The Show! The Show!

This past weekend, the ballet theater associated with Charlotte's ballet school staged its original and spectacular full-length Tutu by Two, a ballet of Noah's Ark.

My darling girl was a hedgehog, paired with another darling girl who happens to be a good friend of Charlotte's. That's right: You can thank the survival of the hedgehog species to these two girls getting on Noah's ark.

Months ago, I volunteered to be a backstage mom, thinking I'd volunteer one performance and be done. Ha! No. I actually needed to attend all the rehearsals, which is indeed logical. You can't help the kiddos do the correct thing if you don't know the show.

So, I spent many, many hours with these kids: eight little ones in Ballet I. Eight great, sweet kids who worked SO hard, for so many months. Do you know how hard it is for 4- and 5-year-olds to stay orderly and QUIET? In itchy, hot costumes? To wait PATIENTLY and then execute their parts and dance in front of lots of people?

Two shows took place. I was backstage for the matinee, and then in the audience for the evening show (with Chris). During the matinee, as the big, grand music played for the animals to load the ark, the stage was lit, backstage was dark, and the kiddos were ready. There was that moment where we didn't know whether they'd really go on and do their thing. At last, it was time to shoo them on stage, and . . . . there they went! Being the emotional nut job that I am, I got choked up and teary-eyed. Not just for my Charlotte, but for all eight of these kids, all of whom I've gotten attached to, who rose to the challenge, faced the fear of being on stage, memorized their dance, worked so hard. Their moment had come, and there they went, experiencing their very first time on stage in front of a large, live audience. Well, heck. You'd cry too.

At the end of the show, after final bows, the curtain closed. Dancers poured off the stage into the wings, and I squatted down into my mommy-with-open-arms pose, and a cluster of my Ballet I kiddos ran triumphantly into my arms. (Charlotte wasn't even one of them! I assume she ran to the other Ballet I mom.) And of course, I gushed gushed gushed about their greatness the entire walk back to their area.

After the matinee, we came home. I nursed a celebratory IPA and changed for the nighttime performance while Charlotte decompressed with some cartoons. The sitter for Lorelei arrived, and off we went to a restaurant for an early dinner, calling this our Charlotte-Mommy-Daddy date. Predictably, she had to go potty during dinner, which of course entailed layers of tights and leotards and sundresses and such. As we FINALLY reached the washing-hands stage, Charlotte smirked at me in the mirror and said, "This is so fun."

"Going potty in a restaurant?" I said.

"No!" she said, giggling. "Going out to dinner! Before my show!" (And without Lorelei, I think she wanted to add.) Then she ran into one of her ballet BFFs, and the giddiness grew. 

I watched the show with Chris, holding my breath at every pirouette. Our little ones did a great job, skipping and leaping their very best. And of course they were freaking adorable.

At the end of the night, I waited with some other parents for the younger dancers to be released. A dad asked me how Charlotte liked ballet, and I told him that despite all the WORK, she had been on cloud nine all day and couldn't wait for the Christmas show. He laughed and asked if I'd ever dare be a backstage mom again. "I think I would," I said, quite honestly.

And we talked of how good this experience is for the kids, being a part of something SO MUCH BIGGER than themselves. Signs for this show were all over town, and each time Charlotte saw one, she'd happily yell and point it out. And let's not underestimate the deferred gratification thing. This show took months of rehearsals and work and learning and remembering and being quiet and waiting patiently and on and on and on. Lots of holding still while Mommy-slash-Mrs. Hofmann made buns. And it paid off, after lots of work on their part, with two great shows.

Once I got Charlotte, she ran out into the lobby, into the arms of her daddy, who was waiting with a dozen pink roses. The child simply BEAMED. 

Anyway, I'm obviously so proud of Charlotte and her animal friends. They did great, putting in one heck of a long day on Saturday and dancing their little hedgehog, bumble bee, mice, and elephant hearts out.

Below are some pics, but as you know, I don't post faces of children without their parents' permission, and I don't have it in me to track down permissions for 8 kids! So, here's what I can post:

Cookies! Charlotte helped me, but still . . . a certain mommy might've been up until midnight making oatmeal cranberry and lemon crinkle cookies. Charlotte was SO proud to be making cookies for her big show.

Ready to head to the matinee!

After the evening show. Could I be prouder? No, I don't think so.