Mama Bragging Rights!

Zoe and Maya have been performing in a holiday ballet (don't call out the "War on Christmas" folks -- it really is a holiday performance, including Hanukkah Flamenco and O Holy Night!). Today and yesterday have been morning performances attended for free by public school children, and tomorrow evening is the money-maker for the general public. The Holiday Special is put on by a professional company, Ballet Concerto, whose director is also the owner of the ballet school where they take lessons. When Margo Dean needs kids for Ballet Concerto performances, she uses the kids from her school. That's one of the advantages of going there for ballet (or one of the drawbacks, if you, like me, can't say no!).

I sat in the audience for parts of today's performance and managed to get a couple of pictures -- bad ones, but better than nothing! (Can't use flash photography, throws the dancers off when they're trying to pirouette!). As you can see above, Zoe is a shepherd in O Holy Night. Look below to see Maya as a Frosty girl in Memories of Frosty.

At one point, Margo (who is in her 70s) came to sit in the audience to check how it looked, and it tickled me a little, because her son was dancing right then -- her late-40s son! I wondered if her heart stilled swelled with pride when she saw him dance, like mine does when my babies dance!

I was definitely proud watching Zoe and Maya dance, especially since they've been working so hard -- not just ballet classes, but weekend rehearsals and evening rehearsals for the past month. They both did great! Zoe's dance was far more complex, as one would expect since she's older, but Maya was on stage for longer and was the youngest dancer out there. She and Lucy (in pink) were the only girls chosen from their class to perform, and Lucy is a first-grader!

It was interesting having an audience of grade-schoolers -- about 800 each day. They were remarkably well-behaved for kids that age watching a ballet, and oohed and ahhed at each lift, each jump, each turn. They were beside themselves with joy when the fake snow came down. They also oohed and ahhed over all lighting effects and the curtain going up and down, so they weren't that discriminating!

One other audience thing struck me -- when the announcer explained that the next dance would be Hanukkah Flamenco, a Spanish dance, there was a real wave of oohs, with hispanic students obviously excited and kind of proud that a Spanish dance was included in the program.

So only one more performance to go -- thank goodness! The girls are exhausted and stressed (and so am I!) and I can't wait to get back onto a more normal schedule for us all.

And BTW, if you're in Fort Worth and looking for a fun holiday experience, come to Will Rogers Auditorium tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.!