Spencer, Iowa County Fair 1962/ "Lydia", "Anna May" and "Sadie"

When the Cristianis came on the Cole Show the ladies in their large family would often line up along the grandstand railing between shows and practice ballet excersizes. It wasn't long before others joined. One day my mother and I cut thru the big top on our way back from the cook house and she caught up with this phenomenon for the first time, by now over a dozen women were involved. After watching for a while she asked Mickey Freeman what was going on and was told that it developed classic movement and helped to add to their style in the ring. As we were walking away she said to me "Silliest thing I ever heard of, everybody knows that when the trick is over you throw your arms up!". In a way she was right, here is a picture of Barbara "throwing her arms up" but then again even after we were married she put in many hours in dance classes.