Sunday, November 19, 2006

Don't forget about Pluto

When I was six, I was in tap class. ("Of course you were!" rings out across the globe.) I was, of course, the only boy ("Of course you were!"). We had a little routine that we did, all about the planets. Since I was the only boy, I got to be Pluto.

We didn't sing the song - it was on a scratchy 45. It went a little something like this:

We are the smallest planets by far
We're Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.
Now here come the big ones, you better watch out
They're Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Now we're eight, and we are great
But don't forget about Pluto!

Hi, Pluto, where have you been?
We would not want to forget you
You may be small
And far away
Won't you join us in our dance today?

And then we danced, danced, danced up a storm.

And of course I still know the song.

My tap teacher stopped teaching dance in order to go sell turquoise jewelry out in the desert somewhere. My sister and I started going to a different dance school, but the teacher was mean, and had a cane that she whipped around menacingly. So dance class no longer seemed so fun, and we eventually stopped going.

And that's why I'm not in A Chorus Line ...

10 Comments:

Blogger kevin black said...

Greetings from a fellow former only boy in tap class. I took for six years and I also never made it to A Chorus Line. Come to think of it, the girl standing in the row next to me at recital who repeatedly accidentally on purpose kicked me in the leg was as close to a singular sensation as I ever got.

7:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In my tap class, we definitely tapped to both "Achy-Breaky Heart" and "Can't Touch This." And also, I think, "Ice, Ice, Baby."

The hazards of being a child in the early nineties.

6:11 AM  
Blogger Susan said...

Wasn't Pluto just demoted from planet status? Having once played that role, how does this new development make you feel?

11:16 AM  
Blogger Crash said...

When I was in, oh, third or fourth grade, our school did some sort of assembly for the parents. Our class sang a song.

I can't remember my first kiss. I'm can't remember the names of all my former roommates. And I don't know that I could tell you for sure what I had for breakfast this morning. But I will be able to sing 'Fifty Nifty United States' on my deathbed.

11:22 AM  
Blogger Susan said...

From Wired:
"134340:
n. The celestial object fomrerly known as Pluto. All asteroids and minor planets are assigned numbers, and Pluto is now 134,340 out of 136,563. The demotion has given 'pluto' currency as a verb: If you've been plutoes, you've been dumped."

Don't forget about 134340!

1:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You didn't grow up in Canon City CO, did you? Because although there were no boys in my class, I, too, danced to that song. I was Pluto. "HI, PLUTO, where've you been? We do not want to forget you....you may be smalll and far away but won't you join us in our dance today?"

9:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Now we're eight, and we are great
But don't forget about Pluto!


You forgot:
"Now we're eight and we are great!
Just watch us as we spin around
There are more than 8 now just you wait
Don't forget about Pluto!!"

;)

9:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was the smallest girl in tap class and would love to find a reproduction of this song on CD. I think my kids would crack up (being in tap themselves). Any ideas? thanks

2:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Found you while srufing Sandra Lee haters...old post you had but still great. I had a rnat about her last night and then wondered this morning whether maybe there were others. Silly. Of caourse there would be others. Read your first page...gonna head back in. Good stuff.

3:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh yeah...you're a keeper. I have got to STOP and go be a mother and interact now...sigh.
In my best Ahnold..."awl b bak"

3:31 PM  

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