Dance Recital 2011

This weekend I got to experience what it was like to be a dance Mommy and we survived our first recital.  It was so much work and very exhausting, but Emma did an AMAZING job and we were all so proud of her.

My sweet girl after "RaRa" finished her makeup, she was ready to go meet the rest of her ballet buddies to wait patiently for dance 17.  Yep, they had to report at 9:30 and her class finally danced about 12:15.  Pretty long wait for my Itty Bitty, but she did it without complaining.

We spent the day before at rehearsal from 9am till 5pm.  I actually ran Emma home then headed back till midnight to help get things organized, be on duty since they were using our school and to decorate the little white church our girls would dance around.

We started searching for a place for Emma to take dance shortly after she turned three and after visiting four possibilities, I decided on our current studio.  I chose it based on security, structure, staff, their mission statement and the scriptures that were painted on the walls when I walked in to see the facility.  God has a way of leading us to the right places in life and after recital we hope to call our dance studio home for a long time.

The entire recital consisted of 4 different shows with 20 dances in each one and 39 in the final show.  I was impressed from the start after seeing that all costumes were appropriate, dances were set to christian or Disney music, scriptures were posted between each dance and they prayed with the dancers along with the audience before anyone went on stage.   

The picture above was the ending of the opening lyrical that was performed to the song, Not One Left Behind.  These girls were incredible to watch and glorified God the entire time they were dancing. 

Emma's preschool ballet class began their dance by coming from behind this little white church that we decorated with flowers, butterflies and dragonflies.

Each girl tiptoed out and then they all looked at Emma to see what they needed to do next. Good thing we had been practicing at home with a paper plate.

Each show was sold out and the auditorium was packed with 750 guest with some standing.   I was a little concerned that Emma might get frightened when she saw all the people, but she shocked us and danced her heart out. Remember this is the little girl who made her Mommy sit on the floor for the first semester of class.

I knew she did a great job, but I did not realize how wonderful she actually did until I saw these pictures this evening.  I think I might have a little dancer on my hands, look at her coming out of that plie'.  Her level of confidence and her ability to remember the entire routine was unbelievable. She definitely served as the leader in her class when it was showtime, no doubt about it.

Our girls danced to It's a Small World and they were all so super cute.  Here she goes  getting ready for her releve'.

There is just one moon and one golden sun and a smiling friendship for everyone.  Looks like everyone had this part down pat.

Emma is the fourth girl in line and was so happy the entire time she was dancing.  She had a blast performing and has already told me she wants to be in 3 dances next year.  She was amazed at the big girls rolling their carts of costumes in for the day.

Look at Emma Lou leaping while holding onto her "golden sun".  She kept her eyes on Mrs. Cheryl and never stopped smiling the entire time she danced.

A perfect little ending, pointed toes and all.   Way to go Emma Caroline, my heart could have exploded I was so proud of you.  I was crying with the biggest smile on my face the entire time you were up there on stage.  

Our sweet girl got lots of flowers and a beautiful James Avery Ballet charm on recital day.  She got a few other things that she was not too happy about and let it be known (from us, thank goodness she did not act like that to anyone else).  Perhaps that will be another blog post someday soon and the valuable lesson I hope she learned for being ungrateful. 

Actually, I will just give you the short version. I gave her the cutest little TUTU outfit for her doll Piper, she was mad that I put it on her doll and continued to tell me she did not like it.  Long story short when we got home I made her aware that she hurt my feelings and after a long talk I decided to sell the outfit and make her be involved in the process.  It was super sad for me, but I had to teach her that she could not act so ugly or be so ungrateful.  She had to package the outfit up and get it ready to be mailed to the new little girl that would be getting it.  Of course she was sorry and wanted it back, but one thing I have learned is you can NEVER give into a strong willed child and James Dobson truly wrote the book about Emma.

We did not get to take pictures of everyone who joined us because Gavin had a major meltdown for about 45 minutes at the end of recital and Mommy was stressed out beyond belief.  I did manage to get this picture of Emma and her Grandma (my Mom) when she was giving her flowers.  Emma was also very excited that Nana, Aunt Stacey, Hunter, Camryn, Rara, David, the girls and Darla got to see her dance.  We are so appreciative that Darla took these pictures and captured Emma's FIRST recital for us. 

Daddy with his little Ballerina after recital.  Before it was over Emma was asking us to sign her up for summer ballet that started immediately.  We have decided to take the summer off, since we would miss 2 weeks of class while we are traveling and Fall will be here before we know it.

Emma, we are so SUPER PROUD of you and how far you have come in one year of dance.  You were truly a shining star on Saturday and I look forward to watching you dance for years to come.