Festival of Trees and First Solo!!

Maddy has been looking forward to the festival of trees for months. Not only does she love going and seeing the beautiful trees and Christmas goodies it also is usually her first dance performance of the new dance year. This year the rubies were scheduled to do their jazz dance on Tuesday evening. I picked her up from school and we headed straight to the studio because we had moved her solo practice from Friday to Tuesday since we were going to be out of town, then we were headed to the festival of trees right after solo practice. Half way through solo practice her teacher came out and said she thought she should do her solo at the festival that night. I was totally taken off guard and more than a little nervous. She had just finished learning the dance and she knew it pretty well for just having finished but I also knew that this once performance could make or break the rest of the dance year in regards to her solo. She loves to perform and comes to life on stage, I was just worried how her first time alone in front of a few hundred people would go. Her teacher thought she would do great and wanted her first performance to be something other than a competition so she found her a tutu to throw on over her leotard and we headed to the festival. She was a little nervous but not nearly as nervous as I was for her. When Brandon got there and I told him she was doing her solo, he also became a little nauseous. Their group dance was first and they did great for their first time out this year and for just finishing the dance, a few numbers later and it was her solo!! Brandon said as soon as he saw her beaming face he knew she would be fine. She got out there and didn't need any help and it went totally great for her first solo ever!! The dance is adorable and totally her personality and fits her sol well, she just did great!! We were so proud of her and after I finally took a breath I couldn't believe how great she had done. She was very proud of herself and declared she likes solos better becomes she doesn't have to share the stage. We were so grateful for all the support she received from family and we are so proud of our little dancer. She is counting the days until her next performance.