, where a dance performance was starting at 7:00. Needless to say, when I got into the cafeteria it was jam packed with almost no standing room left. Parents and younger siblings filled the entire place. I shimmied my way through the crowd to find a less dense area to stand in and I waited a total of 27 seconds before the performance started.

I had come to one of these shows last semester for Christmas, and I remembered how long the head of the dance department had talked before the show (though I don’t remember anything she said). I was glad that I had missed it, even though she was wearing an afro-wig and I was curious as to why she had it on her head. I came just in time to hear the first song. This show’s theme was Hollywood movies, so all of the music and set-up had to do with Hollywood (maybe that’s what the wig was for?). They had used the same scheduling as the last time I came; the show would start off with a rendition of some famous song on guitars, then the dancers would have their turn to perform. That pattern would repeat itself the whole night. The guitar club players were all squished together in their tightly packed bleachers, laughing at the awkward position they had to lay their arms in to be able to strum. It was funny to watch.

Too bad I couldn’t hear them. I guess they were playing along with a recorded beat to keep their tempo, but the tempo was so much louder than their playing. Every now and then I could catch a little grinding sound, but that was about it for the first song. The first dance was up next, and as the dancers began filing up the stairs and onto the stage, my eyes started adjusting to what they were wearing. Their costumes were huge, bright-red t-shirts, thick wristbands, and long, rectangular American flag shorts. When they were all aligned and waiting on the “cue music”, their faces made expressions that I couldn’t help but pity. They were either so upset wearing the costumes that they were or they were upset that they had to dance in them (how, I don’t know).

The whole time they were dancing, that upset and nervous look never came off of their faces. That was pretty much how every dance performance was. The costumes were all slightly ridiculous, ranging from pajamas to scanty ice-skating outfits to what looked like a River Oak hoodlum. The dancers rarely looked like they were having fun; most were looking down at their feet, biting their lips, or flinging their stiff arms around self-consciously.

In every group of dancers there were a couple of people who were having fun. My sister was having a blast having everyone watch her while dancing on a stage, and so was another girl, in a different group, with the face of a 24 year old. All of the dancers did walk off the stage smiling though, happy with what they had just accomplished. I was glad to see that. For the rest of the night I would watch the dances, but it was almost like watching half time, or the super bowl game, for me. I was much more interested in the crowd of people that stood and sat to my left.

From the place I was standing, I was omniscient. Directly in front of me was the dance teacher. As each group was headed on stage, she would inspect them over. They would get all lined up on stage and she would stand there with both of her arms wrapped around her clipboard, putting it to her chest. When the music would start, she would start to shake her hips and wiggle her legs in a pattern that was very similar to the girls’, but not quite so obvious. It looked really funny. I asked my little sister about her later, and apparently the dance teacher does that regularly, incase a student found themselves stupefied by the crowd and needed help. I wish I would’ve seen her doing that the last time I was there!

In the middle of the show, the guitar club leader decided to ditch the drum tempos they had previously been using. The lady who was the head of the dance department started singing the lyrics to the songs that were being performed. She has a very full voice, and though it is not the best voice I’ve heard, it was very warm and strong. She would add little “whoah’s” and “umhmm’s” into the lyrics too, making people in the crowd start to nod their heads and tap their feet. It was a great thing to see, scanning the bobbing crowd in its entirety. Sometimes my eye would rest on someone’s curious or admiring face that was wondering why she hadn’t been singing earlier.

The lady who was standing next to me was doing the same thing as I was. There was a little girl with a pacifier, at about a 45-degree angle from my face, who was constantly moving. She was either dancing to the songs, kicking her feet up and down during the dances, gawking at the person with the blinking earphone behind her, or jumping up and down to try and get a view of her brother who was playing a guitar. She was so adorable. The lady next to me would laugh and giggle at the things she was doing at the same time I would. Any time she did something cute we would both turn to each other and smile. She was the one who tapped me and brought the dancing teacher to my attention.

The whole experience was enjoyable. Even though I noticed how the parents would start to head out the door right when their child had finished performing, I had a fun time. Even with that group of smart alecks that sat on the floor in the front of the cafeteria, whooping and hollering during the performance, I had a fun time. The event was no longer than it needed to be, I got to go and see my younger sister do her thang, and the people around me were so interesting.