They had several practices in which they learned a choreographed number and then they went over some of the basic steps of waltz, cha cha, and swing. (In theory they were supposed to go over the basic steps, but not every ward got around to it. I think our ward missed swing.)
The night of the Dance Festival arrived and I was confused as to what it was all about. I envisioned groups of kids getting up to perform certain dances, but it wasn't like that at all. It was just a big stake dance. They played songs and told the kids what style to dance and away they all went.
They had some ingenious ways to get the kids to choose partners. (You can imagine the boys were often a little reluctant to choose a girl to dance with.) Also, the boys had wrist bands that the girls collected as they left each partner. June came home with a whole arm full of bands.
I had brought the whole family to 'watch' the performance, but it didn't take long to realize we were superfluous. There were hardly any chairs in the gym. (Probably to encourage the boys to remain standing and choose girls.) I let each of the littles dance a song or two with Tyler and then it was time to go.
June looked so cute in her 50s attire.
She knew the dances pretty well and at least had the sense of mind to keep her toes clear of misguided feet. (Which, to be frank, was most of the boys. You could tell some knew what they were doing, but the majority were clueless.)
Robyn was very excited about the dancing. I think she is ready to move up to Young Women's. She still has 5 months to go, but I thought a little dancing couldn't hurt anything. She stayed while I took the other girls home and she had a blast. She danced with Tyler for a while and then branched out and collected some of her own wrist bands.
She was so proud of those bands. And she earned them. Check out this guy she danced with. Tyler sent me the picture and I asked if he was an adult. Nope, teen. Wow, imagine that guy stepping on your feet.
It was a really great evening. Even yours truly got to dance with Tyler a couple times before I took off with the younger kids. Dancing is such a good way to leave your cares behind and enjoy the now. Makes me want to go to Zumba again. Now if I can just get the Christmas party to look as good as that night...
Gives me bittersweet thoughts. Tim finally went to a dance and a girl treated him very badly, and he never wants to go again. Not that he could do much dancing with that foot of his anyway. I do remember taking dance classes and I really enjoyed them. Do you think they'll have dancing in the Celestial Kingdom? I hope so.
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