I always buy vintage twirling footage when I can find it, which is not often. So when I found "Disqualified and Overqualified," I figured a documentary about a champion twirler with a bonus instructional disc was worth fifty bucks. Ten minutes into the movie, I realized it was a bargain -- plenty of home movies of the most technically advanced twirling I'd ever seen, interspersed with the charismatic subject bedecked in a gold headdress and energetically dishing on competitive twirling, circus twirling, and her extraordinary life. Twenty minutes into the movie, I was startled into spilling my beer on my dog when it was revealed that Annetta Lucero practiced for the World Championships on the blacktop at her high school here in Sac.

Lucero moved to Rio Linda in 1978. Although born with three missing vertebrae, she began twirling at age three and seriously training at five. By the time she was 13, she was training 9 to 12 hours a day. She has won three World Champion titles (1983, 1986, 1997), six Grand National titles (1981, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1988-AYOP), two Guinness World Records (1986 and 1997), and a Congressional Cup (1998). When she won Miss Sacramento 1990, she deliberately did not twirl for the talent portion. She now directs Cirque Pacifica with her partner in Hawaii and advocates for domestic abuse survivors. She will be featured on "Good Day Sacramento" as well as performing locally on May 9. To view a slideshow of vintage twirling photographs and to purchase her DVD, visit annettalucero.com. For more information on her upcoming Sacramento performance or to buy tickets, contact Roman Rudy at 916-912-0487.

Questions are italicized, followed by Lucero's answers.

What was it like growing up in Rio Linda in the '70s and '80s? Do you feel Rio Linda has changed since then?

I grew up in Southern California until I moved to Rio Linda at age 11. It seemed very desolate and I missed the ocean. It didn’t matter where I lived. My primary focus in life was training. The faculty at Dry Creek Elementary School was extremely supportive of my efforts. The staff raised funds to help me attend my first national championships in 1979. 

By the time I was in junior high I had found my two world class trainers, Annette Odello of Concord and Jerry Alvarez of Fresno. I spent a lot of time commuting and staying for extended periods of time with them. After winning my first world championships in 1983, I retired from my sport for two years. I became more involved in school activities, becoming a cheerleader. I enjoyed getting to know my schoolmates and attending school functions for the first time as a junior. I was still in and out of school because my body rejected the abrupt switch from nine-hour training days to nothing. My immune system failed when I grew seven inches in six months and I was diagnosed with acute lupus and began having epileptic seizures. 

The last time I visited Rio Linda, the biggest changes I noticed were that the football field finally had lights and the high school was far more integrated. When I graduated in 1985, I was one of a small handful of brown-skinned students. I was happy to find that “Tummies” sub shop was still going strong. In fact, a barbeque sandwich from Tummies may be one of the only reasons I would ever return to Rio Linda.

Tell me about previous generations twirling in your family, and your mom’s baton school in Rio Linda.

My mom has been teaching baton twirling since long before I was born. My Aunt DD was teaching before her. My granny did not have performance skill but she had an enormous infatuation with entertainment. In the circus we call it “ring fever,” someone who can’t stand not being in the ring but has no talent to offer. She loved costuming and the thrill of applause. Her daughters inherited the bug and Aunt DD turned it into a business when she was 12 years old, gathering the neighborhood kids and forcing them all to twirl baton and wear costumes. My mom was the youngest of five sisters and became the most skilled, ranking fourth in the state. 

My mom had a huge school in Santa Barbara with more than 100 students. She began teaching after-school classes in the cafeteria at Dry Creek Elementary School around 1980. We also had a large, smooth cement area added to our home on Ascot Avenue, where private lessons and high-level practice sessions would take place for national competitors. My mom taught everyone from the youngest beginner to the world-class hopefuls. She didn’t care if they were in my division, competing against me, she would try to make them better. That would make me work harder. It was nice having people to practice with. Training can be grueling, seemingly never ending. She taught generations of kids in Rio Linda long after I had moved away. She also held small local baton competitions, beauty pageants and recitals. In my very late 20s, I briefly returned to Rio Linda to live for a few years. My mom and I directed the school together and ran after-school programs that grew very large. You would be hard-pressed to get through Rio Linda without soon meeting someone who had taken baton lessons from Laari Kent.

