One Part Dance, One Part Stage Fright

Several weeks ago we had enrolled Marielle in a pre-dance dance class at our local rec center. You may recall the post about her initial apprehension about going it alone in class. Well, after many lessons as well as practicing the routine with Mom, all of Ellie's hard work led up to last weekend's dance recital. 80's was the theme and Uptown Girl was the song. We've been looking forward to her rocking a side ponytail for weeks! She looked awesome.

Viv went back stage with Marielle to get ready before the routine, while the rest of us anxiously waited in the front rows - thanks to Jossie for getting there early and fending off other parents in order to hold seats for all of us. Marielle's class was the opening act and watching the huge curtains open to reveal such tiny dancers was a sight for sure. Marielle was shocked to see so many people staring up at her.


In class, we had been struggling to get Ellie to watch the teacher who would stand to the side and go through the dance routine to help the girls along. Each week she would do her own thing instead of watch the teacher. Needless to say, Ellie often wasn't doing the right moves, if any at all. Two weeks ago, on the way out of class, Vivian said to her, "Marielle you have to watch the teacher. You have to pay attention to what she's doing." Marielle looked back at Viv, and in a dejected tone said, "Mom I tried really hard." Viv melted.

So, if not watching the teacher was a drawback, you can imagine what would happen if you threw a little stage fright into the mix. Yes, little Marielle stood virtually paralyzed on stage. I took many, many photos, but I'd say most of them looked identical to the ones in this post. In Ellie's defense many of the girls looked similar to her, and the few that didn't let the crowd bother them didn't really follow the teacher's lead. However, as most of you have already concluded, this was the beauty of it. We were watching their first recital, and it was exactly what we had hoped it would be! As the song progressed, we saw Marielle loosen up a bit. We saw her knees start to bend as she began to bounce, and then I think I even saw a shoulder shake. When it was all over, the crowd erupted into cheers, and we saw Marielle crack the biggest smile. She kept standing on stage soaking it up after most of the other girls had left the stage. Her teacher had to round her up and usher her to stage left.