Yesterday as I sat in traffic with the theme song from the kids show "Olivia" running through my head (a song that repeats the same word over and over..."Olivia"...I mean how self absorbed can one kids show pig be? I can only figure she is some relative of Miss Piggy), when I decided it was time for some C89 music. This local radio station plays the kind of techno and house music that is reminiscent of my clubbin days in Scottsdale, and brings out a little friend I like to refer to as my Tiny Dancer.
Most of us have one. This is a piece of our imagination that allows us to think we are a spectacular dancer and choreographer. Most of us don't actually dance like our tiny dancer leads us to think we are. This is why bars and clubs don't put mirrors on the dance floor. If we saw that we are more Napolean Dynamite and less Justin Timberlake, we would politely retire to the tables flanking the dance floor and order up a round of shots to cope with the lack of actual coordination.
One time, at a dive bar in Flagstaff Arizona (they called themselves an afterhours club but it was more like a community center selling Red Bull), there was a row of portable mirrors placed on the dance floor for late night crazies like us. When met with the reality of what we looked like, we started to joke around by dancing "badly" and "dorkily", which came easy. We told ourselves and eachother that we were just being funny. What was really occurring is that our Tiny Dancer had run away screaming, since mirrors are like kryptonite to little TD.
Tiny dancers are fueled my loud music and alcohol. Like popeye and spinach, booze makes Tiny Dancer grow in size and seem more real. There have been times after enough chardonnay that I could actually see myself as a professional choreographer. No living room is too small for my tiny dancer, just close the shades. No, not to prevent the neighbors from seeing, but rather to prevent any mirror effect from the windows.
Yesterday as I drove to bookclub I let my tiny dancer hang out in my head. Small though he was she still offered some entertainment for a little while, and I wondered if everyone has a Tiny dancer.
Do you?
