This past weekend was Skylar's first dance recital. She spends a good part of every day dancing around the house, so this was the pinnacle of her little ballet dreams.
Her biggest complaint about ballet class is that she "doesn't get to do ballet" because she has to stand in line, practice positions, stretch, etc. and it's so booooring. She thinks her class should be a dance party every week.
She doesn't get that whole "ballet takes discipline" concept.
She also finds an excuse to leave class every week so she can come out to the lobby and say hi to the parents and watch her friends on the tv monitor. They think it's hilarious. I don't.
Anyway.....
As I was trying to get her out the door for the rehearsal she said "I don't want to be on stage with everybody watching me!" I had flashbacks to my childhood stage fright. I was a wreck before every recital I had. So I told her she would get to watch the big girls on stage dance, and she was happy to go.
I should not have worried about the glimmer of stage fright. After watching the big girls practice she couldn't wait for her turn.
That child came alive on the stage.
A little too alive.
All 25 preschoolers were standing in a row when the curtain opened and "We are Christmas Elves" started playing. Skylar was on the far left sticking out like a sore thumb because I didn't get the memo about putting her in her Christmas costume like all the other children.
(It wouldn't have mattered if I had gotten the memo, because she didn't even HAVE a costume yet. It was up to the parents to choose the outfit. I had decided she could squeeze into last year's size 2T Christmas dress. Then I realized that wasn't going to cut it. So as of rehearsal night, there was no Christmas finery to show off anyway).
Back to the stage....
So the music starts and all the little girls just freeze. Nobody is dancing. The teachers are stage right and left trying to show them the motions and nobody is paying attention.
And then IT happens.
Skylar steps out about 3 feet in front of the line.
Uh-oh.....
And then she free-styles it just like Olivia the Pig. Twirling, jumping, kicking her way all the way down the stage.
The crowd roared. But I overheard a parent say "Does she have a solo part? Why does she get a solo part?"
Um, she gave herself the solo part.
When she got to the end of the stage a teacher jumped out and put her back in line.
But she wasn't done, oh no, she was just getting warmed up.
She got right back out in front and gave a strong finish with a large dramatic bow at the end. The crowd ate it up.
Oh.my.gosh. I could have died.
I thought for the millionth time, where did this child come from?
In fact I think I must have been mumbling "that is not my child" because the person in front of me turned around and said "That's YOUR child?"
When she came down I said "Wow Skylar, that was some performance you gave."
She said very proudly "I know!"
So I asked her why she didn't stay in line with her friends and do the dance her teacher taught her.
To which she replied, "But mom, I wanted to do ballet!"
I couldn't really argue with that since clearly she was the only one on stage doing ballet.
I mean, I guess I should be proud that she took some initiative and gave a performance of some kind.
But I still reiterated that she needed to stand next to all of her friends. And so did her teacher the next day at her lesson.
The night before the performance had me frantically driving around town collecting up materials to make a costume and then gathering and hand stitching 6 layers of sequined and glittered tulle to her old Christmas dress to get it performance ready (all the while wishing I had just been like the other moms and ordered a dang costume off etsy).
It appears I am still the procrastinator I was in college.
The the big day came. I was a little nervous to see what kind of tricks she had up her tutu.
But she stayed right in her spot and did exactly what she was supposed to. She couldn't resist adding a nice dramatic curtsy at the end. That's my girl.
Her daddy gave her a rose:
I'm thinking she might be a born performer. Just maybe. I could be wrong. We'll see.
Her friend Maddie came to watch her. Skylar LOVED that Maddie was there.
The performance was really secondary to the fish and turtle pond in the lobby. It was the main attraction for sure.
Santa gave her a candy cane. She love love loves candy canes. And those little round peppermints that grandpas keep in their pockets. In fact, she will pick a peppermint over chocolate. Further proof that she cannot be my child.
We had to sit through an hour of ballet performances before we slipped out at intermission. Finley was Micah's ticket out. He got fussy. Luuuuucky.
We all look a little goofy in this picture. I guess ballet just really takes it out of us.....
Micah taught Skylar to do the stink-eye. So I'll leave you with that.....
