The Day in Review — Ballet Edition
Well… the sticky end of the month and “that day didn’t go to plan” has officially arrived. Something about a shit show comes to mind. To be fair, I wasn’t expecting smooth sailing today, but I find myself here with a small amount of energy and a large amount of sparkling Rosé — absolutely essential.
We are officially in Dance Concert Week, the culmination week of our entire year. One of the most fun, and also the most hectic, weeks of the year.
For those who don’t know: I help run the fundraising committee at our local QLD-based dance school. Our dance teacher is one of those amazing people — the dedication, the talent, the unending drive to make every kid the best they can be. I seriously don’t know how she does it. Every. Single. Day.
So in this post I tender:
- some dance-mum life anecdotes
- the rundown of today
- and the general chaos that is Concert Season.
☀️ The Day Dawned With Storms (Of Course… It’s QLD)
its the day before the dress rehearsal with a 10 hour studio rehearsal with 250 kids... yeah... SOOOOOOOOO much fun.
5am wake up.
Prepare the car (running the BBQ stall at the studio).
Get Child #1 dressed and ready.
Leave at 7:15 for drop-off.
Race home to get Child #2 ready.
Collect ice on the way because the other mum forgot it.
Do second drop.
Park. Trolley in all the water and gear for the stall.
Arrive to find another mum absolutely dying with a neck spasm… so back home I go to grab the TENS machine to try keep her functioning. Return again. Start cooking what felt like 50,000 sausages, while simultaneously sorting and selling what felt like another 50,000 costumes. All outside. In heat. And QLD storms.
The sweat was pouring down my back. It was gross.
Then waves of hungry kids (about 250 of them), desperate teachers with no voices left, and stressed-out parents hit our perimeter.
🎭 Backstage Culture 101
Those in the dance world know that the week before a show is SHIT SHOW WEEK.
Nothing is ready.
Every costume is missing a piece.
New parents are panicking.
Old-timers are laughing.
Every year I hear the famous story:
“One year, a costume arrived at the theatre mid-show, ready just in time for the second act.”
Trust me. That ACTUALLY happened. My eldest was about five at the time.
There are endless lists, costumes everywhere, hair disasters, makeup meltdowns, and at the end of it all, someone always screams:
“WHAT IS THE RUN ORDER???”
This year I have twenty-one dances between two kids. TWENTY. ONE.
🎒 My Concert Night Pack List
For anyone curious (or masochistic), here’s what I have to haul:
- 21 costumes
- Spare leotard
- Undergarments for each child (dance-specific)
- Tap shoes (x2)
- Black jazz shoes (x2)
- Tan jazz shoes (x2)
- Ballet shoes with ribbons (x2)
- Ballet shoes without ribbons (x2)
- Lyrical shoes (x2)
- Hip hop shoes (x2)
- ballet stockings times 1000
- jazz stockings
- tan fishnets
- blackfishnets
- sheer stockings
- lyrical stockings
- Full makeup kit
- Scissors
- Panadol + mini med kit
- Sewing kit
- Superglue
- Screwdrivers
- Duct tape
- Phone chargers
- Headlamps (for side-stage 1-dance changes)
- Bandaids
- Strapping tape
- Safety pins
- WINE
- And now the TENS machine for poor Ellie
You might laugh. But every single year a sheepish parent asks me:
“Ummm… do you have a screwdriver?”
Of course I do.
😅 The Run Sheet Arrives…
We were all sitting out in the heat today, gulping bottled water like it was the ice-cold beer we actually wished it was, when the run sheet finally came through.
As a rule, Act 1 and 2 are manageable. Act 3 is usually hell.
But this year?
The whole show is a nightmare of fast changes, and I will need to be side-stage for about 90% of the entire production.
Thinking I may need a wine-in-a-camelback arrangement.
With 21 dances, I really should have expected it.
I have two dances to take my 12-year-old from:
- Hip hop (messy ponytail)
→ to → - Ribbon ballet shoes + a full Coppelia dress + two low milkmaid plaits intertwined with ribbons
…all while Child #2 comes off stage needing a one-dance quick-change into a jazz outfit (she’s six — she absolutely can’t do this herself).
So I will be backstage with a headlamp, buckets of costumes, and a mild sense of panic.
God help me if I forget anything in the dressing room… which is THREE FLIGHTS OF STAIRS below the stage level.
🎬 Dress Rehearsal Tomorrow
I’m stressing now… but dress rehearsal is always fun. Not quite as fun as concert night, but still great.
Except this year we have TWO shows, so my 21 costume changes will magically become 42 costume changes.
My dear Dropbears - you must forgive me if brawls are askew @minismallholding who has dutifully taken the brunt of putting us all in brawls... please this weekend i need you.... and to @bearone who will laugh and likely message me mid show to ask why brawls are not in... lol... (i will get them in i promise) and @mattclarke who will chuckle and also say... "ah she will enjoy the chaos"
actually LAST dress rehersal didn't i do a splinterlands 101 prep? i can't remember
NOT doing a live from the theatre edition boys... lol
And now I HAVE to get back to costume prep before the sparkling Rosé hits me.
Dance mum — over and out.
see you on the other side of the dress rehersal.
BLINGIT
