Thursday, October 11, 2012

31 for 21: And they danced...

I already have tears in my eyes and I've barely started to write. As most of you know my oldest two girls dance. They are beautiful and I love to watch them. Emilia also dances and I cannot wait to get her into a dance class!!!

Last night the school/ company my girls dance for had an amazing event. It was they're second year doing this and it just keeps getting better. It's called Together We Dance. 

Dancers in the top of their field are invited to take the stage together in one amazing and breathtaking performance. 

Last night we had these beautiful dancers to blur our minds of the daily stresses and take us away to places we could never get to on our own. I sat spellbound and honestly, I don't think I exhaled for two hours.

My daughter Olivia performed, and after her performance, she from the wings and I from my seat, secretly texting, "OMG", "Did you see her" , and "this is amazing"

We watched Daniel Ulbricht, from NYC Ballet, jump like no other. I actually gasped out loud at his leaps. And wondered how long he could just linger in the air.


RI native Greta Hodgkinson and now prima ballerina at National Ballet of Canada , brought me to tears not once but twice with her grace and beauty.




Adiarys Almeida, Boston Ballet, left me and my daughters with our mouths hanging open. She danced Pas de Deux from Don Quixote. I've never seen anything like her.  

 

And we even had Beckanne Sisk, Ballet West,Utah, from the show Breaking Pointe!  She blew us away with her performance , which  happened to be one of my favorite variations, pas a deux from Esmeralda. I could have watched it over and over again.


 The applause was heavy and long and deserved, but the beginning of the show, topped it ALL!

You see the very first dance of the night belonged to the adaptive class that Festival ballet has. Eight dumplings all sporting an extra chromosome opened the show ! They're song, Let's Dance, got the night started. They were enchanting! They knew their marks, they looked fabulous, and not a bit of stage fright in any of them. They smiled and waved and corrected each other (I flippin love that). Every one of them enjoyed their time in the spotlight and when the music stopped the endless applause and whistles began. The audience showed their delight and the children inhaled it! They bowed and blew kisses and they owned that stage.

They danced last night with the best of the best. Thank you Festival Ballet Providence for making that possible!!! Thank you for putting our children out front where they belong! 

5 comments:

Jess said...

That sounds wonderful! I wish we had a program like that in our area! Ciena is in a dance class but she is the only one with a disability. She seems to fit in fine though and she enjoys it. That's what really matters right?

Rochelle said...

Love, love, love. Have to say I never thought I would be a "dance mom" but the girls absolutely LOVE their class!

Lacey said...

Oh I got chills myself from some of those dancers you got to watch in person! I keep trying to get Tanner to dance. He's a natural, and he has that long, skinny ballet body. He just doesn't think boys should dance. But boys can jump so high its like their flying!
And what I would have given to watch that opening performance! I bet it was fantastic!

Heather said...

That is all so amazing and so beautiful.

Remember when I posted about Free 2 Be Me, a program here in Los Angeles? Where Zoey went and joined a class filled with little loves sporting the extra chromosome? Our program here was developed by a woman who modeled her program after a similar program that began through the Boston Ballet Company.

I cannot wait till the day that Zoey is old enough to join them. What magic that will be.

Love to you and yours Steph.

Unknown said...

that just sounds amazing! I ADORE dance! come to England and lets see ballet together! oh go on i need a plan! x