Sarah's Dance Recitals

Sarah had a fantastic year at Center Stage Dance Studio for her first year on the performing company (competitive dance team).  She was on the "Petite Dream Angel" team.

"Boogie in the Barnyard" for tap.

"Ducks Dance" for jazz.

They competed at 4 competitions this year (see my previous post for lots of pictures from the competitions) and they performed at all 3 recitals this past week!  It was a very busy week!

First, there was the banquet on last Sunday evening before recital week started. The girls got to sit at their own table with a centerpiece based on the theme of their dances. There were group photos, a slideshow of all the teams, speeches, awards, dinner, etc.

The theme for this year's recital was "Better When I'm Dancin' ".

 The Petite Dream Angels (minus 1 - Jazlyn hadn't arrived yet).

The whole performing company (all the petite, junior, teen, and senior teams).

Sarah at her table showing off her DVD of the slide show.

Sarah got the "Perfect Practice" award because she always comes back to class having practiced at home and always knew the routine.  We joked that she should hand that award over to Mommy, because I'm the one that makes her practice and helps her learn the routines.

After getting home from the banquet way after Sarah's bedtime, we kicked off a week of 3 dress rehearsals and 3 recitals!  It was exhausting but fun!

Each afternoon, we would take almost an hour to do Sarah's hair and makeup, then get her to the high school where the recital is by 5pm, get her in her first costume, feed her some dinner (while making sure to cover her costume!), send the girls out on stage to go stretch and warm up at 5:45, before starting the dress rehearsal or recital at 6pm.

Backstage, the classrooms for each team have a projector, so the girls would hang out and watch movies until their turn to go on stage. (Sarah is the 2nd from the left in this picture.)

 Sarah ready to perform in the Thursday recital.

On Friday, Alexis and Auntie Trish were going to come to the recital, but Alexis got a terrible fracture of her finger and had to have surgery on Friday, so we ended up with extra tickets. We were able to go pick up Sarah's friend Ellie and bring her to the recital!

On Friday, Auntie Michelle, Uncle Brian, and Theo were able to come see Sarah dance. 

Theo was very excited about the recital and talked about how he wanted to dance with Sarah. 

Theo was enthralled!

My dancer and I.

Backstage goofiness! While we were watching the recital, the girls were having fun with the photo backdrop.

Since there wasn't enough going on that week, I started a rounding week on Saturday morning by rounding at 3 hospitals, then heading to the kids' soccer games. Sarah had a soccer game on Saturday before her last recital that night.  There was a professional soccer juggler there between the rec games and Sarah and Austin learned some tricks with the pro while Trevor played his game.

Back to dance...

The whole performing company on stage ready to perform the last recital on Saturday.

(Sarah is in the front middle of this picture, the farthest left of her team in the cowgirl outfits.)

Daddy and the boys joined us for this recital.

We caught a photo with Sarah at intermission.

Nanny and Grandpa came too!

For the finale of the recital, all the performing company teams come out one by one and perform a part of the final number, then all the rec classes come on stage while the performing company fills the stairs along the sides of the audience to dance the very end of the finale.  The dancers are 2 deep on the stairs and they have the older girls against the wall and the younger girls (like Sarah's team) in front of them.  At the dress rehearsal on Monday, they got everybody in their spots and then told them to meet the person on their step with them so they could make sure to find the right spot for the end of the finale.  Sarah turned around and met Gabriella...and hasn't stopped talking about her since then.  Gabriella was so sweet to her this week and Sarah looks up to her so much!  At the last recital, Gabriella found Sarah at intermission to take a picture with her.

The week was a success and the girls did a great job!  After the last recital, it is tradition to take the girls out to a local restaurant (Bonfire).  The teams pretty much take over the whole restaurant!

The girls had fun, but were pretty tired after that crazy week!  We left the restaurant shortly after 11pm, got Sarah to bed by midnight.  After 7 days of being up at least 2 hours past her bedtime, Sarah slept in until past 10am the next day.

A first year of competitive dance (and new dance mom) in the books!  Sarah LOVED it and is excited to continue on to next year.  She has a week off this week, then is back to dance for her summer intensives and her audition for next year.  Here we go again...  :)