The Recital

Well this weekend was the big dance recital. It really took almost every waking moment of mine all weekend to have the kids and me ready and punctual for the dress rehersal on Saturday and the performance on Sunday.
Saturday we had to be there at 9:15. I was up at 6:30… Not a good way to start Saturday really. Anyway we didn’t get home from there until well after 2:00. The kids really hung in there well. I got a little concerned though, when they ran through my little one's dance (she is almost 4 and there were 8 girls around her age dancing together with two of the ‘big girls’). She got about 1/3 of the way into it and then started crying. When I asked her why she was crying she told me she wasn’t expecting that to happen. How sweet. Anyway after watching all the other girls on stage, she wanted to go again, but we really couldn’t because we would’ve been there until dinner time if we had waited for the stage to open up.

We decided then to get there early on Sunday. We were able to walk her out on the stage, talk to the big girl who would be dancing beside her, and show her where I would be standing. Her teacher took a few minutes out of her busy day to give her a pep talk too (this is amazing because there are over 150 students of this school). She had a tummy ache off and on for the couple of hours prior to the show. I was in no way going to force the issue, but she was flip-flopping on whether she wanted to dance or not. I figured we’d gently encourage and see what happens. I knew she would be disappointed later if she bailed (like she had been on Saturday). Well she did it, and it was too cute. She looked over to her left a few times to smile at me. There had to be 800 people there and she did great. I was very proud.

My older daughter did the whole thing as if she had done it 1,000 times before. This would surprise you if you’d ever met her. I’ve lamented about her shyness and how I’m afraid it will get in her way. She agreed with my husband yesterday that it was “no big deal”. I love that. She really is maturing a lot these days. And socially, I couldn’t believe how well she is now getting along with all the girls in dance. She is so confident and at ease. It’s all I could hope for. They are great kids.

I have spent 3 hours every weekend at that dance studio (since September). We are always on time, fed and rested for class (the kids are anyway). I volunteered to help backstage with hair, and I ended up being a stage mom for the whole show (which meant watching it from either backstage or the nosebleed section). It doesn’t seem fair that I put so much in and could scarcely partake of the recital. It is hard to pay attention when you have to keep all those kids quiet and in their seats! But I can’t say it is thankless, because I know how much the instructor appreciates the help, and some of the mom’s were very grateful to me as well. Anyhow, if I’m willing to part with just a little more cash, I can purchase the DVD and see the whole show up close :-)