Performing in front of parents is a collective moment of shared humiliation. The umbilical cord connecting them to their parents weakens a little under the harsh stage lights that bleach their eye sockets and inextricably and tightly binds them into a group.
dangling astronauts
grasping for the escape hatch
just to stay afloat
Nice Haiku. Like the tie in with the astronaut floating in space and connection to the family.