Dad's Ballet Recital

When my daughter was young She went to a ballet school The teacher thought it would be fun To teach some fathers ballet too She found all of six of us Who were willing to take her dare As long as we promised That at her recital we would be there She knew it would be humorous But she wanted the dance steps done just right So we practiced for six months In secret late at night We learned the many positions We learned leaps and plies, too But we did draw the line None of us would wear a pink tutu On the night of the recital “Special Guests” is what the program said “A Performance you won’t want to miss” Is all the description read So right after a first grade tap And before a junior ballet We flittered across the stage As music from Swan Lake did play At first the audience was tepid Not really interested in a routine With none of their little ones in it Until they realized what they had seen When once again we appeared In tennis shoes and shorts Doing plies in third position Came the snickers and the snorts We danced our little hearts out Doing the steps technically precise While old and young were laughing At those guys under the lights We ended our routine With me doing a split And stuck in that position They carried me out for our exit And now these many years later My daughter still tells the story About her ballet recital When Dad got all the glory