Ballet

My boys know what they like. Aidan started out by loving Cars, then Thomas, and now Mario and Super Hero Squad. Noah loves Cars and Thomas. Katie is a bit different. She's a bit more...ahem....fickle. Katie will see a new Barbie and want to buy it today, but will forget about it in a week. She will save up her money only to waste it on things she doesn't care about. She signed up for cheerleading when she was in kindergarten only to refuse to do any cheers. Therefore, when I mentioned other activities that might interest her last fall, I wanted to see what she would remember. I mentioned soccer, softball, cheerleading, gymnastics, and ballet. She decided she wanted to take ballet. Keep in mind this was the fall of 2009, one year ago. However, since Katie is Katie, I decided to wait and see how long she stayed interested in ballet. She continued to talk about it during the winter and spring, so I began looking into ways to introduce her to ballet. Grayson School of Ballet had a summer intensive that would've given her a crash course in ballet, but we decided to wait and sign her up for the new dance year that began Aug. 9.

At this ballet school, the girls are divided up into classes based upon their ages, not their experience. Katie is in Ballet II. We purchased the royal blue school uniform leotard that has Grayson School of Ballet embroidered on it, but we purchased some pink Danskin tights and pink leather ballet slippers elsewhere.

On her first day of ballet, we tried pulling her hair into a bun, but her hair is so thin that it didn't work very well. However, she got dressed in her outfit and was eager for her first class. Luckily, Chris was off of work that day, so he stayed home with the boys while I took Katie to dance class. Parents are not allowed to stay and watch except on special days (due to lack of space in the studio), so I went to Publix while she danced. When I picked her up, I was greeted with a huge grin and could see her class finishing up through the window. She danced across the floor, trying her hardest to follow the steps. When her class let out, she told me how much she loved ballet! I was stunned!!

She had ballet again this past Tuesday, and once again, she loved it! I am so glad to have found something that Katie has a true interest in learning. I took ballet when I was a child and I loved it, and then I took clogging for awhile after ballet. It taught me a lot about poise and grace, and I hope Katie will learn a lot of that as well. It's an activity that is physically demanding, but can be so much fun and so enjoyable.