Emotion in Motion

All week I felt really tired even though I kept getting plenty of sleep so I wasn't surprised when I woke up sick Thursday morning! :( Just in time for all the business that surrounds the annual dance recital. I left work early and met Celena on my way up to Lancaster for our stage rehearsal. I had to sit and do all my lighting cues while my dancers got one time to practice their spots on stage. The lighting was so stressful! I had already spent hours writing out all my cues and I got questions like, "What do you mean pink and blue lights?" Really? So needless to say it was somewhat stressful. The lighting people has so much trouble that we had to start the dance after only figuring out 1 or 2 cues and my dancers in darkness on stage. I was so proud of my girls though. Luckily, I had warned them about lighting problems and they just kept on dancing. It was the best they had ever done the dance!! My second dance went much better. I think since my first dance was 4th in the show they were a bit unorganized, but by my second dance they seemed to have things under control. Again I was so proud of my dancers and really looking forward to Saturday!

On Friday I felt even worse!! All day at work I was congested, I kept getting hot then cold, and I felt completely drained. I went home used my last bit of energy to rhinestone my shirt for the closing, packed up my costumes and gifts for the show and went to bed praying I would wake up feeling 100% in the morning. At 3:30 in the morning Nic and I woke up to huge flashes of lightning and roaring thunder. The light was blinding through my closed blinds and eyelids! Our lights flashed on and off a few times and the power briefly went out. It was kind of exciting because we don't usually get that kind of weather here in California.

It's Showtime!! I woke up early Saturday morning still not feeling well and attempted to put on my make-up. (Constantly runny nose + watery eyes= not much success) I picked up Celena and we were off the LPAC. I finished up my make-up, passed out the gifts I made to all my students and got ready for the opening number. Right before the show started one of the girls asked me if I was nervous since I hadn't performed in so long. I honestly wasn't nervous at all, which is a little surprising since I literally haven't danced in over a year! Our dance went really well and it felt good to be performing again. :) I went and got my girls gathered up and honestly got a little choked up giving them a pre-performance pep talk. I was really impressed with how hard they tried and how much they all improved. Then waiting in the wings for them to go in is when it happened....I got so nervous! I guess when I'm performing I can control what will happen. I know my dances, I know my own ability, I know nothing is going to go drastically wrong on stage. I had no control over what they were going to do up on that stage. I had seen how hard they worked all year, how much progress they had made (even in the last few weeks), I wanted so badly for them to show everyone else what they had learned. The worst thing, in my opinion, is for a dancer to forget their entire dance and miss their one shot to show what they can do and that was my biggest fear standing in the wings. Thankfully they didn't let stage fright get the best of them and they all did a fantastic job!! :) Next up was Lindsay's daughter Brooke! She was the cutest thing I have ever seen!! I was tearing up watching her dance thinking I can't believe my friend's kids are already in the recital and thinking about how fun it will be to hopefully someday watch my own daughter in her first dance recital. My lyrical girls did great like I knew they would, I guess because they aren't beginners and have so much experience on stage I never worried about them like I did with my beginners. All in all it was a successful show!

I went to say hi to Nic, my mom, Tyler and Justin who all came to the show and then went to dinner with Cindy and Theresa. (Nic took the boys to Universal Studios Fright Night). After dinner we came back for round two of the show! Thank goodness my classes were in the first show because my show 2 I was not feeling very good. The chills and hot flashes were back and my head was pounding. I did the opening number and then I had a huge break before I had to be back for the closing. I had the pleasure of watching Ruthe, our dear friend who celebrated her 90th birthday this year, perform in her last recital! She is just the most inspiring person I have ever met. She danced so brilliantly and I of course got choked up again. Afterwards I went and had a long talk with her which of course made me tear up all over again. I feel so blessed to have grown up with a role model like Ruthe. Then before I knew it, it was time for the closing and in a blink of an eye the curtain closed and the show was over.

We went to Don Cucos like we do every year after the recital to Party, and Party, and Party, and Party, Party! It was so fun to catch up with so many of my Acton friends that I don't see too often. It was a really fun night!