End of year performances

[DaveS]

Well, my protégé had his debut performance last Thursday night at his school's end of year concert (all acts unique to the school except for an excerpt from Don Quixote performed by older students - but still not a single Nutcracker in sight).

 

It has been a while since I have been to a stage performance (too busy these days), but even so it was clear to me that what I was seeing was absolutely brilliant.

 

The school that my protégé attends has a great number of students, mostly girls, which meant the night went for a while (so each student got stage time). Some of the acts were very good, with brilliant technical achievements and superb choreography (but perhaps a tad sophistcated for the fidgeting young ones in the audience), while some of them were staggering and breathtaking (meaning pretty much the entire audience were rivetted). Such incredible costumes and choreography!

 

The acts my protégé were in were well suited for boys, and he fit right in. From modern jazz (danced to "George of the Jungle" - complete with leopard-skin print head bands) to classical ballet (complete with partnering), he did really well - much better than I had expected for a 9 year old who started dance from a cold start in late February this year.

 

His parents were so proud of him - he looked and acted the absolute little gentleman the whole way through, followed all the moves as precisely as he could - he really put his all in. A couple of missed classes meant a few sideways glances to make sure he was keeping up with his fellow dancers, but all in all he was quite the champ.

 

Even after the event (and the obligatory "thank goodness that's over"), he's still enthusiastic about continuing next year. While he won't be doing any Summer School (we're in Australia, which means we're in Summer now), he will be keeping his fitness up with gym, pilates (with his mum), swimming and Nippers (surf life-saving classes at the local beach).

 

I'm thrilled. Patronage can be so rewarding :-)

 

 

David