Tiny Dancer

After a year of driving to and from classes, tying and re-tying ballet shoes, curtsies, tutus, buns and barre work, our little ballerina was ready for her big performance.  Well, as ready as she was going to be.

After watching Isla in class, we were pretty sure that this was not going to go well.  While she LOVES going to class, she is not exactly the most naturally talented ballerina, and frequently gets lost in her own little world.  She is a beautiful twirling little mop of blond hair, when the rest of the class is doing their "choreographed" dance.  When told to stay on her pink dot, she often found multiple dots, and rarely ever ended up on the same dot that she started on.  And while she loved doing arabesques, they weren't exactly graceful, more closely resembling a powerful karate kick.

Nevertheless, we were excited for this momentous occasion, and were telling her about it all week long.  When the big day finally came, Isla had a colossal meltdown about her costume.  This came as no surprise as she hadn't wanted to try it on up till this point, and it was pretty scratchy.  After a lot of coaxing, using proper parenting techniques (ahem, candy), she finally got the costume on and kept it on with only a small tear in the collar part from her struggles.

We were on our way

Once we got in the dance studio and she saw all her friends, and the stage and seats for the parents she turned into a different girl.  She quietly sat next to us and watched as we waited for their start time.

When they called the girls up to start the recital Isla was the first one up on the stage.  She immediately went to the dot that her teacher specified and DID NOT MOVE.  We were amazed.   Isla is the 2nd from the left in the below picture.  

We sat back and enjoyed the recital.  I am not going to lie - we both had to choke back some tears.  I can tell that Isla was really trying to impress us, and do well.  She succeeded - we were so proud of her.  It's a performance I won't ever forget.

We were able to get a little of it on video while trying to keep Holden entertained and snap a few shots of Isla.  My favorite part is how she is intensely looking down most of the dance to make sure she stays on her dot, and the "thank you" as she curtsies.  Enjoy...

After the performance we took Isla for some celebratory ice cream.  Well deserved for a year of hard work.  Isla we love you and are SO proud of you!