Kaitlyn has had a taste of fame. And although it was just a nibble, I think she liked it.
Tonight was the first performance of her ballet spectacle. Yes, first performance. There are two… one Saturday and one Sunday. And you can only get a total of four tickets; pretty much restricting families to going only one night. It’s not exactly what you’d expect if you said you were going to a five year old’s dance recital.
We arrived pretty much at the same time as everyone else… the appointed time to bring the little dancers. Performers had their own entrance, into the dressing room. Back there, girls were putting on make-up, fixing their hair.. the teens were mostly giggling in little circles… Kaitlyn’s group was having little mustaches painted on then coloring while they waited for their big debut. Why mustaches? Their costumes are gray striped pants, white t-shirts and black vests. I think they’re supposed to look like miniature French men.
Out in the audience, we took our seats and quickly realized there’s not a good seat in the house. There were signs tacked up at the concession stand offering the chance to buy a DVD of the show for 20 Euros. I went and ordered one. There’s no way from our vantage point that we’re going to get decent video. I’ll pay for it. That’s fine. Oh, I bought a can of beer while at it. The man at the concession stand said something to me about Germany losing. I was like what? He apparently thought I was German and wanted to gloat about my loss in some football game. Once we established that, I explained that I’m American. He laughed and said then I have no interest in football. Not their kind, no. Still, I sort of had a conversation on an unexpected topic in French; that’s always ok with me.
The show started only 25 minutes late. Not too bad. After the first dancers performed, the announcer said there was some problem with the lights and they’d have to start over. (I had that translated for me. Understanding a PA system is hard enough in English.) I was relaxed, waiting to watch the same act again when suddenly the song Kaitlyn was dancing to started to play. I sat up and tried to find a way to see around the tall woman who’d sat in front of me (why’d I expect anything else?).
Kaitlyn was in her element. She hopped around the stage, smiling and just having the time of her life. Maybe she didn’t do the dance quite the way I’d seen her rehearse it. She was still the best dancer up there. They performed to what I’m told is a traditional French song about going to a town celebration, drinking and dancing. Perfectly appropriate for 5 year olds to dance to. Appropriate for mine, she didn’t understand the words. I only know all that because another mom told me.
Kaitlyn’s troop was the second to perform. Then we had to sit through another three hours of dancing… minus the 20 minute intermission when we had to sit through Kaitlyn crying because they’d run out of pizza. (Luckily, more was delivered and she eventually got a piece. Dancing is hungry work.)
The other acts included everything from more 5 year olds dancing to the theme from the Love Boat to adults doing classical ballet on point to Hotel California, adults belly dancing, teenagers trying to dance to Another Brick in the Wall and children of all ages doing what they described in the program as Hip Hop dancing to songs with lyrics even I found offensive. (So much so I won’t even write them out. ) Kaitlyn was allowed to sit with us when she was done and watch the others. I hope she wasn’t too enthralled when the belly dancers came out holding metal rods that they swung around their heads. She had to go back to the dressing room when the teen ballerinas danced on point to Angie… so that she could join all the dancers on stage at the end. She’d changed out of her costume and refused to put it back on. So when her group came out for their round of applause, she was the one wearing a hot pink striped summer dress. Made it easy to find her. And she didn’t care. People were clapping… oh…. the applause…
As I was in attendance for this event, I can add that it certainly was unlike a US dance recital, in that taking beer to your seats was the norm. Perhaps the organizers realized beer helps the 3 hours pass more calmly when your child isn’t on stage. And note should be made that the blatantly sexual language lyrics made reference to by Mandy was in English, so perhaps the innocent youngsters and their parents didn’t realize what was being said. But then French radio in French doesn’t censor anything, per Mandy, so it seems the norm to gross out from an early age. Fortunately the home environment in which Kaitlyn is being raised shuts out such atrocities. The only intrusion seems to be a live-in lady who frequently employs the word “f}\x”. However, she has convinced Kaitlyn the meaning of this word is “I want to go to bed immediately”, which seems to keep Kaitlyn from ever uttering it.