My life moved on and I was married, gave birth to a beautiful son, and divorced while still quite young. Although I had passed my 'use-by' date to become a ballerina, I was not too old to pick up dancing again. I joined a dance academy and enrolled in the classical ballet and modern dance classes. Initially I was very nervous, but soon embraced the fact that I was dancing again.
I was surprised and excited when I was given the opportunity to perform in a floor show with 4 girls at a city nightclub. I couldn't believe it!!! My debut into the professional dancing world!! New routines to learn, costume fittings and getting paid to dance.....WOW!!! We were called the 'Silhouettes Ballet' and performed two shows a night, 6 nights a week. The early show at 10.30pm and the late show 1.30am.
The Club was rather sleazy and was a popular club for opal miners from the mid north. It was fascinating to observe the prostitutes disappearing during the early show and return during the late show. Apparently they had rooms down the street at the local pub.
I will never forget one evening while performing, I noticed my sunday school teacher in the audience with a group of men. After the show I approached him and said, 'Well, fancy seeing you here'. He mumbled something about the guys wanting to come to the Club......Not really what one would expect from an upstanding member of the church who used to hold bible reading classes.....
These pics were taken at the commencement of my first gig at the Latin Quarter..
Moi, Brenda, Pam, Marilyn and Maria
The Silhouettes Ballet
It was exciting to meet and work with the different artists who performed in the floor-shows. Also having to adapt to everybody using one small uni-sex change room. Definately a far more exciting life than sitting in an office all day.
During my gig at the Latin Quarter I remember walking in to the Club one night and the manager gave me a sheath of flowers which were for me. They were lovely and I said 'Who are they from?' He replied that he had no idea, and the card just had my name on it and not the sender. Anyway I thought I must have a secret admirer and I was the envy of the other girls. The following night another sheath of flowers were there for me, and the following night, and the following night. Every evening for two weeks I received flowers and to this day, I do not know who sent them. I might add, that my house looked like a funeral home for some time.
As time went by two of the girls moved on to other pastures. One to Sydney to dance and the other to get married.
Then there were three....
I loved letting loose in the Can-Can, screaming and really going for it. I can recall one particular evening when we did the jump-splits and I bent my front leg underneath myself to get up and the heel of my shoe got caught in my net stockings. As gracefully as I could muster, I tried and tried to get up while the girls continued dancing around me giving me funny looks as if to say 'What's wrong with you....GET UP.' After what seemed like ages, I eventually ripped my tights with my shoe and rose to the occasion.....
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