Ella's 1st Dance Recital

I had very high hopes and was SO excited for Ella's very first dance recital. It's been something I've been looking forward to since I found out we were having a girl. There's just nothing cuter than tiny little girls in frilly costumes dancing on stage.

Unfortunately, the day of the recital didn't go exactly as I'd hoped.

Let's start at the beginning.

We got her all decked out in her adorable little outfit, HUGE bow and makeup (a dab of eyeliner and some lip gloss).

I dropped her off backstage since mom's weren't allowed. This was not a good idea. 

I did stay long enough to snap a couple of pictures. She was so excited back there and was dancing around.

 Her and her little classmates sat in a circle waiting for their turn to go on stage.

Then I had to leave and I took my seat in the audience. I checked out the program and she was number 17! So we had a while.

When they finally did come on stage she was shading her eyes from the lights and almost instantly started crying. Especially when she spotted me in the front with my camera.

I tried to get her to just do her dance but it was out of the question. I then got up on the stage. Yes I put away all my pride for my daughter. I tried to whisper in her ear to just finish but she told me she had to go potty so I picked her up and we left the stage.

I took her to the bathroom (and she really did have to go) she told me she was ready to go do her dance. She was SO sad when I told her it was over.

I thought that she was too shy to tell someone on her own backstage about having to go potty but I found out later she did get up the guts to tell someone and they told her she couldn't because there wasn't time. I was beyond furious when I heard this. I am really upset at how the little ones were handled by the studio. Toddlers shouldn't be required to sit for about an hour and half without their moms, without someone to tend to their needs. They were just in the backroom with the older dancers who were supposed to be looking out for them but obviously that didn't work.

 

After the recital was over we gave her her flowers and she went up on stage for some pictures. She wasn't sure how she felt at that point. She really did want to do her dance on stage so I sang her dance song (once again putting aside my pride) and she did her dance like a champ. If she would've been able to do her dance on stage I think she would've rocked it. We had practiced at home and she really knew it. I was so disappointed that she couldn't do it in front of everyone.

 But she couldn't have been cuter.