They've Named Me Momma: Tales of a dance recital and more musings

omg. tween and teen aged girls can talk a lot. I once was a teen, did I talk as much as this? omg, I need to give my Mom a hug. and a Tylenol. and maybe a beer or some other yummy alcoholic drink.

so...Friday was the dress rehearsal. I had to get my niece to a local high school by noon in full make-up and hair done ready for her first dance.

applying false eyelashes....for the 1st time in my life!

Just got to the High School in Monkey Make-up and Hair

The Dressing Room (before show)

The Dressing Room(other side of room)

the after the show dressing room

but, rehearsal did not actually start until 2. we needed those 2 hours to first carry all of her 5 costumes and various shoes and accessories(see above pic...I carried all of that stuff) and a rolling garment rack and a make-up kit and snacks and a decorated umbrella and a decorated top hat into the theater. then, we were told that the 1 dressing room was being used by only senior members of the dance company. that left everyone else...dressing in the hall. wonderful. then, someone got the brilliant idea that the other dressing room could be utilized if we moved all of the stored chairs and tables from there in another classroom. whew....we are now in a room with about 10 girls and all of their dance paraphernalia. this sounds odd, but it was much better to be closed in a dressing room that to be out in the hallway. (how the heck were these girls supposed to change clothes and do make-up in a hallway with everyone else(boys) walking around?)so, I must admit. I was brilliant with this recital crap. I laminated the schedule and hung it on her dressing rack so we had 1 page to see for each show(there were 3...each completely different)with her dances highlighted with costume listed. we had extras of everything thanks to my sil. these extras were used a lot. there was 1 other Mom who was with her daughter in the dressing room pre-show and rehearsal set up day. these girls had forgotten hair nets, hairspray, bobby pins, you name it.

and, they had all apparently not eaten prior to dress rehearsal(what Momma drops off their child at a dress rehearsal for 10+ hours without breakfast?). the snacks I picked up were devoured by 2PM. luckily, they did provide a food table at about 4PM. good thing, too, because we were there until almost midnight. they got through all 3 show rehearsals. everything went relatively smoothly. (1 girl was in a bit over the top drama queen mode, but I was told later that this was actually here everyday self...nothing special for the recital)

In Flying Monkey costume with a Munchkin friend

Munchkin Colleen(this is the dress that I made!)

and, somehow I became in charge of a group of 4 year olds for show B. they were dancing to Witch Doctor and were absolutely adorable. and loud. and there was crying and hitting and fighting involved at one point. but, I'm used to that so I separated the 2 that were not meshing well and then it quieted down a lot. well, I say it quieted down. as quiet as 104 girls crammed into a band room waiting for their turn to go dance could possibly be. (same drama queen made a short appearance in the band room to scream out, "little girls need to shut their mouths!", and then left again. really special, huh? she is a graduating senior who all of these littles look up to...yeah, there was more crying after she left.
so, I got my girls through the waiting and we made it onto stage and did their dance. they all got back to the band room. then we waited for a practice bow. then they all went home. aren't they cute?

we got ready for the next show rehearsal. these girls were all absolutely amazing. the dances, the costumes, the back stage crew....with all of the chaos backstage, the show looked flawless from the audience.
here are some pics that I took from the backstage area(I wasn't supposed to be here, so forgive the quality of the pics...I was hiding in the curtains, lol)

group notes on stage