Tiny Dancer

Wow!  I suddenly find myself way behind on blogging, with a long list of posts to compose!  On the bright side, this also is a sign that there have been lots of fun and memorable happenings in our lives recently.  :)

In late summer, Annalise started taking dance lessons at Blue Valley Rec.  We thought about waiting until she was a bit older, but Annalise's preschool friend Grace has been taking classes for months and her mom convinced us to join.  I must confess that it has been my favorite extracurricular activity to date, and, more importantly, Miss A seems like she genuinely enjoys it!  All smiles before her first class...

    

One thing I love about the class is the teacher, Miss Marilyn.  (Amazingly, my dance teacher throughout grade school was also Miss Marilyn - took that as a sign of sorts!)  She has a very specific routine for each class.  When the girls arrive, they must put on their tap shoes.  Here are Grace and Annalise, ready to go...

Next, they walk up the ramp, turn around and wave goodbye to the mommies and daddies, and head into the studio (which is a no parent zone!).

There is a window so that parents can watch the class, but the blinds are always down (perhaps to make it a little less distracting for the kids?), so all my pictures look kinda funny.  You get the idea, though!  Miss Marilyn has them wearing or using a new prop each week, whether it's hats and canes, scarves, or matching white tutus.

Halfway through the hour, the girls scamper over to their cubbies and are responsible for changing footwear.  It is a fun transition to watch, as they frantically throw their tap shoes into their bags, sort of get their ballet shoes on their feet, and fly back over toward Miss Marilyn, seemingly afraid that they are going to miss out on the best dance moves ever!

Miss Marilyn does teach the girls mini routines, to the great delight of all the parents watching.  Yup, I daresay that we enjoy it as much as they do!  Here is a recent favorite, I believe with a housemaid theme...

The "dance moms" tell me that you have to sign up for the spring session as soon as registration opens, as there is an official recital in the spring and slots fill up quickly.  That's right.  Registration opens at 6am on a Tuesday, and these ladies are online ready and waiting!  Seems a bit crazy to me, and yet, after seeing how much joy this dance class brought my little lady and me, I just might do it!