One of the cutest things at a dance recital is the ‘littles’ doing their routine. Our ‘grandbeauties’, three and five years old, have been taking dance classes. The younger granddaughter was able to join her sister’s class, although everyone else in the class was head and shoulders above her, she enjoyed dancing with her sister. The oldest granddaughter was very quiet, shy, but enjoyed dancing in the background.
During the dress rehearsal, they were adorable. They came in, put on their tap shoes, and did a good job following their instructor as they preformed their dance. They went backstage, changed their shoes to do their ballet dance, but this time we giggled as the older granddaughter spent most of her time with her hand shading her eyes, trying to locate her family. As the very cute song ended, the entire class ended a perfect pose with one hand in the air and the other at their side and froze. As the rest of the class struck their pose, the three-year-old decided to take a very dramatic bow. The audience broke into laughter, that made the youngest member of the class jump for joy! We headed home, without watching the rest of the dances because it was bedtime.
After a fun day of playing and eating snacks, it was time to head off to watch the other dancers during the first half of the recital, and dance during the second half. The three-year-old settled into her mom’s lap in her darling performance tutu, ate Cheerio’s, drank water, and cheered the others on. After each and every dance, this little doll would loudly state, ’I want to dance!’ When it came time for her to go backstage, this little dancer who was so excited to get on stage and preform, began to cry, saying ‘No tap shoes!’ Again, the audience burst out in laughter. When the sisters came out on stage, sure enough, the littlest dancer was shoeless, had mascara tear marks under her eyes, yet she danced with enthusiasm in her leotard feet. The cute sassy sisters did a little improvising during the dance, each doing their own thing. We all laughed. A short time later, their class came back out on stage for their ballet song that they loved. The older sister fell after just one or two movements. We all gasped and felt bad for her… until she decided that was so much fun, she pretended to fall not once, but four more times, all along singing the song that her class was dancing to. Suddenly she not only decided to continue to sing the song but sang it with all the gusto she could muster up. She decided that her classmates were her backup dancers and improvised her own dance moves with more enthusiasm then we have ever seen from her on the stage. She stole the show as she sang her heart out. We laughed so hard we cried. The audience howled with laughter as this once shy and reserved five-year-old suddenly came out of her shell as she sang with joy during the dance recital. Her dad sat wide-eyed, shaking his head, and declared, “I am not paying for another dance class” as he watched in disbelief. This made all of us, and all the people that sat around us, laugh even harder.
“So go ahead, everyone, and shout out your praises with joy! Break out of the box and let loose with the most joyous sound of praise.” Psalm 98:4 (The Passion Translation)
The joy that these two tiny dancers displayed on stage that day brought smiles and love to everyone that witnessed their love for music. They broke out of their boxes, and let loose in their own way sharing joy and love.
