Believe it or not, we signed Maelle up for dance in the fall and we may have inadvertently added another unexpected role to our lives: that of ‘dance parents.’ Yikes. (The jury is still out; one day she loves dance, the next she doesn’t want to go. Life with a toddler, am I right?)
When I heard about the program at the Boys and Girls’ Club–one of the directors told me about it last fall after the Turk-EA Trot–I figured it was a great opportunity to try something out with minimal time and money invested. Her practices were on Tuesday nights, which coincided perfectly with my evening Bible study and gave Andrew and chance to take charge of this activity. (Except when he was traveling–a huge thank-you to Gram, who filled in so I could still attend Bible study!) It’s also not through an official dance school, so the price was right (only $75!) for eight months of practice AND her costume. Can you tell I’m feeling a bit defensive about this?!
She was in a class with 3-4 year-olds, and they performed to Some Things Never Change, from Frozen 2. Her instructors are sisters who basically volunteer their time with the Club to teach a variety of ages and types of dance.
Above is a shot of their dress rehearsal. Let’s just say I needed it as much as she did, in order to practice her hair and makeup! Maelle is on the far left, and was perhaps one of the younger ones in the class. She can do this class again next year (this fall) to see if it’s something she likes.
You know those kids who make you laugh during these types of things? That was Maelle! During rehearsal, she stood mesmerized by a friend (and older girl from ninja gym who is also a dancer), who happened to be sitting in the front row watching and was almost unrecognizable in her stage makeup. No dancing, just standing there staring at her friend. We alternated between laughing and trying to get her attention to remind her to WATCH HER TEACHER, but to (almost) no avail. Thankfully, our admonishments stuck and she actually DID do the dance on the day of the real performance!
We did, however, have a bit of excitement at the end of the recital. (I’m writing about it here simply to enjoy at some future date when I inevitably revisit this post.)
Due to a power outage, the performance got delayed–after we’d all been sitting in the auditorium for an hour–and instead of going home, we grabbed a late lunch at Left Coast Taco with my parents, who had come up for the weekend. Maelle got her favorite Jarritos mexican soda, and I knew right away that it would be a problem, and I said as much. That amount of liquid in such a short amount of time was going to be no bueno for our potty-trained-but-still-in-need-of-vigilance kid.
Thankfully, I was sitting in the front row and when all the classes had gathered on stage after the finale, she mouthed to me “I need to go potty.” I mouthed back for her to hold it, but panic was setting in. All of a sudden, I was in mama-overdrive and watched her like a hawk for a couple minutes, hoping they were wrapping up soon. No luck–all of a sudden, someone began wheeling a cart out with medals for each kid. There was no way she’d be able to wait that long and the last thing I wanted was for her to have an accident on stage in front of everyone, so I got up and raced to the nearest stage door! I think I retrieved her, got her to a bathroom and back on stage in under two minutes; she was even able to get back in time to get her medal with her class! To say it was a proud mama moment is an understatement; I’m thankful she knew enough to find me in the audience and cry for help, and that I saw it and reacted quickly. There is something really sweet about using your mama intuition to take care of your kid in a way only you can.
Our tiny dancer!
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