Dance!

In my life I've been in my share of dance recitals.  At least one per year between the ages of 3 and 18...in high school there were 4 Hi-Stepper Spring Shows (1 per year) which equate to another recital with how chaotic it gets plus weekly performances in the fall (at least 2 per week) and various performances in the spring.  In college I was able to just dance and not worry about big shows, which was nice.  I love to dance and like to perform, but performing really is stressful-especially in a big show where you change costumes often and sometimes backstage in the wings to make it out on stage in time.  However, in the last two years I have learned something very important and interesting-running the show backstage is way more stressful than performing.  Last year I helped my friend with the backstage mechanics (lining up, going off stage, costume changes, shoe changes, etc.) and did the same thing this year.  Organizing 110 girls between the ages of 3 and 20 to make a show run smoothly is no easy task.  Luckily, the middle school, high school, and college aged girls can take care of themselves for the most part.  But...the 3 year olds-the 5th graders are enough to make you bonkers.  You ask key questions "what side of the stage are you on?" "do you go out first?" "where are you in line?" "are you in the right place?" "where are your tap shoes?".....and the most common response is "I don't know."  Those three little words are enough to throw you into a panic, especially when their class is no longer "on deck", but "in the wing".  There also seems to be no meaning to the words "stop talking".  Something that is so well organized on paper suddenly tailspins out of control for no apparent reason.  Every move is well thought out and organized and a specific plan has been laid out, but it's next to impossible to follow it when 90 of the girls are so loud you can't hear yourself talk to the other adult beside you and "stop talking" is completely lost on them.  That's when "the plan" goes out the window and survival mode kicks in to just make the show run.  It always works out with a few bumps here and there, but it feels like mass chaos.  Even though it feels like everything is in fastforward and you run in circles, in some strange way it's still fun.  I spent last night and this morning running in circles at rehearsal and tonight running in circles (literally, one group behind the curtain to get to the other side of the stage, run back, get the next group out, shuffle another group offstage, and so on), but it was all enjoyable.  I like to watch shows, but I also like to help run one.  When I watch a show I'm always distracted thinking about the insanity backstage and wondering how many people are in a panic running behind the curtain to get to their starting point.  Live performances are great-anything can happen! =)