My nieces are obsessed with Dora the explorer. Eliza, who is almost 2, could say "Dora" almost as soon as she could say "Mama." Ouch. Eliza and Sage both have Dora cups, dolls, games, and coloring books. They couldn't get enough of her. But, the Dora movies are the WORST. At least they are extremely painful for adults. The Dora shows are so repetetive and boring that they make you want to scream after 2 straight minutes of hearing "I'm the map! I'm the map! I'm the map! I'm the map! I'm the map! I'm the map! I'm the map!" Pretty original screenwriting, huh?
While the Dora shows drive me crazy, I have to admit I had my own favorite cheesy movies when I was young. Fortunately for my parents, at that point Dora had not yet cursed the earth with her presence; however, there were other alternatives that were at least as cheesy (although notably better in musical quality).
One of the most notorious of these was the Sleeping Beauty Ballet on Ice. For those of my friends and blog readers that were unlucky enough (or was it lucky enough?) to be deprived of such pleasures, let me explain.
Sometime a long long LONG time ago my mom taped a ballet version of Sleeping Beauty on Ice from TV for us. It must have been done in the 1980s because the costumes were very . . . um . . . unique? Maybe scary is a better word. Picture a bunch of twenty and thirty-year old men in really tight white tights. Yuck. Most of them wore poofy tunics, but the prince (who we all thought was so handsome) wore a sleek, shiny vest that looked like it was made from fish scales. Who couldn't resist such glamour? The girls, on the other hand, were all in really really short dresses. And then there were the fairies. All four-- the yellow, green, blue, and purple fairies-- wore spiky headresses that looked slightly reminiscent of a pineapple. Basically the only redeeming quality was the beautiful music it was set to (let's be honest, you can't really go wrong with Tchaikovsky, can you?)
Spiky headresses notwithstanding, we LOVED Sleeping Beauty Ballet on Ice. We used to beg mom to let us watch it. Watching SBBI involved a lot more than just sitting in front of the TV in a glazed-over stupor. Each time we watched the beloved ballet, we chose a part in the ballet to play. Since Suzy was the littlest, she always got to be Sleeping Beauty (the good fortune of being the youngest, but at least we were comforted by the fact that Sleeping Beauty was asleep for most of the ballet and didn't have that prominent of a part). Being second youngest, Becca got next pick, and she ALWAYS picked the purple fairy. The purple fairy was by far the coolest of the fairies because she was the one that saved the prince. I think I wasted years of my life being jealous that I never got to be the purple fairy (maybe this was why I always took out my frustration by forcing Becca to be the boy whenever we played house!) Danielle always chose to be the bad fairy because she had such an interesting part. (Good thing she didn't know then that "she" was actually played by a man!) With all the exciting parts claimed, I always got stuck as the queen. Boring. The queen was old (well, compared to the fairies and Sleeping Beauty, anyway!), and she only had about 2 scenes in the whole movie.
Once the parts were assigned, we had to move all the furniture in the living room out of the way. (I'm sure Mom disliked having her living room rearranged, but she was always a good sport.) With the living room "stage" cleared, we were ready to perform. Each of us in turn got to dance along with our character as she appeared on the screen. The Wilson dancing troup was ready to perform!
I think there's a reason Mom never took any of us to dance lessons. Our family seems to have been granted a generous dose of musical talent, but when it comes to dance, we definitely linger in the shallow end of the gene pool. Our "dancing" mainly consisted of a jumble of random gymnastics moves (somersaults, cartwheels, etc.), running around the room, and twirling until we were too dizzy to stand up. Nevertheless, Mom was always supportive, even after watching us peform for the 5th (or 10th or 20th) time. It's a good thing she was, because we made a lot of memories, just from that one cheesy video tape.
I have yet to decide if I will introduce my children to Sleeping Beauty Ballet on Ice. I'm not sure I could handle seeing it that often. However, it did leave us with a lot of fun memories. And at least the music is better than Dora.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Childhood Memories
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10 comments:
To dispel a few myths:
1. you think that you will decide to introduce your kids to certain things??? Good luck! You think mom decided to introduce us to Saved by the Bell, My Little Pony, and The Last Unicorn (shudder).
2. Eliza said Mama a full week before Dora. So there.
I can tell you did not grow up with Krista, or you would "know" that the oldest always picks first. If Krista had been involved, she would always be Sleeping Beauty (or purple pineapple fairy) and Danielle would have been the bad fairy--but not b/c of cool dance moves, just because Krista made her be the girl that was really a boy.
And, I thought the prince was so handsome (even in his fish scales vest...yikes). I still remember his name. Robin Cousins (just google image him...it'll bring back loving memories).
Yeah, what happened to the youngest picking first and then I "got" the bad fairy part while you were stuck with the queen?! If I remember right you are younger than me! Obviously the bad fairy isn't a real desirable part for a little girl... although I confess that it grew on me after the first few times. And I DID get the most screen time! Ha ha, pineapple head!!! That is exactly what those things looked like! Oh, good old Sleeping Beauty. What little girl wouldn't want to watch ice skating, ballet, and Sleeping Beauty all rolled into one?
I don't know how the picking all happened. Maybe I just wasn't vocal enough! I obviously did pick up on the oldest getting first choice, though, as evidenced by how many times I made Becca be the boy.
Janel-- my apologies for misquoting Eliza's first words. I thought I heard from your own mouth that Dora came before Mama, but I guess not. I will correct the misquote in my blog.
I had to check my sources, just to make sure that Eliza did say Mama first. Thankfully, she did. Dora was close behind, though. And I won't tell you how young she was when she loved to watch Dora with Sage. To protect myself, you know. : )
Kim, I didn't mean to sound negative, because I have the most hilarious memories of good old Sleeping Beauty Ballet on Ice. Nice job, and so funny of a write up.
I've been wondering all day if I prefer "the schmooge!" to "I'm the map." I'm still undecided.
Oh, come on. The schmooge definitely wins over "I'm the map" anyday!
wow, kim! good job finding such a treasure on you tube!!! good thing i never had to be the bad fairy, or the judge of our little mermaid singing contests (thanks to danielle being around). but, if i remember right, liza's very very first word was button in reference to me.
Sleeping Beauty Ballet on Ice . . . ah, the good ol' days of raucous (I mean gracious) dancing, twirling, pirouettes, ad infinitum! It makes me smile to remember all the excitement! --Mom
Ha ha, funny post, Kim! Sounds like your family was a lot like my family.
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