Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Ballet Folklorico :: A Big Night






In November Maria joined her school's new dance program: Ballet Folklorico. It was only last spring when she first heard about the possibility of participating, and she was already over the moon to start dancing. The class is meeting once a week, except holidays... there were a lot of holidays between November and last weekend's school Talent Show, and I mention this because I am so impressed with what their instructor achieved in teaching those children in such a short time. Nadia took first through sixth grade students, with a frequently shifting attendance record, and taught them all the steps to La Costilla, then choreographed a dance for them to bring to their school's Talent Show. When the big day rolled around Maria felt very excited, eager to perform, but it was a hurry up and wait kind of day. Hair, make-up, and dance skirts were on and set by 3:30 pm, then they took pictures, rehearsed, and waited, and waited, and waited. They were the last to perform, after thirty-four other acts, and an intermission! {lol... what can I say? This school's got talent!} So, it was a long night, but in the smiles, and exhilaration she expressed, I'd say Maria found it very much worthwhile. And something really sweet... in that packed assembly room, from the back where students were standing on mini-bleachers, we could hear fourth grade girls cheering, "Maria! Maria! Maria!" It's really touching to know her friends were there and happy to support each other.

(There are at least fifty more pictures, and yes, some video, too. I cannot share every image, because I don't have permission, but I would love to share my dark, jumpy, slightly out of focus, from a long distance movie of their dance, so I will have to see about getting that accomplished, somehow. I must remind myself: Si, lo puedo hacer! Yes, I can do it!)

Done! {Geoff is the best tech support, ever.}


Maria is third from the left, in the second row, wearing the bright pink wrap around her waist. The swirls and flourishes of the skirt are lovely, and challenging to keep up... the skirts are heavy, and very long, and they are doing small and rapid footsteps, while they move their arms... it's a lot to coordinate. Yeah, that's what dancing is, right, coordinating? {Just saying... in case anyone thinks it's only "a lot of skirt twirling."}

Monday, March 02, 2015

William's Very Good Birthday






We had a very good day celebrating William's birthday, with rain, and puttering, and banana pancakes. Friends came by... James and Celine, Mark. Mike was here, and I've started calling him Magic Mike, because he's doing such a beautiful job with the screened porch. Geoff has reached the on-call phase of crunch time, and fortunately he was home all day! Very good. We basically just followed William's lead, beginning with the delicious breakfast he fixed for us... fresh strawberries and buckwheat pancakes with bananas, then some old-time gaming, and mellow hanging out. William got Maria totally hooked on Adventure... Colossal Cave Adventure, and they mapped it all out... with{out} help from Chango{?} Cats. Classic game. Geoff was very happy to recall his early Adventuring days. We were all very happy to enjoy the day-long rain, flipping on the newly installed porch lights, eating the donuts Mark brought. When we all sat down to dinner, then birthday pie, I was very happy to recall that, beginning with William's birth, I've found my deepest sense of purpose and satisfaction... being a mom. It's beyond words to describe how happy I feel, to look around me and see my dearest ones, to be with Geoff, to see our children, to reflect on and enjoy our dreams coming true, to share with each other the new dreams and plans we have. Even knowing that plans will change, and not every dream can come true... just to have this opportunity to follow life's twisty passages, and mazes, with William, Alex, Max, Maria, and Geoff is very good, very worthwhile.