Dancing on a LImb

I received an email from one of my various yahoo groups several months ago about a local production that was needing to cast some dancers. I know that Sierra is very passionate about dance and immeasurably braver than I was at her age (okay, braver than I am now). So I printed out the email and handed it her for her to do with as she wished. I am all about giving the options, putting the info out there, and then letting her decide if it is something that interests her. Well, all the starts aligned and she jumped in both feet. She began choreographing an interpretive dance immediately - this was one of the requirements of the audition. She had exactly one week to perfect it before auditions. She worked and worked and worked. Mom watched and commented; watched and commented; and watched and commented - and spent too much time to be admitted to cropping down her song to the 1 minute required for the audition.

Well, audition day arrived and we both drove to the theater. I can not say for sure that I was more nervous than her, but I can say that I was FREAKING OUT, but only on the inside. Ya gotta display that calm motherly exterior in order to reassure your child. Sierra sat down to fill out the paperwork for the audition as she was briefed by the choreographer on how the audition would go: 1st dancing with the choreographer, 2nd singing with the vocalist, 3rd on stage to do some acting with the producer. After the choreographer walked away, Sierra looked at me and said, "Should we leave now?" I wanted to laugh and cry all at the same time. She was never informed she would have to sing or act. She was only prepared to dance. I looked at her and said with the very calm, reassuring mommy voice, "No," fully expecting my precious daughter to fall apart at any moment. But, being the braver of the two of us, she hiked up her big girl panties (not literally) and proceeded with the audition - which never required her to perform the interpretive dance she worked so hard on. They were told they would find out the results the following day.
She was cast as one of the leader dancers for the production - The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I can not begin to tell you how proud I am of her; her determination and bravery astound me.