Little Girl is having her first (and last!) dance recital today. We aren't happy with the requirements, but she enjoyed the classes so my sister decided to go ahead and let her finish this out, do her recital, and then she'll be done with dance.
We first weren't pleased with the choice of music she will be dancing to: I'm a Barbie Girl... Excuse me, but this song is about far more than Barbie dolls, and we really don't want our four-year-old singing it. Of course, she knows every word of it. Sigh...
The dress itself was to be expected, so we aren't upset as far as it's concerned. The hair MUST be curly, and that's a huge pain, as mentioned in a previous post, although Little Girl seems to have resigned herself to having curly hair for these events now, at least.
What we really hate is the makeup. And not just a little makeup, either, they want it smeared all over these little girls. When we went in a couple weeks ago to have the pictures made, the dance instructor started arranging Little Girl's hair, and suddenly gasped and summoned my sister over. She then proceeded to scold her for not putting on enough eyeliner! The child is FOUR!
Anyhow, when all was said and done, we had a room full of little Jon Benets. Now where I live is a dance studio run by a Christian woman which teaches interpretive dance to praise and worship music. Last weekend, the four little girls my niece's age who take dance at this studio performed in church. They wore no makeup, they wore long-sleeved white shirts with a knee-length blue tulle skirt, and carried scarves which were used in their dance. The song selection? Deep and Wide!! They were so sweet and did such a nice job. Now that's the kind of dance that preschoolers should be doing! If only such a studio existed in my niece's town...
Here is a picture of the little Jon Benets. I won't identify Little Girl except to say that she is the sweetest and cutest one in the picture. That should make it easy for you to figure out which one she is. :) Click to enlarge.
