Our Five Ring Circus: The Dance Recital

Friday, June 21, 2019

The Dance Recital

Dance Recital

Well, we did it! We survived - and recovered from - dance recital week. Any parent who has a tiny dancer knows EXACTLY what I'm talking about!


Lily just finished up her third year of dance. This past year, she took jazz, ballet, and acro for the second year in a row, with her BFSB. (Best Friend Since Birth - she came up with that term!) She dances at a local top-ranked dance studio (they just announced they placed in the top 20 dance studios in the nation), and they have an amazing award-winning competitive team, so the recital is always a huge production!

The week leading up to the recital was intense! Lily had her last dance class, then a rehearsal to learn the recital finale, then a full dress rehearsal, then another finale rehearsal...and finally, the recital...PHEW. Plus, I had to cut, tie, and bedazzle two recital shirts for the finale. It took F-O-R-E-V-E-R. Lily was nervous (her former thespian parents told her that was perfectly normal), but had an amazing time!


This year's recital theme was Cold As Ice. Lily's ballet routine was Let's Go Fly A Kite, her acro routine was ABC 123, and jazz was Shake Your Groove Thing. I took a lot of pictures at her full dress rehearsal since I was able to sit close to the stage, so I'm combining them with pictures from the night of the recital for this epic photo recap!

Cold As Ice Studio 19 Dance Recital


The recital was on Sunday night, so it was quite the Father's Day gift for Grant! We got there early, and my favorite dance mom (AKA BFSB's mom) and I worked together so we didn't forget anything. The stress was very minimal this year! Yes, costume changes were rushed, but we were veterans after 2 previous years!

Dance Mom


This year, only Grant, Lexie, and our dear friend, Rich, attended the recital. (He seemed very overwhelmed by the experience. He sat down, looked at the program, and said, "This isn't a program, it's a magazine!") There are two shows on recital day, and Lily was dancing in the evening one. The recital is very long, very loud, and tickets are pricey, especially for our huge family. There was no way Liam or Coen could make it through, we weren't going to pay for Dylan to stare at his phone for 3 hours, and I had to help Lily with costume changes, so my parents ended up staying home with my boys. I ordered the DVD of the recital, and we're going to have a viewing party when it arrives!

Studio 19 Dance Complex

First up in the first half was ballet! Lily LOVED this dance, and I'm encouraging her to consider ballet. She's naturally graceful, and she looked so pretty in her costume! (People have told me that she looks a lot like the actress who plays Betty Cooper on Riverdale, but I didn't really see it until she had her hair pulled back and stage makeup on!) 

Lily was cracking up during the dress rehearsal performance, because her belt kept twisting and hiking up. And that's exactly why they have full costume dress rehearsals - we fixed it with several safety pins during the actual recital!

Ballerina

Ballet

Dancer

Pittsburgh Blog

Dance Recital

Dance Recital
 
Parenting Blog

Tiny ballerina

Ballet

Dance Recital

Youth Ballet

Tiny ballerina

Big Family Blog

Dance Moms

Mom Blog

Parenting Blog

Ballerinas

Lily's second dance during the first half was acro. Lily loves acro, and was so proud of her backbend this year. She has been doing flexibility training at home so she can perfect her splits and chin stand. Her acro class is ginormous, but it was such a cute dance!

Dance blog

Pittsburgh Dance Studios

Motherhood Blog

Best Friends

Dance Recital

Dance Recital

Acro Routine

The girls were able to watch some of the other routines from the audience. They are always awed by the older dancers. Then intermission arrived, so they changed into their jazz costumes, and had some snacks. Backstage is always chaotic during the show and intermission, but Lily loves the excitement and energy. It's a whirlwind of rushed costume changes, dancers and moms running in every direction, and glitter, makeup, hair stuff, and clothing strewn EVERYWHERE.

Behind the Scenes at a Dance Rectial

Best Friends

Dance Recital backstage

dancers

Out of all the dances, Lily was most nervous about jazz. She practiced, but she was so worried about messing up, and I could tell she wasn't as comfortable on stage during the routine. She sure looked cute, and mastered the leg pop! She said she had fun on stage, but was relieved when the routine was over! (I think we can rule out jazz for next year!)

Dance Studios

Dance Pictures

Jazz costume

Dancer

Jazz routine

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studio 19 dance recital
 
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tiny dancer

Studio 19 Dance Complex Recital

After jazz, it was time to get ready for the big finale. I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief after the last costume change. This year was so much less stressful!

Studio 19 Dance Complex Cold As Ice

Studio 19 Dance Complex Cold As Ice

Studio 19 Dance Complex Cold As Ice

The finale is always a huge number, involving all the dancers at the dance complex. Lily always tells me it's the best part of the show, and it makes her want to dance again! Lexie recorded videos of all of Lily's dances, but I'm just going to share the finale on here. It's long - almost 10 minutes! (Excuse Lexie's shaky recording!)

Studio 19 Dance Recital Cold As Ice

Dance Recital Finale


The energy was high after the recital ended! Lily was so excited to get a bunch of flowers, and happily shared them with her BFF. She had to take one last spin on the confetti-covered stage before leaving. 

Studio 19 Dance Complex

Dance Recital

Studio 19 Pittsburgh


Will she be returning next year? That's undecided! Although we love Studio 19,  we're not quite ready to make the time or financial commitment to competitive dancing. Their competitive team is hardcore, and they attend so many more competitions than many other studios. In the Fall, Lily might just do ballet and acro at the studio, or she might take a tumbling class at a nearby cheer studio. The selfish part of me wants her to continue dancing, but I won't force anything on her. Only time will tell!

Big Family Blog

Dance Moms

Studio 19 Dance Complex


We love watching Lily dance, and this year's recital did not disappoint! She did a great job on stage. Now that dance is over for the season, Lily will be getting a 6 week break before trading in her ballet shoes for pom poms! Stay tuned for her first year of cheerleading...

Pittsburgh Dancer

Studio 19 Dance Recital 2019

Are you a fellow dance parent/grandparent?

3 comments:

  1. Olivia had her first ever dance recital back in May so I finally understand just how grueling recital week is! It is NUTS! Lily looks precious in all of her costumes and she looks like she genuinely loves dance!

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  2. Go Lily! Too bad the recital is expensive. We get 4 free tickets (with the recital fee) and extras are $4 each. I enjoyed the pictures!

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  3. She is too cute! Love all her outfits!

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