Don Giller

It was the first time she'd seen it in 61 years. Adam then asked if I had any favorite requests from DaveWorld, and that was the biggest mistake he made today. My response:

There's one that wasn't even a request. Claudia Costa, baton-twirling champ. She had been bumped. On her 2nd visit there was no time left, so Dave invited her on in the show's closing segment, apologized for the too-brief time allotted to her.

They chatted for maybe a minute or less. He asked her to demonstrate her baton twirling. She moved to center stage and began her performance to a prepared soundtrack (Laura Branigan's "Gloria").

It lasts for maybe 15 seconds before the closing end-credit comes onscreen, and the show quickly fades out.

I had two sources for this show: The first from a viewer's broadcast capture; the second from a pre-broadcast tape that someone dubbed for me back in 2002. I digitized both on March 31, 2016, the broadcast version first.

Then the pre-broadcast version. It's the first time I've watched this version after having acquired it 14 years earlier. I'm watching the last act. Claudia begins her performance, the credits appear.

But the show doesn't fade out. The credits remain up for a while longer, then finally disappears. Her performance continues.

She does some amazing maneuvers with not just one but three batons simultaneously, at one point generating a "Woah!" from @Willbassboy.

This version preserves her entire performance, long after the broadcast has ended, a performance no one outside the studio audience has ever seen.

So I upload it three days later. Then begins the search: How can I find this woman? I put out the call in the FB/AFL. After a few hours (or minutes), @heystu818 finds her. I email her. She reads it and responds. She is amazed.