To improve her chances with coordination, I decided to enroll her in ballet. There was a ballet studio not far from my house so that was my first choice. Looking back I now realize I really should have done more homework. The first ballet studio was not so great. Hannie's teacher was very young. Though I am sure she is a great ballerina, she had no experience teaching young children. The circulum left Hannalee board, standing around a lot. And then that lead to the other children goofing off and Hannalee copying them. There was not much ballet going on.
My running friend took her daughter to a ballet school in town, another 5 minutes from this one. They had a bring-a-friend-to-class week so we tagged along. The teacher was AMAZING!!!!!!!!! She is so cute with the little girls and makes it fun, yet real ballet. I immediately switched to that ballet school.
Hannalee and her Ballet friend
Hannalee has loved it. She loves to wear her leotard, tights and ballet shoes. She loves that she gets to wear here hair in a bun. She loves her teacher and her friends there. And she loves to dance. She even comes home saying ballet words which I know nothing about. I guess it's time to learn some ballet language.
Hannalee's teacher is Miss Michelle
(There is also a student teacher which happens to be Miss Michelle's daughter, Miss Taily. Miss Taily is the sweetest girl. One day we were late for ballet. I was rushing Hannie to get her shoes on. All the rushing got Hannalee upset and she started to cry saying she didn't want to go into ballet. Miss Taily immediately came out and took Hannalee by the hand and asked her to be her partner for dance that day.)
This December they had a ballet recital at the local arts center. I love how the teacher did it. They didn't take hours of precious class time to learn a single routine. Instead the teacher just acted like it was any normal class. She went through the whole class routine same as any day at ballet, the only difference was that we parents sat in the audience and watched. The kids were so cute and Hannalee was a great listener!
When Hannalee is really concentrating she sticks her tung out. Here she is working very hard on pointing her feet. :0)
The teacher has them stop and give a ballerina pose. This one is Hannie's. So cute!
Getting ready to leap.
I am very glad we did ballet. I can already see Hannalee's coordination improving. She skips more and you should ask her to show you how the "cat chases the mouse" and the "mouse always gets away". (It's a ballet thing if your wondering.) It is adorable.
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