Hop . . . Skip . . . Hop . . . Skip . . . Hop . . . Skip . . . Hop . . . Skip . . . SPLAT.
A flurry of golden ruffles flew upside-down as the little girl landed right smack on her bottom, her legs straight up in the air. She quickly popped back onto her tap shoes as the spotlight followed her around the stage. She continued on with her routine as a ripple of chuckles worked its way around the room.
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An arm went left, a leg went right, one girl hopped while another girl bopped. There was no telling who was doing the dance steps correctly. Perhaps none of the girls had it right. There was absolutely no semblance of choreography that was even slightly in sync.
It was such a mess that many in the audience began to laugh.
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She reached her arms way up high in the sky and then quickly began to lean forward. As her hands grabbed hold of the ground, her feet flew up into the air. It looked as if she was going to execute her cartwheel just fine, but at the last second her arms buckled and she crumpled to the ground into a pile of sequins and ruffles. She jumped to her feet and ran to the end of the mat as laughter filled the auditorium.
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The little girl in the red polka-dotted costume enthusiastically threw every ounce of her 30-something pounds into the music. She waved her arms wildly as the music played, clearly feeling every beat. Her feet energetically carried her across the stage . . . and right into one of the other little dancers. After a brief moment staring at each other, they recovered from their collision and went back to dancing.
Chuckles flittered about, originating from every corner of the audience.
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I admit, I'm extra-sensitive to it. That's because Alexis is extra-sensitive to anyone laughing when she makes a mistake. Sometimes she wants to be in on the joke, but often she crumbles into a pile of tears and embarrassment if anyone laughs at one of her moments of klutziness.
All through the dance recital, I was continuously mortified by the grandmas laughing . . . it seemed to be mostly the grandmas, anyway. Is there a generational thing that happens where cute and klutzy becomes worthy of a guffaw once you hit a certain age? Do people wake up one day and just start to find little kids' mistakes funny?
I mean, I get thinking the errors were cute. They absolutely were. But worthy of a laugh? If it were me on that stage and I had been the one who fell on my butt, laughter would have been the worst possible response.
I know that if Alexis had made a mistake and the grandmas had laughed, she would have been crushed. Possibly for life.
If any of those kids end up developing a phobia of public speaking or performing on a stage, I'm totally blaming the laughing grandmas.
Pssst . . . In case you didn't notice, I added a page with links to all of the recipes I have posted. There's also a new post on the Photography Blog page and a new giveaway on the Review page.