Dainty Does Ballet

Title (as given to the record by the creator): Dainty Does Ballet
Date(s) of creation: June 2005
Creator / author / publisher: Allyson Mitchell, Size Queen
Physical description: Two pages of a zine, each with 4 panels of an art comic
Reference #: SizeQueen-26-27-Dainty
Links:  [ PDF ]

Dainty Does Ballet

By Allyson Mitchell

[Page descriptions: Each page has four rectangular art panels on a green background. Each panel is completely filled with painted images and collage of patterned materials, with whitened areas that contain black text. The panels are each slightly askew, so they overlap a tiny bit.

Page 1:

1. At the top, handwritten in black on white: “Dainty Does Ballet, by Allyson Mitchell.” Below that is a pattern of 70’s or 80’s-style sneakers in different colors, with various colors of stripes and stars. On top of the pattern is a painted, young, fat girl. She’s white with bright orange hair, parted in the middle and pulled back on each side with black barrettes, and has huge eyes the color of her hair. Also the same color on her stubby fingernails. She is wearing red pants with a white belt and a white t-shirt with green sleeves. The shirt says “Big Boss” on it. She is smiling. A white area contains the beginning of the story: “Once upon a time, in the ripoff basement of my mom’s friend, Linda – I took ballet lessons.”
2. On top of a collage of various unidentifiable images, a painted young fat girl with bright red hair and huge red eyes stands looking awkward and scared in a pink bodysuit, blue tights and pink ballet slippers. Text says, “I had a bodysuit and leotards to wear.”
3. On top of collaged cutout images: Text at the top says,”The problem was,” then an image of her crotch area in the bodysuit and leotard, then “whenever I plied or releviéd,” then another image of the crotch, this time from below, showing the snaps popping open, and “sproing!”. Test says “the crotch snaps would pop open.” 
4. At the top a painted image of chubby hands and pink painted fingernails, and the text: ”my seven year old sausage fingers had trouble mastering the mechanics of doing them up again.” Then below, a big painted image of the girl, eyes open wide, standing, with the teacher, also in a pink bodysuit, and her blonde hair big with a bun in back, kneeling down in front of the girl’s crotch. Text says “Linda, the teacher, always had to snap me back up … which secretly thrilled me.”]

Page 2:

1. A painted image of the girl atop a background of people on the beach. Her expression is excited, and text above her head and continuing below her chest says: “One day – I spied with my little eye … a beautiful shiny quarter on Linda’s basement / dance floor.” A thought bubble on top of orange knit fabric shows a shiny quarter and an equals sign, then a bag of Humpty Dumpty chips, and signs that say “!dee-liscious! !salt! !crispy! !satisfying!” Around her ankles, the backdrop is Dawn dolls, and the text at her knees: “I pranced gracefully over to the part of Linda’s floor…
2. …where the quarter was.” A chubby painted hand over a background of gray branches and shadows grabs a Canadian quarter. “I picked it up and slid it into my “pocket” – my warm and safe crotch.” A painted image of the crotch of the girl’s bodysuit and leotards, and her fingers moving the quarter toward her crotch. THe background looks like flowered wallpaper. Then an image of a breakfast table: full with pancakes, sausage, fruit, syrup, and the words “You know what happened.”
3. On a background of needlepointed diamonds, in a rainbow of colors, the painted girl looks shocked, her mouth in an O and her eyes wide. She holds her hands down near her crotch as she kicks up one foot toward the side. Under her raised foot, the text says, “The next jazzy dance step and…”
4. The quarter bounces “clink” “clink” “clink” “clink” across a backdrop of suitcases.Then an image of crisps falling down toward a drain, and text “It was goodbye my crispy lovelies – Hello Linda “ The girl is now on a backdrop of sweets, all pink and white and red and heart-shaped, Her eyes have turned from red to brown.]