DOAD #28: A superb spring dance concert

Hello friends! We just wrapped Atticus’s first year at performing arts high school with a three-night spring dance show, and I’ve got a few highlights to share. 🎭 The lead-up: * 🎶 Atticus choreographed his own solo with help from his dance consultant — my wife and I mostly just got out of the way and let them cook * 🎧 I got to be on the audio production side — he had a 5-minute orchestral piece he wanted cut down to ~2 minutes, so we spent hours in GarageBand surgically stitching transitions until they blended like butter * ✨ One of my favorite things about this school: kids get hands-on with all of it — choreography, music edits, costume choices, lighting palettes, even backdrops. Makes for way more versatile dancers Show night: * ✈️ I caught the red-eye home from a work trip Saturday morning to make it * 🪑 Front-row seat — my toes were literally butting up against the marley floor * 📱 Photo/video was discouraged, so I may or may not have filmed it ninja-style by holding my program up as a decoy with my phone tucked behind it. (Sorry, not sorry.) * 👀 I did a terrible videography job because I kept forgetting to follow him with the camera — too busy watching with my actual eyes The moments that got me: * 🤸 A giant sideways scissor-kick leap and a set of turns that seemed to last forever — the crowd around me was audibly losing it (”Oh I see you! You brought it tonight!”) * 👏 Hearing strangers — moms, dads, grandparents — react in real time to his solo is a special kind of proud-papa treat What’s next: * 🩰 Three weeks in Phoenix at Master Ballet Academy * 🏛️ Then off to Massachusetts for the CLI Conservatory * 🎙️ Lots more to share with you soon 👉 Visit dadofadancer.com and subscribe so you never miss an episode — new ones drop every Wednesday! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dadofadancer.com