[LJ Idol 10: Week 13] Instant Dance Mom, just add...bling?
I never meant to become one of THOSE mothers. I feel like I've entered a world for which I was never very well-prepared.
In my own childhood, I took dance lessons when I was three and quickly abandoned them a year later. John and I did a lot of SCA dance, but that's different. Very different from the ballet-tap-jazz-hiphop-contemporary-etc. sort of thing.
Alex took dance classes at a similar age, at a place that made a point of being non-competitive and non-recital-oriented. She had fun. The adults involved had a falling-out for reasons that had nothing to do with her. Dance wasn't our thing for a long time until Tori decided she wanted to be a ballerina when she was about five.
Alex wasn't interested in ballet but hip-hop seemed appealing, so they were both dancing again.
And then one thing led to another, to another...
Now they both have dance classes four days a week, and private lessons every other week on top of that. And they are on a competitive team, which means that right now my living room looks more like a green room despite its very red walls.
They are doing their first solos this year. Alex just covered a "vintage" (from her grandparents) suitcase with reproduction stickers from far away.
I have to make glittery lollipop props for Tori, and "rhinestone" a costume. My dining room table looks like a combination kindergarten art class and craft store.
I'm a fat lady with a bad leg. How the hell am I a dance mom? This is so weird. This is so not like anything I ever expected to do. And sometimes I am self conscious and sure I am hopelessly bad at this, but there are some other fat ladies with bad legs doing this, too, with me.
But watching them onstage is worth it. Alex, who wasn't interested in ballet, has re-adopted it. Tori likes tap - "it's noisy and fun!" - and they both like jazz and acro-tumbling.
The whole team - 45 or so girls ranging in age from seven to seventeen - are going to Hartford this weekend. It should be fun.
Meanwhile, my dining room table needs fewer rhinestones and more food on it.
In my own childhood, I took dance lessons when I was three and quickly abandoned them a year later. John and I did a lot of SCA dance, but that's different. Very different from the ballet-tap-jazz-hiphop-contemporary-etc. sort of thing.
Alex took dance classes at a similar age, at a place that made a point of being non-competitive and non-recital-oriented. She had fun. The adults involved had a falling-out for reasons that had nothing to do with her. Dance wasn't our thing for a long time until Tori decided she wanted to be a ballerina when she was about five.
Alex wasn't interested in ballet but hip-hop seemed appealing, so they were both dancing again.
And then one thing led to another, to another...
Now they both have dance classes four days a week, and private lessons every other week on top of that. And they are on a competitive team, which means that right now my living room looks more like a green room despite its very red walls.
They are doing their first solos this year. Alex just covered a "vintage" (from her grandparents) suitcase with reproduction stickers from far away.
I have to make glittery lollipop props for Tori, and "rhinestone" a costume. My dining room table looks like a combination kindergarten art class and craft store.
I'm a fat lady with a bad leg. How the hell am I a dance mom? This is so weird. This is so not like anything I ever expected to do. And sometimes I am self conscious and sure I am hopelessly bad at this, but there are some other fat ladies with bad legs doing this, too, with me.
But watching them onstage is worth it. Alex, who wasn't interested in ballet, has re-adopted it. Tori likes tap - "it's noisy and fun!" - and they both like jazz and acro-tumbling.
The whole team - 45 or so girls ranging in age from seven to seventeen - are going to Hartford this weekend. It should be fun.
Meanwhile, my dining room table needs fewer rhinestones and more food on it.