My 5 year old daughter was really excited about her dance performance all week. She apparently has been practicing at daycare all the time. She even got a group of her friends to watch her practice and even try to teach them to dance. I think she was so focused on trying to do the dance perfectly that she felt very nervous the day before the dance performance.

The day before her dance performance, she couldn’t sleep very well. She ended up talking to my wife about how nervous she felt and my wife was talking about how being nervous is a normal emotion. It’s something that you have to work through and that you need some techniques to cope with the nervousness. The small pep talk didn’t help to calm her mind. She stayed up about an hour and a half past her usual bedtime (which is already very late for a child…and even some adults) and even woke up two hours earlier than she normally does.

On the day of her big performance, she was still full of energy and excitement. I don’t think she actually felt completely nervous. I think it was more of an anxiousness to get to the performance time because I know she loves putting on a show in front of an audience. She has always loved seeing and dancing in front of people since she started to sing and dance. That’s just my hunch that she just wanted to perform and was anxious to do it (while waiting patiently for showtime!). I did tell her as she was getting ready to make sure that if she did feel nervous that she should take a few deep breaths and just go for it and have fun. Then we were off to fight traffic to get to the venue.

I dropped her off backstage about 30 minutes before the show started, and she was the fifth group to come out and dance. She was in the front and immediately saw all of us sitting a few rows away from the stage and gave us a big wave. When the music started, she was ready to dance. Her face was focused on making sure her routine (with the reminder of her teachers performing on the side as sort of a guide) was done as best as she could. I was so proud to see her up there and enjoying her time on stage.

The second her performance was done, she was so excited to meet up with my wife who brought her to her seat. She got to watch the rest of the performers sitting on my wife’s lap, and she couldn’t stop talking about how great she felt, how much she enjoyed her performance, and how much she enjoyed watching all of the other performers dance. I had the newborn strapped to my chest in a wrap the whole time and although I would have loved to jump up to give her a huge hug and some flowers, I had to sit patiently (and appreciatively) with a quiet baby. Luckily, there was no crying during anyone’s performance!

I do hope that seeing all of the older dancers inspires my daughter to keep pursuing her interests. It’s a sneak preview of what people can accomplish when they stick to something consistently and put forth their best effort each session to get better. Even if my kids aren’t the best of the bunch, I want them to hold themselves up to a measuring stick and continually try to improve themselves (against their past selves and not measuring against others). It’s important to just focus on what you can control and how you get better by putting forth your best with each opportunity. I hope my kids remember that and push themselves - one performance at a time.