Author: Aquinnah

Dear Emma,

Happy birthday to my wonderful friend and sister! I hope that you are enjoying your vacation immensely, and I can’t wait to see you when you return!

When I walked into Training 1 two years ago, you immediately caught my eye. I remember thinking, “Wow… she’s really good.” Sure enough, you were, are and continue to improve each and every day.

You would never guess how many conversations we have about you on Instagram. Somehow, no matter what dance-oriented picture I post, Moriah and I end up commenting, “That looks like Emma,” or “That’s something that Emma would do.” That picture that we took after recital? I had to post it! Moriah said, “[I] will miss her SO stinking much! Love that girl!”

Cassi, complete with a sad-face, commented, “[I] will miss her… like, a lot….”

And what was my caption? I said, “There are no words, Emma. I just love ya to death. And I’ll miss you. We all will. But remember: we’ll always be here for you, so don’t be afraid to come back, Emmy… <3”

It’s true: we’ll all miss you, and we wouldn’t hesitate to take you back in a heartbeat.

Despite all of this, I am more than proud of you for making the decision to further your dance experience. I want you to know that Jesus has your back; He can make all of your dreams come true! If at any time you just need a hug, come on over to Training 3! We definitely do hugs.

Things to remember: we love you; we’re proud of you; don’t ever wear black and brown; stay weird; never call Moriah by her real name (whoops…); this is not the end.

It’s a lovely morning at my house; the sun is shining, and the birds are singing. However, as every dancer knows, it is difficult to enjoy the present when you’re living in yesterday’s recital… <3

Yesterday was a blur. A whirlwind. An excitement. A total joke. A blessing. And it was one of the best days of my entire life. 

I arrived at the school over a half-hour early and walked back to the dressing rooms. There, I put on my pointe shoes and joined my sisters on the stage for a little bit of practice. About ten minutes before the curtains opened for our first show, Ms. Tina came onstage to say a prayer over all who were present. What a perfect way to start off my day! After the prayer–to which all said, “Amen!”–we listened as Ms. Tina and her husband introduced the recital to the audience below.

~The first recital was comprised of young girls, minus the Hungarian Dances and the final dance (performed by the Irish classes).~

The Hungarian Dances were amazing! The Training Division set an extremely high bar; I couldn’t possibly imagine doing any better than we did! My little cherubs, though slightly awestruck at the bright stage-lights, did a fantastic job remembering their dance– so cute! As for other memorable dances, I thoroughly enjoyed Miss Beth’s, “God is Bigger,” Ms. Tina’s, “10,000 Reasons” and Ms. Rochelle’s, “Rejoice!”

During the hour break between the first and second recitals, I headed back to the dressing room. After a quick snack, I decided that I needed some pictures (above). It was pretty hysterical, as every time I snapped another picture, another person entered the room, someone who I just had to have included. Afterwards, we tried to get Emma to watch “Tangled,” but she was too busy laughing… oh, Emmie…! Eventually, Miss Sara, who was unable to come to the first recital, came to see how everything was going. I was pleased to announce that things couldn’t have been better.

After a while, the pointe shoes went back on and it was back onstage with us! Ms. Tina said another quick prayer, and the second recital began shortly afterwards.

~The second recital was comprised of slightly older girls, along with the Training Division and the Irish classes.~

Once again, the Training Division left the audience wide-eyed and cheering! Personally, I clapped especially hard for Miss Holly’s special needs class (so precious!), Jamie’s jazz class, Ms. Tina’s Ballet 2A, Miss Holly’s Beginning Worship and, once again, the Irish classes.

For the next hour and a half, the school doors were to be locked, so I went out to eat with my family. After that, my mom and I headed back. We were a little early, but the doors were opened (for the dancers) soon enough.

This is the part where I started to get a little nervous; Recital 3 was huge! However, Ms. Tina calmed my nerves with one last prayer.

~Recital 3 was a mixture of just about everything!~

The Hungarian Dances were glorious, once again. Modern was incredible, almost unreal. It certainly showed a tone of desperation and, as Allison put it, “hope,” when we all came together to make the human ramp a success. Breathe was the best that we’ve ever seen it before– yes!

As soon as the curtains closed on our final bow, the stage exploded with jumping, cheering and screaming. The Irish dancers stomped their feet all across the stage, and the characters of Music Man began to swing dance in circles around the group.  I will never forget that moment. <3

I want to say a special thank you to Ms. Tina, for putting so much into this event; Miss Sara, for being the most amazing teacher ever; Miss Jennifer, for teaching me how to teach; my family, for always encouraging me; my sisters, for always being there. I love each and every one of you so much!

All in all, I don’t know what’s harder: knowing that yesterday is over or the thought that I have to wait another year before Recital 2014…

How can this possibly be? Could tomorrow truly be my studio’s Recital 2013? My goodness, how time flies when you’re doing what you love!

