Dance Competitions

A little reflection about today and the girl's ballet competition. 

Today, the girl participated in the Get the Beat Singapore Round.  She had been practicing the routine for the last three months and had worked hard on it.  

This morning was a crazy rush, I spent 25 mins just fixing her hair.  It was beautifully done if I may say.  

I also applied some light make up on her but her dance teacher/principal helped to touch up her eyes.  And boy did her eyes sparkle. 

Here's the girl with her costume.

She did the Giselle peasant variation.  She did well on stage however she did not win anything. And to be truthful, I was a little disappointed.  But what is more important is that I am truly thankful to God that I have a daughter who is resilient and self confident.  

After the results were announced, I texted the husband.  Both of us were a little worried that she would be quite disappointed and sad that she did not win in the competition but when I saw her right after, she was not upset.  I thought, oh well, she is putting on a strong front. 

As we were going home, I was reading out loud a short email I was writing to her dance teacher and I said in the email that we are a little disappointed.  She immediately asked me, "Mummy, are you disappointed"?  I said "Yes, I am a little disappointed" because I know she had worked hard.  She turned around and told me that she was not disappointed because she felt that she did well during her routine.  She did not "make a fool of herself" and she's happy with her performance!  Wow!  It amazed me how she is able to assess herself and was not defined by whether she had won but by the fact that she had done well by her standards.  She is a self motivated child and sometimes I worry that she pushes herself too much but this showed me that she has a well-balanced attitude.  

I'm one proud mummy!