When you have four girls in dance, there's a fair amount of drama already baked in. Hair and makeup is a TO DO and takes hours. Every year I buy flesh colored leotards, bras and hot pants and inevitably every year someone needs more. Organizing costumes takes up an entire room!
Ireland and Sydney waiting their turn for hair and makeup.
This year's dance recital took that drama right up in to the rafters. Liesel had been in Savannah, GA for a Girl Scout trip. We shelled out a hefty sum to fly her back early (the unaccompanied minor is an extra $150) so she could make it in time for the dress rehearsal. Brent took the Pilot and headed to O'Hare while I took the rest of the girls in the truck to the dress rehearsal. As I was getting them settled, I received a call from Brent and the Pilot quit on the I-90. Just... stopped working. Completely. The alternator died. Brent called AAA while I grabbed the first mother I saw. Practically in tears, I told her my situation and asked if she would look over my girls. We exchanged phone numbers and I flew out the door to get to that spot on the highway.
Turns out Brent's call to AAA came in precisely during shift changes for the towing companies. He was not just stuck on the side of the highway, he was stuck for hours. Luckily, they were on by an off-ramp so I literally pulled up, Liesel hopped over the barrier, jumped in the car and we rushed back to the dress rehearsal. That sweet mom texted me updates on which number they were on. Liesel hadn't missed anything just yet, but we were cutting it close.
Let's talk about Liesel for a moment- because the poor girl was flat-out exhausted. She had an early morning flight and she'd been camping and traveling all week. She had missed the last week of dance where they really go over everything in detail and she was about to get thrown into dress rehearsal after being stranded. To boot, her lyrical costume had not yet arrived. Not a big deal in the scheme of things, but it was a big deal when added to the strain of the situation. We screeched into the parking lot and she was able to make it for her first number, although not in costume. As she scrambled to prepare for the next, a fellow dancer told her she was not allowed to be in any of the company numbers because she had missed the last week of dance. Liesel came and found me sitting in the auditorium and just sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. It's worth noting Liesel isn't the kind of girl to just burst into tears. She's more of a wait-until-she-is-in-the-privacy-of-her-room-and-cry-it-out kind of girl. It was awful. Did I mention Brent was still on the side of the road?
Turns out that dancer didn't understand we had already communicated with the studio owner. Turns out the studio owner was so distracted she didn't notice Liesel wasn't on stage for the company dances. In the end, Liesel danced all the company dances. A different costume had to be used for Liesel's lyrical number- the girls preferred the original costume and Liesel felt blamed for their having to use an alternate, but there was simply nothing else that could have been done about that one. So without further ado (please no more ado!), here are the girls in their latest dance recital!
Impressive leaps, C-jumps and attitude from Brigitta!
Sydney doing some fantastic leaps as well!
Sydney & Brigitta Hip Hop
A still from that routine- insane squat by Brigitta!
Brigitta Tap
Ireland Ballet
Ireland Jazz- They are supposed to be battling it out for domination.
Ireland Hip Hop
Ireland Lyrical
Gorgeous fan kick by Ireland.
Liesel Ballet- Liesel's costume was too wide so along with taking in the side seams, I ironed all that tulle and I'm rather proud of how fluffy it looks when she dances! Here's a picture of it when I was finished (Ireland is there to give perspective)
Liesel Jazz
Liesel Hip Hop- Liesel really loved this routine with her light up shoes!
Liesel Lyrical
Senior Company- The newspapers the girls use in this number contain stories about recent shootings.
Company- The girls all really loved this number! Great song, great dance.
Not included is the opening company number which had some of the routines through the years and it was 15 minutes long! Because of that, the entire recital was longer than usual. Near the end, this cute boy in front of us said, "I can do just ONE more!" We feel ya kid, we feel ya- haha!
Some post-recital pics!
Brigitta received the Rising Star award and it warmed the cockles of my heart to watch her sisters cheer for her when her name was called.
Ireland had quite the cheering section. Her boyfriend Nick came and brought her some beautiful flowers.
I loved sitting by his mom who really loved the tiniest ballet dancers. Nick was quite the trooper to sit through all of this!
Ireland's friend Ava is also in dance but at a different studio. She enjoyed watching all the girls dance.
And all the girls love Ava!
In spite of all the drama, I'm grateful the girls are in dance. It's a significant sacrifice of time and money but I do believe it keeps them active and develops a confidence in their bodies. Another recital in the books!
No comments:
Post a Comment