My eight-year-old niece was supposed to celebrate the end of the 2019-2020 academic year’s dance lessons with a recital in June. 

Like so many things, it was postponed.  Since the rules won’t allow for the typical gathering of an entire auditorium of people sitting together indoors, the organizers had to be pretty creative to come up with a way to let well over a hundred little girls shine in their glittery costumes.

Today, in the middle of October, their day finally arrived.  It was under natural lighting, in an outdoor venue, with plenty of fresh air circulating.  Young dancers—and their adoring fans—wore masks, which were adorably color-coordinated with each groups’ special outfits.

Typically, the dance recital lasts about four hours, with an intermission.  But this year, the show lasted only about thirty minutes for each group.

Thirty minutes is not such a big commitment for those family friends and relatives who love to see their own special little person dance… but perhaps don’t want to sit through four hours of tap, ballet, jazz and improv productions. 

I’m going out on a huge limb here and guessing that my twenty-two-year old college senior son might just fall into this category.  However, once he heard about the thirty-minute show, he did not hesitate to say yes to his aunt’s invitation.  As his college is located about ten minutes away, he represented our family this afternoon at his cousin’s recital. 

(After the dancing ended, they all stopped by a car museum.  It turned into a well-balanced time for all.)

What surely started out as a scramble for the dance school turned into a silver lining for many families today.