The Ribbon Dance

In this memory, I’m four years old. Every afternoon, after coming home from playing with my friends, I watch a few TV programs before supper time. One of them is called With Mommy, an educational program designed for kids of my age. In it, young adults with different talents engage small kids in creative activities.

Toward the end of the program, there is a section led by a female gymnast. She appears in her professional costume along with one toddler kid. Every day, she has a different dance move prepared, and the kid next to her as well as all of us in front of the TV can follow her move.

The kid on TV, in my opinion, never seems to get it right. They don’t even look like paying attention to the instructor, whereas I observe each and every step of her dance move in front of the TV and try my best to mimic her. Her graceful movement fascinates me.

One day, the gymnast appears with a long silky ribbon attached to a stick. With a quick, effortless move of her hand, she creates waves and twirls with her long ribbon. I’ve never seen anything like that. The ribbon looks as if it had its own life, dancing around the gymnast.

The moment the program finishes, I get up to make my own ribbon stick. I want to do exactly what the gymnast did on TV! When I ask my mother for a ribbon and a stick, she gives me a ribbon she’s kept from a sweets box and a disposable chopstick. I then tape the edge of the ribbon to the chopstick – and there I have it, my own ribbon stick!

I run to the backroom of our tiny apartment to try out my new creation. I turn and twirl, then wave my wand. My lips curve up upon seeing waves and twirls created by my ribbon just like the ones I’ve seen on TV a while ago.

Next day, I go to my friend’s home to play, and something familiar catches my eye: a ribbon attached to a disposable chopstick! My friends also watched the gymnast on TV! We make a few more ribbon sticks and start dancing around the room together.