A Reluctant Tribute to Irish Dancers

My daughter loves theater, music and dance, and I love my daughter. As a result, I see a fair number of shows. In the past six months or so, we've seen High School Musical, Annie, The Spirit of Christmas and Wicked. And, of course, you know all about the wildly overpriced Jonas Brothers concert.

I'm not a reluctant participant, either. I'm very conscious of the fact that my daughter is in middle school now and on the cusp of that age where parents can do no right. I'll pretty much share anything she wants to share. I am the mom who gets up and dances when some teenage singer says he wants to see all the parents up dancing. In earlier years, I was the mom who went down the water slide holding EVERY child in my daughter's preschool class up over my head so that they could go on the water slide without going under water. I was the mom who unquestioning put on the plastic crown that was presented to me while I was making breakfast for the sleepover guests and who agreed to cover the back patio in bubble wrap after my daughter's friends were deemed too old to get into that "game" at the school fun fair. I'm the mom who, when my daughter's "boyfriend" chases the car down the block after school, plays along and whips around the block and cuts him off.

I enjoy those things, and I think they make it easier for my daughter to swallow the fact that I'm ALSO the mom--often the only one--who thinks 12 is too young to go to the community pool without a grownup, who has to talk to the other parent if we're going to have a guest or my daughter is visiting someone else, who says some movies aren't appropriate for her age and who doesn't let my child online unless I'm in the room.

But when my daughter mentioned excitedly that Riverdance was coming to town, I immediately started considering my options. I could claim it was sold out. I could pay someone else to take her. I could jump off the Brooklyn Bridge on my next business trip to New York.

It will probably come as no surprise to you that I finally chose "Go to the damned show." But I definitely haven't been looking forward to it. And I'll be honest: I fell asleep a couple of times. There's a good chance that I have no culture, but whatever the cause, watching people dance for two solid hours was about as exciting as I expected it to be.

That said, the lead dancers were astonishing. She, I believe, is a woodsprite / fairy mix. He reminded me of a lithe, prancing horse. I may have chosen the wrong animals / mythical creatures, but I'm utterly convinced that no mere human moves like that. I quite literally couldn't WATCH as fast as this man danced. It would have been comical if it weren't so riveting. If you're into that sort of thing, you should definitely see it.

Or if, you know, your KID is.