Kouryou-chan's preformance in Paquita.

[elfs]

Kouryou-chan in rehearsal

Just like every year, the local ballet dance studio put on its big performance at the local performing arts center. Ms. Moss is a believer in getting kids on stage, making the rehearse and perform for an audience, and getting them used to the idea that hundreds of people are staring at them as they do both solo and group work.

Kouryou-chan is in the pre-pointe ballet, and will be for at least another two years, but she's made huge strides in her dancing abilities and is now working on her consistency.

I forgot my glasses for the performance, so it took me almost a minute to even recognize my kid when her group came out for their part in the ballet. I couldn't recognize her because she was so pitch-perfect on stage, she looked like she'd grown an entire foot taller in the time since I'd dropped her off to get ready for the performance. Kouryou-chan has always had trouble with her arms and keeping still, but during her dance she was gracile and perfect, absolutely in sync when she needed to be.

During the finale, she was much more herself: sloppy arm work, fidgety and looking around. I guess they didn't rehearse that nearly as hard as they had the main routine. But she did fine even there; many of her peers were just as ready to be done as she was.

The ballet included a lot of solos by the graduating class-- five young woman now going on to other things. At least one of them ought to go pro; Mariko is so graceful and delicate, and so well-rehearsed, she'll do well anywhere as a dancer.

The performance is a hodge-podge of music pieces from the longer ballet, assembled to meet the needs of everyone from adult classes down to the toddlers. There was one scene where a girl in the littlest class, barely two years old, freaked out, started crying, and then gathered herself up and kept performing anyway. Yet the teacher still rescued her off the stage.

We gathered Kouryou-chan up after she was out and took her to The Cheesecake Factory for a mega sugar overload. Note to self: the "strawberry shortcake" there isn't your routine home-made thing; it's a megacalorie monstrosity with ice cream added.