02/12/2014
When I was 7 years old my mom asked me in the car if I wanted to sign up for a sport. I replied " I want to do what Shirley Temple does!" That day we drove to the local dance studio and signed me up for tap and ballet. That day my life changed forever and because of my obsession with Shirley Temple I have had the most incredible life. Had my parents and grandparents not exposed me to "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm", a film made half a century before I was born, I may never had become a professional dancer. Without a doubt she was my first and the biggest inspiration for me as a child. I faked sick to stay home from Kindergarten to watch "Heidi" and was caught dancing on the couches pretending they were mountains. I own every film she has EVER been in. Read her book as a child. Til this day there is a big framed picture of her that is the first thing you see when you walk into my home, just like the pics I had of her around my childhood bedroom, dorm room and every home since. My parents were constantly rerecording her movies because I watched them so often that the VHS (yes, I said VHS) tapes would break. This year I set a production which includes 14 little Shirley Temples in the signature dress and the signature songs. She is the only celebrity who was on my bucket list to meet and I am so sad I will never have that opportunity. After her entertainment career she went on to change lives worldwide as a congresswoman, diplomat and ambassador. I hope the generations of the future continue to go back in time for inspiration, that parents and grandparents share the talents and integrity of the true stars of the past and that many little dancers are born because of one of the most amazingly talented, intelligent, poised and inspiring women to ever grace this earth. A tearfilled goodbye to my inspiration with "a corn-cobbed pipe, a pair of overalls and a worn out pair of shoes".
