Not last night but the night before.
Twenty-four robbers came knocking at my door,
They called me out for the world to see,
And this is what they said to me....
Spanish dancer turn around,
Spanish dancer touch the ground,
Spanish dancer do high kicks,
Spanish dancer do the splits!
It wasn't until I entered fifth grade that I thought much about clothes. Before that I would wear anything that was in my drawers or closet. Yet that year I noticed what girls were wearing in my teen magazines. I saw what the teen girls who went to our church wore. I saw what was on TV. What I really wanted that year was Go-Go Boots.
My family often watched "Laugh-In" when it was on TV and seeing Goldie Hawn and Judy Carne dancing in their Go-Go Boots made me wish I had a pair. At that tender age I also thought if I wore them I would have a skinny body, cute legs and dance as great as they did. I also thought I would have their giddy happy-go-lucky laughter as well.
I saw girls at school that had Go-Go Boots like a girl in my grade named Jesse. It seemed like all of the boots I saw were white which was the color I wanted. Shiny white with small heels, and they zipped up on the inside of the calf. They looked so cool with mini skirts or dresses. I still had plain boring Oxfords, Penny Loafers (with a penny in the little slot in the leather) or Keds tennis shoes. I felt so out of style though I didn't really understand what "style" meant.
I asked my mom if I could have Go-Go Boots but never really got an answer. The more I saw them the more I wanted them. In grade school the girls didn't wear true mini-skirts like the high school girls or on TV. Ours looked more like the knee length skirts that the girls at the Catholic High school wore which was behind our school. What you think and what you see tend to blur together in a young girls mind. Girls our age did not wear the short skirts.
It was at this same age that I was allowed to wear panty hose which had just come out in the stores. My mom allowed me to wear them only to church though I seem to manage to get runs in them every time I wore them so they were a one time wear. I wanted to wear them to look like the older girls, but they were itchy and tended to slowly fall down my hips with the crotch getting lower to my dress or skirt length. Before this girls and women had to wear hose with garter belts which I thought were out of date with the times. I bet they stayed up though! My other choice was to wear ankle socks or knee socks which I thought were quite childish.
With great surprise on Christmas morning I opened a box that had a pair of Go-Go Boots in it! I was thrilled but they were not white. They were black. I tried really hard to be happy about this but this was not what the girl Jesse wore or Goldie Hawn or Judy Carne. I tried them on and they were very tight around my calves. I had to imagine my legs squeezing in them like a tight skirt and then pull the zipper up over my calf with a quick zip to the top. Not as comfortable as I had hoped. The girls I saw with boots seem to slip over their calves with room around the whole leg. Mine were in a state of bunching after you wore them which made them look a bit wrinkled near the ankle. No extra room to spare.
The first day back to school after our Christmas break I picked out my outfit carefully. I had a red and black large check culotte dress which I wore with a white cotton shirt and a red scarf around my neck. I thought it looked cute till I got to school. The Go-Go Boots were uncomfortable. The tightness wasn't easy to move in for jump rope or hopscotch let alone four square. I didn't look skinny and my legs looked bigger in them. I certainly didn't feel so happy. I noticed a lot of white boots but there were some black ones as well.
I know I wore the boots many times but like so much with styles and tastes I did get over the disappointment of the Go-Go Boots. I moved onto wanting the Surfer tee shirt with the bright colors and stripes. Hip hugger pants and jeans which I wanting to have too. The Go-Go Boots faded to the back of my closet.
Spanish dancer do the splits.
Spanish dancer give high kicks.
Spanish dancer turn around.
Spanish dancer get out of town!
