The Dance Mum

I have been a dancer since I was four years old and my brother is also a dancer, however it wasn't until my brother started competing that I encountered the dance mum - the thing every dancer fears!

If you're a daughter of a dance mum then you are under the pressure of your mum living her dream through you as she sprays you with bronzer that is two shades too dark for your skin and practices face expressions with you for your tap routine. If you are a competitor then you must also be scared of the dance mum for you are her enemy and she will judge you more then the adjudicator as she attempts to murder you with her eyes.

I've watched the TV show Dance Moms before and I found it just as entertaining as Toddlers and Tiaras or Honey Boo Boo but I just thought all that dance muminess was for the cameras and everything was a little exaggerated because it was reality TV... I was wrong.

I went to help my brother last week with competitions. We are at the same dance school and love it -our teachers are amazing, the girls are extremely talented and their mothers have a normal amount of enthusiasm.

However my nightmares of dance mums became realised as I walked through the communal change room that smelt of fake tan, and glittered with tacky and very sparkly costumes. As I walked through the dance mums took a break from violently forcing hair pins into their daughters buns to stare at me - I was being judged and I wasn't even competing!

I went to the toilet in a state of nervousness only to hear a lady behind me shouting at her daughter "you need to learn the difference between your creepy smile and your nice smile!" - I ran into the cubicle for shelter.

I went backstage again and watched as a mother pinned the final touches to her daughters tutus and saved other pins surely for voodoo on dolls that represented competing teams.

I went into the audience and watched but as the night went on I felt myself getting more competitive with every category that our dance school danced in! I was judging every tanned ten year old that walked past me! 

It wasn't until I was backstage besides the trophies seriously considering to steal some or on the stairs contemplating whether to "accidentally" push the 12 year old in front of me down them that I realised I was way too into it!! For those five hours of competitions I too became a dance mum! I am ashamed to admit it, but I did! 

So maybe we all have a little bit of dance mum inside us because we just all really really want to win.

-A