LETTERS FROM HOME: 'DIRTY DANCING' IN THE GYM WITH MISS SHERRY

June 8, 2000

Dear Patty,

The chairs on the floor of the community college gymnasium were filled and people were sitting flank to flank in the bleachers nearly an hour before the show was to begin. A major league lighting system was in place, and the sound board set up in the middle of the gym might have handled the Rolling Stones.

Welcome to the annual recital of Sherry's Dance Center.

We had given our niece Danica two choices: Either DC and I could come to western Missouri to see her graduate from high school or we could come the following weekend to see the final dance recital of an amateur career that began soon after she learned to walk. She chose the dance recital.

These nieces don't play sports. The dance recital is their championship game. Every May, the grandparents from Cape Girardeau and the grandparents from Independence make the pilgrimage to watch. Their uncle Paul drives the five hours from Columbia, too, though he has a reputation for arriving late. This year he was on time.

As we waited in the dark for the show to start, punctual Paul knowingly pointed out that though each dance is limited to two minutes the program listed 38 different numbers.

As Paul says, it's not easy being a patron of the arts.

We gave each of the girls a pink rose before they left for the performance. They would receive more flowers from admirers afterward.

Danica and the other graduating seniors would be doing solos. She and a boy were dancing to the song "I've Had the Time of My Life" from the movie "Dirty Dancing."

Ironically, DC got in trouble with the nieces' mother for letting them watch "Dirty Dancing" when they were in grade school. Mom finally let her watch it a second time this year.

Miss Sherry, the major domo of dance in the area for 30 years, is known not to let her Rubenesque physique prevent her from dancing in her students' recitals and for knowing how to make a buck from her love of dance. Program ads, performance videotapes, costume sales, she's got it covered.

The dancers wore camouflage to dance to the Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" and racy garters and such for a number from "Cabaret."

The tikes dressed in fuzzy little outfits would make good bait if you could attach a line to them, Paul dryly observed.

At the conclusion of each solo, Miss Sherry walked onstage to give the dancer a bouquet and a hug. A nearby member of the audience remarked that Miss Sherry's dress this year had a trimming effect.

In the final number, Miss Sherry joined the seniors in a dance that allowed each of them a pas de deux with her. There was general agreement that Miss Sherry definitely had lost some weight.

Danica's solo was perfect. When her partner lifted her off the ground the audience screamed. That's the way to go out.

Love, Sam