Tutus

Today is our third annual charity bout, and I am bringing all of my tutus. (There are pictures of me wearing each of my tutus in the penalty box while reading in this public Facebook album.)

Wearing tutus, like wearing mismatched socks, started by accident.

It was an expo bout during MRD's first season. Miss Creant had borrowed Punchy's tutu to wear, but then she decided she didn't want to wear it. I was managing the team. Miss Creant said, "You should wear it." So I did. Lots of people said I looked cute in it. So I bought the baby blue one and started wearing it. Then I found out I'd been put on the Calamity Janes team, so I bought the red one. Once I started reffing, I bought the black one. Then the tiny, shiny skirt (at WFTDA Eastern Regionals in White Plains in 2010). I don't remember which came next: The starry tutu I bought in the little girls section of Target for jam reffing, or the one my sister had made for my 32nd birthday (the blue one with the rainbow layer on top of it). I made the light up one myself (from hairbows and lights I bought at a craft store.)

During the first charity bout, Foul Plague agreed to wear my red tutu. Last year, I brought all the tutus and got someone to wear each one (Average Joe as El Grapadora wore my birthday tutu while jam timing!). This year, I'm bringing all the tutus again, hoping not only to have someone wear each one, but to get a group picture this time (why didn't I think of that last year?).

But here's the part where I'm grateful for the tutus:

I never expected to suddenly fall in love with tutus, much less that I would be somewhat known for them. Especially not when I randomly agreed to wear Punchy's tutu while managing.

I love wearing tutus because they are fun and they make me feel like I'm having fun and because they often make people smile and/or laugh when they see me wearing one. And that's why I also like to share my tutus with other people. Because they should know that little joy of wearing one and bringing other people just a tiny instant of glee for doingso. It's a wondrous kind of feeling, and it totally outweighs (for me anyway) all the self-consciousness of being an adult, non-ballerina wearing a tutu in public.

(I'll let you in on my big secret: I always just pretend no one is looking at me or paying me any attention unless they are specifically engaged in conversation with me. It's the only way I can stand to walk around in my tutus. At one of my early bouts as a ref, while I was warming up, some guy whistled at me and made a comment as I skated by. Because of my tutu. I almost stopped wearing them after that. When I mentioned in passing that I wouldn't be wearing a tutu at an upcoming scrimmage -- without giving a reason why -- Punchy said, "Oh, no, Graceless. We need the tutu." I couldn't let them down!)