I signed Charlotte up for a creative movement/ballet class. We took one last year that was parent and child. It was OK, but the teacher was a mess. We'll leave it at that. This time I signed her up for a class taught by our neighbor, Miss Amy, who has basically taught ballet to every girl in St Paul, including our neighbor and my cousin Hannah! On the first day of this class, the teacher said grown ups don't get to watch until the last day. Every Saturday, Charlotte would wake up and ask if it was ballet. When I said yes and she'd say, "yeah!" But, as the it got closer to the time to leave, she would start saying she was tired, which is her way of saying she doesn't want to do something. When we pulled into the parking lot she'd say she didn't want to go to ballet and I'd tell her we were just going to check it out. Charlotte would go in, but she would burst into tears during the class and the teacher had to leave the door open a crack so another mom and I could sit on the floor in the hall and the girls could see us. A couple weeks ago, the last day of class finally came and all the grown ups were so excited! Charlotte wore her special "ballerina" dress. We sat on the floor in a big round room and the dancers were in the middle. First, Miss Amy led them through some standard ballet drills - first position, second position, etc. Then some other moves that were all in French. It was so fun, all the girls were smiling. Then, the teacher announced that each girl would have a solo and show us how they could go different speeds, and in different directions. Each girl chose a different piece of music. The first girl ran around in a circle for about three minutes. Miss Amy would say, "Oooh, do you think she'll change directions? Maybe she'll show us an arebesque. No?" Then she said, "3-2-1, take a bow!" I was tearing up and I knew I was going to cry during Charlotte's. Charlotte's turn came and she ran around in a circle as fast as she could for three minutes. She did switch it up and run sideways for a while. She was panting she was working so hard. And she was beaming. It was my happiest moment of being a mom. I thought I was taking a video, but I wasn't so I had to just replay it in my mind all weekend. Mike took this little video and made a loop so you can kind of get the idea.
Basically, all the solos were 3 minutes of running around in a circle. When it came to the turn of the other girl who always cried, Miss Amy said she wanted to tell everyone what her dance was about. She said, "Angry!" Then she proceeded to run in a circle for 3 minutes with the biggest smile on her face. Well, one girl actually did a whole bunch a actual ballet moves. I was like, whoa, she must have an older sister to practice with or something.
Then they had a "ballet challenge" where Miss Amy had them demonstrate their pas de chats (cat steps).
Charlotte is taking another session of ballet now. She has gained so much confidence. At the playground, she tries things she would never do before. Now at ballet she just marches right in. Miss Amy said Happy could join too. The last class is going to be AWESOME!
