Last week was Maddie's first ballet recital. She's been taking classes since January and according to her teacher, has alot of natural talent for it. This is not from me, I guarantee it. I did gymnastics growing up and was not required to be graceful doing it. Although, she calls Maddie Gumby because of how flexible she is, and I will claim passing down the genes that make my kids freakishly elastic and double jointed.
Anyway, the recital was hilarious, and despite being HORRIBLY TOO LONG, fun. The girls were some of the youngest and even though their dance was about 3 1/2 minutes long, had to be there for dress rehearsals at 8:30 that morning. They got released for lunch at 12 and had to be back by 1 to get ready. The show started at 2 and got over at 5:30. Seriously. We were there ALL DAY LONG. She enjoyed it because she was in a backstage room playing with her friends and watching DVDs, but I thought I was going to DIE out there by the end during the individual presentation of awards to girls that had mastered their splits: left splits, right splits, center splits. Now demonstrate your splits, girls: left splits, right splits, center splits. AUGHHH.
There were alot of people there and it was held in a big theater with a balcony. Maddie was the first one in her class to enter and had to leap across the stage to her spot and wait for the others. I was a little nervous she'd freak when she saw all the people, but she just did her thing...and way better than in rehearsals. So we know she can perform under stress. I may tease up her hair real big and buy her a mini red, white, and blue sequin jumpsuit and start entering her in those scary little kid pageants all over Texas. The makeup and hair was her favorite part. KIDDING. I saw a sneak peak backstage at a few of those kind of moms at this recital and all I can say is "whoa. take it easy."
Maddie, far left. Awesome first position, her aunt would be proud.I was not joking that hair and makeup was her favorite part. She was thrilled that even though she has short hair, there were a bunch of ladies backstage that were practically professionals at applying gallons of cheap gel and slicking back hair into buns. Except Maddie kept calling it a "hot dog." Mom, when are you going to put my hair up into a hot dog? I reallllly want to have a hot dog in my hair like all the big girls." She got her hotdog. And those boxes of Margaritas in the background, those were for me after sitting through that 3 1/2 hours of mostly bad dancing.
6 comments:
First of all, I AM proud. She has the best position of all of the girls up there. Way to go, Maddie!
Second, is that a person way up high on the left side of the first performance picture?
Grandma is sorry she missed Maddie's first performance. Not so sorry she missed the day leading up to her 3 1/2 minutes but none the less... Great Job!!
Perhaps she can do a little demo for us at our barbecue?
I can't believe you were there all day. Thankfully with our dance studio they break their performances into 3 different performances. But since this is our first who know how long it will truly go. We absolutely love Maddie's costume. Costumes are Hailey favorite part. I have had to hide them in my closet so she won't "try them on" and ruin them before our recital. I am so jealous that you have already had your recital. We have to wait until the middle of June. I am getting tired of dance and am ready for a break. Also Maddie does have a wonderful first position. For being so young she looks fantastic. Not many can pull it off and be patience at the same time. Great job Maddie!!
Her Great Aunt Shelley is proud of her as well. I can't believe I haven't been asked to outfit this budding dancer yet! You know that I am the buyer for 2 dancewear stores, right? She can be the best dressed dancer in Texas! Are those satin ballet slippers on her feet? Were those just for the recital, or does she use those in class as well? Let me know when she outgrows them. Shame on Grandma Sandy for not telling me about her future ballet star grandaughter. I would consider changing studios if they expect those kind of hours from you for a recital! And yes, her first position is very nice. But more impressive is her port de bras (arms) placement! Very Nice!!
Laura, your stories are hysterical.
It's a fairly new studio and the owner is still trying to figure out how she wants to run things. Maddie's teacher is taking over the classical ballet classes next year and is going to do a separate recital (or we won't be particating).
SHELLEY--can't believe I didn't think of having you hook us up! She will need some new stuff for next year. This year her class was actually called Pre-Ballet and they could wear anything, but next year she will be in Beginning Ballet and is required to wear pink or blue and more official ballet gear. We borrowed the slippers but they're those Capezio dance shoes that I think you can get at Payless. She'll need bigger ones for Fall when they start up again so I'll have to let you know. What kind should i get? I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT BALLET. Maddie has to try to tell me what things are called---4 year old french is not easy to understand.
How cute. I am with you on the four hours though, sometimes Trenton's 1 hour tee-ball games were enough to put me to sleep. It's all about the support, RIGHT??!! Hey don't make fun of those pagent mom's, mine was one!! Really I'm glad that it didn't last too long, she was way more into it than I was.
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