Yesterday we talked about the house, now let's talk about the kids. Springtime in our family means recital just like Christmas means The Nutcracker.
This year Bitty was in the very first dance of the recital and she was the star. Her Ballet 2 class was very small and very close (well as close as a bunch of 6 year olds can be who can rarely even remember each other's names). They performed a dance from the turns 50 this year, George Balanchine ballet, Stars and Stripes. Balanchine choreographed this ballet for the New York City Ballet Company, that he helped found, who debuted it in 1958. The ballet is performed to the music of John Phillip Sousa which makes for a very lively group of kids marching around the stage having a great time.
Here is the original costuming for the ballet. Here's Bitty and her class.
Bitty was a broken soldier doll who the dollmaker fixes and puts in line with the other dolls and then they do their routine. It was FABULOUS, if I do say so myself. 
Isn't my Bitty stunning? I'm a very proud Mommy, can you tell? After the first intermission Bug got to do her ballet, Swan Lake Waltz. It was a VERY long routine to the lovely Tchaikovsky and the girls were so lovely. Bug even had a boy in her class last year. That was very exciting.
That's Bug front right. This class got to wear costumes that were the envy of all the other dance kids. Everyone thought they were so soft and romantic and lovely.
As always, I thought Buggy was the star of the show. Looking at the professional photos taken of the recital showed me something wonderful too. Bug was smiling this huge gorgeous smile through the entire dance (my pics are from dress rehearsal) and you could see just how much fun she was having doing her beloved ballet. What more can you ask?
After the second intermission both the girls danced together for the first time since they started dancing. This year Bit decided to join Bug in Theatrical Movement, which is a tap class. Oh my goodness they were so much fun to watch. Bug is really good at tap and Bitty was able to show off just how Sassy she is. It was great fun to see them dancing together as well. It makes a Mommy feel pretty good, I have to tell you. Everyone loved these costumes most of all.
I like the picture of the girlies in their tap costumes outside McFarlin Auditorium where they do their recital. If any of you readers watch So You Think You Can Dance (if you don't, you should) you'll remember hearing about McFarlin as the place that Joshua, Comfort, Chris, and Chelsea T auditioned. It was fun for the girls to see the stage they always dance on for recitals on TV.
The recital was wonderful but unfortunately it ended on a rather down note. After the girls performed their tap number I got a call on my cell phone. I didn't answer since I was in the audience but when I saw that it was a number I didn't recognize I listened to my voicemail just in case. It was the chaperon of the girlies dressing room asking me to call her. I couldn't call her from the audience and knew she wouldn't call unless it was something important so I hopped up and moved as fast as I could towards the dressing room. Such a big no no to get up in the middle of a dance but this was important.
When I got to the dressing rooms they told me Bug was trapped in the bathroom. McFarlin was built in 1924 so the bathroom is a small tight room with huge heavy doors and very old iron hardware. She had gone in to change out of her costume and locked the door but the lock had gotten stuck and no matter how she tried she couldn't get it to turn. Bug was panicked in a major way. I spoke to her through the door and asked her to calm down. It's very hard to talk through a huge thick door to a hysterical crying 8 year old and get anything accomplished. I promised her I would get her out but that she would have to help and calm down. I don't think I helped much getting her calm though. I asked her to try the lock in several ways and I could feel through the door that she was but she just didn't have the strength to push the door this way and that in order to try to relieve the pressure on the dead bolt that was holding her in. Wouldn't you know this dead bolt did not have a key hole to the outside! We all pushed the door every way we could think of and it wouldn't budge. We called building maintenance and they just did the same things we did. I was starting to get frantic because it is very hard to know your child is freaking out on the other side of the door and you can't help her. I told them to get my a screw driver and I would take the pins out of the hinges and take the door off. They just looked at my like I was crazy. Then I started barking out orders and they had little choice but to listen. Don't get between a Mommy and her babies. They finally did what I asked and pulled the pins on the hinges and we were able to work the door enough sideways to get my little Bug baby out. Poor little thing had a wonderful recital and will always remember it as the day she got locked in the bathroom.
I have more dance related trauma to talk about but I will save it for the next post. Have a great day.
