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Vanessa’s First Dance Recital

by Megan

Back in February, for a 3rd birthday present, I signed Vanessa up for a dance class. The studio is practically in our backyard, so it certainly was convenient! She absolutely loved the dance clothes that we gave her for her birthday, and she was excited for her first class.

tiny-dancer

The first class was a little rocky with at least two meltdowns. But at the end of the class she was smiling, and her teacher assured me that she would do fine. And after another class or two, she was doing great.

Vanessa LOVES dance! She loves going to class and doing all the activities and dance moves. When she’s not in class, she’s dancing around the living room to her favorite songs.

beach-baby

Her class (the Mini-Minis!) were part of the recital, dancing to “Beach Baby.” The costumes were oh-so-cute, and they each had a toy prop; Vanessa’s was a sand castle.

Vanessa loved getting up on the big stage at dress rehearsal! The recital was at the school district’s performing arts center, which is part of the high school my husband works at, so she got to dance on the same stage where he has his choir concerts and musicals.

vanessa-dance.jpg

The actual recital…didn’t go so well. I was helping backstage, but I got to watch from the side of the stage while they performed. In the dark before the lights came up, I saw and heard Vanessa’s teacher give her the wrong sand castle, but Vanessa said something, and the teacher got her the correct one. Then, just as the lights were coming up, Vanessa kind of put her head down and bonked her nose on her sand castle.

Well, that was it. She started crying and got down in a huddle on the stage. Yes, my child was that child. Her teacher picked her up once or twice while she danced with the other girls, but Vanessa didn’t do the dance at all. My parents and husband and both boys were in the audience, all dressed up and having paid for tickets. It was…not a great day.

That bad memory aside, I did record the dance once when they did it in the studio, all dressed up in their costumes (including their teacher), and once at dress rehearsal on the stage. So here are those videos, below, where Vanessa is dancing her little heart out!

We signed Vanessa up for another year of dance, and this time she gets to do ballet AND tap! She is super excited, and I’m happy that she gets to do something she loves so much!

vanessa-dance-costume.jpg
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3 comments

Kate @ Songs Kate Sang August 2, 2014 - 8:27pm

She is so adorable! I’m sorry the first recital didn’t go well. It sounds like she has an awesome teacher, though!

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Emma T August 3, 2016 - 7:11am

So lovely when they enjoy dance. Fingers crossed the next recital goes a bit better (can’t believe you have to pay for tickets?). She’s still really young – I danced from age 4 but my first dance school was ballet only and we didn’t do shows, it was very focused on technique and exam progression. Then my next dance school we did. I always wanted to try tap but it always clashed with other activities I did.

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