Not counting the mandatory square dance unit in my all-girl school grade-nine gym class — that was time well spent — I haven’t taken a dance class in my life. My extracurriculars were confined to figure skating, swimming, girl guides, one week of basketball camp and more than a few dodgy day camps run by hungover teenagers. That was it.
My first two kids do all the same activities because I am nothing if not streamlined. So that’s two kids in hockey and t-ball and swimming and zero kids in dance. Fine by me.
But it just so happens that there’s a nursery school program run by a local children’s dance centre. It’s wonderful, lovely, amazing; you should sign your kids up now. Half-day care a couple times a week was exactly what I needed to fill in my childcare gaps. Perfect. They do typical nursery school activities like crafts and singalongs and a lot of dancing. Sure, sounds good. Whatever. I’m in it for the childcare.
The last week before Christmas break there was a little show for family members in the studio. It was totally casual. Just show up a few minutes early and the kiddies will do a little routine. The kids were off school that day so we all went and sat down on mats on the floor, ready to absorb the cuteness. Cue the music! Aaaand … Mary ran over, crawled into my lap and refused to join in until it was time to take a bow.
So when I agreed to put Mary in the year-end show, I didn’t quite know what I was signing up for. It’s a proper recital for all the preschool programs, including the nursery school kids, with a rented stage, beautiful costumes and tickets you have to pay for. It’s a commitment! So of course we end up being triple booked that day with both a t-ball game and a baby shower happening at the exact same time. And because I like to make things difficult I tried to make it all work anyway.
Ed and Colum took her to the dress rehearsal since they’d have to miss the actual performance and apparently she rocked it. She fully participated and kept up with the rest of the group. Her teacher said it was the first time she actually did the whole thing straight through. Just in time.
A couple hours later, Irene and I returned to drop Mary off backstage, planning to stop in the bathroom, help her into the bottom half of her costume and pepper her with peppy high fives. Instead, we found ourselves in a mosh pit of sequins and tulle as parents and dancers pressed into the landing outside the backstage entrance. A few mini body slams later, we were stopped at the door. “No parents allowed. Only kids.” So I handed over my two-and-a-half year old and the plastic bag that held the bottom half of her costume without so much as a “Mommy love you,” or a “Have fun. Break a leg.” I also nearly lost Irene in the current of little girls flowing into that room.
We probably should have hightailed it into the auditorium at that point and snagged some good seats. In retrospect, that’s exactly what we should have done. Instead, we went to Dollarama. What? We had twenty minutes before the show started! Because of course I hadn’t picked up a card for the baby shower yet and was left with my choice of whatever store was immediately right there.
By the time we got back the house was pretty full, so Irene and I took a couple aisle seats toward the back. We didn’t have to wait long for Mary’s group to come on, they shuffled their way out in a row, Mary tagging along at the very end. We could see her, but she couldn’t see us.
I don’t know if it was the crowd full of strange faces or the lack of a proper goodbye before the show. Maybe it was the waiting around backstage or the fact that she’d already done this show once today dammit. Maybe she just didn’t feel like playing along. Whatever it was, she was having none of this dance routine business.
All the little girls kneeled at the front of the stage and tucked their faces down into their laps. Mary just sat there. They all stretched their arms up high and stood way up, little flowers growing bigger and bigger. Mary just sat there. One by one, they ran across the stage and reached their petals toward the sun. Mary just sat there.
They all held onto the sides of a hula hoop and started to dance around in a circle. Wait! Mary wanted in on this hula-hoop action. They made room for her, they all turned around and then ran over to one side of the stage. Mary dragged along after them. In a row, they jumped into the hula hoop and eventually Mary did too.
One of these flowers was not like the other. But it was pretty freaking cute nonetheless.
At the end of the show, all the dancers came out for a final bow and curtsy. But my Mary was the only dancer who was carried out on stage.