Hey There, Hi There, Ho There

Recital weekend was a blur as I mentioned in my previous post.  Friday afternoon I took the girls to the rehearsal which began at exactly the time Nathan needed to be picked up from school.  Daddy to the rescue and to the batting cages for some quality father/son time.  I'm plagued with guilt that I was nagging about the eagle project instead of just appreciating that his dad did that for him.  I'm not very zen when it comes to deadlines--even 3rd grade deadlines.

At the rehearsal, I felt a little torn between being excited for Sarah--who was OH SO EXCITED herself!--and feeling bad that Hannah might be feeling left out and dragged along.  She did make the choice not to try dance lessons here based on her lessons in Belgium, but it is so hard to make decisions when you're little and I knew she was going to love the recital atmosphere. I thought she might be feeling a little regretful.  She loved the whole thing and has decided to give dance lessons another try next year.  I'm so glad.

Sarah's part in the rehearsal was so quick, I almost missed it on video.  I now completely regret that I didn't stand closer and adjust the video camera to do the close up like I did when they rehearsed the finale.  I thought I would have more than one chance, but they were the most together group at the rehearsal (seriously) and they were done after one time.  It is pretty hard to tell which one Sarah is in the rehearsal video--she's 5th from the left when you can see the whole group--she's in between the girl with brown hair and bangs and a girl with no tights on. 

I signed up to stay in the back with the girls during the show so I didn't see any of the other acts, but I was backstage for her number and the finale.  Being back stage behind her teacher, "Miss Olivia", was actually not a bad place to be because Sarah was constantly looking to see the next moves so I could almost see her better that way.  (My favorite part of the video is watching her lean back to check on the next steps and then face semi-forward to dance them).  I put in the "rehearsal exit" because during their lessons they learned to wait for their song to replay and then to walk off stage waving.

The sound person was reminded of that at the rehearsal, but at the recital it didn't happen--that explains the ending at the actual recital.

Keeping nine 3 and 4 year olds in order was no easy task.  I laughed so hard back stage after we lined them up behind the curtain on their numbers and then would run back to put one of them back in place when she would go running off somewhere else.  They all laid down on the floor trying to peek under the curtain at the act before them.  They were so excited and so funny.  It was my goal to get them in order without being on the stage when the curtain opened.  The dance teacher's aunt was one of the helpers with me and another mom.  She may have had little kids at one time, but based on the things she did, I would say it has been quite a while.  She had them playing the hokey pokey as they waited in line--and we almost had a nine-headed collision when they "put your head in".  She also brought markers for coloring--clearly not realizing they were wearing white dresses, tights and gloves.  She was sweet though--the kids loved her. :)

Then the curtain opened and they kind of walked forward tentatively.  The wrong song started and then stopped and they all seemed to move forward much more confidently--then danced their little hearts out.

Then the song ended and they just stood there.  Some spinning, some jumping.  Some ran off stage the wrong way (that would be my daughter, but she did start waving before she ran).  It was utter confusion, but when you're 3 and 4, it is so cute.  I cried.  I'm such a sap.

The finale rehearsal is the best video.  Just know that the smile and enthusiasm you see on her little face in that video was there the whole time.  She had a blast--the girl loves to jump around.

So....Here it is.....

Sarah's Dance Recital from tsechief on Vimeo.