Today and yesterday were ballet competition days for my oldest daughter. I normally sit in the audience to video her performances so that my wife (who normally looks on from side-stage) can see what her dances look like from the front.
I get to watch a lot of other kid's dance as well. Today there was one exceptional dance amongst the fourteen year olds where the girl's music kept cutting out. She kept going regardless and I was impressed that she seemed to be able to keep timing for when the music cut back in. Perhaps a third of the performance was danced in silence.
What was more impressive was finding out afterwards that she put additional steps in to bridge the silences, despite this it looked like a rehearsed set. In the end she won, an impressive result in difficult circumstances. In a competition situation, with unpredictable music, in front of an adjudicator, and in front of an audience.
One of the things that children learn in these competitions is to keep going regardless, I have seen one dance where the music never started and the entire dance was done in silence. It's a nice lesson about persistence in the face of adversity and making the best of a bad lot. They know that they need to carry on regardless and frequently rise to the challenge.There's a lesson in here for us all, how gracefully do we deal with things when they don't go as we expected them to?
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