I have always dreamed of having a daughter take ballet lessons. I took ballet for a very short while when I was 4 and my Mom pulled me out because I complained incessantly about having to stand up the entire time. I always wished she had kept me in... but now that I have a 4 year old who is just like me... I totally get why my Mom would pull me out of a class after listening to me complain so much.
I do have a fond early memory of going to Target to pick out a ballet leotard, skirt, tights, and shoes with my Mom. Which I had hoped to do with Rose this time around, but I never did get around to it haha.
Anyway, I was pretty nervous. This class was once a week for 12 weeks. And Rose has been having a rough time feeling confident in new experiences this year. We were running late to her first class and I had 3 kids in tow. I didn't have ballet clothes for her yet because the email said to just have them wear comfy clothes and that the teacher would tell us what to buy. But when we got there (late, as mentioned before), all of the other little girls had ballet clothes on. And class had already started. I put Quinn down in his carseat, and got Lucy settled and then tried to get Rose to go sit with the other girls (including her best friend who was in the class with her). And she just was petrified. She panicked throughout the entire class. She wouldn't dance, or smile, or hold her friends hand. She wouldn't stand with the class. She wanted to lay on the floor next to me the entire time. Meanwhile, Lucy and Quinn also needed attention. It was incredibly stressful for me and incredibly stressful for Rose. And unfortunately, we both have anxiety that is triggered by each others anxiety. It's so funny how that works. Anyway, needless to say, the first class was horrible. We both drove home in tears.
We spent that whole week prepping and bribing Rose for class the next week. I bought her little ballet outfit, we practiced some of the things we remembered from the first class. And we told her that if she went to her class and danced she could have a treat afterward. Week two went so much better! I wasn't allowed to stay, so I dropped her off and she cried a little bit but then ended up having fun. The rest of her classes went even better. She became more confident, and loved her teacher and her classmates. She practiced her ballet at home and was quick to show off her plié/relevé to anyone who would watch.
Her class had a small performance at the end of the year that she was pretty nervous about. But we practiced and practiced and practiced. And then we told her that if she danced in the performance we would let her pick out her own flowers. I expected her to go onto the stage and mostly just stand there, but when it was her classes turn to perform, she did every move (that she could remember). I was SO PROUD. I know how nervous she was and it's really hard to do things that scare you. But it's so brave to do scary things even when it's really hard. And she was so brave! I'll probably be riding the high of watching her succeed when it was so hard for her for the rest of my life.
Funny story: There were two 25 minute performances, but parents only got tickets to go to one and we were at the first show. During the second show I stayed in the building while Ryan and his Dad and Lucy and Preston walked to the store to buy the sunflowers Rose requested after she did so well in her performance. When it was just about time for the second performance to be done I went over toward the room it was in so Rose wouldn't freak out if she couldn't see me when it was over and Rose was in the hallway with her teacher. Apparently during the second performance, Rose decided partway through the show that she didn't want to perform anymore so she walked off the stage in the middle of the dance. She still got her flowers because we didn't care about other parents watching her dance, we just wanted to see her do the performance. And we got to, so no big deal. I do wish I had a video of her just walking off the stage though. haha.
We aren't going to take ballet classes again until next Fall, but until then I'm going to enjoy watching my cute little ballerinas (Lucy likes to join in) dance in the kitchen to their hearts content.
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