Dancing Queen

This past weekend was full of dance recitals. After months of practice and lots of money, it all comes down to this! Amana had a dress rehersal and three performances- yes, mom and dad attended all three! Grandparents and an aunt came from out of town, and Grandma and Grandpa with the Peacocks even gave her beautiful pink roses!


Amana was in two dance routines. The blue and brown costume was for ballet. The red and black was for tap. At rehersal Thursday night I was nervous. All you have to do is look back to last April's blog about preschool graduation to understand why. Amana on stage, in front of lots of people staring at her in an unfamiliar place...the potential for disaster was high! As the music cued for her first number, my nerves melted away as I witnessed my shy and timid daughter blossom before my eyes. And this was just rehersal! Watching her brought tears to my eyes. I remembered my mom getting emotional when my sister and I danced so many years ago. For her, it was the joy of seeing her children do something she had always longed to do. For me, it was the joy of seeing my beloved enjoy something that I loved and still love so much.




Amana did just as well as all the other kids in her class. Five and six year olds have a hard time remembering all the steps to 2 long dances, sometimes they get off a little (or a lot!), and they are hardly ever doing the same thing at the same time! But that's why the crowd ooh's and ahh's so much! You could tell the parts Amana really loved because she did them well...the parts she wasn't wild about she didn't remember! There were times when she was directing other little girls where to go next: actually grabbing them and pushing them in the right direction. We had a lot of fun watching her!

Since Amana is our oldest, we see her as so big. But up on stage, she looked like such a peanut! Her skinny little limbs were really shakin' it up on stage!

At the beginning of each show, the studio had a small slide show. This year's recital was called "The Year of Changes" because they got a new studio, 3 teachers had new additions (4 babies total!), and one teacher was off to a new horizon. The last slide was this green one. As Lige and I read it, we both cried. (Don't tell Lige I told you that!) For our beautiful daughter, the studio acheived it's mission. After this year in dance, our child did indeed gain confidence and self esteem. During one performance, Amana even fell down. A year ago that would have resulted in tears and a total meltdown. After growing and learning for a year, she got right back up with a smile and just kept dancing. We are so proud of her. And we love her so dearly.