Dance Marathon!

The following is a timeline beginning Thursday afternoon.  To the best of my recollection, this is how we ended the 2007-2008 dance season.  This is one of those posts that I will crack up reading in the future, but this morning, I'm too tired to see the humor in it.   

Thursday, June 19, The Warm Up

2:30pm:  Gather up La Nina to begin make up and hair for her 3:30 dress rehearsal.

3:25pm:  After a major communication snafu with another family, leave the house to pick up another dancer.  

3:50pm:  Arrive very late for dress rehearsal, but it's okay as we're second to last on stage. 

5:45pm:  Depart dress rehearsal and head for home.  

6:15pm:  Undress, remove makeup and store costume for show Friday night.

Friday, June 20, One Really Long Day

8:30am:  Gather up the Magster to prepare her for her dress rehearsal.  

9:35am:  Leave for Magster's dress rehearsal.

9:45am:  Arrive at dance studio for dress rehearsal.  Every other family is 10 minutes late.  It's not so easy to get a four-year-old dressed, made up and hair done.  Every mother had a tail of horror. 

10:45am:  Depart Maggie's rehearsal.  Only one hour and fifteen minutes to La Nina's next call time  

11:30am:  Depart house for La Nina's practice.  I'm dropping off three dancers, another Mom is bringing them home.  

Noon:  Drop off complete, Magster and I head for Kung Fu Panda.  (Thought it was a bit violent.)  

2:00pm:  Meet La Nina and other dancers for a smoothie between practice and another dress rehearsal.

3:00pm:  La Nina's second dress rehearsal begins.  I leave for home as I stayed at Thursdays and this one was belonged to another Mom.

4:15pm:  La Nina arrives home and I feed her dinner.

4:45pm:  Begin getting La Nina ready for her first show of the weekend.  

5:30pm:  Depart house, La Nina's hair in hot rollers, to make her 6pm call time.  Meanwhile, Dad heads off to Nana Papa's with the Magster.  La Nina's show will run too late for her and she has an early call the next morning.  

6:00pm:  Remove La Nina's rollers and leave her backstage.  Head off to restaurant nearby to meet the Dad for a quick dinner.

7:00pm:  Show begins.  It's only kids in La Nina's dance company and it's a fabulous show.  La Nina's group does a very nice job.  They're the littlest (age and size) kids in the company, but they're treated and expected to perform like the big kids.  They not only rise to the challenge, but love doing it.  

10:00pm:  I'm falling asleep in my chair, La Nina is dancing on stage in the finale.  She's all smiles, cheering for her teachers, applauding the scholarship winners, I marvel at how she's doing it.  

10:45pm:  I head to bed after feeding La Nina a second dinner.  She kisses me goodnight.  And asks if she can take Hip-Hop next year.  After my horror recedes, I tell her she has to be eight for Hip-Hop.  I'm pretty sure that's not true.  

Saturday, June 21, The Final Leg:  

7:45am:  Round up the Magster to begin hair and make up for her show.  

8:45am:  Depart the house for her call time.

9:15am:  Check in backstage.  I'm the back stage mom for her show.  So, I'll stay with her group until they line up for their performance.

10:15am:  Rush to my seat to watch the Magster dance.  Her group does the best they've ever done.  We're all very proud.

11:00am:  Leave the show for Nana-Papa's house with La Nina.  Magster and the Dad head out for a special treat.  Quickly eat lunch.

11:45am:  Begin hair and make up for La Nina.  

12:25pm:  Depart Nana-Papa's for theatre.  

12:35pm:  Traffic jam has delayed the back stage Mom for La Nina's last show.  Our team is delayed behind the theater.  Entire show gets delayed by 15 minutes, traffic is so bad.

12:50pm:  Backstage Mom arrives, La Nina checked in for last show.  Other moms head for coffee.  

2:00pm:  Moms report backstage to pick up our kids.  Kids spill out of theater excited by their performance.

2:20pm:  La Nina and I arrive home.  When I tell her dance is over until August, she nearly bursts into tears.  "But Mommy," she says, "I don't want to quit dance."  

"Honey," I console her, "We're not quitting dance.  We're just resting a little."

"But I get to do more next year, right?"  

"Yes," I tell her, "You get to do lots more."

"Good.  Because all these shows were really fun."  

As we walk into the house, I marvel.  The last 48 hours were grueling, but she didn't mind.  In fact, she loved it.  If she's that passionate about dance now,  I guess I better enjoy our brief break.  'Cuz we probably won't get many of these in the future.