Gotta dance.

This was my first year of being a dance mom and IT DID NOT come naturally to me. The girls begged and begged last fall to be in dance and I finally was wore down. The class availability was confusing to understand. The different studios, dance levels and class descriptions read like a foreign language to me. As you can tell, I do not have a dance background. Luckily, my dear friend Heather helped me navigate - Thanks Heather!

The timing of the classes was less than convenient especially for Angelique, who was in Ballet. It was a good thing that Steve had a flexible schedule because he had to pick her up from school each week on Wednesday's, bring her home, have her get dressed and have her hair put in the required "Ballerina Bun". Keep in mind, this is no ordinary bun. I had to have lessons to pull this off correctly. Not too high, not too low, no fly away hair and everything firmly secured with bobby-pins and a hairnet. I confess, on Kippy's first day of class, her ballerina bun failed and her hair all came down. I thought she was going to be kicked out of class! Abby's modern dance class was in the evening on Wednesday each night, but always was a rush to get supper done and get her there on time. I felt the whole experience was difficult for me personally. My perception of dance: expensive, time-consuming and pretentious (not only the hair requirement, but they had specific uniforms just for dance practice!)

And then came the rehearsals... scheduled on Memorial Day one of my few vacation days. Grrrr... dance was really cramping my style.

Despite my negative attitude, the girls thoroughly enjoyed dance and dance practice. They LOVED when they got their costumes for the Spring Dance recital. You never saw so much prancing and flouncing around the house in their full get up.

The rubber-met-the-road when I adding eyeliner, mascara and blush to my tween daughter, transforming Abby into a much more mature looking young woman {GASP}.
Angelique morphed into a little lady when she was in her full dance costume. Could this really be my rough and tumble, tom-boy daughter wearing a tu-tu??
Then there was the dance performances... the evening of May 26th was Angelique's debut. Grandma Shirley and Great-Uncle Jim came a great distance to watch. She kept a huge smile on her face despite a little mishap early in the dance.
I was wowed... not just by witnessing Angelique's joy while dancing, but all the performers were AMAZING!Wednesday night, (May 27th) was Abby's chance to shine. Her class performed to "Hush", which was a modern take on the "Hush Little Baby" lullaby. Grandma Rose and Great-Aunt Joan were able to come watch.
Again, I was so impressed by all the obvious hard-work the girls had put into learning their routines.

In the end, I have to say I best get over my negative attitude and embrace the fact that Abby and Angelique just gotta dance.