Our Ballerina

A couple of months ago a friend of ours started teaching a dance class at a local recreation center. It was for girls ages 3-5 and Ava had just turned 2 1/2 but I knew she would love the class and so I asked if an exception could be made for her. I was so happy when they said she could join. And Ava LOVES the class. Every Wednesday morning when I tell her that today is her ballet class she spends the hours between 7:30, when she wakes up, and 10:00, when we leave for class, repeatedly saying, "I want to go to ballet. I want to go to ballet. I want to go to ballet." And I learned not to tell her the night before or she has a hard time going to sleep that night.

She is very, very focused in class. She never plays around or goes off to take a break and do her own thing like some of her classmates might. It's not a fun play time for her, not at all, it's ballerina training time!

From day one she has insisted on wearing one of her tutu's to class.

At home she practices (and makes me practice with her) holding onto the oven door handle as our ballet bar.

These dancing sessions with their wands have led to many lovely songs and dances from Ava at home. She twirls and sings and sways. It's often the same song that she sings while dancing, I don't know it so it must be one Cheryl plays for the class.

Learning to jump and point her toes. This is where her younger age shows, she's not the best jumper. She usually gets her feet about a half inch off the floor. :o)

Everybody following Ms. Cheryl

On their tippy toes

Watching themselves in the mirror

And WOOPS!

Ms Cheryl was showing Ava how to lift her one leg. Ava, trying to do her very best, kept holding her leg up for as long as she could after Cheryl moved on to help the other girls.

Still up. . .

Feel'n the burn . . .

Yesterday Ava taught my first ballet class (at least since I was 5). She had me sit with her on the floor and gave me a little stuffed animal like they use in their class for their stretches. We did several different stretches with her showing me how to do them and telling me, "Mama, point your toes!. Mama, do a butterfly!" Then she had me get up and hold on to the back of the couch and we practiced plie and passe. Then we did some twirling. Then we sat down for circle time and she told me a story about a bear (Cheryl usually reads them a ballet related book during the class). She was telling it in a very soft "story telling voice" so I couldn't catch as much of it as I wanted to, but it was about a bear who went up a hill, was on it's tippy toes and did some plie's and pique's. Then we did some more ballet dancing. It was the best class I've ever taken!

Ava loves Ms Cheryl!