My daughter is a dancer. Yes, she mixes up the steps and goes in the wrong direction at least half the time, but she doesn’t care one bit. She gets distracted and stops mid-step to wave to me or to watch herself in the mirror. And sometimes she trips and falls, but she always gets back up, smiling. She loves to dance. And lucky for us, she can.
We had been at another dance studio, but out of the blue the owners decided that a class for students with special needs was too time consuming, too much work, just too much effort. It reminds me of this story. So our tiny dancers were displaced and disillusioned.
But we’ve fallen back in step and been welcomed with open arms at our new studio.
Avery’s dance teacher is warmth and encouragement and inspiration. Miss Stephanie treats her special students the way treats all of her dancers. She pushes just enough and cheers them on. She’s choreographed the most wonderful dance for the girls to perform at the spring showcase—on the big stage in pink sparkly costumes, with grown up hair and fancy make-up. They’ll be dancing to Superstar by Love Inc—a perfect anthem for our superstar girls.
And the young dancers who volunteer their time to help? I can’t say enough about these amazing girls. Avery looks up to them and rightly so—they’re kind and compassionate and generous. All the good things.
We dance moms and dads watch our twirling kiddos with joy and pride. Some of us even leak from our eyes every time the music starts up. But we pretend it’s no big deal. But it is. It really is. Our kids are dancing. And smiling. And puffing with the pride of accomplishment. That’s enough to make anyone’s eye leak a little.
Today, International Dancer Day, here’s a snippet of Avery and her friends rehearsing for their big performance. *leak leak*
