Apparitions

Saturday afternoon ballet class at Ron Cisneros' studio reminded me of one of those Charlie Brown classrooms. The teacher was saying things like "battement dégagé", "échappé", and "pas de bourrée", but all I could hear was "wah, wah, wah":

M.: So, explain this again. You saw a naked woman cross the street?
K.: Yes, in midday traffic, in broad daylight. She crossed 16th Street, and at first I didn't notice she was naked, but then I saw her derrière, and then I noticed some other bits and pieces too.
M.: So, was she wearing flip-flops, at least?
R.: (laugh)
K.: I don't remember.
M.: What was the cross street?
K.: I don't remember. I was paying attention to the traffic lights.
M.: Was she making an artistic or political statement, like my friend up in Humboldt County, who sometimes go naked in public to protest nudity laws?
K.: No, she had a scowl on her face. I think she was mental.
M.: So her statement was "I'm crazy?"

You see, women sometimes don't make very good observers. Most men I know would notice right away that a woman was naked. But then, men probably would be even less likely than women to notice if she had any flip-flops on.

Just then, I noticed someone was out in the hallway watching us through the window. Who was that girl? My eyes arched with the shock of recognition and my lips soundlessly uttered "Brittney?" and the girl smiled and nodded.

Left: In this 2006 picture, Buffee Gillihan poses with The Lullaby League, the Almendariz sisters: Brittney (then age 10), and twin sisters Paige and Macy (then age 8).


It was Brittney Almendariz, the older of the three phenomenal Almendariz sisters! With their gymnastics and dance training, they are all a tremendous asset to the local theatre community. Brittney, in particular, is wondrous, but I had never seen her here before. Why was she here?

I opened the door, and she said something about a time mixup for a rehearsal. Her dad had dropped her off at the studio, but now she was stranded. And bored. I invited her to dance in our class, but she demurred. Instead, she watched us and followed our movements out in the hall. There was something strange about going through the ballet moves; grunting, sweating, and groaning - my usual contribution to the terpsichorean art form - all the while being tracked by someone who could, like, actually do this stuff.

After awhile, Brittney vanished - presumably her dad came and picked her up again.

Eventually, Ryan Warren and others began filtering into the studio. It turned out it was a Flying Monkeys rehearsal Brittney had been early for. Apparently the time had been rescheduled to accomodate our ballet class, but for some reason Brittney didn't get the memo. The show under rehearsal is "Alice in Wonderland", coming up the weekend of July 10-13 at the Veteran's Memorial Theater in Davis. "Is Brittney Alice?" I asked Ryan, and he said: "No, she's a Flower." But I forgot to ask who has been cast as Alice.

Guess I will have to go and see the show and find out! Help support the Flying Monkeys! Help cheer Brittney (and the others) on!