I've told my favorite story before, but in case you haven't read it, I'll tell it again
We went to WDW in June 2004 with a large group from our dance studio (25 dancers but about 90 including family members). My girls, age 13 and 9 at the time, got to dance at Epcot as part of the Magic Music Days. They started practicing in November 2003, squeezing Disney classes in whenever they could, after their regular dance classes, and their competition classes, which usually meant dancing on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons. They made huge sacrifices of their free time for this experience.
About 3 and a half weeks before we were set to leave (because we were on a tight budget for this trip, we decided to drive from Omaha, NE, which is about 26 hours...but that's another story), my 13 year old broke her foot while practicing her her dance. Her doctor gave us a tough decision to make. He said we could either cast her foot, which would mean she couldn't practice at all for the next 3 weeks before we left, with a chance that if her foot wasn't healed enough before we left they wouldn't remove it...or he could put her foot into a cam walker (basically a removable cast) which she'd have to wear for about 6 weeks, but it could be removed. He assured us that it would heal quicker and better with a regular cast, and that if she gave up soda and took extra calcium there was a good chance they could remove it before we left.
We opted for the cast, and we both cried while they put it on, knowing she could be giving up this once in a lifetime opportunity to dance at Disney World...but because they chances would be better that she'd be healed enough to take it off before we left, we went with that option.
3 weeks went by and during that time, she attended every dance class, learning entire routines by watching and not participating. She video taped them so that she could take it home and watch it, playing it in slow motion so she could learn the choreography while hobbling around at home, so that she wouldn't slow the class down. She had a cast up to her knee and yet she still didn't give up.
A few days before we left for our drive, they removed the cast, and took additional xrays and the doctor gave her the ok to dance in the 2 scheduled practices we had before we left, and the performance itself, but told her that she was still healing and in exchange for letting her perform and removing her cast, she was to be in a wheelchair as much as possible for the remainder of the trip.
She was struggling with her turns in the 2 classes she had before we left, and because she was the oldest member on the team performing, there were a couple times in the routine that she was spotlighted front and center doing her turns. We left Omaha, not knowing if she was going to be able to do her turns or if they were going to have to make changes in the routine at the last minute.
We had almost a week from our last practice to the day of the performance, which was our travel time (and a few days in Daytona Beach). Unfortunately, we couldn't find any place for her to practice her turns properly so she still wasn't sure if she'd be able to do them.
When we caught up with the rest of the studio group, once we were in Orlando, they left the morning of their performance, by bus, to a backstage area to practice. (So my daughters got to be honorary cast members for the day, and got to be backstage at Epcot!). They left on the bus, and until they got to their final practice, we didn't know if she'd be able to do her full performance or not. :veryconfu :
The next time I saw them was when they were on stage. It started to rain, but luckily just a light shower and the stage was covered so they continued. They actually had a great crowd, the theater was filled to capacity and there were people crowded in to watch, despite the rain. It was very emotional when they walked out onto that stage and started performing. And in the end, she was able to do her full routine, including her turns. :drevil:
That was definately my favorite moment!
