Kayla's FIRST Ballet Recital- Swan Lake

 

Let's start off with a brief shout-out to Chris for being Dad of the Year.  Shannon and her boyfriend Mark rolled into town for a night the night of Kayla's dress rehearsal.  Chris agreed to take her.  We assumed (I think there was an email...) that they'd have the youngest group practice first and then leave.  Wrong.  They went in order of the show and her group wasn't until after intermission, so it was loooong.  And they were both very hungry at the end.  In addition, Chris got yelled at by a couple mothers who seemed to have the impression that the sweet dad there with his 5 year old daughter was some kind of creeper-peeping Tom.  And as first-time-recital parents, we were not informed about much, so he also got reprimanded for Kayla's bun being too high, not having make-up, her laces coming out of her shoes etc....oops.  He was ready for a beer when he got home from being harassed by crazy ballet moms.

Shannon and I ran out to the store that night to figure out what sort of things Kayla would need so that we wouldn't get her kicked out of the show the following day.  You can be the judge, but I think her hair and make-up ended up ok (especially considering I have only ever worn blush never (unless you count getting into my mom's as a child and have only ever worn lipstick maybe twice--one time being my wedding.).

This is one of my very favorites.  

Her sweet, excited smile was so contagious. 

Keeping busy, clean, and quiet while they waited for the show to start

(Kayla is the bottom left)

The day of the performance, Chris dropped Kayla and I off at 5:30 (call time) and headed to our friends' house to drop off Elise and Ava.  It took him over an hour (that is gross traffic time) to get the 10-15 miles to our friends' place and then he was able to get back much quicker (thank goodness) and made it back 5 minutes before the Swan Lake performance began.  

The studio does a great job with their performances, so I suppose all that stress and people venting frustrations pays off somehow in a job well done.  They pull some professional dancers for the lead roles, and a few of their best also dance some of the leads and solos, and then the rest of the studio dancers make up the lovely chorus of dancers that perform lovely numbers and get to showcase their talent in a really beautiful way.  I personally love that it's not just a bunch of random dances and that they bring it together into an actual ballet.  Now Kayla will always be able to say she once danced in Swan Lake.  

We couldn't take pictures during the performance, but we will receive a DVD which I'm really excited to be able to share with family members who couldn't see it in person.  Elise and Ava are especially excited to see big sis's performance.   

I wish this one hadn't been blurry, but it's still pretty.  

She was just as sweet as can be and though the week leading up had me experiencing all sorts of emotions, the final emotion was a mixture of pride and joy.  She has a heart of gold, a love for beauty, and the most radiant smile in the world.   

Kayla and Miss Marisa, her teacher