Kaavia James Union Wade’s Ballerina Debut Is The Cutest Thing You’ll See All Week

Everyone’s favorite “shady baby” Kaavia James Union Wade is growing up, and the internet isn’t ready. Last week, the 4-year-old made her debut as a ballerina at her first dance recital.

A video was posted on Kaavia’s Instagram, which is run by parents Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade, showing how cute she looked during her recitals. In one clip, she’s preparing to go on stage in a pretty pink, purple and blue tutu with a matching flower in her hair. She tells the cameraman, “I’m ready,” as she shakes her head full of curls before heading to the stage.

The next clips capture her in a sparkling pink and yellow dress with a matching flower tucked into her sleek bun. During one slide, she can barely contain her excitement as she bounces up and down backstage.

Fans were shocked to see Kaavia’s normal, blank, unimpressed expressions swapped for excitement and plenty of smiles as she twirled onstage with her fellow dancers.

An adorable moment in the video is when Kaavia accepts gifts from her fan club after her performance. Her best friend, Crosby Sparrow, was there to hype her up for doing a great job and present her with a small bouquet. According to Atlanta Black Star, Crosby is the son of television actress Nicole Lyn and entrepreneur Chad Easterling.

“The real Perfect Find debuting this weekend,” Union captioned the post, which was also a nod to her new film, The Perfect Find.

Kaavia’s video has over 1 million views with nearly 135,000 likes and over 2,000 comments. Many users were taken aback by how much she has grown and are confused as to where the time went. 

“She was just a baby! Where does the time go,” one person commented.

“How is she so grown up already. She looks beautiful and she looks like [she] loved her experience!” another Instagram user wrote.

One fan commented that she seemed to be handling her recitals better now, writing, “Kaavia has grown so much, and so Beautiful ❤️ I remember a recital when she was terrified, and now look. Congratulations Kaavia.”

Most are just very proud of their social media niece.

“Our insta niece is so beautiful!” one person wrote.

“Go NEICE, our gurl is showing out!!! Awwwh, Thanks for Sharing her with us…We Love her!!! She’s growing up and making us so Proud of her,” another person wrote.

Union and Wade welcomed Kaavia via surrogacy in November 2018. She is Union’s first child and Wade’s fourth. The former NBA player has three older children from previous relationships: Zaire, Zaya and Xavier.

Since the couple began sharing their daughter on social media, fans have been obsessed with her “unbothered” attitude and meme-worthy expressions.

She gained the title and hashtag #shadybaby due to how unimpressed she seemed to be with everyone and everything.