The Girls Begin Dance Classes

Lily was wanting to take dance classes.  Amara hurt her feelings when she told her that that was never going to happen because they cost too much money.  It crushed Lily, and when I discovered she was so sad about not having dance classes, I told her we could look into it. 

We attended a dance performance in January by Discovery Danceworks and after seeing that, Lily wanted to join.  I spoke with the teacher, Miss Heather, and she said Lily could join the class just below her age group because there was an extra spot.  The cost was $125 per semester and a $25-$35 costume fee.  Lily wanted so badly to join, so I set things up for her to join. 

Well, then Amara suddenly thought she wanted to take dance, too.  So, long story short, I was able to enroll both kids in the same class.  I wasn't super excited to pay for 2 kids to join dance, especially since Steve just had surgery and we hadn't' received the bills from that yet.  The girls have money they have been saving from Grandma Debby for horse riding lessons, but when I mentioned they could help pay for dance with that money, my suggestion was met with dismay, and I could feel their walls going up in defense, a readiness to say "never mind" to dance just so they could hold on to their saved money.  So, I talked to Miss Heather and worked out a way that we could do a trade and do some work for her for their tuition this semester.  I figured that the girls could help me work for their dance classes.

 So, Lily has been stretching.  She started stretching before dance, but dance made her want to stretch more and more, so she's been giving it a good go. 

Steve was watching her do a back bend and he wanted to teach her how to do a sideways move into a backbend, like he used to do all the time in capoeira.  He stood next to her and coached her through it.

 And she did it!  He was so very proud of her!

 In March, their dance company performed "The Red Ribbon."  It was a lovely performance based upon a children's book.  Miss Heather is amazing.  Not only did she choreograph the dances for all 110 girls, she wrote her own script, found all the music, arranged all the costumes, and I'm sure the list goes on.

 There were 2 performances and we went to both of them.  See if you can pick out our girls.

 The job Miss Heather had given me was to make a display that related to the Red Ribbon book, a place where the dancers could make an art piece and pay tribute to someone that had done kindness, just like the people in the book. 

My display turned out really well.  It basically led people down the hallway with excerpts from the book, and then they followed the red ribbon into the room with the display wall.

Amara's art paying tribute to her mom and dad.

Lily's art paying tribute to Miss Heather.

 Because this display was supposed to be something the audience could do while they were waiting for the show to begin, I set up a few other things to make it more interactive.  I gave people the opportunity to think of something they could do to make someone smile and write it down and clip it to the red ribbon that was strung up behind the table.

 It was a lot of work and my kids didn't really help a whole lot with it, which is a bummer because I wanted them to earn their own dance lessons, but oh well.   I feel bad about that.  I guess I earned them dance classes. 

The good news is they're dancing (and stretching), and it brings them happiness as well as me.

Lily was sick one Sunday and stayed home from church and stretched for 3 hours straight just so she could do the splits, and sure enough, she did them!

 I look forward to seeing them dance more and more!