Our Shining Star

This weekend Mackenzie participated in her first performance since being a part of the "company" at her dance studio. It was called Company Showcase. Basically, according to Ms. Lauren, the owner/director of her dance studio, this was a dry run to get ready for their first competition that will be at the end of April.

The performance took place at a local arts center. We had dress rehearsal on Friday night, and then the the actual show was on Saturday evening at 5pm.

We had a meeting a week or so ago, getting instructions on every detail of the make up application, the hair style, the correct tights, and all the accessories required for the girls to wear. I am a girly girl, this should not be any problem. None, nada, zilch. Ha Ha Ha.

First, the hair style, half up, half down....easy enough. UNTIL, we cut her hair pretty short recently. After using a lot of hair spray, I was able to accomplish this first task. Then on to curling the back so it looked cute. That was like curling the hair on a monkey's head. Mackenzie is like a moving target when it comes to fixing her hair. She has to be in the know about everything, so she is constantly turning to look at whatever is going on around her.

Next, the makeup! I have been wearing make up for many years. I wear it everyday. Putting makeup on my daughter should be easy, but, remember that monkey...yeah. I apply her foundation, blush, lipstick, everything is going good. I start with the eyes, apply the shadow, it looks good, I am proud. I tell Mackenzie to go show her teacher, get her approval...I know I have done good....right? WRONG. Well maybe not completely wrong, she says it looks good, but needs to be much darker. So I reapply, and reapply, and reapply some more. Then I move on to the dreaded eyeliner. Mackenzie hates eyeliner, so she starts to fret and fuss, complaining that I am hurting her. Once I have finally accomplished this task, and Mackenzie is absolutely not having fun anymore, it is time to apply the mascara. Before doing so, I give her a good look over, making sure that my masterpiece is almost complete. I am pretty impressed, she looks like a little model. Just perfect.

I start the mascara ordeal. I am almost completely done, when she suddenly moves and the mascara wand pokes her eye. Oh Lord this is not going to be good. Her eyes well up with tears. I am frantically telling her to stop crying, sounding extremely unsympathetic, but knowing if the tears start rolling down her face, we will have a complete disaster. Streaked foundation and blush, smeared eyeliner, and black mascara running everywhere is not what we needed five minutes before call time.

It is finally time for the show to begin. I have already taken at least 20 or more pictures. Mackenzie looked like an angel. A grown up angel, but an angel none the less. I kept staring at her, thinking to myself how gorgeous she is. When she smiled, her entire face just sent out rays of light. She just looked beautiful.

She performed a tap routine, wearing a red and white polka dot costume complete with black gloves, and a head piece that had black feathers attached to it. The costume had a belt attached to it that had a diamond like buckle. She had diamond like earrings to complete the look. Her costume fit her perfectly. She looked awesome in it.

The tap performance was a little on the side of not being really ready to perform yet. According to Mackenzie, they just finished creating the dance in the last week or so. It did not matter to us moms though. They looked pretty darn cute to us. I think it will be cool to see how far they will have came at the actual recital compared to this performance.

Her second and final dance was her jazz. It is so apparent by the photos that Mackenzie really enjoys this routine. Her smile just shined while she was doing this dance. Ironically, she was dancing to "Momma, I'm a Big Girl Now". She looked it for sure. The costume for this one was pink, sparkly, and had the same diamond like buckle for the belt.

The girls really did a terrific job on this number. They had been practicing this one much longer and it really showed.

As we were leaving at the end, several people complimented Mackenzie on her performance. One friend of ours told Mackenzie that she reminded her of her little girl when she was that young by the way she was smiling on stage. Later, on our way home, Mackenzie told me that it was nice that people were there to "support" her, and she knew that Tina really watched her, and was not just saying that, because, she said she was smiling. I think this might have been the first time that Mackenzie cared....I mean, that she was proud of herself for something she had been working on. As her Mom, it was a proud moment for me to see her "shine" even more as other people complimented her. It is one thing for Mom to tell you that you did a good job, and I did, a lot, I was so proud of her. But, still, to have other people make a point to find you and tell you how great you did, that is a whole different story. I was happy that Mac had that.

Mackenzie is going to be a very lucky girl. She is that girl that girls like myself are jealous of. She is the total package. She is beautiful. She is funny. She is very outgoing. She is not shy. She is smart. She is going to be a talented dancer. All I can say is her daddy is going to very busy keeping the boys at bay in a few years.