Ah, the Big Week of Dance is finally over. There was a dress rehearsal on Tuesday, which was fun because it was also the last violin lesson of the season. I had Alice there by 5:15. Mom came and replaced me later and the two of them were there until almost 10. Mom also had to learn how to do a ballet bun1 and put make up on Alice (which at least Alice seemed not to mind). On Thursday and today there were 3 hour performances, a mixture of short routines and longer ones, up to a 30 minute mini-ballet.
On Thursday, Mom and I were there, Mom to keep an eye on Alice, me because all children are required to have a parent “volunteer” to help out. I was an usher2 from 4 until 9:30, which synergized nicely with the aftermath of my stunning sports victory. Since Mom and I had to both be there and a certain parent didn’t call for a sitter early enough, we ended up leaving Corwin and Charles home alone for a while. Corwin was less than enthused about watching Charles, but we arranged for Jack and his mom to drop by later in the evening so they were safe by the time night fell.
Friday was family night and Grandma came down to watch the show (plus a violin recital tomorrow). Mom got Alice there a bit later than the previous evening, since she didn’t need to be ready until 10 or 20 minutes after the show started.
I thought the show was good, if a bit long. I don’t think that Charles and Corwin enjoyed it all that much, especially after Charles curled up in his chair with TImmy and tried to go to sleep. Alice was only in one segment, but some kids were in 4 or 5, each one requiring a different costume. That’s a lot of work for the costume changes plus paying for the costumes, which are only used once and not really suitable for normal wearing.
Alice seemed the most up of everyone involved — when we got home she was ready to party on while the rest of us just wanted to collapse. She actually waited through the show better than the boys, despite having seen it the day before. So I expect we’ll be dancing for a while yet.
1 Lots and lots of hair spray and hair pins. Also, mascara on a 4 year old is a smear waiting to happen.
2 I was stationed at the door right next to the woman’s bathroom, so I got to make “no, I am not a pervert, I was told to be here” eyes at women and little girls with full bladders all evening.