Rag Mop Shuffle

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My five year old niece is up on stage, black sequined and wearing a jaunty pillbox hat, doing the Rag Mop Shuffle. Two rows of little girls, only slightly in sync, wiggle with glee, trying not to bump into each other. It was bound to happen, during a turning movement, a girl stumbles and falls.

She sits there with a surprised look on her face, followed by a torrent of tears. A mother quickly detaches herself from the audience and hurries to the side stage where she meets the distraught child who has exited stage left.

My niece is the next to take a spill. The choreography requires them to lay down their mop props and jump over them. Instead, she lands on the pole and it promptly shoots out from under her, taking her legs with it and leaving nothing but air between the floor and her behind.

She bounces hard but never stops smiling, immediately finding her feet again, redoubling her efforts to finish the song.

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