Delia's First Dance Recital!

A couple weeks ago, as Dave was en route to the ER with what appeared to be a second broken arm, I must confess that one worry weighing heavily on me was, "What will this mean for Delia's dance recital?!?"  Her ballet class has been a big part of her year, and she's been working hard to learn the routine and showing great improvement.  And we've been learning what a BIG DEAL recitals are when each week we were sent home with more and more specific instructions about the costume...the tights...the hair...the tickets...the dress rehearsal.  We all had a lot invested in this!

Well, good news!  As previously posted, Delia was able to dance!  Because she does ballet, this was not a high-impact dance.  And because she's in this adorable little beginner group, there was not any pressure to look perfect.  In many ways, the position her arm is locked into in her cast is the perfect bend for ballet! :)

The recital was at our local college's performing arts center and the show was sold out!  Delia spent the day bouncing back and forth between complete terror over forgetting her steps and being in front of all those people and total ecstasy over looking beautiful in her costume and fancy hairdo and dancing on a huge stage.  It was an emotional day!

We were not allowed to take pictures during the night time performance, so these are all of the afternoon dress rehearsal.

 Above shows the curtain call practice.  Delia said her favorite part of the night was getting to come out from behind the curtain and take this big bow.  Then, after each line had received their recognition at the night's performance, a huge dance party broke out on stage!  So fun to see a relieved Delia boogieing down with all the other little costumed performers!

 This show was legit!  There were 36 dance numbers, some performed by the Competitive Team, which could have been professional!  The variety was really exciting.  Delia was only one of three ballet numbers.  There was tap, hip-hop, lyrical, jazz, contemporary, tumbling and cheer.  Dave and I said we were surprised by how much we really enjoyed watching the show.  Look at these backstage dressing rooms!  Delia felt like a rock star getting ready here with her "best ballet friend" Rylee.

Some roses and big hugs for our little ballerina!  We are super proud of Delia for many, many reasons.  She's persevered in her dance class this year.  She stepped up to dance in this show, even when she was nervous about her arm.  She conquered some big time jitters last night to perform in front of the huge crowd.  And she did it all with a smile and the declaration that she's doing all this because some day she's going to be a "for real" dancer!