A Typical Texas Dance Recital...Glitter, Glitz and Lots of Fun

There are many opportunities for young boys to participate in group sports, and lots of opportunities to perform for family and friends. There is Little League baseball, Pop Warner football, early morning soccer games, karate, basketball, hunting, fishing, and so the list continues. Although little girls are now able to participate in most of these sports, and some do, most little girls tend to gravitate towards gymnastic and dance classes.

Here in Seguin, the big event of the year for the girls (and the occassional boy or two) who have gone to their once a week dance lessons for the past year is the annual dance recital.

We have a five year old granddaughter who has been taking dance lessons for two years, now. That means we are invited to attend the two hour long recital. Since I was sitting on the very first row, stage left, I had an excellent vantage point for photography. Now, my camera takes very good images without a flash, in low light, so I did not disturb the dancers as far as I could tell.  

Let me give you a little glimpse into a typical dance recital, as it happens in a small Texas town.

First of all, the girls (once again, there were a couple of boys, two that I could tell, but mostly the dancers were all girls) each had at least a couple of dance numbers to perform. They had wonderfully colorful and sparkly costumes, which is a big draw for dance class, I suspect. 

My granddaughter stood on the steps during intermission, all dressed up, and she just looked dreamily at the dark stage. I wonder if she was fantasizing about a future dance solo she might perform when she is a little older.

As you can see, the venue is quite large for a small town. This is Jackson Auditorium, which is located on the campus of Texas Lutheran University. It is one of two sites in town which is large enough to host a recital of this size. Parents and family who purchased reserved seating were able to sit downstairs. Most others sat in the balcony.

One mother still had her daughter's costume on a hanger as we waited for the time to pass before the recital. That means her daughter was still not dressed and ready. Well, there were still a few minutes left before it was scheduled to begin, so I am sure she got her daughter dressed in time.

 The cutest dance routines were the two that featured the very youngest dancers. In the little bunny dance, one precious little girl got overwhelmed with emotion about halfway through the dance. She finally stopped dancing and just covered her face and cried. She did live through her dance, and hopefully, next year will be less of a stress for her.

By the time girls have been taking lessons for a few years, they move up from dancing in groups to performing a solo dance routine. This young lady was marvelous.

 The youngest dancers are the funnest to watch, though because there is so much more than dancing going on. For the most part, they are focused on their steps, but they also get distracted easily.

The older girls perform much more polished routines. This ballerina was so graceful and elegant.

Here is a group of girls who are not the "babies" though still very young. I am sure they loved wearing their beautiful tutus and having their hair put up in a grown-up bun.

 I know I did not include this dancer's face and feet, but I still liked this shot. The only drawback to my location was that I could not see the stage floor unless I stood up. I have no qualms about moving about discreetly to get shots, most of the time, but I felt like these children were under enough stress without being distracted even a little by a photographer going about her business. So, I sat the whole performance....no feet in any photos unless the dancer was jumping or extending their legs upward.

There is a special moment for the girls when their routine is almost over. They have finished all their dance steps, and now, they are frozen in a final pose, and the applause starts. That is what they have worked for and anticipated for a whole year. It must feel great.

Because I took quite a few photos of the different dancers, solo and groups, I want to blog about the dance recital again. Come back to see more of the glitter and glitz of a typical Texas dance recital.