Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies

WHEN THINKING BACK to my high school years, most of the better memories are from Senior Year. This was the year you could almost hear the clock ticking, winding down the last of our days at ABRHS. One of the highlights from my Senior Year was the 1978 Senior Class Talent Show, in particular, the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies." Most of you are probably unaware that the person who came up with this brainchild of an idea did not even have the guts to participate. But, I'm not here to point a finger at Eddie Ivanov. No.

It was his loss, as the rest of us had a blast being the hit of the Show -- with all due respect to the real talent acts, the "Balancing Things on our Noses" act (Mike Koonce and Bill Delzell), and our magical Master of Ceremonies, Geoff Roberts.

By David Straub

Renee Meyer graciously agreed to choreograph the troop of first-time ballerinas which included Pete Reid, Pete Wilson, Bill Delzell, Mike Blankinship, Scott Fredrickson, Pete Carbutt, and yours truly. Ivanov was out before he was in. He pleaded that although he thought it was a great idea, he had some old soccer injury or something, and would not be able to pull off some of the sophisticated moves we were implementing.

Renee's job was to give the "dancers" the illusion that they were actually performing some real ballet moves. During the grueling minutes of practice, instructions provided by Renee were often met with some wise remark or questioning of Carbutt's ability to keep a straight face. Renee was a very good sport, indeed.

Just days before the performance, Blankinship headed up a "road trip" to a neighbor of his. This neighbor was a dance instructor and willingly gave up some tu-tus for our use as part of the costume. We were hoping the mothball smell would subside before the big night. Later, I vaguely recall buying seven pairs of tights (in disguise, of course) and asking my mother's help in dying them all the appropriate shade of light blue.

On the night of the show, some folks backstage did their best to apply sufficient makeup to our faces to protect our families from public embarrassment. During our "warm ups" a flask or two of liquid courage materialized to help ease the anxiety. Finally, it was time for the curtain to open...

The laughter from the audience was deafening at first sight of the seven "dancers" -- clumsy 17 year old boys dressed in tights, tu-tus, tank top T-shirts, flowers in our hair and enough make-up to make our cheeks rosy red. The music began, and like clockwork, the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, circa ABRHS 1978, proceeded without a hitch.

Pete Carbutt, the Prima Ballerina in this number, was the literal center of our presentation, twirling like the Times Square New Years Eve Ball while the rest of us "fairies" ran, leaped or cart-wheeled around him. Thanks to a picture in the yearbook, there is confirmation that at one point, the rest of us actually picked Carbutt up over our heads and paraded around the stage. This may have been the birth of the mosh pit.

The deafening laughter was replaced with like applause as our performance came to an end.

There have been very few times during the past twenty years that I have laughed as hard as I did following (and during -- so much for the straight faces) that performance. Our act was such a success, and made such an impression with the rest of the school, that for many years each Senior Class tried to best the Original from the Class of 1978.

Since the show took place on a Saturday evening (hey, I still have a copy of the program!), a "cast" party followed at the home of one of the performers from the show (can't remember who). I remember seeing one of the "backstage crew" there enjoying the festivities. When I spoke with him, he told me how funny we were and reminded me that he knew it was "great idea" when he and I first talked about it. Despite the satisfied look on Eddie Ivanov's face, I knew he was really kicking himself for passing on a chance to make ABRHS history.

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