It’s that wonderful time of year again, when hundreds of little dancers swirl across the stage at Weber State University’s Browning Arts Center Auditorium for the Clytie Adams Ballet School recital. This year Mark Robinette Kelly DeHaan and I wrote 25 little songs for the performances. Among those twirling girls were my grand-daughters Sophie Connors and Beth Merrill, and my grand niece, Quincey Hansen. It was a delicate thing to find the sweet spot between the joy of watching them while I sang and played, and the ugly-singing place there I become overcome with emotion because they are so lovely and I adore them with every ounce of me! It ended up I could not even once watch Sophie’s dance because I kept getting choked up. The song I wrote for their lovely dance was carefully written with her in mind, which was sweet… until I had to sing it on stage and my emotions went bonkers.
I love that Clytie Adams trusts us to write music for such an amazing show! We play the first half, and the New American Philharmonic Orchestra plays the second half.
It is a rare thing these days for any little dancers to get to dance to love music. And its a rare thing to get to play and sing for them.
Hooray for Clytie and her team for making this happen year after year.
