Sunday, May 17, 2009

Recital Highlights

It's funny how once upon a time I was the mother who dreaded having to sit through an entire recital when my kid was only a part of it for 5 minutes. Now I sit through six recitals and enjoy it more and more every year. I am easily annoyed and crankified by the people who leave right after their kid's performance. I secretly hope that some day their precious angel's number is last and she has to perform to a less than full auditorium. I can't help it. I am, afterall, an evil princess.

Speaking of princesses, Exhibit A performed flawlessly this weekend. There's not much else to say. I can't believe how far she's come in just a year and what a pleasure it is to see the passion and energy she puts into each show, coming home utterly spent but ready to get up and do it all over again the next day. She's beginning to do her own hair and make-up and, while in some ways this thrills me, in others it reminds me that I am seeing not only a physical transformation before my eyes but also a social and emotional one.

There were many highlights from this weekend, too many too count, but here are a few favorites:

It's always fun to watch the 3 & 4 year olds as they take to the stage for the very first time. They are unpredictable and you can usually count on at least one or two of them to just kinda stand there, bored to tears, looking at all the other little girls with a "WTF?" expression on their faces while the others dance around them. One kinderdance number, however, was absololutely priceless. Thse little itty bitty girls, all sassed out in sparkles and tutus, pill box hats and tap shoes danced their tiny hearts out to the song "Thank Heaven for Little Girls". Right before their last combination, the curtain opens and their fathers are standing there in suits/ties. All at once, the dads crouch down to catch their little girls with big hugs to end the number. Thank heaven, indeed.

During day 2, the pre-teen and teen acrobatics classes had to perform in every show (and they performed once on day 1). On day 2 they ditched the CD and had a live keyboardist/singer on stage with them. Incredible.

There are a few highly accomplished resident choreographers that teach at A's dance school. The companies peformed several of their most recent award winning pieces and they didn't disappoint.

The finale of each performance was a complete surprise to the kids. Little did they know, all of the instructors put together a little sump'n sump'n of their own. It was ridiculously funny yet still showcased what amazing talent they all have. They used the song Circus by Brit Brit and each dressed up as a caricature circus freak... errrr, I mean performer. Seeing Mrs. M, who has been teaching classical ballet for 30+ years doing some hip hop moves and the sprinkler was priceless. For the benefit of those of us who were at every show, they made it a little bit different every single time so we never knew exactly what to expect. The more times they did it, the more comical it became. By the end, the director of the school was tap dancing while hula hooping (around her neck, even) and the modern teacher who had been unable to be involved in recitals due to a back injury was wrapped in caution tape and wheeled out to the stage to take part in the hilarity. It was so much fun and, as you can imagine, the parents and kids alike were completely wow'ed.

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