Dance machine

Lisle Park District dance recital 2013!  Buckle up-- it was a bumpy ride.  The dress rehearsal went swimmingly for Sonia.....

She even kept dancing after her buddy, Cameron, tripped on his WAY too long pants and spent the rest of the song in the fetal position.

We didn't get any pictures of the ballet routine, but she nailed that one, too (as much as a newly-minted four-year-old can nail a dance routine).  We also have no video because my Flip video camera decided to die right then and there.  ARGH!!!!

Then came the dance recital two days later.  We weren't allowed to take pictures and videos there (in order to sell more DVDs, of course, and supposedly our flashes would distract the dancers).  When Sonia's class came out on stage for their tap routine (to the music "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid), Sonia took one look at the packed audience (after using her hands to make little glasses to look through so she could shade her eyes from the stage lights-- HA!!) and got very still.  She stood stock still as the rest of her class danced their hearts out (even Cameron, who had his pants fixed, luckily). Near the end of the song, she started crying, but she made it through until the curtain closed.  Andrew, my parents, and I were out in the audience partially giggling and partially feeling like our hearts were breaking for our scared little girl.

I felt horrible, but unless a dancer has a tragedy, the parents are not allowed backstage.  We sat through a bunch of other classes' dances (LOVE the adult tap students!!! awesome!!!), wondering how Sonia's ballet routine would go.  When Pre-Ballet 1 & 2 took the stage once again, Sonia repeated her glasses routine, but she was smiling this time.  She did about half of the dance and seemed happy throughout the entire song ("The Work Song" from Cinderella).  Then, when all the dancers took the stage at the end of the show to do a hilarious routine to "I Like to Move It" (or whatever it's called), Sonia managed to tear her attention away from watching the older dancers (she especially liked the purple-outfitted girls, she told me later) to do a few of the moves.

So, all in all, not a disaster (no potty accidents! no screaming tantrum! no injuries!).... But Sonia definitely had a rough introduction to performing.  We'll see if she wants to continue to dance when classes start up again this fall.  I'd love it-- she seems to have a blast during the rehearsals, and she recovered from the shock of seeing so many people staring at her and did great the rest of the recital-- but I will never force her to do some organized activity that she doesn't want to do.

Oh, Sonia.  You are such a cutie.  It makes me smile and giggle to look back at these pictures.  What a cuckoo bird!!