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By Vanessa Ogle
Brooklyn Daily
These grandmas know how to shine in the spotlight.
The 13th-annual “Your Highness Grandmother” pageant gave grandmas a chance to strut their stuff down the runway at National Restaurant in Brighton Beach on Oct. 19.
The Russian contestants wore elaborate costumes and show off their talents — but it wasn’t just flashy festivities.
The pageant was also about promoting world peace, said the founder of the pageant, by showing spectators how to respect community elders and their traditions by treating them like family members.
“We have to start from family tradition, respect for older people, and everything would be good in this country,” said Raisa Chernina, who founded the pageant to pay homage to her mother. “A country is a big family and we’re part of this family.”
The bodacious babushkas donned daring costumes and performed intricate skits. One longtime contestant created her own costume — a pants on half of her body and a skirt and blouse on the other — for her solo performance singing both the male and female parts of a Russian duet, changing her pitch to match the gender.
“I was singing from the solider who has to go home. And the girl told him, ‘Take me, also, with you,’ ” said Ada Natenzon, who has competed in the pageant for 10 years and began singing at 70 years old. “He says, ‘I don’t need you. I have a wife and family.’ She says, ‘Go — I will find another boy.’ ”
But aside from the talent portion, Chernina said the day was really about celebrating grandmas and making peace with all family members — before it is too late.
“It is not necessary to come to cemetery and say ‘I’m sorry,’ ” she said. “Everybody needs to hug and kiss and say, ‘I love you’ — not only to grandmas but to mother, father, brother — everybody.”