I went to my niece’s dance recital yesterday.

Oh, goodness. I am about to sound really mean. I am not a dancer and I realize (or hope) that none of the participants in yesterday’s recital have grand aspirations of becoming a professional dancer. All of this is my unsolicited opinion.

The first dance was OK. Okay, no. It was pretty awful. One of the dancers was not really  into it, but later on it became clear that she didn’t have a total grasp on the choreography. If it was supposed to look like a disaster, the dancers did an awesome job.

Ballerina Jocelyn

All the little kid dances, including the one my niece was a part of, were very cute. (If my niece ever tells me that she wants to be a dancer, I’ll tell her that to work very hard and maybe take some piano lessons to supplement. She wasn’t bad. Her movement was actually very good! She was just really distracted. Oh my god, she’s four. I can’t believe I’m typing this.)

You’re probably wondering why I’m bothering to say anything. Here’s the deal: since I started watching So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD), I’ve become really into dance, as an audience member. I’ve seen how dance can move people, how the dancers themselves are creating something beautiful and personal. I know this was a community recital and all the participants were really excited and love to dance. After seeing the first dance, I thought–okay, this isn’t exactly a show being performed by kids in an arts program, hoping to attend Julliard one day.

But then he appeared. A little boy. Oh my god. His movements were deliberate and graceful. He was serious. He had great posture. He didn’t just go through the movements. He performed them. He was telling a story. This kid was awesome! Even better, I saw him after the show, so excited about having performed and being rambunctious. It was really great to see that he was having fun with it all.

I applaud all the kids who participated. I started taking dance but quit after a year. It’s another regret I have. I probably would have sucked, but who cares?