Anyway, tonight, after visiting Muzbot, I recalled to him my days at a student of the Joh Bjelke Peterson School of Physical Culture , or "Physie" as we called it.
I love telling people of my foray into the Yartz and elegant movement.
It's amusing.
Most are shocked because it sounds so absurd and they've never heard of such a thing, am I making it up ?!? .... and then when I launch into a couple of well-remembered routines .. WELL .. lets just say I enjoy the shock factor..
Good times.
So he mentioned Margaret Blande ( a Jane Turner creation ), and like I am SO SURE she studied Physie, as those awkward stiff moves and those pursed cats-bum lips of the very determined ( and possibly psychotic ) can only belong to a disciple of Joh.
Anyhoo.
I found a promo on YouTube. From 2005.
And the scary thing ?
I knew all the routines. Even that stupid 'hippity-hop' of the little kids ( my sister did that one )
THEY HAVEN'T CHANGED A THING SINCE 1979 !!
.. although they've obviously moved on from Jon English's "Six Ribbons" and funked it up with the Robbie Generation.
Like THAT's going to make it cool ?
And so, as we used to say ... Deportment .. Commence !....
and ... OMG, more if you can bare it ... this one is home footage from
the Far South Coast of NSW ( where I was from ) - I even went to Bateman's Bay to compete once ( finals - regional is Canberra, and then the really good girls get to go to Sydney to the Opera House !! How much more exciting does it get ? )
This is probably more true of the utter crap and bore it all was.
Sure, it was fun to do, and you got to wear leotards and REAL LEATHER ballet shoes ( not Jiffies, gah ! ), but can you imagine watching this crap ? I love the authentic town hall sound of the piano .. ahh memories ...
I must admit though, I do have pretty good deportment these days.
All that marching, turning and keeping my shoulders back and all that.
Joh would be proud.
29 comments:
This was fascinating.
I understood about three syllables and one comma of it, but fascinating nonetheless.
-J.
OMG...I would not have pictured you participating in such activities!! And Jon English - yuk. It has made me so tired watching, I think I might need to go back to bed and start all over again.
Maybe you could start teaching the Master some of these 'boys fitness' moves.
You serious?
Isn't it just so Nazi Youth ?
It's bizarre.
All I can say it that perhaps this is the only 'kultcha' many small country towns offer ?
For many years, Tues night Fizzy was the highlight of my week...
omg I'm having flashbacks!
I used to do fizzy as well (we spelled it physie in our area). I didn't do it very long but two of my sisters have medals from several competitions.
I'd forgotten all about the interminable marching! The tippy toes on corners! omg...
Ooh look a non HP post!
I'm having flashbacks too...but for me it was 'Calisthenics'. I can definitely still do the straight-legged marching with 90 degree turn.
And I'm shocked with the 2005 promo video - I thought leotards became extinct around the Flashdance era? Where they have a choice, the girls in Queenie's various dance classes wear cropped tops and short-shorts.
Perhaps they is a secret colony of leotard manufacturers holed up in Queensland?
WHAT THE HELL???? Its kind of like a cross between calisthenics and jazz ballet yeah? Just plain odd. And all those leotards were making me feel slightly ill, mainly because I would have been SO INTO THAT STUFF about 20 years ago....
Nazi Youth indeed.
lol - This is great. You just brought back some well burried memories. My sisters were into this but I had no idea it was a competition. You were judged on how you walked?! Hope you managed to get some sleep after all that excitement last night. :)
OMG indeedy-do! Where to start? Well, it must have been a real NSW thing because I had never heard of it before. My first thoughts were the contradiction (although I now see there is only an indirect link) between Bjelke-Peterson and the words Physical and Culture. And "Baby Love" meets Hitler Youth was a bit much.
We had my daughters first Irish Dancing concert on Saturday. And at times I was watching thinking, this is just a bit funny. But now I see that the stirring chorus's of Riverdance have not a patch on the weirdness of "Fizzie".
Thank you for expanding my cultural awareness.
All that Fascist marching about, the fizzy girls gave the the horrors at school (their mothers even more so). They did all got to use fake tan in the winter though, the rest of us were forbidden.
I am here via Stomper Girl in sheer relief at not having to worry that i might be disturbing HP reading time - I just don't get it - but am very happy to respect/admire people who do!
You must be younger than me, DMM.
Fake tan didn't exist when I was a marching, lunging, arm-flapper.
We wore tanned *pantyhose*.
It was all very grown-up. My mum even let me put on a little bit of blue eyeshadow for competitions.
V&R - do you feel differently about your old family holiday town now ? All that behind-the-scenes bizareness you were shielded from as you frollicked on the beach ? ;)
Just got around to actually watching. Thanks for the education, I was also in the dark about fizzy. I did do gymnastics in high school though and have lots of traumatic leotard memories.
Oh, and I love Jon English's six ribbons. (Really, I'm not joking.)
How much do I love that rainbow leotard circle-wheel thing? Heaven!! I'm trying to picture you doing those jazzy high kicks too. Next blog meet I demand that you demonstrate.
Now enough about that, let's talk about Harry Potter
Moohahahahahahaahahah
Hmmm. I'm speachless.
I can't watch youtube thingies at home on this old dinosaur so now am hanging out to go to work later this week and watch this.
I did years of calisthenics - lots of straight legged marching, rod twirling, "plastics" (proper name: aesthetic dance") leg tan and leotards, blue eyeshadow and enough hairspray to poison a small paddock.
Never heard of fizzy though. You New South Welshmen are very inventive with the monikers.
BTW I love 'Six Ribbons'. I can sing along very earnestly to that one.
I vaguely remember some of the basic moves (probably incorporated into PE at school?), but I'm sure we never did that program at school. Anyway, I would have been way too unco for most of the moves.
Must be an infringement of blogtiqutte but I must back up a post to say that series of crackle cookie photos is priceless. Especially the thumbs up.
Sang "Six Ribbons" in choir once many years ago at an eisteddfod. Won the folk singing section if I remember rightly
"Fizzy" is quite disturbing really.
I think you'll find his name is Bjelke PetersEn. No relation, just saying so you'll know......
But did you wear that shocking eye shadow??
I did ballet for eight years, which included eisteddfods and performances, and I most certainly remember wearing that colour eye shadow (some bitch mother stuck the stick thing in my eye, I hated her evermore) and getting my hair pulled to within an inch of its follicular (!) life.
Okay it's now the next day and I've just watched it at work.
It's more disturbing than I could ever have imagined. And more frightening than calisthenics.
Thank you for sharing!
Well all I can say is that fizzy totally copied my dance routines from the blue light disco days!
I thought I could hear the strains of "Six Ribbons" coming from the cliffs as I was lying on the beach. Toora - lee, Toora - li, all I can share, is only six ribbons, to tie back your hair.
Oh my gawd! I did Physie too! And I am of the chemical fake tan and tons of makeup era. Poo. I was a total Un-co. I did however once go to the Opera House to compete in the teams finals. One year our 'dance' was to Ghost Busters we had to go wooooo ooooo ooo at the beginning and I still remember the beginning moves. I think I'm scared. Good gawd what a crazy world physie is.
Whoops maybe that should have read I think I'm scarred. ?!
Flash mob hopefuls.
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