Another Year of Ballet

After this evening, we are down to one remaining ballet lesson for the year.  We then will be attending multiple dress rehearsals per week for hours at a time until Father's Day weekend when my girl will be dancing in two of the four shows of Peter Pan. I love this time of year, but this year will be bitter sweet.

My daughter has danced ballet for six school years and for the last four years she has had an amazing teacher in Miss P*.  The time has flown by in some regards; in that I can't believe four years have passed, but slow in other ways because it does seem like forever of weekly lessons under the direction of Miss P*'s strict guidelines, dry sense of humor, and sarcasm.  I know I have stated it before, but she really is an amazing teacher. Leaving her class is a realization that my girl is growing up.

My daughter will be moving up the ranks to the "big girl class" come September.  The pre-pointe class where she will wear a red leotard and do plenty of bar work.  There are two options; Tuesday with Miss W* or Thursdays with Miss S*.  One more year of weekly classes, and then from here on out she will attend a minimum of twice a week and get the pleasure of having both instructors.

Recently, my daughter was selected to be a Helper in the production of Peter Pan.  For the Preschool and Kindergarten ballet classes, girls in the 5th and 6th grade are chosen to go on stage with the young ones to help guide them through their dance.  The young ones are the stars of the moment, but the big girls help them get in formation and do the dance with them; quietly talking out the steps so that the show does not come to a screeching halt of cute wee-ones in tutu's starring at the bright lights and a mob of 500+ audience attendees. Okay, that sometimes still happens even with the Helpers, but for the majority of time on stage the parents will actually get to see their babies dance.

It is an honor at our studio to be a Helper. For the month of May my daughter has been attending the specific Kindergarten ballet class that she will be leading on stage.  She learned the dance in nothing flat and is now working on the names of the girls so that she can "grab their attention" with a smile and a wink to get them back to ballet dancing and not twirling at their own whim.  It's been a marvelous experience.

The dance year is winding down and the buzz of performance prep and completion is the best experience for dancers and their families.

I remember when my girl looked like this in Kindergarten starting out ...

 And now she looks like this at age eleven ...