Last Dance for Beth

The stress event of the year - Beth's dance concert - is finally over.

The anticipation of being able to see what Beth has been up to all year was nearly dented by dramas over her hair and makeup and... stockings.

I'm no good at makeup.

Most days, I just slap on some sunscreen, moisturizer and lipstick and go out. All that tangling with mascara, eyeliner and eyeshadow is beyond me. Why would I spend hours applying all that and then spend hours taking it off again?

And what kind of a hairdo is called "half up half down"?

I thank God for Renee. R has been dancing since she was little, and she and her sis (also a dancer) are pros at stage makeup and hairstyling. When she heard about the concert, she offered to do Beth's hair and makeup.

I brought Beth to R's parents' place on Sun morning and watched in fascination as she swung into action.

First, she backcombed Beth's hair, sprayed hairspray on generously, pinned it, tied a section and used curling irons on the little hair that was left...and there was the "half up half down", all done.



Then she applied foundation, powder, brown eyeshadow, black eyeliner and mascara, lip liner and RED RED lipstick.



I shudder at the thought of all that makeup on any little girl, but this is a performance, what to do. Next year I'll send Beth to gymnastics instead.

STOCKINGS

After ringing around all the other moms-of-dancers I know and trawling all the possible shops in Werribee Plaza, we had to drive to StageZone in Altona to get Beth a very specific pair of dance stockings with the Energetix brand.

Not that anyone would've known what brand she was wearing, but these were dance stockings for girls, made of a thicker and less stretchy material than women's stockings. I would've tried passing her off in regular pantyhose, but I couldn't find any that might fit her height.

On the whole, the concert went well. Not terribly professional as performances go (CA says he's seen better choreography in his time), but I suppose the point of it was to give the students a chance to show their supporters what they can do, and to have fun of course.