Christmas Recital

Madelyn is on the far right waiting for the music to begin.



Allie (on the left) and Paige on the stage before the recital.

The youngest three girls had their Christmas dance recital last night. The dancers were supposed to arrive at 5:00 pm; the dance began at 7:00 pm. A large majority of the students are 4-7 years old. Am I the only one who recognizes the problem with this schedule? My 6:30m, the youngest children were hungry and very bored. There were several other organizations participating in the recital. One group was a local community choir with about 100 participants. Another group was from a local elementary school that had approximately 40 participants. The recital venue had seating available for 250 people.

The venue coordinator wanted all the dancers to sit at the back of the facility and walk down a hall to enter from another door on the side. There were no adults sitting with the dancers. After a brief run through, the dancers were told to stretch their legs and return to their seats 15 minutes before the performances were scheduled to begin.

As the facility began to fill with audience members, it became noticeable that there were NO where near the number of seats needed. Many people took the seats that were "reserved" for the dancers. When I took my two youngest girls to relocate their seats, we realized that the dancers were sitting 2-3 to a chair. The aisles were blocked with standing audience members. The stage entry was blocked by audience members. I ended up taking my girls back to where our family was sitting and had the girls sit on our laps. Well over 500 people wanted to see the recital.

Paige got nervous as the auditorium filled and the noise level increased. People were pressing on us from all sides. For a short period of time, I didn't think that she would participate in the recital. Thankfully, the choir members and their parents left after their portion of the show was completed. Eventually everyone was able to get a seat. The recital progressed and eventually ended at 9:30 pm.

The dance studio's normal Christmas recital takes less than an hour, so we had promised to walk through the downtown light display after the program. Paige and Allie didn't want to go get dinner, until they had seen the lights. We made a compromise and walked through a very small portion and promised to do the full display Sunday evening.

The kids began a game of tag in a nearby playground, so the whole family chased each other around the park and up the slides. It was so much fun! Mike took a spill in the snow when Joe tagged him, but that was the only casulity. We returned home around 10:30 and had a "healthy" dinner of scrambled eggs, sausage, bananas, waffles, bagels, and donuts.

Pointe Shoes

Madelyn was promoted to the pointe class at her dance studio way back in early fall. I ran her around to various dance stores for fittings and ordered her shoes. Madelyn is petite. She's 11 years old and wears a six 7 in clothing. She has small feet to match her small stature. Only two manufacturers make shoes in sizes smaller than a 4. Her shoes have been repeatedly ordered. The manufacturer doesn't have them in stock. The Christmas program is in 11 days. Last Thursday, the dance instructor placed an order on-line for the shoes. The instructor hopes to get the shoes in before the concert. I think she is planning on having Madelyn dance on pointe for the performance. At this point (no pun intended), I'm not going to allow Madelyn to wear pointe shoe's for the recital. A battle may be brewing.

Dance

My younger girls were not allowed to dance last year, due to time and money constraints. Their former dance instructor called me and offered me a great deal on dance lessons for the 3 girls this year. She really enjoyed them and missed having them in her classes. Madelyn had been one of her competitive dancers and was one of the top 3 dancers in the studio.

Madelyn, Paige, and Alison began classes yesterday. Madelyn is taking ballet and jazz, while the younger girls are both in combo classes. The girls really enjoyed dancing again. I'm so thankful that they have this opportunity. God is so good!

Children's Music and Dance Classes

My 5 youngest children have been participating in free dance and music classes. Two members of the community wanted to work with children/teens to teach music and Colombian dancing. They met with a homeschool mom who is very active in the community. After working out the logistics of time and place the classes began. On November 22, the children will be dancing, singing, and playing instruments in the Christmas parade. I was able to take some pictures of today's rehearsal.



Paige and Alison playing drums. They are in the front row.

Paige, Alison, and Madelyn performing in their Colombian-style skirts. Paige and Allie are wearing purple. Madelyn is wearing pink.

They love their swishy skirts!


Paige drumming on her portable drum set.
Joe (in orange) and Steve (in gray) keeping the beat.

Friday's Activities

My children attended their first dance and music classes Friday afternoon. The dance instructors are from Columbia, Russia, and somewhere in the middle east. The children are currently learning a South American folk dance. The instructor explained the history behind the dance and the costume. She is so excited to be teaching the dance to the children. In Columbia, the children begin learning the folk dances when they are three. Only three of my children are participating in the free dance class. The children will be performing the dance during an international children's parade in November.

The music instructor is a professional musician who plays several instruments. He is doing group instruction teaching piano, guitar, ukulele, recorder, and drums. My younger three girls are learning recorder and my 11 year old son is learning guitar. The instructor is teaching numbers instead of notes. He mentioned that in two weeks, he will teach the children the note names. This is a new experience for me to convert my knowledge of notes into numbers. My girls are eager to practice each day and are picking up the songs quickly. This is another free class that someone in the community offered to teach. The children also received free instruments to keep.

I feel so blessed this year. It was necessary to take my daughters out of dance classes this year because we couldn't afford them any longer. What a blessing to my children to have the opportunity to still dance.