How culturally and ethnically diverse was mainstream baton twirling during your competitive years? During your mom's time? Was there ever a time when boys competed as much as girls, or has it always been mostly girls?

Baton twirling began as a male-dominated activity. It was created by drum majors who developed faster tricks with better movement using a smaller baton than the traditional drum major baton. It quickly caught on with girls who discovered that marching in parades and wearing cute costumes was a lot of fun. Like any worthwhile endeavor, it became competitive and grew quickly. Soon the girls far outnumbered the boys and it has stayed that way since I can remember. There is a high level of male participation in the largest twirling countries, Japan and France.

I twirled during the peak of the sport in the late '70s-'80s. The national participation level was so high; there were hundreds of competitors in an age- division qualifying round. It was madness. Many of the greatest legends in our sport are from that era. As I recall, twirling in the U.S. has always been primarily middle-to-upper-class Caucasians. My coach, Jerry Alvarez, seemed to keep pumping out Mexican-American national and world champions. We always laughed about that. We called ourselves the “Beaners.” Yolanda Costellanos, Monique Frye and myself won the world championships back to back. All of us Mexican, all of us trained by our Mexican coach. One coach winning three world titles three years running with three different athletes is unheard of even now.

I like the female archetypes your routines delved into. How old you were you when you created Cavewoman and Eve? What inspired you?

I was 19 and 20. I created them back to back. I like strength. I was inspired to create Cavewoman after seeing "Conan the Barbarian." I saw Grace Jones and wanted to be her. That amazing skinny body and every muscle so defined! I began that routine as a play on her character, but couldn’t get the barbarian theme to be understood and so changed it to “Cavewoman.” I later did create a barbarian routine when I was older and had more access to music and technology. It was seen only on stage, not competition. I created Eve for the same reason. Plus, I thought it would be super funny to appear in a “naked-like” costume. I was always happy to shock myself and others.

How has your artistic vision evolved over the years? What are you exploring in your art lately?

It takes a lifetime developing from a competitive machine to an artist. Not everyone can make the transition. For me, I was always an artist who was also a competitive machine. Conforming to the rules and regulations of competition was the challenge as I got older. I would shock people with my choices. I wasn’t trying to. I didn’t anticipate being disqualified or reprimanded for presenting off-colored freestyle routines. I had visions of what I wanted to present and I would follow through with them. It wasn’t strange to me. I was an odd combination of extremely shy and outrageously outspoken. In social situations I was invisible. In the competitive arena I could not be silenced. If my routines didn’t scream out that I had a voice, my actual voice would take over. I would speak my mind in interviews with the judges that were meant to be critiques of my presentation. They didn’t “get” me and I always had a lot to say.

Now the art is my voice. And my voice reflects the passion behind my art. A routine is no longer a series of tricks. It’s a message. The message is currently domestic abuse. My talent and celebrity give me the opportunity to reach many audiences. It would be a great disservice to those who suffer if I did not share my story. Silence is dangerous.

I feel like traditional baton twirling became less popular over the '90s. I know that in 1990 I was the first kid to ask for baton-twirling lessons at Dolores Impinna's studio in over five years, and I was the only kid taking twirling lessons (with the occasional exception of my kid sister) the whole time I was a student. Why do you think there was a drop in popularity?

After the heyday of the '80s baton twirling, participation in the U.S. dropped significantly. I can only speculate as to why. There were so many superstars of the sport during the era I twirled. After that there was a lull. During my career, no country outside the U.S. ever won the Senior Women’s World Championships. In the '90s, Canada and Japan began to rise. U.S. twirling seemed wounded. More rules and regulations were put into place. Compulsories became mandatory for every level of competition and it seemed to make things very sterile and regimented. It also became more difficult to find facilities for instructors to conduct classes. Lawsuits and insurance became an issue and everything seemed to come to a screeching halt.

Currently, twirling is on the rise again. Japan is the world leader, followed by France. There aren’t as many superstars in the U.S., but the beginning levels and parade groups are making a comeback. Sacramento has a large selection of instructors, from parade groups to world-class coaches. There are still world-champion teams created in Sacramento gyms.

