Blue Monday on a Friday 36 Years Ago

I can still feel the pain of failure from the eighth grade

I first heard Blue Monday by New Order when I was in eighth grade. I was standing in the courtyard watching a demonstration of an audition routine. It seemed like every female eighth grader was there to try out for the high school drill team. I was dazzled by the routine and the danceable music.

At the finale, you had to go into the splits and hold it for as long as the judges scored you. There were a lot of groans and several girls left before we were shown the breakdown of the routine. A lot of girls resorted to using topical pain relief when they tried out but many knew that they would never be able to do the splits. I didn’t need Bengay. We had three weeks to practice.

I took a dubbed cassette tape and placed my boombox in my window sill as I practiced in my grassy back yard. I had two huge glass windows that acted as dance mirrors after dusk. I also practiced with two of my best friends. One of them moved her kitchen table to make space to practice but she didn’t have any large mirrors. My other friend didn’t have a yard or any inside space to practice. They both agreed that my spacious back yard was the best place to practice after school and on weekends.

I think try-outs were on a Friday. We were called in groups of three alphabetically. I was in a group with my best friend Ihlendorf and a girl named Ishikawa that I had never seen before. My friend was so impressed with the unknown dancer that we approached…