Bumblebees And Fireflies: The Girls' End-Of-Year Dance Recital

Summer is here! And with it, a little additional time to blog.

We spent a large part of our Memorial Day weekend focused on Sahuarita Dance--more specifically, the end-of-year recital for Sahuarita Dance. This was the first year we've had more than one of our girls participate in the local dance program, so it was double the work getting them ready to wow the audience.

Luckily, the girls did a lot of the work themselves. Celeste and Aurora both adored their dance teachers, and both enthusiastically participated in class every week. Towards the end of the school year, both girls were showing some signs of burnout though...they would complain about having to go to their dance classes (Aurora would always say, "It makes me tired, Mom!" Well, yeah, kid...that's what exercise does). But then their costumes for the recital arrived...and as expected, that re-energized them.

Warning: LOTS of cute photos to follow!

I only let the girls wear their outfits the first day they got them, to make sure they fit well enough and to get them excited about the upcoming recital. They also had picture days at the studio, at which time they got to see themselves all dolled up. The results were adorable.

 

Somebody got worn out from all the excitement...she fell asleep on the way home!

Thank goodness Daddy was there to save her

The photo day for Celeste's class was about a week later:

 

After the pictures were taken, I forced the girls to pack away their costumes. Otherwise, they might have worn them everywhere and worn them out before the recital! Funny how the appearance of a beautiful outfit can restore a girl's interest in something. After this, the dance recital became an eagerly anticipated event.

For some weird reason, both my girls had "insect-themed" dance routines for the recital this year. Aurora's costume was meant to be a bumblebee (obviously), and Celeste danced to a Faith Hill song entitled "Fireflies." I am not a huge country-music fan so I'd never heard this song before, but now I absolutely love it. "Fireflies" is a sweet, poignant look into the imagination of a young girl, and the lyrics are such a perfect fit for my beautiful "fairy princess" Celeste. Watching her dancing to this routine, I actually started tearing up with emotion. I am so blessed to have such a beautiful dreamer with such a fun imagination.

And Celeste's dancing has actually gotten pretty good, too! I was impressed at how well she did at this recital. Her teacher, Ms. Michelle, is also the owner of Sahuarita Dance, and she has always been very supportive of Celeste and very positive about her progress. She says Celeste is ready to advance to the next most challenging ballet class; I don't know if she'll be able to do it next year for budgetary reasons, but hopefully this won't be her last dance class!

The dress rehearsal for the recital took place one day before the actual recital. It actually started in the early afternoon, before school let out, so I had to get everyone out of school early! But we only had one week left of school, so I didn't feel the least bit guilty...and I suspect the girls didn't either. The routines below are the dress rehearsal performances, since I wasn't allowed to record the actual performance. The girls did quite well at both the dress rehearsal and actual performance!

Aurora's routine:

Celeste's routine:

The day of the recital was a busy one. Our morning was pretty peaceful, but the early afternoon was spent frantically doing hair/putting on costumes/applying makeup, and then driving over to the local auditorium for the show. The girls were so excited to perform!

 

 

There were actually two smallish recitals that day; one at 4:30 in the afternoon (which featured most of the younger dancers, including my girls), and one at 6:30, that featured most of the more advanced students. The girls performed their routines very well; Lorelai and Daddy were watching this time, and we were all very impressed and proud of both of them. However, we finished watching the main program without them, since they had to stay backstage with their class. They were well-cared for back there (they got to sit with their friends and even got to watch a movie!), but they were both very disappointed when we came back to pick them up, and the show was over...and they hadn't gotten a chance to see any of it!! Many bitter, betrayed tears were shed. We had no choice but to let them watch the late program as well (after dropping by a friend's good-bye dinner and a quick costume change...whew, this was a busy night).

Celeste also cried because I didn't bring her any flowers when the recital was over. After all, I'd gotten Lorelai flowers after her play was finished last month. Sigh. I wanted to explain that I'd tried to get her flowers. I'd gone to the grocery store earlier that afternoon, searching for small bouquets for my lovely girls, but everyone else in town had already beaten me to the punch. Between our local high school graduation (just two days before) and the dance recital, the floral section was almost completely cleaned out. But try explaining that to your tearful daughter whose perfect moment was ruined. As a consolation, we drove over to the grocery store after leaving the recital, and I let the girls have their pick of what was left.

Yeah, yeah, lilies are "funeral flowers"...but they were the only flowers that weren't out of stock! Well, Aurora did manage to score a multicolored bouquet as well. Thankfully, these bouquets seemed to satisfy both girls: it made them both happy, and the flowers lived a long happy life on our countertop (I'd forgotten how nice lilies smelled!). Success!

Now, of course, Celeste is insisting she is going to do a dance class every year now. I didn't want to burst her bubble by reminding her that we are probably taking a year off from dance; it was pretty exhausting to drive her back and forth from that every week! Plus, since we are putting Aurora in a paid preschool this fall, our activities budget will be a little tighter than usual. However, I think this is something that Celeste really enjoys, and something she could conceivably enjoy doing for years to come. Aurora's desires are a bit harder to predict; I know she enjoyed herself in class, but I sense she has a lot of other things she'd like to try out as well. Only time will tell. For now, though, this was a satisfying end to a fun year of dance.