The Rhythmettes

5th Grade, 1979

My elementary school had a gym teacher that was a bit of an unusual person. No one really knew how to take him, but everyone seemed to like him. His name was Mr. Legg, which I admit, was a name that made me smile every time I heard it. He was the sort of teacher that students opened up to.

Mr. Legg created a program at the school called The Rhythmettes. It was a girls dance team and was only open to 5th-grade girls. Being on that dance team was the ultimate status symbol in the school, for the girls. They had cool looking uniforms that resembled cheerleader uniforms of royal purple and white. They were the popular girls. These girls were in the position in elementary school that varsity cheerleaders are in high school. The Rhythmettes performed at school functions.

When I became a 5^th grader, there was a boy who joined The Rhythmettes. I can’t recall his name, but he was short for a 5^th grader. There had never been a boy on The Rythmettes before, but Mr. Legg allowed it and got him a uniform of purple shirt, and bell bottom white pants, and white shoes. The boys made fun of him, and so did many of the girls. He was actually a pretty good dancer, though, for elementary school.

Toward the end of my 5th-grade year, we were out in the school yard doing a sports and activity day. We had a “picnic”, which was really just eating the school food outside. At one point, we were standing in a circle, around The Rhythmettes as they performed. The boy was out there with them, of course, and I remember there were two boys near me making fun of him. They were saying he looked like an idiot, and they were really being cruel, and suddenly I was horrified to hear myself say “I don’t know, he looks pretty happy. Sure, he’s dressed like a girl, but it might be fun.”

The boys weren’t sure they had heard me right. There was a shocked silence. “What did you just say?!?” they asked. I mumbled something, and turned away, and walked to another part of the circle, glad they hadn’t heard me well enough to be sure. But that boy looked like the happiest person in school.