Christine's World: Ballet Recital Recap

I got to ELHS at 11:30am and practiced with my class on stage.

After practicing, my tiara broke completely off. A mom who happened to be sitting near, sewed it back together for me (she was one of those creative women who happen to bring a sewing needle and thread wherever she goes. Just in case).

I spent a considerable amount of time in prayer that day because I did not want the recital to go as badly as the rehearsal.

When I was not on stage (which was the majority of the time), I helped the little girls change their costumes. And let me tell you, that was a pretty rough job. One little girl was in five dances (I think she was 6 years old), she had a limited amount of time to change and she lost her necklace. For your information, it is very hard to find a little rhinestone necklace in a large room full of other children and costumes running rampant. Did I mention she was about to go on stage? Well, I eventually found the necklace... she was happy - I was sweaty.

Story time...

So, I was leading a particular group of little girls on to the stage; they were infatuated with my pointe shoes. You know, asking me the typical things in wonder and amazement. I went up on pointe for them, turned around, let them touch my tutu... all that jazz (uhh, ballet).

Well, one of the girls was staring at me with an awestruck look on her face (I remember being like that when I was her age). She asked, "Wow! How do you do that?"

You have to understand that explaining, "My toes have just adapted to the special kind of hard shoes..." gets kind of old after a while. So this time, I looked at the little girl and said with a twinkle in my eye, "I'm magical!"

I said it as if she should have known all along. I don't know what drove me to say such a thing... except that I was tired. Yeah, I win the doofus award for the year.

The worst part about the whole thing was that she believed me. Well, until she got a grip on herself and said, "Wait a minute! You're not magic. If you were, you'd sparkle like a fairy."

Oh dear... so now I'm a lying ballerina. Great.

Believe it or not, the recital went better than I expected. With only a few minor slip-ups, the dance went swimmingly. Aside from the dancing, I learned a valuable life lesson; to give it all to God and just relax. Yes, that was the hardest part about the night for me right there; learning to not care. God is in control of everything (as usual).

It's so humbling to think that my Creator would care enough about me to help make my ballet recital go well. I am so blessed.