Dance Attack(ing my wallet)

Karsyn’s summer of endless activities kicked off last weekend with a dance recital at Foothill College on Saturday and Sunday. She’s been enrolled in dance for a couple of months, and her dance school put on a huge show, which consisted of about 4000 separate acts. OK, maybe not 4000. Let’s call it 50.

50 dance routines of girls and boys ranging from 3 year-olds to anywhere north of 50. It was quite the spectacle. Lots of frilly costumes make up and “dance people”. I am not a “dance person”. Sonya will attest to this. I think the whole deal is a little over the top and I have yet to embrace the whole concept.

I’m not a Neanderthal. I actually enjoy the arts. In fact, I can sit through an opera or a ballet. I can tell the difference between Mozart and Tchaikovsky. I prefer Monet over Renoir.

What I’m not, is someone who likes get milked for every nickel and dime I own. Here is a link to the photos I took of the event. You may notice that there are no photos of Karsyn actually dancing. The reason for that is that we were no allowed to take any photographs (even non-flash photos), or any video of the event.


Waiting for the show to begin
We were of course given the option of buying the $40 DVD of the event. Did I mention that I also had to pay $17 just to get in the door to see my own child perform? I don’t have any problem spending money on my kids. In fact, I could probably be accused of spending too much money on frivolous things for them. I have the money, and they’re only little once in their lives, so why not.

The fact that the outfit I also pay to instruct my child, also tries to fleece me for a DVD after charging me to see the performance live is a little over the top in my opinion. They have you right where they want you. It’s your kids first performance, you shelled out $50 for the costume that they need to wear (which I’m sure they also get a kick back on), all the grandparents are there. You have no choice. Throw in the bouquet of flowers that you need to buy and you’re talking some serious coin.

I was tickled to see Karsyn up on stage. She seemed to be genuinely having fun up there. I would have been petrified up there, but she seemed to soak it all in and enjoy herself. So now I’m torn because she actually loves to dance.

The whole “Jon Benet” culture also seems to turn me off a bit. Little kids do not need to be caked in makeup. They’re already cute. They already glow up on stage. They don’t need to be made up like little dolls. Let them be little kids.


The star of the show with her flowers
I also argued with Sonya that nobody gives out scholarships for dance (except for dance schools). If Karsyn ever got a scholarship from Juilliard, then I would stand humbly corrected, but I’m hoping Stanford, Harvard or some other school comes knocking first.

I’d tell you more about the performance itself, but I’ll let you come over and check out my $40 DVD. I plan on getting my money’s worth by watching it often.

Karsyn's Dance [Photo Album]