First Dance Recital

Kayli's first chance to be on a stage, and she was thrilled! In my explanation to her about what a recital was, I mentioned being up on a stage. Kayli interrupted with "What? A staaaaage? I always wanted to be on a staaaaage! Oh, mom, I knew it was a good thing I signed up for ballet!" So without further ado, I present to you, my little ballerina, up on stage...








Although I am beaming for my sweet pea, who had her thrilling moments on stage, I still have a few disgruntled thoughts running through my head...1) After being told that we were REQUIRED to purchase expensive studio tights and shoes (to be UNIFORM) and REQUIRED to have the children's hair up in a ponytail or bun (to be UNIFORM) and that if one child lost her pink hair bow before performance night, that none of the children would be allowed to wear theirs for the performance (again because of uniformity) I urge you to look at the small snippet in the picture below to see that we, "the rule followers", have followed all the REQUIREMENTS, while I see that other dancers did not...grrr...Did we miss the memo for picking up our "special exemption from the rules" ticket???

2) The dance teacher told me that she put the small children in the back, behind the tall children, because the tall children knew the dance better and were more confident on stage, assuming that all tall children were older than the smaller children. Problem with this logic is that I know of several small children, Kayli being one, that were the same age or older than some of the tall children. So much for assumptions! I also noticed that some of the small children, hidden in the back line, knew all the dance steps and were singing their hearts out, behind the taller counterparts that did not. Again, so much for the "taller children being good models" arguement. Look closely at the picture below and you'll see Kayli stuffed in the back, 3rd small child from the right, peeking out,(think "where is waldo") where she did a FABULOUS job of tapping her heart out in those brand, spanking new, state-of-the-art, Tap shoes!!!






Since the young children did not get a part in the grand finale, the dance teacher had them all hold hands and walk across the stage for one last "picture moment". While waiting for parents to get that last "photo opp.", some jazzy music was piped in through the speakers, and the kids began to go wild with their free-form shimmies, shakes, kicks, and spins! Kayli joined in the craziness until she got an elbow to the head, then she just stood there with a look that said it all!





Kayli was thrilled to have some "supporters" in the audience, which were her cousin, Jake, our friends Linsey and Lily, and two of Kayli's favorite babysitters! We all brought flowers for our little star, and she just couldn't believe all those flowers were for her!




A special rose from me, for my sweet Kayli ROSE Meili!