Back Stage At The Recital

When I was little, I loved it when my mom signed up to come on a field trip with my class.  Or was a Room Mother.  Or the leader of my Brownie troop.  I made me feel special that she chose to spend her time helping me.  It was comforting and safe that she was in places normally reserved for kids and the things kids do.  Like I had a guardian angel with me.

As my own kids have gotten old enough for things like field trips and activities, I've tried to be there for them in the same way my mom was for me.  I volunteer at school.  I go on field trips.  I come to all of the mid-afternoon concerts and plays and parent lunches.

So, when a sign-up sheet was posted on the door to my daughter's ballet studio asking for a Stage Mom to help the girls in her class back stage during their recital....well, I'm sure you can guess.  I wrote down my name and watched her little face light up with the special feeling that I had chosen to spend my time helping her.

Oh, and I grabbed my camera, too....but that kind of goes without saying, doesn't it?

As the girls lined up in the hallway, getting ready for their call, I stood with them.  I fixed their straps.  I fluffed their hair bands.  I held their hands and patted their shoulders and told them they looked beautiful and would be wonderful.

When it was their turn, they waited patiently (some more than others) in the wings, and I made my way around the back of the curtain to the other side of the stage to greet them as they came off. 

I was a little afraid that the audience would hear my camera clicking away, but then I just decided not to care.  My kid was on stage.  I wasn't going to miss getting the shot.

So, if you were out in the audience and you could hear me, I apologize.

Once they were finished, we made our way back to the staging area for more coloring and waiting as the rest of the dancers performed.  Some parents found their back to us to take pictures and deliver flowers.

When the recital was over, we went back out for our curtain call.  The ballet teachers surprised those of us in the wings by calling for all of the Stage Moms to come out and take a bow.  In that moment, I was seriously glad I had gone with jeans, boots and a nice sweater instead of the baggy t-shirt and yoga pants I had briefly considered.

Standing on the stage, spotlights blinding my eyes, the audience cheering for the little dancers and their most dedicated mothers, I debated for a moment the appropriateness of raising my camera to my eye and firing off a few shots.  It was kind of a cool perspective, and I wanted to remember it.

In the end though, I decided that it would probably be better to just shoot from the hip....literally.  I aimed in the direction that I wanted, pressed the button until I could feel it kind of focus, and then....CLICK.....CLICK, CLICK.  No one even knew.

When the last dancer had been applauded and the last helper had been thanked, I took my girls by the hand and led them off the stage into the crowd of proud parents searching for their beautiful ballerinas.  There were more flowers and balloons and pictures.  As I relinquished the girls to their families, I turned to see my daughter in tears.

"What?  Why are you crying?" I asked her.

"No one is giving me flowers."

I knew what was coming, but I didn't want to spoil it, so I just wiped her tears and told her everything would be okay.

As it turned out, she didn't have anything to worry about.