Over the past few weeks my better half has been working on a secret project - at times our lounge has been carpeted with penguin headpieces, and at other times red velvet vampire cloaks. I was sworn to secrecy ahead of the shows staged this evening at the theatre in town.
You see, there’s this amazing dance teacher in town, who we’ve come to know through our children. It all started as both a thinly veiled strategy to create friends for our eldest when the adoption first went through, and to improve our youngest’s coordination (she had shocking motor skills following years of neglect early in her life). She has this gift of fostering enthusiasm in children, and the results that we get the chance to see perhaps a couple of times each year are beyond words.
During the performance tonight in front of the assembled parents of half the town’s children, a couple of moments stood out. Firstly, where on earth did our youngest learn to follow such long and complex dance routines so enthusiastically? Secondly, who knew the youngest daughter of the dance teacher was such a good dancer? (this is where I realise I’m the last to notice). I know I’ll be accused of bias because I “kind of” know the family now, but the difference in quality between her and the rest of the dancers in her routines was huge.
Oh - one more thing - imagine my surprise when the show ended, and my name came up in the credits… “Website design by Jonathan Beckett”… if nothing else, our eldest suddenly realised that what I do isn’t just tapping at keys in the study.
As we walked home, she hummed the theme from the TV Series “The Professionals” (the music for one of the numbers), and asked if I might buy her the new Madonna Album. I smiled as we walked along, humming the song, and skipping the odd step. I think somehow her football career might be coming to an end, and she might go back to the dance classes she walked away from. I bet the dance teacher saw it coming too.
I guess the trick will be staying impartial (she’s a far better dancer than footballer).