Dance class signup

[celticdragonfly]

I mentioned on Tuesday that we were out and about doing a whole bunch of errands. Well, one of the things on the list was signing Maggie up for her first dance classes. She's taking the preschool tap and ballet classes at a nearby local dance school in the summer session.

We'd originally planned to put Jamie in the classes, too - they're for 3-5 year olds - but after more thought, we regretfully decided he's just not ready yet. He is 3, but he is still behind what a lot of 3 year olds can do, especially verbally. Hopefully next year.

Maggie's been VERY excited about the prospect of classes. So we went in and signed her up. 1 hour, once a week. While we were there, we started buying some of her supplies. We got pink ballet shoes there, and pink tights. They're going to order the tan tap shoes in her size, as they were out, but those should be here in plenty of time. They didn't have the short-sleeved leotards in her size either.

So later while we were out, we stopped at a dance supply store. Oooh, she was so excited. Oooh, all the pink stuff! It's lucky for Maggie that the dress code for that class is pink leotard and tights, pink ballet shoes, tan tap shoes. When I was a little girl, IIRC, it was black leotards and white tights. That would have broken her heart. I let her select which style of short-sleeved leotard we got for her. A skirt was optional, and she wanted one. I was suggesting a plainer one that matched the color of the leotard better, but she really wanted the 'sparkly' one that had the handkerchief hem, so I gave in. She was insisting that the other one couldn't possibly fit. Heh.

(They had an adorable leotard with a built-in petal skirt and rosebuds around the neck, so tempting, but not in her size)

She got to try it all on later, and was ecstatic. Adorable, too. I've explained to her that I'll need to put her hair up for class, so she must NOT cut it herself any more, and she's agreed. I'll need to go buy bobbypins.

I need to find her or make her a nice bag for her shoes, since she should go in regular shoes and change into her dance shoes in the studio. There's tons of dance bags out there, but I haven't seen anything that seems just right yet.

Comments

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Oh, that brings back memories! I didn't get to start until January when I was 6 1/2. We had long-sleeved black skirted leotards, pink tights, pink ballet shoes. And we weren't allowed to start tap until we were 8 or had had 2 yrs ballet. O the agony! Didn't hurt me any, though.

It is _vitally_ important that she have a street-clothes skirt to wear on top of her leotard on the way to the studio. Wearing dance clothes on the street is tacky and, these days, it's probably an invitation to unwanted attention.

[marymont.livejournal.com]

What school did you choose? I could have recommended North Central School of Ballet, up in your general area, but you've already committed to one.

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Well, I wasn't looking for a school to start her on a career in ballet - because I'm not looking for her to have one. The pressure is too high, I don't want her to end up anorexic, and she just does not have the genetics to be making that kind of gamble. And I don't want her in a high-pressure school. The idea is that this summer session gets her a chance to get used to the idea of dance class and how one behaves in it and paying attention to and obeying her dance mistress. Then I want to move her into Irish dance. I've been checking out and comparing Irish dance schools at the last couple of Texas Irish festivals, and going through webpages, and there's one that will have fall classes in Arlington, among other locations, that I'm pretty happy with.

So this summer is just set up with the little dance school here in Saginaw, very close to home, to make it easy. I'm glad I won't be driving all over with a newborn for these classes.

[marymont.livejournal.com]

One of the things I liked about NCSB was that they aren't high pressure but they teach it right. It's a lot harder to unlearn something taught wrong than to learn it right in the first place. The classes for the babies are really sweet. They're in Keller, not too far from you. When my kids went there, they were in North Richland Hills. I understand they got much nicer digs when they moved. http://www.northcentralballet.com/ is the website.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I took ballet and tap for two years as a kid, and our dress code was blue leotard, pink tights, pink ballet shoes and black tap shoes.

Mind you, I ended up hating it, but I wasn't very good at it, either. :)