Let the Ridiculous Blogging Begin

Well, I'm back. Thank God! Thanks, Kate, for the insightful blogs...gotta love non-emotional apology letters. As long as I don't lose steam, there should be lots of great blogs coming. Between my dance recital and the week long vacation with my family (and did i mention I'm handing in my two weeks notice on Monday?) I have lots of material. So I'm going to start with my dance recital with Sharon's which was last Friday (July 3rd) and move chronologically from there.

First let me explain the picture, that is my pirate hat and sword...yes, pirate hat and sword. I was in three dances this year: adult tap, teen tap and teen ballet (I realize I'm not a teen, but was invited to participate in the teen dances because I rock that much!). All of them seemed to have theme. Adult tap = James Bond, Teen Tap = pirates (complete with swords, boots and hat) and teen ballet = Alice in Wonderland, cards. I was very excited about the whole thing. I had a lot of friends and family coming, which I'm not sure I would do again because the family kinda seemed put out by the whole thing afterwards. I did well, I only screwed up one part which wasn't noticeable to anyone but one girl (who also happens to be my pirate sword-fighting partner and tends to take the sword fighting too seriously and tries to kill me.) The whole evening seemed to be characterized by near disasters and total cuteness.

Let's start with the near disasters. Not only was I in three dances (and of course the finale), but I was also on the stage crew. Along with one other adult, I was in charge of stage right, so I had to radio over to the production manager to let her know whether the kids that were coming on stage right were in position or not. This allowed me to be privy to a whole bunch of near disasters that ended up working out.

Disasters:

1) MAJOR DISASTER...the show was supposed to start at 7. At around 6:45 pm, suddenly people are running around asking if anyone has their show CD. Apparently, the laptop that had all the music on it froze and there was no sound. Somehow everything was transferred onto another laptop and the show started about five minutes late...close call.

2) During the Alice in Wonderland ballet, I had to help with the set changes especially since during dress rehearsal the people in charge of set didn't show up. Well there was supposed to be some fake grass and there was tape marking where it was supposed to go. The girl placing the grass couldn't see the tape when the lights were out kinda wandered around the stage staring at the floor trying to figure where exactly it went. I had to go out on stage tell her it was fine where it was and plop down a couple of large mushrooms to get her to move. (ugh...high school kids)

3) Also during the A in W ballet, the "Queen of Hearts" wore a corset that laced up the back and at one point got her scepter caught in the laces. I don't think the audience could tell, but because I was behind her saw her tugging at it to get loose. I thought for sure she was going to pull the laces open and the whole thing would fall off. Well, she got it out and everything was fine.

4) Also during ballet, the "White Rabbit" was off stage telling me and one other girl about who was going to be holding our props for another part. There was some disagreement and the white rabbit missed her cue to run on, drink a cup of tea and run off until a teacher pushed her on the stage which actually worked better which then made her look genuinely late.

5) One of my fellow adult tappers escorted a preschool class back to their dressing room following their dance. She got back there only to find the room mothers missing. So of course she had to stay there until they returned. She got back to the stage, while the number before our adult tap number was onstage. She was not in costume, so one other girl and myself basically dressed her on the side of the stage.

Now for some cuteness:

All of these basically have to do with the 2-5 year olds. Because really, nothing I do could be described as cute.

1) Before the show everyone gathers on stage for last minute instructions, pre-show prayer and to get a flower. One of the little 3 year olds raises her hand and says "I'm not wearing any underwear" The girl beside her answers "That's good because we're not supposed to!"

2) During tap, a girl flicks her tap shoe off. Walks over, picks it up, and walks off the stage. Someone off the stage frantically gets it back on her foot and ties it and the girl walks back on stage and continues the dance.

3) Everyone walked on stage for the dance during a black out (there was no curtain up, curtain down stuff). The preschoolers are standing there on stage during a black out (I think waiting for their leader) and I hear a little voice yell "ok, we're all here! You can start now!" I don't think the audience heard though because no one but those back stage actually laughed.

4) The preschool kids were supposed to be flowers for the Alice in Wonderland Ballet. They were supposed to start off curled up in a ball and then Alice comes by with a watering can and they grow into flowers. Well during rehearsal they kinda refused to grow and in fact one girl never did grow until Sharon came buy and picked her up. During the show, the issue was getting them down into seeds. They were all just standing one stage and myself (in my bright red card costume) and the Cheshire cat girl are standing off stage right forcefully whispering "be seeds! Be seeds!" and curling in a ball on the floor. They eventually got the hint just as Alice came out to start watering.

5) After their flower dance, they are supposed to "sprinkle" Alice and Alice falls asleep. (ala Wizard of Oz, Dorothy and poppies). Well, as soon as Alice was asleep the "flowers" were down on their knees peeking in her face to see if she was awake and had to be pulled off the stage.

Ahh...memories.