happy opening night!

I could nitpick and enumerate everything that went wrong with my dancing tonight(there were three, hehe), but I will not do that. Instead, I will recall one of the nice things that happened.

It's the last movement of Classical Symphony and standing on the side too long has made me forget to smile. It also has me wanting to get the dance over with already.

Then, Aileen temps leves into my line of vision and I watch her dance and see how animated and full of joy her face is even though I know she's always freaking out at this part because she can't seem to remember where to put her arms. She does it flawlessly of course and I am reminded why I'm dancing. It becomes easier to dance from that point onward.

We have two other ballets to complete before the end of the show. The audience loved Isang Bagong Bituin and everyone is happy kissing and hugging each other after the curtain has stopped going up for our bows. I am happy - more than, actually - but I don't go kissing and hugging, I'm already thinking about tomorrow's show, hoping it's better than tonight, not just as good as. Also, my damn heel is killing me, so I bend over on my way out to the dressing rooms, and pull the heel off my pointes.

Then someone grabs me and shakes me and says a very heartfelt, "Hoy, congrats sa 'yo!" I look up and it's Aileen, the original Bituin. I'm stunned and it dawns on me that tonight really was a job well done.

That's just one of the nice things about tonight. There are lots. In the long run, those happier things, and not the tiny mistakes that no one even notices, are the ones that really matter.