Monday, December 1, 2014

Monologue Mania Day #292 by Janet S. Tiger Hooked Dec. 1, 2014

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Monologue Mania Day #292 by Janet S. Tiger  Hooked Dec. 1, 2014 

                                                         Hooked
                                                 (adapted from Senses of Dance)
                                 A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved
                                                  tigerteam1@gmail.com 
             

              (A woman comes onstage.   She is covered to her feet with a long sheet or bathrobe)

Hooked.  Such a funny word with so many different meanings.  I had friends who were hooked on all kinds of drugs.  Some died because of it.  Some still are hooked.  But there are many things you can get hooked on........drugs, booze, chocolate......

             (She whirls around the stage, the covering swirling around her.)

It's funny how I got hooked....  I had friend, Natalie.  We lived next door to each other and I did  everything she did.   Now Natalie  never stayed with anything too long, so if she wanted to make puppets,  fine.. (Smiles) …and there was the cooking class - we smoked out the whole rec center!  

 But then….Natalie got a bug up her......(clears throat) to do.......(says it with derision) ballet and I did not want to go.  See, I was a skinny kid, and when I turned sideways, those leotards made me look like an exclamation point!   I begged my mother for a tutu because at least I would have  some visible sign of being a living human being.

Her words (Mimics mother) - "You girls never last in these classes!  Why should I spend a million dollars on a tutu that you will not need in six weeks?"   (Back to herself) So, I dragged my tutu-less self to that first class with Natalie, and I was prepared for weeks of not only boredom, but total embarrassment....and then we walked into Madame Balon's studio.....

         (She is back in the class)

....It was upstairs....and I walked through that door and...(she takes a deep breath)....it smelled funny. 

 Natalie even made a 'eww' sound, and we went into the room with all the mirrors and there was Madame Balon.  She was old, and her face was wrinkly, and she was wearing the exact same tutu that I wanted.

So I hated it -  I figured it was going to be a long six weeks.  Then she talked.  Boy, can adults talk for a long time.  When she finished, she turned on some music....(hears the music in her head) ...and then...she started to dance.  (She starts to move across the floor)  That was it for me.....because it wasn't dancing, it was flying!   It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and I wanted to do it, too!

I was .....  home.  The smell of the place, and the mirrors and the floors, and the people...and Madame....

I'd never felt like that before...even in my own house!

(Laughs)  Natalie hated ballet -she did not even last one week!  But I did.....

         (She removes the covering and we see her in a tutu, she starts to whirl around the stage, punctuating the words with motion)

And now, I see it like this - it was that…. ballet helps me last.   It helped me  …….when Billy didn’t ask me to that dance in 7th grade….when Billy asked Natalie to that dance in 7th grade…..through all the math classes I hate….(quiet)….through my parents divorce...... through all the problems, I come here and when I hear that music.....I am able to disappear into me.   And nothing else matters!

I will never forget what Madame Balon told me that first day -you can expect many things from ballet -  but most of all -your heart will be happy!... if you get hooked....... ....!    

           (She exits, dancing, never the end of the dance)



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Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315 
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
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