Bridgit McLaughlin: "Where the Sidewalk Ends" and "Tainted Innocence" Remix

This displays my performance in Dimensions in Dance 2014.

Tainted Innocence by Elvis Barrera reflects the struggle of rediscovering one’s innate innocence. I am the girl in white symbolizing a pure soul who is surrounded by the dark demons of my past. In the end, I find the light that leads me to where “the sidewalk ends,” just like in Shel Silverstein’s poem. Silverstein identifies children as those who possess such innocence and, therefore, can direct us to “Where the Sidewalk Ends” commonly known as Heaven. I believe this to be true; however, I don’t believe that children are the only light capable of leading us to eternity with pure souls. Everyone was pure at one time since everyone was once a child. This gift of purity in our early years can be retrieved and renew our tainted innocence. Once we find that innocence that once existed within us, we can be directed to a new destination beyond this Earth.

“There is a place where the sidewalk ends

And before the street begins,

And there the grass grows soft and white,

And there the sun burns crimson bright,

And there the moon-bird rests from his flight

To cool in the peppermint wind.”

This picture displays the “peppermint wind” provided by the “place where the sidewalk ends.” This is significant because it demonstrates the peace and renewal Heaven possesses. It sweeps away the worries and troubles, renewing the soul in an act of purification.

“Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black

And the dark street winds and bends.

Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow”

These pictures represent the struggle towards battling my sin that makes me imperfect. In the poem, Silverstein’s idea of the impurities as black smoke that leads us down dark, winding roads, away from where the sidewalk ends. Symbolically, the dancers wearing black represent that “black smoke” as I represent purity in my white costume. Through this constant battle in overcoming the demons that give me a “Tainted Innocence,” I find the innocence that I once possessed and am able to find peace that exists “past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow.”

“We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,

And watch where the chalk-white arrows go

To the place where the sidewalk ends.”

With each step, leap, turn, and fall, I am progressing further toward finding my innocence that directs me toward the light. When Silverstein says “we shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,” he is communicating the step-by-step process of self-evaluation that will help find our center where our innocence once existed untouched.

“Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,

And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,

For the children, they mark, and the children, they know

The place where the sidewalk ends.”