The Rockin' Rainbows

The Rockin' Rainbows were perhaps the best dance group of the 1980s.  The Solid Gold dancers had nothing on us.  :-)

The Rockin' Rainbows was a group comprised of three sisters and our neighborhood friend.  Me, my sister Lisa, my sister Juliet, and our childhood friend Charity.

Our repertoire was quite vast considering we ranged in age from 9-12 when we started the group.

Some of the songs I remember that we choreographed and danced to were: My Boyfriend's Back, Heart Attack (I'm not sure that's the actual title of the song), Physical, Stray Cat Strut, Nobody, Snapshot, etc.  I'm sure there were more, I just don't recall all of them.  Perhaps Lisa does.  :-)

We were big time.  :-) I made matching outfits for all of us complete with our initial appliquéd onto a cloud at the end of a rainbow.  The appliqué was satin sewed on Lycra/spandex.  Not an easy task for a 12 or 13 year old.  They actually turned out awesome!  It was a dark blue Lycra/spandex leotard complete with sleeves and a ruffle.  I remember them very well.  And the appliqué was designed and cut out separately with each color sewn together complete with initial and then sewn onto the leotard.

If you're wondering why we called ourselves The Rockin' Rainbows, it's quite simple.  Rainbows were big in the 80s.  Rainbow shirts were all the rage.  Even Care Bears had a bear with a rainbow, Cheer bear. Of course, that was my favorite.  Pink with a rainbow.  :-)

I thought it would be cool to put our initial on a cloud at the end of the rainbow.  And everyone's initial was a different color.  Charity -- purple, Lisa -- yellow, Tammy -- green, Juliet -- red.

Once we had enough songs in our repertoire to do a performance, we scheduled the performance and sold tickets.  Unfortunately we weren't as well-received as we had hoped and ended up giving tickets away.  :-) We did have a few people show up though. As I recall, the performance was in our backyard.

Our most memorable performance for me was in Juliet's and Charity's fourth grade class.  I was in seventh grade and the performance was at the end of the day after I got out of school but before the elementary school got out.  I remember riding my bike home from the junior high school as fast as I could to make it to the elementary school in time to do the performance. Of course we looked great in our matching Rockin' Rainbows outfits. I'm sure we were a hit.  :-) I still can't believe their fourth grade teacher let us do that.

We spent a lot of our free time choreographing and practicing our dance moves.  Usually in the yard at 852.  :-)  That's when we weren't rollerskating, or riding our bikes all over Orem, or taking the bus to the mall.

We moved from the neighborhood in 1986.  Charity spent a lot of that summer with us in Salem.  Unfortunately, we drifted apart after school started and that was the demise of The Rockin' Rainbows.  :-(

The Rockin' Rainbows -- same photo, different effects
Unfortunately, this is the only photo of The Rockin' Rainbows that we found.  I know there is also a splits version of this.  I will add it to this post if/when we find it.

The Rockin' Rainbows
Summer 1986
Charity, Lisa, Tammy, Juliet