Salieri Cuts a Rug (Part 4)

Dear Friends and Gentle Readers: 

This is Part 4 of a longer piece that I have written. If you missed the first 2 parts, there's are links to them down below. I thought it wise to break it up into sections, for easier consumption. Come along with me as I share my journey through the world of dance and as I navigate the new territory of serial blog entries. It'll be fun! 

Salieri Cuts a Rug (Part 1) 
Salieri Cuts a Rug (Part 2)
Salieri Cuts a Rug (Part 3)

Salieri Cuts a Rug (Part 4)

After my ill fated attempt to become a cheerleader, I forgot about dancing until I was in the 10th grade. By then, I had switched high schools and found myself in a very eclectic group of friends. Our leader was Josh Gilyard, the best hip hop dancer and choreographer I have ever personally known. (He's also the only one I've ever known, but he really is super talented.) Dance was his passion and Janet Jackson was his hero.

The man, himself. Check him out at www.joshuagilyard.com!

Being from a small town in Florida, there are very few opportunities for a young man to showcase his dancing and choreographing prowess. A few talent shows throughout the year offered Josh a venue to showcase his talents, but the biggest event was The Annual Lip-Sync Contest, a fundraiser for the March of Dimes. It was pretty straightforward. People would sign up as individuals or groups to lip-sync to a song. The best performance won a prize. If Josh had anything to say about it, his group was going to be the best.

The first year, Josh decided we would do "Lady Marmalade" from Moulin Rouge, which was the biggest thing since sliced bread at the time. He gathered a group of us girls and proceeded to teach us the dance. Although I was sure by this time that I could not learn dance steps, Josh proceeded to try to work me into the routine. He quickly gave up when he saw that I had not been exaggerating and I was relegated to the part of Missy Elliot - non-dancing hype man. This was all well and good until the day of the show came.

Let's be honest though. I was never this cool.

There I was in a long, skintight black skirt, black, strappy, stripper heels, and a crushed velvet top hat. I was doing my hype thing. Then, Andrea one of our more awkward friend and a VERY CLUMSY DANCER knocked me over. As the skirt was so tight, I wasn't wearing any underwear. I still don't know whether or not the whole school saw my whole world.

Despite my wardrobe malfunction, everything else in the bit went off without a hitch and we won. Of course we won. We won every year until we graduated. And Josh never could teach me to dance. He was really good at finding a hype man position for me though.

Check back tomorrow for Part 5 of Saliri Cuts a Rug!