dance

My beautiful little girls have been looking forward to this for weeks and weeks.  They talked endlessly of dancing on the “real stage” and me watching them in the audience.  They talked about their costumes and showed moves from their dances.  Needless to say, they were SO excited.

Because I have three girls of varying ages, dress rehearsal took our whole Friday night.  Their assigned practiced slots were spread out which meant I didn’t have to rush to get anyone ready but it did take awhile.  They each got a turn practicing on the stage in costume.  In fact, we barely made it to E’s rehearsal.  We were racing in the door just as the music started.  Seeing her class onstage without her broke her heart, she stopped abruptly and burst into tears.  But she let me guide her along and get her onstage.  She joined late and halfheartedly.  Fortunately, her class got to run through it a second time and one of the teachers took a minute while they reset the lighting to tease a smile out of her.  So for the second time, she was her happy self again and enjoyed her dance. L takes more classes so she had two routines to practice and A was able to practice with her class as well.  We snuck in a quick dinner between numbers and got home after bedtime, met by Papa and Grammy at the house.

Saturday morning was a fun chaos.  We participating in a neighborhood yard sale but because of the rain, it was in our garage.  Husband managed most of that for us while Grammy and Papa ran their own tables as well and the girls sold cookies and lemonade and hot chocolate.  One of our cousins came to visit and have breakfast with us.  It was a little crazy with the sale going on but we didn’t want to postpone since she’s close to her baby’s due date and I wanted to send her home with baby stuff.  And soon I settled in to do hair and make up on my three dancers.  We loaded everyone into two vehicles with a huge pile of costumes and shoes and left for the auditorium.  Everyone else left to get seats while I took the girls backstage and claimed a corner for their stuff.  I finished getting them dressed and ready and left them with their teachers just before the show started. 

As I went in, I got a program and was surprised to see my L on the program cover!  Her dance picture was chosen to use for the program.  We hadn’t known and what a great surprise!  The theme of the show was “Finding Nemo” so each of the dances were costumed after a character, sort of following the plot line of the movie but mostly just for costume inspiration.  L was a clown fish for her ballet dance, with long graceful extensions and her face beaming.  E was a kissy fish and unbelievable adorable.  A was a Dory fish, doing a ballet routine, seeming so sweet and serene, especially in comparison to her usual dynamite, unstoppable energy.  And then L danced again as a tuna fish for a fun jazzy number that has been stuck in my head for days (“the codfish ball”).  After the show we gave them each a red rose, took pictures  and herded them off to lunch.

We went to Ruby Tuesdays, far enough away there wasn’t a huge dance crowd and fancy enough that they felt it was really special.  They got pretty boisterous but we made it through lunch and back to the auditorium for the evening show.  The afternoon show was “Finding Nemo”, mostly just the younger classes.  The older classes and the competition teams preformed in the evening show.  So I got L’s hair done and helped her ready her costumes.  Then Grammy and I took Z and the little girls home leaving just Husband, Papa and L for the evening show.  Grammy and I have seen her competition routines several times and then men hadn’t.  Plus I knew Z would be awake and fussy through the evening.  Especially since he slept through the whole afternoon! 

And thus, we finished another year of dance.  The girls love it so much and I’m grateful for the amazing teachers they have had.