Back to the future

Liberty and I went to LA Dance Magic last night. It's a dance convention, one of many Paris and I used to attend during the years that she danced competitively.

Liberty loves to dance. She loves music. She loves performing. And she wants to audition for dance team this year. It's clearly a passion of hers and a constant conversation topic in our house. She has taken dance classes since she was three and this year is in three classes: intermediate jazz, intermediate / advanced jazz, and ballet.

Last night took me right back to that parallel universe, now chronicled on Lifetime in Dance Moms. It was so many of the same people, doing the same thing, while we'd spent our winter weekends skiing and sleeping in. While we were doing theatre and playdates, they were doing leaps and turns, and homework in the car between classes. I looked carefully into the faces of The Next Step dancers, searching for traces of the five-year-olds that Paris began dancing with. I found poised teenagers.

If Liberty makes team this will be our reality again. And I will have to figure out if I fit in with the younger team's dance moms or the ones I've known for years, the ones who greeted me with big hugs and surprised faces last night. Or perhaps I will remain a misfit.