I even got to wear makeup on stage! I waited backstage with my two dance partners until it was our turn. Finally the moment came and we ran on stage to start our number. We did great at first. I was in the center, the other two girls were on my side. I danced and they watched my feet and tried to keep up. About half way through though I blanked. After months of learning and singing the same dance and song, I blanked. I stopped and stood there. Therefore my partners stopped and stood there. I looked off to the side to my teacher hoping she would offer some assistance. She tried to show me, but I guess I just didn't understand. The three of us stood on stage for the next minute or so trying to rack our brains for the next step. The music ended, and we bowed, and ran off stage while the audience laughed and got the biggest kick out of us than any other act the whole night. We got the usual parental talks backstage, "Oh you kids were great, you did a fantastic job." I knew better, but was only five, five year olds have a tendency to forget stuff easily. .
Two years later I had changed my career choice from a professional dancer to a professional dance teacher. My cousin had decided she didn't want to dance anymore, had failed to tell anyone before the recital, and left me at 7 years old to do my first solo on stage. Not to mention I had already went through 3 different sizes of tap shoes. This was the year I also took up softball ( which would later impact my dance career ). .
When I was eight I got to be in my first ever huge group number. This was a big deal because I was by far the youngest in the group. We danced to "Thank Heaven For Little Girls." Two years later, when I was ten, the recital was moved to another high school auditorium in a neighboring county. That was the year I got to be in the opening act. And I also got to be in two recitals, one on Saturday and one on Friday.