Viva la Danza! (or dancing diva!)
Saturday, May 5, was the big day . . . Hannah Kate's first dance recital. The studio, Machita and Co., celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. The theme for the recital was Viva la Danza, a tribute to Miss Machita's home country of Mexico. What a day it was!
The day of the recital was my third attempt at putting Hannah Kate's hair in a bun, and you would know that it took me longer than ever and was the worst bun ever, too. Next year we're definitely going for the French braid instead. My little ballerina was so excited. Here she is backstage when we first arrived at the theater.
And here she is with Abbie. Because Machita and Co. has so many students and dance classes, there are two recitals each year, both of which last about three hours each. We were really hoping that Abbie and Hannah Kate would be in the same recital, but they were not. Hannah Kate was in the 1:00 performance, and Abbie was in the 6:00 performance. Aunt Ashley and Abbie were so sweet to come watch the 1:00 performance. So here are my two ballerinas. This is Abbie's sixth year of dance. Hannah Kate's and Abbie's baby pictures really favor each other a lot. I really think they could pass for sisters sometimes.
The dressing room that we were assigned to was complete and total chaos and costumes and cute little dancers and their mommies. These pictures do not even begin to show what it was really like in there. The first two hours were fine. But during the third hour, I was honestly so ready to get out of there.
The ballet was Hannah Kate's first performance. Her class danced to The Wedding Dance. She was a flower girl. Her class also danced with one of the older classes, who were the brides and bridesmaids. It was a rather intricate performance for the little ones, but they did such a great job. I was so proud of Hannah Kate! She remembered all of her dance steps and danced her little heart out. Here we are dressed and waiting for her turn on the big stage. And, yes, she's wearing lipstick. But that little smile sure was shining onstage.
During intermission we let Hannah Kate open her gifts. I also had a gift for Mason. After all, he has been so good to go to all of her practices and rehearsals all year without complaining.
Hannah Kate was only a little excited when she opened the gift we gave her.
And all of the excitement was over a new Fancy Nancy book, Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet. I first saw the book when I took the kids to the book fair at Mason's school a few days earlier. I wanted to get it for her, but I wanted it to be a surprise. I made an excuse for them to go wait in the hallway while I checked out with our book purchases, at which time I picked up the book and hid it in the bottom of my bag. A few days later, we went to the bookstore. I'd decided I wanted to get one for Abbie. Hannah Kate spied it before I did and picked it up. I found another really cute ballet book so we sat down, and I read both of them to her. She liked the Fancy Nancy book the best, but she said she wanted to get the other one for Abbie. I immediately knew why. She was thinking that if we got the other one for Abbie, she would get the Fancy Nancy one. To make a long story short, she eventually decided to get the Fancy Nancy book for Abbie and walked out of the store with big tears in her eyes because we only had one copy, and she wanted one. Note to self: that was not a good idea! But no more tears now.
I found this really neat book about sharks for Mason. He LOVES sharks and is absolutely fascinated by them. There are some really great pictures in this book, and it's even easy enough that he can read most of it. He really liked it.
And there were more gifts. Uncle Troy, Aunt April, Avery and Beau sent her a ballet photo album. I'm going to print several pictures from her first year in dance to put in the album for her.
Abbie gave her a ballet paper dolls collection, and MawMaw and PawPaw gave her a ballet pillowcase and bracelet.
After intermission came what Hannah Kate had been waiting for . . . the tap routine and dance with her daddy. Now I'll be honest. Tap is not my favorite. I don't know why. I just tend to prefer ballet. I'd been hoping that Hannah Kate would really love ballet. But she REALLY loves tap. And she REALLY loved her costume. I'll be honest again. Yellow is not my favorite color. But I think she's won me over.
And here she is with the flowers we gave her.
Hannah Kate and her sweet friend Addison . . . I'm not sure what the whole hands-on-the-hips thing is. She's a little diva in that cowgirl costume for sure!
She was nearly beside herself waiting backstage. She was a bundle of excitement, but her Daddy was a bundle of nerves!
I know he doesn't look excited, but he really was. He was so excited, in fact, that after Hannah Kate's 3-hour recital, we stayed for the next performance at 6:00 so we could see Abbie!
I wish you could've seen them on that stage together! Hannah Kate did not stop smiling the whole time! I could see the twinkle in her eye even from where I was sitting 13 rows back. She had so much fun.
After the tap routine, we had one more costume change for the finale.
Here she is (third from the left) with several of the girls in her class.
It was such a fun day! I can't wait to get the DVD so I can let her watch herself on stage.
A couple of days later, Hannah Kate received a gift from Pop and Mimi. It's the most precious book, Dance Me, Daddy. I really wanted her Daddy to be the first one to read it to her, but she couldn't wait until he got home. So we read it together, and then he read it with her later.
So now dance lessons are over until August. And that isn't sitting so well with my little ballerina. She's already asking "how much longer . . ." until she can go back to the studio for lessons and dance on the big stage again. My answer is always the same . . . after Mason finishes 1st grade and Vacation Bible School and the baby is born . . . then you'll have dance again. In the meantime, she broke out into her tap routine last night in the kitchen while I was preparing supper. I had to stop what I was doing so I could . . . "watch me, Mama!"
