On Saturday May 22 we had The Dance Connection spring dance recital. Quite a few years ago I stepped back from teaching for the Dance Connection. Cyndi asked me if I would stay on and do administrative stuff which I had no problem agreeing to and it has been great. I have been able to choose my own hours, work from home if I needed to and not work if I couldn't. I was also available for subbing which I know they all appreciated. With Covid The Dance Connection suffered a lot. Over half of the centers they taught in stopped letting in the extra curriculars activities like dance and Cyndy had to let Hailey go which left Holly, Brigitte and Riley as the active teachers for the new dance season. At the beginning of January she told the teachers she was going to have to cut hours because they just couldn't afford to pay everyone and since Holly was part owner and on salary she was going to take some of their classes. It was hard but everyone understood, unfortunately Riley got a job offer from one of the Daycares and she took the job leaving the Dance Connection without a teacher to teach her classes. Cyndi was able to divide most of them up between Holly and Brigitte but there were 4 classes she could not fit into either of their schedules and so she took two and asked me if I would be willing to teach two. I really did not want to but I knew she was really stressed out and didn't have any other options so I said I would and started teaching Premier and Born to Succeed on Wednesdays. The second week I taught at BTS the director asked me for a copy of my child care license. Although it is a requirement fo rate teachers to teach dane in the boise daycares I did not have one because I have not been a teacher, only a sub and it has never been a problem. I couldn't get my license in time to teach the next week and it was turning into a big hassle so Cyndi asked Brigitte if she could let me teach her Dreamland Meridian class and she take the BTS class. Brigitte was fine with it and so for the rest of the year those were the two I taught.
Dance Connection had to cancel the Spring Recital the previous year because of Covid and I know a lot of parents and dancers were really disappointed as well as the dance teachers. We knew we had to have one this year but Cyndi was super stressed about doing one and was constantly making herself sick over all the problems she was coming up with in her head about doing a recital. We basically had to hold her hand and force her to keep planning a recital because we had to have one this year. I really felt that her business would close if she did another year without a recital especially when things have been opening up and people were done with covid precautions. Finding a venue was difficult but we managed to have a church in Boise let us use their outdoor pavilion. Once we had that Cyndi spent a lot of her time worrying about the weather but we assured her no matter what it was happening and it was going to be great. Of course that day we had the recital the weather was cold with lots of rain. The church let us use their gym for the first 3 shows but then we had to be out because they had a funeral coming in. The weather was the worst at that time so it was ok and we were grateful to be able to be inside for some of the shows.
My Premier class was in the first show and I was [retty happy we could be inside for it. Cyndi has always been the one to welcome the parents and introduce the show but she did not feel like she could do it this year and we did not want her to stress about that so I did all the speaking to the parents. I do not like public speaking but I was happy to help and let Cyndi have the time to just watch the shows and see how happy the dancers and the parents were to have a recital.
Cora, Isla, Lizzie, Kaylee, Mya, Evynn, Mila and Ezra
My premier class did a really great job and I was super proud of them. I have really liked this class and though they had their moments they were a really good class to be with. One of my stipulations with taking these classes and teaching again was that I wanted to do the same recital dances for both classes, I just didn't have it in me to have to choreograph and remember 4 more dances. I did "Mickey and Minnie on a Moonlit Night" for their ballet and "The Girls on Minnie Street" for their tap dance.
Born to Succeed had their turn to perform later ion the day when we had to move outside. It was cold and it was rainy off and on but I never heard one complaint from either the dancers or their parents. I know everyone was just happy to have something back to normal and glad to have a recital despite the conditions. Born to Succeed was a class I did not enjoy teaching, Olivia was really hard and made going there not fun. I survived and they did a great job at recital as well.
Avery, Olivia, Kyla, Rainee and Beatrice
After the last show we got everything cleaned up and then we had a picture taken of us teachers. McKayla didn't teach with us this year but she helped a ton at recital and we were happy to have her there and she counted as one of us. We went out to eat at Fiesta Guadalajara at the end of the night and when that was over I went home and took a hot bath to get the chill out of my bones and to relax my aching feet. Oh how glad I was that the day was over.
Cyndi, Elizabeth, Holly, Brigitte and McKayla