Emi Peters Loves In Living Color's Fly Girls

By Venus Zine Staff
Published: June 23rd, 2010 | 2:20pm

Browsing through YouTube’s infinite abyss of videos is one of my favorite pastimes. I mostly watch music videos, natural hair care tutorials, and videos of cute animals doing cute things. Occasionally, though, I’ll discover a rare gem. As I was recently scanning the ’Tube, I stumbled upon a classic clip from the ’90s sketch comedy show In Living Color that features the show’s house dance troupe, the Fly Girls. Feeling instantly nostalgic, I spent the next hour or so watching clip after clip of the hopelessly cool dancers doing their thing.

Even though I was barely in kindergarten when In Living Color first aired, I can remember watching it and impatiently waiting for the skits to be over with so I could see the Fly Girls in their funky outfits, working out some dope dance moves—some of which I was so bold as to try and emulate. Needless to say, my mother was not too keen on her 5-year-old gyrating and rump-shaking all through the house.

But what drew me to the Fly Girls the most was that they were totally in control, original, and looked like they were having so much fun. A stint with the Fly Girls launched the careers of big names like Jennifer Lopez and Rosie Perez and gave girls like me inspiration to express myself in the flyest way possible—through dance.

Emi Peters is a Venus Zine intern.