Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Prima-Ballerina

"No, because if you're not going to offer me a place in the company I don't want to hear it. And if you are, I might not have the strength to say no, and then I would be spending my best dancing years in the back of a corps waving a rose back and forth, and I'm better than that. So thank you, Jonathan, for turning me into the best dancer I can be, I appreciate it more than I can say, really. Because the best dancer I can be is a principal in Cooper Neilson's new company. "


“Someday - and that day may never come - I’ll call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as gift on my daughter’s wedding day.”-The Godfather



I didn't mention this earlier because I wanted to make sure I didn't have other things to post so today my post is all about my Sweet Pea.  She started taking ballet last summer and in Dec. they had a little Christmas recital, but this past Saturday was the real deal. Our day started at 12 and didn't end until about 3 p.m.  And considering she was actually doing pretty well, her and some of the other little girls were having fun playing.  As for her two dances she did great-at least during dress rehearsal.  Afterwards I went to McDonald's and then we headed home so she could take a short nap and not be so grumpy-yeah that didn't work out very well.

Now to fast forward to her first dance.  They were dressed as little princesses and the song was "Someday My Prince Will Come."  Very cute dance and the surprise in the end was all of the dads walking out on stage to give their princess a flower.  Go ahead-awwww, I know to cute and the girls had no idea.  Alright well things didn't exactly work out the way we had hoped.  I'm standing backstage and she walks out there and I notice her looking around for her chair/mirror, and that's when it happened-she freaked out.  Thank goodness I was still backstage because she comes running toward me crying saying something about her chair.  I of course tried calming her down and told her that it was ok and she go to any chair because in a minute Daddy would be out there to give her a pretty flower.  Nothing I said worked and she only cried more and then the Director turned to me and asked me to take out.  Right as I'm doing that here comes the dads and thankfully David was there to help me with her.  She was kicking and screaming the whole way back to the dressing room because she wanted to go back and do her dance and now she couldn't-she was heartbroken.  My mom and mil come back there to help try to calm her down and eventually we were able to understand what the problem was, apparently someone had grabbed her mirror by mistake because she didn't see her name.  Now she can't read but she can recognize her name.  After much convincing we were able to get her into her next costume and of course out to go see her Grumps.  As soon as she sees him she tells him that she messed everything up.  Now that she calmed down and the drama has settled my heart sank to hear her say that because I know how excited she was to do this dance.  My mom thought it was just to overwhelming for her because this was her first time but she did great in Dec.

Well thanks to Grumps he convinced her to go and do her next dance-very cute.  They were dresses up as penguins and the song was "Penguins On Parade" (tap).  I was not so kindly asked to go backstage by her teacher because apparently she wouldn't stand in line-I'll get back to that in a minute.  Anyway I go back there and she's fine and doing the same thing all the other little girls are doing, giggling and dancing.  So I give her a pep talk and reminded her what her teacher said that it doesn't matter if someone is in your place you just dance right where you are.  Well this time they put smiley faces on the floor to mark each spot and then walked them out to their spot so there would be no confusion.  I then run back to the audience, fingers crossed.  And you know what she was great, she did her dance and kept looking over at us and of courst when she did I was screaming and clapping for her.  Seriously it took everything I had not to cry watching her up there.  I know how hard it must have been to go back on stage but she did it and she did her dance.  So I run backstage to meet her and as soon as I see her I grab her and give her a great big hug and kiss.  Our night started a little shaky but ended up great in the end.

Now back to her teacher, during rehearsal she told me that I would probably have to stand backstage with her because she wouldn't line up and she was driving her crazy.  Let me just say that I know my daughter has a lot of energy and there are times when you have to tell her a couple of times to do something but I don't think she's any different from any other 4 yr. old.  Not only that but this young woman always looks like she's having a bad day.  Anyway by the end of the recital I came to a realization that I don't think she likes my daughter.  I mean seriously I'm the only parent who's called backstage and for what to tell her and the other little girls to stop dancing in their spot because they are excited.  I can see if they she was being loud but she wasn't she was acting like every other little girl there.  Well with all that being said I never said anything to the teacher because well I was on an emotional rollercoaster as it was and that was the last thing I felt like dealing with.  And we decided come Aug. I'm sending her to a different dance school, it's one that quite a few girls from church have been to and all have said how great it is.  I just hope she has a teacher who doesn't come down on every little thing the children do.

Sweet Pea, I'm so proud of you for going back on stage.  I can only imagine how scared you must have been after the first dance.  But you did it and you were amazing, and I don't ever want you to look back and think that you didn't do the first dance, because that doesn't even matter.  What matters is overcoming you fears and proving to yourself that you can do anything.  You may never remember this recital but I will and it will not be you running off stage crying; it will be you running backstage to meet me with the biggest smile saying "I did it Mommy."  Because you did sweetheart you did it and I'm very proud of you.

Love,

Mommy 


 

4 comments:

Catwoman said...

Sounds really cute!!! That teacher sounds awful tough for teaching four year-olds! Hope you can find a good teacher who'll appreciate your daughter's enthusiasm!

chris said...

AWWW! Contrats Sweat Pea!

Liberty had her first recital last spring and it was so. totally.completely.wonderful!

We had a lot of problems with the teacher, also, so we did not send her this past fall. We will be this fall though at a new school!

Nikki said...

Ohhhhhh! That makes me so proud for your daughter! You are such a sweet Mommy to work with her to realize that her failure was really just a success in progress. You are right! She did something VERY brave, especially in light of the mean lady. I had a nurse like that once in labor and delivery. She was all of 18 years old and never married or had kids, but she was sent in to teach me how to nurse. Uh, right. I hope your daughter enjoys the new dance school. She sounds like she is well on her way to being not only a great dancer, but a brave performer also. :)

Tracy said...

As I'm sure you've read on my blog, I've had problems with teachers at my kids school being like that. It always makes me question why these people choose to teach elementary school or to teach at all. It's not like we don't have to opportunities in our country to switch careers, right?
I'm glad she went out and did the second dance. I remember watching the little kids during recital when I was doing ballet. They were so cute in their little costumes!
I'm proud of you too Sweet Pea!