Essary 4.0: Dance Your Heart Out!

Selah had her dance recital yesterday. This was actually her second recital, even though she's only three. They let her start the two-year-old class at the Sportsplex several months before her second birthday and she danced with that group until last summer. They took a break for the summer and then her teacher didn't start the class back up because she was pregnant.

Brad found out about another dance group in Corinth from a co-worker of his who had her daughter, who is also three, enrolled. The group is called Turning Pointe, and we signed Selah up several months ago. She enjoys it so much. She just loves to dance, and we love to watch her.

She had been really looking forward to her recital, which was at Unity Broadcasting in Booneville. We had two rehearsals on that stage to get the dancers acclimated to it, but as for right now, Selah does not have an issue with stage fright. She does, however, have an issue with not wanting to get off the stage once she gets on it. ;)

Her dance teacher is really great and she teaches a variety of dance styles to all different age groups, girls and boys. They all had a chance to show off yesterday and it was neat. Selah's group danced to two different numbers: they did a jazz dance to the song "Chihuahua" and a ballet number to a Disney song that I cannot remember the name of right now. They were both awesome but "Chewalla" as she calls it was by far Selah's favorite.

We were very nervous about how Korban would do at this recital. He did really well at her recital in Corinth last year, but I had taken him to her first dress rehearsal for this one and things did not go well at all. He screamed and screamed and screamed and I finally took him to the van and fortunately my mother-in-law had gone with us and she sat with him while I got to catch the rest of Selah's rehearsal.

Honestly, we struggled pretty badly because we just didn't know what to do. We wanted Korban to be part of this family event, but we didn't want his behavior to cause any of us to miss the recital or upset Selah or any of the other little dancers or their families. We talked about trying to find a baby-sitter, which would have been kind of difficult since all the grandparents were coming to see her perform and we didn't want any of them to miss it. We have friends that had kindly offered to keep him, but it's just hard to know how he's going to react to a new situation like that, but most of the time it isn't favorable and I didn't want him or them to have to endure that.

So we made the decision to take Korban with us and just did our best to prepare him (and us!) for the event. I talked to his ABA lady about it and she gave some good suggestions. She also prayed for us, which we sure appreciated. I packed a bag of sensory stuff--his brush, some squeeze toys, even a couple of new little things that I had found. We talked to him about how much fun it would be and how it was important to sit quietly, and if he did that we would all go have fun afterwards and he would get a treat. He seemed genuinely excited about it. He also loves to watch her dance, and he too loves "Chewalla."

When we got there, I took Selah backstage to get her ready and Brad, Korban, and the grandparents all sat in the audience. I had originally intended to go back out and sit with them, but things were chaotic backstage, and the mother of the other three-year-old and I decided to stay back there and help out. I took Selah into the dressing room and got her dressed. I took the opportunity to pray over her, and that made me happy. Her teacher also said a prayer for all the dancers before they got started and I thought that was sweet. When they went out to dance "Chihuahua," we literally dashed down the hallway and into the back of the auditorium to see our girls dance. I could see the rest of my family and Korban was sitting quietly.

They did so good on their dance! Selah dances so sassy. It cracks me up. She is very expressive and it makes me smile. Much to our delight, she showed her muscles and then bowed at the end. To show that dancers are both strong and gracious I guess. Ha!

Then we went backstage again to help them change from their boa into their tutus for the ballet number. Selah came running to me down the hall and jumped into my arms. She was proud of herself! Oh, and I found out that Korban is not the only literal person in my family. I told her before the ballet "You dance your heart out!" and she very dramatically clasped both hands to her chest and said "Mommy, no! I don't want my heart to come out!"

When we slipped back in the auditorium to watch the ballet, my mom and Korban had moved to the back row and she was brushing him. I wasn't going to say anything, because I didn't want to risk upsetting him but he turned around and spotted me. He was fine, though. I asked my mom how he was and she said he had told them he wasn't feeling good and they were afraid he was going to do one of his nervous pukes, so she walked him around outside and he did fine and said he wanted to go back in.

So everyone got to see Selah dance and that made me so happy. They also sold DVDs of the performance for ten bucks, and we got one of those so we could watch it again and again. (Selah loves to watch herself!)

At the end of the recital, everyone went out to take a bow together. I stayed backstage to watch this time, but then I realized that the dancers were supposed to go down the steps to get their little medals. I started trying to make my way around to the auditorium, but Selah was not getting off of that stage. She started dancing again, even though there was no music. It was quite funny. Then all of a sudden I didn't see her anymore. The dance teacher's daughter said that her daddy had gotten her. I looked and saw Brad with Selah in the back of the auditorium. He saw me, and I waved and then he did the unthinkable--he sat Selah down. Are you laughing at us yet? Of course, she took off like a wild bull in an arena. Everyone else had their little girls posed, making pictures, and Selah photo-bombed like four families. They were all laughing and asking if they could post it to Facebook as I ran by them trying to catch her. Finally, I caught up with her as she danced across the stage again. I turned to look at Brad, who was still standing at the back of the auditorium laughing, and threw up my hands at him as if to say "What were you thinking?" Several people laughed at me, and some of them may have taken a picture of that, so if you see a random picture of me gesticulating wildly and looking like a hot mess, you'll know what happened.

After we finally got Selah a little bit corralled, we all congratulated her and loved on her and Brad was even able to get her to stand still long enough for him to make a couple of pictures of her. Korban got a little overwhelmed in the lobby while all of this was going on and screamed and started to hit me, so my mom and I took him outside. I realized I didn't have the van keys with me, so we put him in my mom's car. (She keeps a booster seat in there.) He begged to go on home with his nana, and she said that was fine, so I gave him one of his little treats and they left.

Selah got some flowers, and some little princess baby dolls that she had been wanting and I found on a good sale and stuck them back for later use. All in all, it was really good day, and we are so grateful. The only person that Selah didn't get to talk to after the recital was her brother, and she missed him. But when I got Korban back from my moms, he ran through the house calling for Selah and when he found her, he went right to her, hugged her and said "I love you Selah. You have fun at dance!" Makes my heart happy.

Now for some pictures!