The One With the Recital and Bri's Finale

 

 

It was a bittersweet day! Today was the annual NSDA recital. And, it was Bri's last day performing on stage with them.

 Now, truth be told, we knew it was going to be a tough day. Bri had a solo in the show...and having already watched it during a preview, we knew there were going to be some water works. And there were.

However, the recital itself was quite a show. Between Bri and Kiff, they were in seven performances, which we think was a family record. Bri and Kiff had three dances together, Bri had her solo, Kiff had a hip hop, Bri was in a ballet, and they had the finale.

The show was phenomenal as usual. There were many highlights. Perhaps that one that made me smile the most was when the two of them danced to Ice, Ice Baby. That was quite a show! And they were a hoot in it. Seeing Bri in ballet and Kiff in hip hop was also a thing of beauty, too!  Of course, the solo stood out - Bri was amazing and got a well earned round of applause. 

Of course, the thing that was the tear jerker was the finale. They always choose a sentimental song - this one was about the wind and memories.  Bri and her two other senior classmates took center stage as others, including Kiff, danced them off. Bri and the other two got choked up - which got most of the rest of the audience choked up as well - and embraced for a long time at the end.

What an amazing end to a 16 year career dancing on stage...though Bri plans to keep dancing in college. The best part was we got to share it with a lot of family as well.

The One With the Recital

 

Today, Bri and Kiff had day one of their recital. Bri had her lyrical performance, which was amazing. Even more interesting was that Bri's teacher was one of Emmie's former 1st and 5th graders.

 

Later that day, during a second mini-recital (because of Covid protocols), Kiff had his hip-hop performance. He thought he'd mess up, but it was awesome, too!

 

It was quite a day on stage!

The One Where We Have Online Recitals

Another Quarantine, another wild week!

Hard to believe it, but this week Bri and Kiff had their recital online. It was amazing!  We really were not too sure what it would look like, but it was amazing!

They all participated during different days this week, but had some great dances. Bri and Kiff each had their own special dances as well, Bri was part of lyrical ballet and Kiff was part of hip hop.

It was awesome! The best part was family members could watch...and they did.

The One With The Recital

It came upon us again. That wild time of year. When dance converges on the city of Lawrence in our annual recital!

And once again, it did not disappoint. Bri and Kiff did a great job with their dances. And it truly marked a milestone in many ways.

First, they both smiled throughout their dances....something that they have been working hard to do.

Second, Kiff took a risk and added something to his own dance to give it character at the end of Girls Like You. This was not easy for him to do at first, but he realized it was a chance to try add be an actor as well as a dancer.

Finally, it was clear that Bri has become a more competent and older dancer. Her group was fabulous - particularly during the country dance they did. You can tell she had a blast. But along with that, you can tell she is moving her way up the ranks. Her group was in the first five to take stage to bow....which is almost always done based on age and experience.

What a fabulous way to end a memorable dance year. Here's looking forward to many more.

The One Where We Have The Recital

This weekend was a busy weekend - Recital Weekend in Lawrence. And both Bri and Kiff rocked it big time.

This year, the recital was at 4:30, so we learned a lesson from last year to be there about an hour early. However, next year, we will go for 1:30 early. There was still quite a line.

Once we got settled, the recital was - simply put - awesome. Bri was in two performances at the beginning of the recital. Then, Kiff had three dances and Bri one in the second half, which went so quickly.

The dances themselves were great. We had the whole family come out to watch as well, which was a blast for all of us.



Bri showed her typical determination to get every step right...and Kiff showed that he loved being the star of the show.

It was quite an exhausting day because we had a baseball game and softball pictures early in the day!

Zoinks.

But overall, a great recital.

The One With th Dance Recital Weekend

Last weekend was...
   the Weekend of the Dance Recital

Wow, we had two of them.  The first day, Bri had a dance recital. because she is on team, she had three dances. Zoinks. She did great. However, it was also baseball picture weekend, so Kiff and I had to attend that first. By the time we got to her recital, it was intermission...but we were able to see her jazz dance.

The following day, was Kiff's premier recital.

He was nervous, but that went well. In a unique twist, because he was one of the few boys there, I had the chance to hang with him back stage.

That was fun. And, I have the opportunity to see him on stage from behind stage. He looked great in his black pants, white shirt, and tie.

What a weekend.

Dad would have loved it.

I know I did.