I appreciated you talking in the film about twirling being seen as a novelty. Can you talk more about ways you've pushed the frontiers of twirling, for example, performances you've done for private parties and in circuses?

I don’t know about pushing the frontiers of twirling in particular. I live my life trying to push the frontiers within my human condition. I happen to be a baton twirler and so many ideas and experiences are presented through this medium. After competition, I found an artistic outlet through circus. I have been able to create presentations that are extremely entertaining to look at and also bring an important message to my audience. The circus world now considers baton twirling a viable circus art and it is nice to think that I was a pioneer in that development.

Over the years I have trained and developed skills beyond twirling. I have performed in cirque productions all over the world. I am an aerialist, acrobat, adagio balancer, juggler and anything else I need to be to earn a paycheck. Even in the arts there are jobs that must be done for living expenses rather than art. I have a family that I support. I consider corporate work my “job,” performing what other people, who don’t know about my art, decided they want to see at their company awards banquet. I’m fortunate to have that work but I am always happy to be doing things on my own terms. I do run my own cirque company with my partner, Noah Moore, in Hawaii. We have a variety of Elite Cirque acts and perform for corporate and private events internationally. We also conduct a children’s circus school at a beautiful circus facility, S.P.A.C.E., on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Where do you see the future of baton twirling going? Do you think it'll ever be included in the Olympics?

The Olympics is a big issue for the baton-twirling community. I recently opened a discussion on my Facebook page that garnered heated comments and emotional opinions from twirlers who have not studied the facts. They are offended by my honest commentary but they have no real knowledge on the subject. Opinions based on ignorance are not useful. The reality is that baton twirling will not be in the Olympics in the near future. Twirling falls short of many of the necessary requirements to even become a demonstration sport. First, there is not a united federation that encompasses all twirling organizations. Then, there are not enough participating countries. It has grown significantly worldwide but still falls short. The level of athletic ability is not consistently high enough. A few countries produce Olympic-level athletes but most do not. And the number of athletes, outside of Japan, representing the sport as a whole is not of Olympic proportions. It’s not the victorious, “we will rise and conquer” type of commentary people want to hear and share, but it is the truth. And I believe in operating from an honest platform. How can we resolve the problems if everyone is blind to the realities? Am I negative? Absolutely NOT! I would love to see twirling in the Olympics. Perhaps the areas that make it an unlikely prospect now will change rapidly and it will become a reality.

Do any of your children like to twirl?

No. I have four children, ages 4, 8, 10 and 15. My 15-year-old is severely disabled and in his late stages of terminal illness. He has a rare brain-disintegrating disease called metachromatic luekodystrophy. He has been the most amazing gift in my life. There is no greater lesson to learn than selflessness. He has taught me so many things and given me the opportunity to become a better person. Every day he chooses to stay with us is a miracle and a blessing.

My other children have just begun training and enjoying the circus arts this year. I was not permitted to share my art or talents with them throughout my marriage. They are flourishing now. It is a joy for me to see them learning and creating beauty through art and movement.
Psychological and emotional abuse can be so subtle at first that it is not detectable to the victim. I am a person very much interested in learning and improving myself. I was the perfect target for a sociopath to prey on. It was very important to me to succeed in my marriage, honor my vows, make a good household. These qualities made it easy for my abuser to get away with more and more, knowing that I would tough it out no matter what. I didn’t realize that it was a dangerous situation until it was very out of hand, until I no longer had an option to leave without endangering my life.

Do you plan to integrate your current commitment to advocating for abuse survivors with twirling? For example, some traditional art forms have been combined with various therapies, such as dance therapy. Do you see possibilities for combining twirling with the healing arts?

I began integrating my art with therapy from the moment I chose to escape the imprisonment. I wrote a poignant and humorous circus theater piece and presented it to an enthusiastic audience last November.

I have performed and related my story at Domestic Harmony and other community events. It is so important to share the story and not be ashamed. If an intelligent, strong-willed person like me can be imprisoned in my own home, imagine the number of victims that must be out there with no hope. Every time I tell my story, it is an opportunity to give somebody else the power to create their own story of escape.

Photo 1 taken by Nai'a Rae Fox and photos 2 and 3 taken by Laari Kent