Huckleberries Online

Sisyphus: Dancers Kick Jock Butt

Posted by DFO

May 2, 2009 12:37 a.m. • 15 comments

Sisyphus: There’s a notion that the sciences power the future, the liberal arts explain it. Each discipline in the humanities has tremendous value. Certainly if the previous administration had been better versed in some liberal arts they wouldn’t have doomed us to repeat some history. But to say that dance and theater aren’t degree worthy pursuits demonstrates a woeful lack of appreciation for the discipline those students endure. There’s not a dance student I know that couldn’t kick an athlete’s ass on physical training and performance. And Ronald Reagan’s acting skills carried him far.

Question: Any thespians out there? What plays did you appear in?

15 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

nic on May 02 at 1:19 a.m.
Music Man, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Gospel According to Scrooge, Into the Woods, etc. Not to mention improv comedy.

My high school drama class is on of the few things that kept me in school. I find it sad when governments choose to limit or reduce opportunities for kids to be involved in the arts (be it visual, music, or theater)
Cindy_H on May 02 at 9:13 a.m.
Nic! I appeared in the Gospel according to Scrooge, many, many times. Such fun.
Also, Picnic, Playboy of the Western World, and many others.
brandxranch on May 02 at 10:52 a.m.
South Pacific, Carousel, Sound of Music, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Joseph, some Lake City Childrens Productions, lots of high school stuff, some talent shows….. dreamed of being a Broadway star. I still sing show tunes in the shower.
fortboise on May 02 at 2:24 p.m.
I noticed a score for Trial by Jury at a friend’s house one day… and thus began a career in the Boise Opera (now Opera Idaho) chorus. G&S works were my favorite of the shows I was in. Pinafore, Penzance, Mikado.
JamesBond on May 02 at 3:13 p.m.
Years ago, I appeared in numerous plays and musicals in Boise. Love musicals.

I do agree that serious dancers are in tremendous shape.
spokelooneh on May 02 at 4:30 p.m.
“And Ronald Reagan’s acting skills carried him far.”

And Ron Reagan Jr, became an accomplished ballet dancer, even making second team of the Joffrey Ballet, although his “Family Values” parents couldn’t seem to find the time to see their own flesh and blood perform in the Ballet.

“At that time his father was running in the Republican Presidential primary against incumbent Gerald Ford, and Reagan disliked the attention he received at Yale.

He joined the Joffrey Ballet in pursuit of a lifelong dream to become a ballet dancer.

Time wrote in 1980: “It is widely known that Ron’s parents have not managed to see a single ballet performance of their son, who is clearly very good, having been selected to the Joffrey second company, and is their son nonetheless. Ron talks of his parents with much affection. But these absences are strange and go back a ways.”“
-Wiki

To be fair, maybe Ronald senior wasn’t a heartless parent to his son, but was just afraid of going to see the Ballet and having teh gay rub off on him.

Ron Jr, did an outrageous parody number on SNL of Tom Cruise’s infamous “Underwear Dance” from Risky Business.
pkrbywed on May 02 at 4:39 p.m.
Opening Night, The Gazebo, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, Dracula, Oklahoma, Godspell, The Miser, Lovers, Madame’s Been Murdered…Tea Will Be Late, many melodramas and musical reviews.
hhuseland on May 02 at 9:34 p.m.
I try to stay out of inter-family relationships and dislike when they are politicized. I also hated when conservatives ganged up on the young teen of the Clintons. These are all cheap shots and should be buried.

Ronald Reagan is long dead. Leave his soul alone.

Back to Sisyphus’s comments:
Without a doubt these liberal arts classes are of value. The big but, however, is when budgets close in, an institution of higher learning has to choose core subjects. It ain’t pretty, but neither is depression. Bottom line, is that there isn’t a perfect answer.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.