Dress Rehearsal

Last night was La Nina's dress rehearsal for her big recital on Saturday.  The plan was for her to rehearse her four dances in about an hour and a half.  I was prepared with four costumes, four pairs of tights in two colors, three pairs of shoes, fifty bobby pins in two sizes, make-up, snacks on ice and sweats for the ride home.  

Because I was not a "backstage mom", only a dressing room mom, I could assist La Nina with changes between numbers, and otherwise had to stay in the audience.  The first number was a disaster.  A dancer came onto stage late and it threw the entire number off.  La Nina came off the stage ticked, not at the other dancer, but at the fact the lighting was wrong, which for her role was crucial.  It was all she talked about while I changed her, touched up her make-up and handed her her jazz shoes for her favorite number.  

When she was stage ready again, I took her to the 'green room' and ran back to the audience.  I was with the other moms, waiting for La Nina's second number, when the studio director came onto stage with La Nina's teacher and said, "Will La Nina's Mom please come back stage?"  

It's never good to hear your name called in these situations.  So, I made my way to the stage, and was hustled behind the curtain.  La Nina had "an issue".  

I found her standing in a puddle with black tears of mascara dripping down her face.  Obviously, the issue had a cascading effect.  While I rushed off to change my daughter, the rehearsal was thrown into a tail spin.  They called another group onto stage, but about seven of those girls requested bathroom breaks after witnessing La Nina's problem.  So, the director punted and called up a dance that was clueless as to our little drama.  

While La Nina and I stripped off her not so wet costume and her soaked tights and shoes, we had to figure out how to dress her:  old, slightly damp costume, next costume or sweats?  In the end the question was what would she feel most comfort on stage in since she would no longer match her group?  Then La Nina made the statement heard round the theatre:  I'm not going out there.  

Okay, well, now we really had a situation.  The studio policy is no dress rehearsal, no recital for that dance.  And it was her favorite dance.   I tried, her teacher tried, the studio owner tried, the studio director tried, the child wouldn't budge.  We pointed out other kids with tight changeover times had danced out of costume, but La Nina refused.  We covered the fact, no one knew the problem, she just shook her head and bit her lip.  We threatened her with not dancing her favorite dance, she just cried harder.  As she sobbed on my shoulder, four adult women, three of us mothers, were stumped.  

The show had to go on, so her group was called to stage, thirteen girls of their own will, La Nina in my arms, head buried in my shoulder.  Her group took the stage and La Nina, tears streaming down her face, shook her head 'no' a final time and the group danced without her.  

After the drama of the second number, she needed desperately to get back on stage in a 'get back on that horse' way.  Lucky for her, her third number was only ten minutes after the tragic second one.  I patched up her make up and hair, handed her the tap shoes, and again took her to join her group.  This time, I was allowed to stay with her back stage.  When her group got the call, she took her place in line, marched onto stage and delivered.  Whew.  The fourth dance also went off without a hitch.  

So, the question became what to do about the second dance?  Would the studio let her dance unrehearsed?  After some discussion, it was decided she'll be allowed to dance.  The reason they waived the rules is because she did so well on her other numbers and all agreed, she was under a bit of duress given the disastrous first number and well, 'the issue'. 

Now, the bad news for me:  The jazz shoes were a total loss.  I can't wash them and they're smelly.  So, today, on the day I was hosting a play date for three of Maggie's friends, getting La Nina to a dentist appointment and normal school things, I had to track down a pair of size 2 jazz shoes.  I found some and will pick them up at the studio tomorrow. Whew!

I tell you, there is never a dull moment around here.