I remember when my daughter was taking dance. She was three years old.

She was what’s called a ‘pink baby.’ That first year, my wife and I would sit in the lobby, watching her stumble around with all the other little girls, learning her first steps.

I became a ‘dance dad’ and was the one who would often take my daughter to dance when she got a little older. And there were a lot of classes- sometimes four or five days a week. During that time, I became an expert in how to make a bun.

Give me a handful of bobby pins and before you can say arabesque you will have a bun tight enough to deflect bullets.

I was a little self-conscious sometimes. It would be just me and a room full of the other dance moms, sitting in a sea of dance bags, dirty leotards, and scuffed ballet slippers.

It was pretty ‘aromatic’ in that lobby. I can still remember the smell- sweat, and feet.

After a while, my two sons started taking dance classes. Back then, it wasn’t some girly thing that only sissy boys do like it seems today.

People would often ask me why I put my boys in dance. Wasn’t it embarrassing?

Well, maybe. There would be plenty of times in their lives when they would be shamed or embarrassed. Putting on a pair of tights and a dance belt would be the least of them.

My wife and I enrolled our boys because we knew the skills and life lessons they would learn from Miss Alison would be invaluable as they grew into men.

And we were right. My sons did learn to love the arts and how to try hard things in her class that they still carry in adulthood.

All of Alison’s students did.

They weren’t just learning how to dance. They were learning how to live.

And now, my granddaughter is in dance and it has started all over again. And there is a new person guiding these young lives- Miss Melissa.

Every time I watch my granddaughter on stage, I’m transported back 25 years. Me sitting in that padded folding seat, holding a bouquet of wilted flowers, and smiling so hard it felt like my jaw would become unhinged.

South Georgia Ballet has forged all of our lives of our paths in life. I have been on stage playing Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker for almost 30 years. Alison asked me to do it when I was a wee lad of 33 years.

Over the years, I have been able to witness little girls come into the show and grow from little giggly mice to play Clara or the Snow Queen. It’s been like reading the same book over and over again where a new chapter is added to the end year after year.

At last week’s performance of Beauty and the Beast, I realized why I love this group of people so much.

They are more than just teachers and mentors. They are my family.

It turned my children into the successful adults they are today. It has turned me into a better man.

And year after year, it has allowed me for just a moment to witness something that is not ugly or perverted. It is a moment of true beauty. That is pretty rare.

So when my granddaughter needs me to ever carry her to dance or put her hair in the bun, I’m ready.

She is now part of the magic.