Dancing Out of Control

I have seen my future. And I better start developing big hair. Because I’m going to be a Dance Mom. Or a Dance GodMom. I mentioned that Amelia May, my Goddaughter, is taking Hip Hop classes. Actually, she’s auditing the class, because at 4-1/2 she’s too young for this class of 7 year olds. But she can bust the moves and the sweet little girls in the class seem to have adopted her as a mascot. So she’s in the troupe in all but official capacity. Tonight, as part of the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Santana Row (and I won’t even comment on the fact that this is taking place before Thanksgiving!), all the dance groups in the West San Jose schools were performing in an outdoor venue. I joined Amelia May to cheer on “our” team — the Dance Cats. Little did I know that San Jose has apparently attracted all the child terpsichorean talent West of the Mississippi. It was like watching a three hour long episode of Glee. Except one where the kids are ten times more talented. And are actually kids.

Here’s Amelia May with her favorite “big sisters” from her Dance Cats troupe.

The routines — from the littles to the teens — were uniformly excellent. I was proud to see my High School break out an incredible acrobatic Hip Hop routine. I say “my High School” not because I went there or know anyone who went there, but their large lawns are favorite weeing spots for the terriers. So we think of Abraham Lincoln High School as ours and we’re true to our school. I wish I could have captured pictures of some of the performances. But to get a shot, I would have had to muscle up to the stage through ten deep standing rows of Dance Moms. And I know enough to realize, ya don’t mess with Dance Moms. You certainly don’t get between them and the stage when their kids are performing. Also, photographs might have sent more sensitive members of my blog audience into insulin shock from extreme cuteness overload.

Actually, it was good that I experienced this a few years before Amelia May is old enough to be up on that stage performing. It gave me a chance to get my game plan together as I can foresee years of dance recitals and performances in my near future. I realize on such occasions I’ll need to scope out the territory with a sniper’s precision. Friendships will have to be made with people in one of the surrounding apartments and telephoto lenses will have to be deployed. Extra SD cards will be at the ready. Because every dance step will have to be documented. Such are the duties of a Dance GodMom.

Luckily, we are still a few years away from that time. So we had a chance to enjoy other aspects of the evening. Because San Jose does these things up right.