That Time I Embarrassed Myself in Front of Hundreds

I guess I've never had to tell many embarrassing stories because it sure took me a while to remember any that happened to me. I think my most embarrassing moment happened when I was a little too young to truly remember/recognize what was going on at the time. You know, kids can't be embarrassed by anything. They're magical at that age. Untouchable.

I was fourish years old and performing at my very first dance recital. We were dancing to "Under the Sea" and had the cutest darn "sea-inspired" costumes. I got to be the leader of the pack in my class. My dance teacher loved me and saw a dance career in my future - What can I say? She was right. But, you wouldn't know it or believe it if you saw my performance that evening.

The routine starts off with me and a dozen other little ballerina girls scurrying onto the stage as we pretend we are swimming. Dance Lesson #1: Put your hands palms together in front of you with your fingers pointing away from you. Bend your wrists to the right. Now to the left. And start scurrying around. See, you're swimming. Back to the recital. I was the first one on stage and the rest of the girls followed me as we swam scurried around the stage for about five 8-counts or so. At the end of those five 8-counts we were supposed to have safely arrived in our spot.

I, however, did not make it safely to my spot in those five 8-counts.

Nope. Chelsea was too busy having a blast "swimming" around the stage like a mermaid that she completely forgot to go to her spot. Yep. I was that girl. The one who was still running all over the stage in a panic when the dance had already started. Hard to believe, right? I mean, c'mon now. I totally look like I take my dance career seriously here:

It continues. I did finally find spot amongst all the other ballerina mermaids and rocked that dance. Seriously. Well, until this one part...

I, Chelsea, Leader of the Pack was given the responsibility of being the line leader again. We pranced around in that line to the back of the stage, laid down on our backs, and kicked our feet up in the air for three 8-counts. However, I just didn't like that choreography apparently [although I later used this exact same part in a recital dance I choreographed a couple years ago. Don't judge.]

I only wanted to kick my feet up in the air for one 8-count. So, as soon as I was done, I just sat up and looked at my dance teacher who was standing in the wings. I'm pretty sure she looked at me and waved for me to get back down. So, I did. For a second or two. But I just wanted to DANCE! Eventually the number was over and I probably didn't get embarrassed by it until I was 9 years old and on a national champion all-star team and looked back at that video. At that point, I'm sure I rolled my eyes, scoffed, and thought, "Ugh, what an embarrassment!

And then I went on to win a couple more championships, danced in high school, college, and taught dance around the country for five years ;) So, sometimes it's a good thing when you get so darn excited about something that you kind of actually forget what you're doing and just make it your own. Dance became that for me. It became my life and my greatest passion growing up.

But seriously, watching that video now, at this point in life... it's just embarrassing. Because you just can't miss it. I was totally that girl. So, if ever you're in the DC area and want to get a good laugh at little ballerina babe Chelsea, stop by my Dad's. I'm sure he'd get a good chuckle too :)