Princess Pea had Parent's Day at her ballet class this week. I tried to take some clips and photos so Mr. Prince could see her later. The class is all 4-5 year-olds, most of them older than Princess Pea. She has really enjoyed Ms. Carol and we plan on returning in the fall. They don't do any recital, but the parents get to watch a daily lesson on Parent's Day to see what the girls have learned throughout the year. Ms. Carol explained all the movements and how they are related to dance while we were there. Princess Pea was adorable!!
Princess Pea is the third little girl in this clip. She has pigtails. She isn't as coordinated as some of the others with hopping, but Mom and Dad found it incredibly cute!
Here she is showing her skipping skills. Too funny!
Ms. Carol has the girls act out nursery rhymes with hidden skills they need to develop with ballet. I couldn't get that video to upload, but here is one of them dancing on their own. Notice Princes Pea in a purple tu tu and purple scarf watching herself in the mirror most of the time. So much like her father!
I struggle with making a decision between teaching my daughter to enjoy ballet, actually learning the skill of the dance and what this type of extra curricular activity will teach her in the end. The world of dance tells us we should be skinny and tall, we should starve ourselves to remain this way, and that dance should be the focus of our lives. I don't like those messages. We have a local "worship dance" troop in our city that I've considered sending her to, but I don't think they learn a lot about the skills and techniques of dancing. The question is, which is more important to instill into my daughters? Also, I believe it is incredibly expensive to either go to a dance studio that focuses on skills or the "worship dance" studio, so that leaves me in a rut anyway.
At four I want Princess Pea to enjoy dancing, and I teach her myself that she should dance for Jesus and do her best for Him. I tell her that being obedient to her teacher, even when others are not listening, makes God proud. Her class is definitely an interesting bunch, and I know Ms. Carol sometimes has a hard time getting them to focus. But, I am proud to say that Princess Pea comes home and tells me that she listens well and doesn't follow the other girls when they are "being bad." And at this point, that is all I expect of her.
You are gorgeous Princess Pea, inside and out! We are so proud of you!
1 comment:
so cute. mateo is turning 3 next week and i've enrolled him in a gymnastics camp for one week in august. he shows a lot of potential in this area so i want to see if he likes it, is ready for the teaching part of it, and if he shows a lot of promise with the classes, then i'll decide if i should spend the money to keep him enrolled or not. for him, he just needs the physical outlet. i want to start him in martial arts but he needs to be a little older. i've also thought about dance (hip hop, not ballet) cause he shows a lot of potential for that too. he already tries to break dance (influence of watching dancing shows with me) and he has great rhythm. but again, he's too young. we'll see how he does with gymnastics. he can already do a cartwheel and a full split! but i totally get what you mean about the pressure for girls. that's something i don't worry about with mateo but i will with maya. actually, i will probably be paranoid about giving her a positive body image, especially with struggling with my own all through my teen years. sigh. we have a lot of work to do as parents.
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