Anisten's Christmas Recital

This year Anisten is taking tumbling and ballet and loving it.  I thought it would be a huge pain to have to take her to dance twice a week and it kind of is, but Rob helps out with taking her whenever he is home and he's been home the majority of the time (that may change with the new year and his schedule, but it's been nice so far and manageable).  Anyway, Anisten has improved greatly.  She can now do a beautiful cartwheel, round off and handstand.  She is also flat in all of her splits and comes home using all kinds of french words she learns in her ballet class.  She really is a beautiful dancer and still has that great memory that helps her in the routines.  I came one week and recorded Ani's class doing her Christmas dance in ballet so that I could practice with her.  On the day of the recital we practiced and practiced and I felt like good about it and knew she was feeling good about it too.

Doesn't she look beautiful?  She's all ready to go in her costume.

Here's Alivia at the recital.  She was a little confused at all that was going on (why are we in the dark?), but she loved watching the dancers.

And here she is in her performance:

It's not the best video, but I gotta say, I'm glad she's only five because this could've been an incredibly embarassing moment for my little girl.  Luckily she wasn't even phased by it.  First off, she's on the right side and her little shorts (that are supposed to be skin tight but are baggy on her) are slowly slipping down.  As a mother I was just watching in dread as they get farther and farther down.  She held her pose so well though.  Then once she moves positions she FINALLY pulls them up before they get past her knees, thank heavens.  Whoo!  Big sigh of relief there.  Then as you watch her dance it looks like she's doing a completely different dance then everyone else and she is...the RIGHT one!!  I know because I practiced with her all day long and if you listen to the music, she is right on, but the rest of her class skipped an entire section of the dance and made her look like the one making the mistake.  She hasn't danced in groups enough to know to just stay together, she's just doing the dance she was taught!  That memory of hers can sometimes be a curse because apparently she's the only one in her class that remembered her dance.  We all had a good laugh though and it certainly made for a classic recital performance.  I just love watching my Anisten perform.  She makes me so happy and I love that she loves what she's doing.  It's a learning experience and hopefully the next time will go a little better. :)