Dance Recital Weekend

Our dance studio has a full dress rehearsal on Saturday, followed by two recitals on Sunday.  The first recital is all the little kid classes but the competition teams perform as motivation for the younger kids (and I think also to break it up for the adults.)  Saturday morning, I realized that I hadn't given much thought to how our getting ready process would be impacted by the fact that I also needed to be stage ready.  My main concern with being in the recital was my camera.  I wasn't going to leave thousands of dollars of camera equipment unattended and I definitely needed my camera with me for the rehearsal, where photo-taking is allowed.  So, yes, I was most concerned with setting up babysitting for the camera than any other aspect of performing in a show.


(Ready for their competition team dance in the first recital of the day.)

I'm super proud of the girls, once again, for another year of hard work and commitment, giving 110% effort all the time.  There are no short cuts or easy days.  They've grown as individuals and as teammates this year.  I'm overjoyed watching them dance because they put so much into it.  (And, yes, I always wanted to dance too.)  It makes my heart happy.


(Anna, tap)

Let's talk about how I sometimes come up with crazy plans, thinking I can do it all.  The girls needed to be at the first show at 11:00 in order to perform with their competition team.  They could leave after that dance and we didn't have to be back for the second show until 2:30.  Well, there was a 5K that same morning at 10:00 at the school next to the recital.  I actually considered running that 5K.  I thought I could get the girls ready early, then we could all go up to the race.  I'd run and then bring the girls into the recital.  Never mind that I'd be a gross, sweaty mess.  They were scheduled to be on stage around 11:20 and we could leave immediately afterwards which would have given me plenty of time to shower and get ready before we needed to back for the second show.  I wasn't even considering that I would need to use my legs again to dance.


(Allie and Emily, tap)

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending upon how you look at the situation, I came down with something the week before the recital.  Everything was covered in pollen the weekend before and Anna, who is the most impacted by allergies, was all stuffed up.  One day, she went outside for an hour to play and came in with swollen eyes.  I started up with a runny nose a few days after Anna but assumed it was allergy related.  I don't know what happened but it all went to my chest and I developed a cough.  Of course, the girls come home that day with a note that another student in the school had been diagnosed with whooping cough, which starts off like a regular cold with a cough.  (I double checked and the girls received a booster for this back in April.)  So, anyway, I was not in any shape to run a 5K that weekend.  I still had a cough and I hadn't run all week.


(Allie, jazz)


(Allie, jazz)


(Allie, jazz)


(Emily, hip hop)


(Allie, pink, far left, and Emily, pink, far right, ballet)


(Emily, ballet)


(Emily, ballet)

I wanted to talk a little bit about organization and quick costume changes.  The girls were in eleven dances total, some together and some individually.  Between the three of them, there were eleven costumes.  Four times, one of the girls had only one dance (or just over two minutes) in which to get to the dressing room, change costumes and get back to the side of the stage.  Then there were three times when one of the girls had two dances (about five minutes if you're lucky) to change.  The studio emails the program to us in advance so I had printed out a copy for myself and the girls each had their own copy.  I highlighted, using my own color system, their dances and made notes regarding accessories off to the side.  The girls marked up their copies however they saw fit.


(Allie and Emily, tap)


(Emily and Allie, tap)

I had a dream after the recital that I was backstage with a copy of the program but nothing was highlighted and there were so many dances, my focus kept bouncing around.  I couldn't figure out the order of their dances and who needed to be ready when.  Then I remembered that the girls were supposed to be performing their competition dance and I called Grammy and asked her to make sure they were all wearing tan tights.  My first dance nightmare.


(Allie, tap)


(Allie, tap)

Last year, I used a tripod clothing rack, which another dance mom lent to me, to hang all their costumes.  I also had consolidated the costumes so all the ballet ones were in the same bag.  That didn't fly this year as each of the girls wanted to keep track of their own costumes, and I was okay with that.  Because the clothing rack was high and prone to tipping, I decided to use a metal drying rack for clothes.  I hung the costumes all around it and it was easy for the girls to get items off.  When they had to quickly change, they tossed the costume on top of the rack for safe keeping until it could be hung up again.


(Allie, jazz)

Each year, the process becomes easier.  The girls are responsible 11 year olds and very much wanted to do it themselves.  For the first act, I ran back and forth between the audience and the dressing room to make sure they were all set, especially with the super quick costume changes.  Thankfully, none of those changes involved tights.  The girls told me they were good for the second act and they were.  I went back twice to check on them and they didn't need any assistance or if they did, their friends had helped them out.


(Allie, ballet)

After two years of a zillion costumes and changes, I'm going to be honest and say that, in my opinion, a suitcase with a collapsible garment rack (like the "rac and roll") are probably the best way to go.  With the way we did it, there was too much to carry.  We had bags for snacks, bags for shoes, accessories and a changes of clothes, bags for hair stuff, and, of course, the drying rack itself.  After the rehearsal, I groaned at the thought of lugging it all back the next day.  True, we could have packed everything in a suitcase or two except for the drying rack - which is why I think the rac and rolls are extra convenient for many reasons, especially if you are limited on space in the dressing room.  At the girls' competition in May, space was extremely limited.  We had one cafeteria table for almost 30 girls to share.  It was ridiculous.  Thankfully, the girls did not have any costume changes there and I kept bags with me in the audience.

Lastly, I am working on a separate post with my thoughts on dancing in my first recital.


(Allie, ballet)


(Allie, pink front center and Emily, pink in the back row, ballet)


(Allie leaping, pink and Emily far left in pink, ballet)

A note regarding photos:  We were allowed to take photos during the rehearsal.  As you can imagine, I have a ton but narrowed it down to the best ones for posting.  I did not go through and count out an equal amount for each kid.  Anna requested that I limit my photographing of her, which is why there are hardly any of her.  As for the other two, it sometimes depended on where I was standing.  They move around a lot in their dances and I couldn't run back and forth in front of the stage to be fair to the other parents who were taking photos or video.  Also, Allie's jazz dances photographed better than Emily's hip hop.  That is all.  I just didn't want anyone assuming I had favorites.


(Emily, hip hop)