Ballerina Faith

Saturday night was a very special night for Miss Faith

She performed in her first ever ballet recital

The Snow Queen

{aka a Bumblebee & a Gift dancer}

It was perfectly timed, right in the middle of our big move, with packing and chaos all around us, rehearsals, tights, shoes, hairnets, bobby pins and safety pins and all. Not to mention I was one of 2 costume moms as well as a Townsperson, and semi-in-charge of the kiddos (along with another double-dipping mom). So it was an event, none-the-less, but especially for Faith.

She has been talking about it for months as we went to ballet class and rehearsals twice a week. She was especially excited to have an audience, because she loves nothing more than to know you are watching her twirl and point. What a joy it has been to see her improve over these weeks, not so much as a 'technical' ballet dancer {hello, she is only three} but her interest and attention in class has become much more focused and certain. She knows first, second, third, forth and fifth position, AND she can do them all WITHOUT manually placing or turning her feet. She knows passe and tendu and will happily demonstrate them. Of course, the dancer in me is simply thrilled at how much she is doing and the mom in me is in love with her pure joy in the classroom. So naturally, this was sure to be a special night.

And it was.

Saturday began with our first dress rehearsal at the theatre. Now, as I mentioned I was oh-so-lucky to be a Townsperson, therefore, I was fortunate enough to have a front row seat {rear-view} of the 'Bumblebees' on stage. Literally, Faith was a mere 4 or so feet in front of me. Was I worried, nah, she had this whole thing down and it was my job, as well as one other mom/Townsperson, to manage the other 'stray' bees onstage as they got lost or confused. Rehearsal went smooth and it was onto dance number 2: the Gift Dancers. Faith especially loved this because she and her friend, Madison, were the tiniest ones and had a sort of duet, but someone forgot to tell the 3 year olds that 2 large boys dressed in scary horse costumes would randomly come on stage during their duet {to pull the carriage full of gifts of course}. So Faith and Madison didn't exactly nail their Gift dance during rehearsal. oh well, they did mention the 2 large boys with horse heads later. So after a long morning, we headed home for a quick recovery {no nap :/ } and back for the big show.

Faith was excited and kept asking me who would be there and would tell all her friends who was coming to see her. Then it was show time, and I headed on stage to wait for her arrival.... on they came, whirling and twirling in all sorts of directions and just as they were 'flying' to their spots, here flies Faith, right towards me holding her antenna in her hands "Mommy, they fell off" so naturally I smile. put them on her head. turn her around. then back up and watch them dance.  i mean seriously, who noticed the Townsperson fixing the antenna... ha. And she shined and shined as they danced and whirled all over the place in about 9 million directions and when she came off the stage she looked right at me {I exited with them} and said "Mommy ! I did such a good job, didn't I" and I couldn't help but smile and tell her "Yes, yes you did! you were wonderful and I am so very proud of you" {then long bouts of hugging happened before she raced back to put her precious 'gift' dance party dress on.

While in the dressing room, with 11 almost 4 or 5 year olds,  fully costumed, having to wait for the entire remainder of the show to finish, so they can take a bow, and then change and go home, a lot can happen. We put out a huge pile of papers and crayons... fifteen minutes later they were gone. Tears had been cried. Papers were torn. Potty breaks were needed and I was wondering how on earth we were going to make it to the bows. I wasn't even sure we would be able to keep the wings on all of them. In the midst of all this chaos, up pops Faith :

"Everyone! Hey everyone, listen up! We are NOT going to hurt each other, okay?"

{crickets chirping}

Was that my kid? No way, did she just command some serious attention? And did it work?

Yes Ma'am, that was my kid {says the very proud mom}. And she set things straight! I don't know how or why but things weren't too bad after that.

 though if you look closely, Faith did try to keep them in line, especially when they wouldn't share 

"We have to take turns Dorothea, or we are going to put it away, okay"