More Than Just a Dance Recital

I'm tired. I'm a little emotional. When I get tired, I tend to cry. And reminisce. And think.

Tonight was Thursday of our annual dance recital week. I sat there in my seat (between running backstage), and was in awe of what a dance recital means...

To me, the dance recital means:

• The littlest girls get a chance to overcome a fear of being up on stage with all the lights on, alone with no adult to run to. Some find this is their place in life, to perform and to be on stage, and some realize being the center of attention is harder than they can handle, but they so often push through and overcome the challenge of doing something new and foreign to them.  
• The little girls find what it means to look up to someone... to have someone they admire and want to grow up to be like.
• As the girls get older they find out to dance through a mistake, how to put a smile on when they are nervous, how to recover from losing a shoe/hairpiece/prop, how to take constructive criticism, and how to shine.
• The oldest girls learn to be good role models for those looking up to them. They squash their own nerves to perform like they've been trained for 10+ years. They are beautiful and wonderful and make us old dancers remember those days and be proud of them.

There was so much promise up on the stage tonight. No matter where these girls end up in life, they will always have the memories of performing and being cheered for. We live in a wonderful world, but sometimes the world can be difficult. I hope that every single dancer on stage tonight knows and remembers that they are loved by the audience, their family and last but not least their dance instructors.