With all the busyness of the weekends and birthdays, I don’t want to forget archiving Emma’s first ballet performance in The Princeton Ballet School’s production of Don Quixote. 

 

Instead of having a recital, she was exposed to having to perform on a huge stage, in a production involving hundreds of dancers in different levels, in front of hundreds of attendees, including the owners of her school.  I don’t know what was going through her mind at the time, but I remember my kindergarten poem recital left me traumatized with lifelong stage fright.  I’m just so proud of how she performed.

She was so confident, not needing to look around to her peers to signal her next step, with a huge smile throughout the whole time she was on stage.  I was also proud of her independence when we had to leave her in the main dressing room stage area with all the hundreds of dancers so we could give our tickets and be seated.  She wasn’t afraid at all because she had made friends from practices.

While we were watching her, Perze and I looked at each other with huge smiles on our faces, knowing we were both thinking the same thing- how proud we were of her, and how much she has grown into the lovely girl that she is. We could almost see a glimpse of her potential, her talent, her joy, her ability.

We’re proud of you dearest Emma.  We know the practices weren’t easy, but you stuck through them and didn’t give up.  We know how much courage it also took to have to perform in front of everyone, esp. your family.

 
 

• Tags: 6 yrs. old