On Sunday, we celebrated Madeleine's first year of dance with her recital. It was fabulous - exactly what you thought a small-town dance studio's recital would be. Madeleine's class is the 4-5 year olds, and their ballet and tap routines were also exactly what you thought they would be. Madeleine did very well, considering she's the youngest in the class and sometimes has trouble focusing. She spent a lot of her dances watching the other girls, and did okay with the steps, and got lots of direction when it was time to move from the girls on either side of her. Gramma and Granpa, Kelly, Grandma C, Aunt Laura with Nathan and Kaitlyn all came. Shannon was able to get home in plenty of time from Oklahoma City, in spite of a canceled flight, thanks to a generous priest who drove him the 8 hours home. Afterwards, we went to Bonkers to spend time with Shannon's family and celebrate.
Getting ready!
Watching the big girls practice their tap routine at the dress rehearsal. I took all my pictures during the rehearsal so I could get closer without disturbing the other families.
Madeleine, second from the left, sitting with the rest of her class.
The ballet routine was called "An American Wedding". I don't know why - the music wasn't especially wedding-ish, except for a few bars of the wedding march from Midsummer Night's Dream, but it was cute, short, and simple. Madeleine is third from the right.
The tap routine was to "This Land is Your Land". She did better with the steps with this routine, but had issues remembering where she needed to be when. The other girls were very helpful and kind of pushed her around the stage until she got where she needed to be. She's second from the right in this photo.
Again, second from the right, but in front now.
A rare synchronized moment in the routine.
This land is made for you and me! As a side note, the day after her recital, she was fighting with Noah over a cardboard diaper box they had been playing in, and she pushed him out, saying "This land was NOT made for you and me, Noah!".
Final pose!
The actual curtain call. Madeleine is fourth from the left, I think. The Senior Dance Corps members are mostly teachers and demonstrators, and they were the ones to herd the dancers around and get them on and off stage, which was nice, then a parent didn't have to do it.
The gave all the dancers medals with the logo for the recital on it. Madeleine thought she had won an Olympic Gold Medal!!! She kind of looks like an ice skater in these pictures, with the costume, the flowers, and the medal.
At Bonkers with Nathan.
Getting ready!
Watching the big girls practice their tap routine at the dress rehearsal. I took all my pictures during the rehearsal so I could get closer without disturbing the other families.
Madeleine, second from the left, sitting with the rest of her class.
The ballet routine was called "An American Wedding". I don't know why - the music wasn't especially wedding-ish, except for a few bars of the wedding march from Midsummer Night's Dream, but it was cute, short, and simple. Madeleine is third from the right.
The tap routine was to "This Land is Your Land". She did better with the steps with this routine, but had issues remembering where she needed to be when. The other girls were very helpful and kind of pushed her around the stage until she got where she needed to be. She's second from the right in this photo.
Again, second from the right, but in front now.
A rare synchronized moment in the routine.
This land is made for you and me! As a side note, the day after her recital, she was fighting with Noah over a cardboard diaper box they had been playing in, and she pushed him out, saying "This land was NOT made for you and me, Noah!".
Final pose!
The actual curtain call. Madeleine is fourth from the left, I think. The Senior Dance Corps members are mostly teachers and demonstrators, and they were the ones to herd the dancers around and get them on and off stage, which was nice, then a parent didn't have to do it.
The gave all the dancers medals with the logo for the recital on it. Madeleine thought she had won an Olympic Gold Medal!!! She kind of looks like an ice skater in these pictures, with the costume, the flowers, and the medal.
At Bonkers with Nathan.
The day after, she dressed her brother in both costumes. Here they are, taking their own private curtain call. I'm going to be in big trouble in about 10 years for taking these pictures.
A close up of Madeleine's recital roses. I was playing with the macro setting on my new camera.
