Dance, Dance, Dance

Back in September Harlee started taking dance classes with a program here in town.
When we signed her up we thought...this will be fun. Harlee struggled through the first few months. She had a hard time with me just dropping her off and alot of the girls in her class had a strong personality and she ended up letting them push her to the side alot. I never thought of Harlee as being a "shy" kid. Around the first of the year I debated whether or not to pull her out. Rick and I wanted to keep her in there to try and get her out of this new found shell...but I also didn't want to spend the money to have her stand in the back of the room. I talked to her teachers and they switched her to another class. She really started to do better...and then the costumes came. Her dance was called "Waking up is hard to do". He costume was a frilly night gown with a sleeping mask. The day they handed out costumes, I couldn't even get her to come and stand by me because she wanted to be as close to her teacher as possible so that when they called her name she would be ready.

The week of the recital came and it was packed full of notes on how to do hair, make-up, dress rehearsals, etc...I was thinking "this is crazy. I hope that she actually gets out there on the floor and does this dance." She kept telling me she was going to do "super good" so that she could wear her pretty nightgown...I thought..."we will see." Well the night of first recital came and a friend of mine told me that we better be there an hour and a half before the doors opened or we would not get a seat. Harlee and I went into the high school and got in line. I was blown away at the number of people there. After securing our spot we went to town doing the hair...who said straight hair can't curl.


When Harlee walked into the gym and saw the 1,500 people in attendance, I thought she was going to drop dead. Instead she looked up at her Grandpa, Daddy, and Uncle Nic (who were loudly yelling her name) and smiled. She proceeded to go out onto the floor and do a fantastic job. We all cheered so loud.







Saturday started again with the same madness: be there two hours early, curl curl curl, make-up, etc. Once again she did a fantastic job. She was so excited that all of her family came to watch her big show. Her little "boyfriend" Wyatt even came to watch her. It was such a riot because he was all goo-goo eyes for her. We were SO PROUD of her.





One thing I have to say is that my socks were blown off. I had no idea what kind of a program I had put her in. The dancers in the company were AMAZING. I have danced my whole life, and had never seen so many talented dancers in one company. There were over 300 dancers. The one thing that impressed me the VERY most was that ALL of the dances and costumes were appropriate and modest. There was nothing suggestive or revealing. I am so grateful for the program and the example that the older girls set for my daughter, without even knowing that they are doing so.