Back in February, Mac and I signed Mabel up for a dance class. Irish step dancing, actually. The class is aptly named Tir Na Nog, the land of the young in Irish mythology.
It’s for kids under 4 years old and while they do dance, it’s more just for fun and to get the little kids used to following directions, learn some basic steps, and have a lot of fun.
Mabel LOVES it! She always gets excited about “goin’ a dance class!”
Well, Saturday was a dance recital for the school- which has produced many dancers who compete internationally and rank highly amongst the best dancers in the world. It was a range of skill levels from Mabel (who is amongst the youngest, if not the youngest, students) to a graduating high school senior ranked 35th in the world. So there was a broad range of talent, all the students tried their best, and all of them were charming.
Here’s Mabel in her red dress (shoes on the wrong feet) ready to go to her recital:
The recital was about 2 hours long (there are A LOT of students). Nana, Pop, and Aunt Meg joined us. Mabel was able to sit with us for the first half and she was engrossed watching the older kids dance. She sat still, watched intently, and clapped along as appropriate. It was very cute.
At intermission we got her dancing shoes on and Nana took her backstage to be with her little class and await her debut.
Mac took some photos, but I’m not sure anything captures how hilarious it was like the video Aunt Meg managed to get on her iPod. The quality isn’t great, but Mabel is the tiniest kid, in the red dress, with the halo of blonde curls, eliciting a lot of laughter from the audience.
I was laughing and crying simultaneously while she was up there. She so enjoyed it and seeing her 2-year-old attempts to do the dance steps was just endearing. Her joy at dancing was a joy for me to watch.
I hope she continues to enjoy it as she gets older.
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