Yesterday was the rehearsal for the second half of Recital 3. Your beloved details:

As Breathe (the only dance that I had to be on stage for) was one of the last dances to be rehearsed, I did not arrive at the school quite so early as I did on Wednesday. Once there, however, I put on my pointe shoes and did a few laps around the dressing room.

I watched the other rehearsals, and before I knew what was happening, it was Training 2’s turn under the stage-lights! The first run-through left Miss Sara saying, “That was… a lot rough,” but we managed to redeem ourselves a bit during our second time around.

All in all, yesterday’s rehearsal wasn’t “too terrible.” Breathe is definitely my hardest dance this year, but I know that we can make it work!

Today, as I do not have any dress rehearsals, I will be strengthening and stretching at home. I want to look and feel as glorious as possible for…

Wow! Has the first section of Rehearsal 3 come and gone… already?

My mom and I arrived at our destination twenty minutes early. This “destination” of ours is one of the local high schools. Being the studio’s first year at the facility, we still have a bit of exploring to do, but overall, the building is such a huge blessing! We have been given a massive stage, two large dressing rooms and  a black-box for the younger girls. Superb!

To start the evening off right, I checked in with Emma’s mom, my stage-mom. Already dressed, I slipped on my pointe shoes and prepared to rehearse.

We ran the pointe dance twice, a) for practice and b) to make the proper lighting arrangements, both of which were fairly good performances. My shoes were off in a flash (or a blur), and I was back on the stage for ballet. It also went well.

The last dance to be rehearsed was modern. Backstage, I was having a bad case of the butterflies! Allison, Moriah and I watched the third dance together, a ballet piece performed to a song titled, “All this Time” by Britt Nicole. Some of the lyrics from this beautiful song are: “You’ve been walking with me all this time.”

Allison, to whom I mentioned my nerves about the human ramp (Miss Sara aspires to have the end of the dance be silhouette; therefore, how was I to see the ramp in order to climb up?), calmed me by saying, “He’s walking with you up the human ramp– remember that.” I have the best sisters. <3

All in all, the modern dance was great! Miss Sara had hardly anything to correct– wow! The human ramp went perfectly, as it was still bright enough to see (thanks to our shiny costumes).

Today was the start of my Recital Week; I am overjoyed! Of course, before any rehearsing could be done, my final ballet class before the big show was to be attended…

We did much barre work today, along with stretching. Afterwards, although Miss Sara had originally planned otherwise, she decided to let us learn a new variation. We chose to learn a piece from Sleeping Beauty— The Canary Fairy. It was so much fun! Because our teacher is still injured (It turns out that her foot is actually broken.), we taught ourselves the dance using Miss Sara’s iPad and an extremely helpful video. It is a little rough, but we will be working on it quite a bit after recital (we have one last week of classes!).

After my class, it was on to Rehearsal 1 (which took place in Studio C, during the Cherubs’ class-time)! The little princesses were absolutely beautiful; I’m so proud of them!

Speaking of rehearsals, I have finally figured out the correct schedule (good thing, too!). Basically, Rehearsal 1 took place in the younger girls’ classes this afternoon. Tomorrow is the first rehearsal for Recital 3 and Thursday will sum it up. On Friday, there will be a Recital 2 rehearsal; however, because I am only in one dance, I am not required to attend.

A note to my mother on her special day:

Dear Mom,

You’re the best. Thank you so much for encouraging me to be the very best dancer that I can be and for teaching me to practice, practice, practice! Thanks to you for driving me to my many classes; for making sure that I am ready for every picture day and performance. Thank you for faithfully attending every recital that I have been a part of since I was four. Thanks for all of your tips, suggestions and hints that not only make me a better dancer but also a better person each and every day.

I love you to Pluto and back, Mommy. <3

Yesterday was quite the day, made especially productive by the purchasing of more toe tape…!

There were very few girls in Bethany’s class, so she came to the conclusion that we would have a “stretch day” (an hour and fifteen minutes of stretching) instead of a regular ballet class. We even got our faces moving (hence the title)! It was incredible! My whole body feels so much better than it did earlier (I was so stiff!).

In pointe, we worked on our dance. It is looking great! We took some time to practice our pirouettes, at which moment I completed a perfect double! YES! My only hold-up is the lightning-speed-shoe-change between the two Hungarian dances (pointe and ballet). Two times in a row, I did not get my shoes off in time to make it “on stage.” I did, however, make it the last time around. On top of that, I practiced when I got home. I’ll make it… I’ll make it…

At the end of class, I was given my second Dancer of the Month Award for improved pirouettes (ironic, isn’t it?)! I feel so blessed. Congratulations to Angela, who also received this award.