I'm Totally a Dance Mom
Alexis' survived the second "real" dance recital of her life this past weekend. The fact that I'm just now getting around to mentioning it is an excellent sign. It means nothing exciting happened. And by "exciting," I mean "traumatizing/annoying/frustrating/earth-shattering/etc."
Nothing exciting is good. Very good.
Our seats to watch the performance were something far worse than horrible, but they were better than last year's because they were up in a balcony with hardly any other people. I'll take looking down on my kid over having to listen to nonstop whispering, grandmas laughing, and people moving around and around and around any day of the week.
This year Alexis took both a ballet/tap class and a jazz/gymnastics class. I was a little concerned that it was Too Much For Her To Handle, but I needn't have worried. She didn't always love having two hours of dance class every week, but she couldn't have picked one over the other if I had paid her.
She's already started having deep thoughts about what classes she wants to take in the fall. Creative Moment gets added to her selections at this age, so she's going to have quite the decision to make. She isn't ready to quit ballet, tap, jazz, or gymnastics. She loves them all in different ways.
She made it through all three of her performances without any major mistakes. It's kind of mind-blowing to me just how well she knew each of the dances. She didn't have to look at the teachers off-stage for hints ... she just KNEW. She kept her eyes on the audience and smiled throughout it all.
The absolute only snag of the event was when I went to pick the short person up from the dressing room after the show. She burst into tears when she saw me because she was sad that she didn't get a trophy. Trophies are given to dancers who have been with that studio for at least five years. She has three years left to go.
One of the girls in her jazz/gym class did get a trophy, so Alexis was all about fussing at me for not sending her to that studio all along. The thing is that the kid has been taking dance and/or gymnastics lessons for five of her six years, but the first three were somewhere else because there is no way that kid could have done the big stage thing even two years ago. She was simply too shy.
Now she struts out in front of 500 people like it's no big thing.
Good job, kid. I may not always like all that comes along with being a Dance Mom, but I sure do like watching you enjoy all that comes with being a Dancer.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Reader Comments (12)
Way to go, Alexis!!!!! :-)
This made me cry. Such a proud Mom moment :) Well done Alexis
Awesomesauce. What a sweetheart! If you ever want to borrow a boy In trade for a girl for a few days, we could chat!
Two people have asked in different places, so I'll just put the camera info here. I used this lens for most of the recital: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YH9DZE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=burbab-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003YH9DZE
We were literally in the 4th to last row, so it was zoomed in to 300mm for all of those shots. Aperture was as low as possible (f/4.0-f/5.0), ISO 1600, and 1/250 sec.
And now I'm going to go cry because I have to give that lens back soon. ::sob::
This brought tears to my eyes. Such a great post. That is so amazing that she was able to remember so many routines. She has such a precious smile on her face. She is soooo BRAVE! Great pictures too!
Way to go Alexis! She certainly lights up that stage!
Super cool. Great job, Alexis!
So cute!!!!
And that is why YOU should get the trophy. Good job, mama - for knowing what she needed, for making her do it, and for letting her get away with it once she got there. ;) You rock. (But then, you already this.)
Alexis is so darned amazing and is totally rocked her glasses! Love her confidence - well done!
wish i could have seen her rock that recital. so proud of her!
That last picture is one of my favorite ever of Alexis. Such a great kid!