Gleaning Facebook: The Burton Family Dancers

 I wonder how many dance recitals Sheila and I have attended over the years. Tonight we went to Joanne Collier’s recital at the city auditorium where we watched Gola, Keila, & Ginger dance in the seventies and eighties. Tonight we watched Carolyn Smyth wow the audience with grace and poise. And her pretty face is reminiscent of her namesake and our dear late friend. How Carolyn Burton would have enjoyed watching her grandchild in that recital tonight. Young Carolyn’s cousin Allie will dance in a recital in Dallas next week! And Sasha had a recital earlier today in Carrollton. We can't make them all!

Comments

Gola Burton
Thank you for all your support through the years!

Kiela Burton Beam
Wished we could have made it. Sasha was in 3 shows. Last one at 7. 

Terrell Shaw
Wow! Wish we could see her show too. Give her a hug for us.

Michael J. Burton
There are friends then there are friends. Terrell Shaw and Sheila Matthews Shaw have supported me and mine for more years than I can remember. Thanks guys

Terrell Shaw
And the Burtons us: construction, roofing, well-digging, gardening, storytelling, music-making, grieving, computer consulting, videoing, movie-making, rejoicing, job finding, even a bit of job providing! etc., etc., etc., ... in Booger Hollow, Chubbtown, Cedar Avenue, Avenue A, etc., etc. for almost half a century. Lordy we are getting old!

Michael J. Burton
Memories memories all good

Ginger Whiteis
So sweet!! Thanks Terrell. Who would've guessed all three girls would have carried on the tradition of dancing.

Michael J. Burton
All three granddaughters. Remember I first danced with Joann in 1957.

Ruth Baird Shaw
"How Carolyn Burton would have enjoyed watching her grandchild in that recital tonight." God bless the precious memories of Carolyn as well and Burnita and others...

Michael J. Burton
I'm sure they are grinning ear to ear with pride

Time Machine: Dear Family...

This date is a guess. I wish there were a date on this letter I found among my Mother's correspondence. I suspect Brannon dictated this to me when she was 4-6 years old. It was written before she totally gave up calling me "Papa" under the influence of her "Kid's Stop" and McHenry kindergarten friends who called their fathers "Daddy".

One of the things she describes is what she and I called "acrobatics". It began with her cousin Larisa in the early eighties and has continued to the present (2023) with any 5-7 year-olds in the family. The child runs across the yard toward me from the side as I project both forearms before me . The child grabs my left arm, swings his/her legs up and over my right arm to swing by the knees till I bring him/her back upright and she/he dismounts with a grand smile and a shouted "Ta-dah!" Clemmie, Ruth, and I have just recently given it a try.

Those dance positions were an obsession for a while.

Brannon also mentions our stories. I used to invent impromptu and at least partly plagiarized stories usually starring Brannon and/or Lillian and other friends and relatives. I had totally forgotten "Terry and the Dinosaur" -- I have no idea of the plot. I vaguely remember a whole series of stories inspired by C.S. Lewis's Narnia series. On the spur of the moment I named our fantasyland Tanzania. Later, as new episodes were demanded, I tried to slightly alter the name so that it wouldn't share a name with a real location! I remember that instead of a wardrobe entry our first and most frequent door to "Tanzintennia" (or something like that) was a bottomless tide pool at the beach. Under certain conditions when we jumped into the pool we'd just pass right out of its bottom into a new land. But sometimes we made our imaginary way through the crawlspace behind the wall of the girls attic bedrooms and other surprise fantastic portals. 

I don't remember "the Sad Part". 

I suspect the stories were pretty lame but Brannon and Lillian loved them.