Anna's first dance recital was April 26. We had no idea what to expect! We've been paying for dance class at her school all year, but had not really been able to get her to show us any of the moves she was learning. Occasionally, she'd run around the house saying, "Flex and point, flex and point!" or do squats saying, "Plie, plie!" That was about it. We payed $50 for a costume that we'd never even seen until the night of the recital! It was the great unknown. Turns out, it was pretty adorable. Look how excited she looks about her upcoming performance...
...That is until she took to the stage. Notice how excited all the other little girls are to be up there, looking for their moms and dads and waving to them. Anna stood frozen like a deer in the headlights. She didn't look particularly upset, just generally indifferent to the whole situation. No smiles, no waves. Just nothing.
My mom says that back when I was playing softball in about the second grade, my dad used to say that when I was at bat, pigeons were likely to land on me because I stood frozen like a statue. (Some might say this was performance anxiety. I say it was strategy--if a seven year old girl is pitching and you don't ever swing, your gonna get on base every time. Automatic walk. Duh!) Anyway, it turns out that this statue thing may be genetic. Anna literally stood frozen in the above position for not just one, but two whole songs while her little friends danced away.
She remained extremely somber for the remainder of the evening--at least until the costume came off. Her teacher came up to us afterward and said that she couldn't believe that Anna had essentially choked. She swears that she knows every move to every dance (even the dances that the 3- and 4-year old classes had been practicing!) and was spot on in the dress rehearsal that morning.
Oh, well. There's always next year. Besides, she was by far the cutest statue up there! (And if you can believe it, as we were leaving, she actually got upset about the fact that she didn't get to "dance" to all the songs!)
So cute! The first picture alone is well worth the money spent on the lessons and costume! I had to laugh because you just never know what these kids are gonna do from minute to minute! It truly is the great unknown.
ReplyDelete