Bug had her two competitions for dance recently.

Prior to Bug taking our family on this competition dance adventure, I had a lot of opinions, misconceptions, and well, bad ideas about what dance meant. I thought it was frou frou and all about looking pretty with makeup and hair. I didn’t consider it a sport, and thought it was just silly .

I STAND COMPLETELY CORRECTED.

Bug spends hours in the studios for about 9 months learning her routines, working with her teammates to get it right. It matters if they use their left or right foot to leap, and whether or not they are in sync enough to do it. She will spend time this summer working on her ballet technique (of which I understand that all dance is based). Her team will work to stretch and become more limber, they will be asked to tap their feet; fast, in rhythm, and without looking at them.

She will come home and try to practice at home. She will avoid dogs who skitter around trying to figure it out. She will practice her tap without tap shoes because mom isn’t okay with her fake hardwood getting tapped on. She will practice ballet and jazz and try to make the living room work with props and sisters walking and mom moving, etc. She will beg to stretch instead of going to bed. She will deal with parents who aren’t so amazing at dance family thing.

After 9 months of practice, this girl will then go on stage in front of three judges. Those three judges will do as their title suggests and judge them. The judges will talk through the entire performance and tell them what they did well or not well. Personally, the idea of someone watching my entire performance of anything and commenting on every step would be super frustrating and hard to take.

The next practice, this girl will then listen to the teachers tell them their opinion and listen to the three judges critiques. I am impressed at that skills she will learn from this: work as a team, work individually at home, take constructive (or not) feedback and keep going, learn to work through pain (ask me about her tap costume at the first comp). This kid will be responsible to know 3-5 routines at a time.

Through all of this, Bug begs me to do more dance. They did Daddy Daughter dance, and she wanted to do Hip Hop. We had to plan in a third day of dance so she could do recreation Hip Hop. Turns out she loved that style also. (She alternates between Hip Hop and ballet as her favorite). When her school had a 4 Saturday dance practice, we added that on.

I am grateful for her teachers who pushed her to do better, and didn’t accommodate “tired” or other excuses. I am grateful for her teachers who taught her to have fun while learning, and enjoy what she’s doing. I am grateful to the studio who gives the kids an opportunity to learn how dance can be incorporated into a program like the Nutcracker. Instead of 2 minutes on stage, there’s this whole cohesive program telling a story. I have no doubt for the older kids it is exhausting, but for the littler kids who may only otherwise dance on stage one time, it’s pretty awesome.

Watching my Bug on stage, it’s where her heart seems to soar and shine. I’m grateful for the lessons she’s learned, and the people we’ve met along the way.

And I was wrong. So wrong. Thanks for teaching us, Bug!