A young Columbia girl recently got to participate in a big Christmas performance.

Emersyn Lane, a first grader at Eagleview Elementary, could be seen dancing across the stage Sunday at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis during “Nutcracker! Magical Christmas Ballet,” one of her biggest performances yet. 

Jordan Lane said his daughter has been dancing for nearly four years.

“Dance has been a passion of hers for a few years now and growing,” Lane said.

Emersyn’s experience in those years has come largely from Professional Dance Center, Inc. in St. Louis.

Her participation in this studio also ended up leading to her audition at SkyStone Conservatory of the Arts where she – alongside 125 other kids from the St. Louis area – were cast in the show.

“Her friend was trying out and then she asked if Emersyn would be interested in trying out as well, and so she went and tried out with her friend and they both ended up getting cast in the show,” Lane said.

Lane noted Emersyn’s exceptional progress in dance over the last few years.

Just this year she participated in several dance competitions and plans to participate in even more next year.

Lane added that he and his wife Casey expect dance to continue to be a major part of Emersyn’s life in the future.

“She’s learning more different styles of dance and so she’s participating in more dances as she gets older and as she gets more experienced,” Lane said. “Really we’ve just kind of told her and encouraged her that the sky’s the limit. If you wanna keep getting better and doing more dance, then you’re welcome to do that, and she keeps wanting to do more and achieve more with it.”

Prior to Sunday’s performance, Lane described his enthusiasm and anticipation to see his young daughter on the big stage.

“We’ve been super proud to watch her grow in her passion for dance and watch everything that she’s learned over the past few years, and we’re just super excited and anxious for her, and also a little bit nervous but also more just so excited to watch her on stage at the Fox and to dance with people from all over the country and be a part of that performance – especially only being 7 years old,” Lane said. “We’re just really proud of her.”

Emersyn also expressed her own excitement about  the performance, noting her  anticipation for dressing as a snowflake and leading her group out onto the stage.

“I’ve seen two shows at the Fox this year and I loved it,” Emersyn said prior to Sunday’s performance. “Now I get a chance to dance on that stage and I am so excited.”

Following the show, Lane expressed satisfaction and pride at seeing his daughter’s performance.

“For me, it was obviously a super proud dad moment seeing her up there,” Lane said. “She did great. She was pretty much flawless and executed her part pretty much exactly how she practiced it.”

According to Lane, Emersyn said after the performance that she wasn’t nervous one bit – and she is already eager to audition next year.

“On the way home, she was tired but she said she was gonna audition next year for the Nutcracker as well,” Lane said. “She was already saying she wanted to do it again.”