So, anyway, last night, the boys and I shared a dance floor for what I believe to be the first time in almost four years. After the separation, the boys and I shared a LOT of activities. We made a point of going out every day, even if it was to roam a mall together. We went dancing together several times a week. And for two years in a row, the three of us shared a stage for a Christmas play. Things like this don’t last forever. Dance was the first activity to go. The boys just stopped: they had fun for a while, but their interest ran its course. I suspect that part of what the boys enjoyed about dancing was that they could make fun of me . . . I was starting to get better at dance, so they found they couldn’t make fun of me anymore.
N wound up with a manipulative girlfriend, and she managed to convince him to drop out of theatre completely. J continued to perform with me for two Christmas plays, but I could see that his interest was dropping. I fully expected that '09 was the last year that I would share the stage with any of my kids. This was where a man named Coulson came in to the story.
I didn’t know Coulson, and I never even heard his name prior to the fall of ’09. That year, the Christmas show was going to be a double feature. Our group, Thespis, was performing “Gift of the Magi”. Another group, the Ardensingers, was performing “A Gilbert & Sullivan Christmas Carol”. It turns out that Coulson was very well known and very well respected in the local Gilbert & Sullivan scene, and I think he was one of the leaders of the Ardensingers. He came to J and me and asked if J could also be in the Ardensingers production. Suddenly, I wasn’t dragging J to rehearsal: he was enthusiastic! And when N watched the joint production, he remembered how much he enjoyed acting. A year later, the three of us were sharing a stage again, at Hedgerow.
Coulson, by the way, died in late 2010. His memorial service will be in a few weeks, and J has made it clear that he wants to go.
In 2010, I stumbled across a theatre company called Viviana. They are local and consist overwhelmingly of people N’s age. They put on really ambitious productions, and I was quite proud of our performance of “Godspell”. This spring, Viviana will be performing “42nd Street”. J was all set and enthusiastic for this, and much to my surprise N was as well! As for me, I have been very much looking forward to perform with them again . . . the only thing that might get in the way is the off-chance I get a part in “A Streetcar Named Desire”. “42nd Street” means tap dancing, so Viviana is holding tap dancing classes to help us prepare. And that is where we were last night . . . sharing a dance floor for the first time since ’07, and preparing to yet again share a stage together.
Truth be told, I think we were all fumbling around quite a bit. I suspect the kids were doing better than me, but even there I’m not sure. But, this was our first tap-dance class: in a few weeks, we’ll look back at that as “the easy stuff”. By the way, J is already bugging me to buy tap shoes.
This summer, Viviana is planning on performing “Rent”. While I wasn’t impressed with the play, I plan on auditioning anyway: if Viviana is doing this play, it has my interest! This leads to the next issue: I need to learn to sing! Both N and J are experienced singers, but with J’s voice changing, he’s not quite so confident. I’m looking at both J and I taking voice lessons, taught by the same person that is teaching us tap dance! I hope he is up for the challenge: my singing is somewhat . . . lacking. Still, they got me to sing in “Godspell”, and I found that I didn’t bring down the show (which means I’m not as bad as I had thought). An ex-girlfriend was convinced that I was tone deaf and would never ever be able to sing . . . she even declared this loudly to anyone that might be interested, openly stating that I was tone deaf as though it was a fact. Maybe she was right, but I think it’s worth investigating. Once upon a time, I described myself as completely lacking in rhythm and quite unable to dance . . . word is that is no longer true.
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