The other studio was small, run by a young teacher. She was very kind yet had a way with the kids to keep them engaged and disciplined. She used ballet terminology for each position, move, step that she taught them. And the best part, at the end of a 45 minute class of ballet, she would have them do "princess dancing". A free dance to princess music.
When I asked Ellie which teacher she wanted to dance with it was a no brainer for her. Immediately she responded that she wanted to dance with Miss Natalie and do the princess dancing!! So I got her some tights, a leotard, and some ballet shoes and signed up for some classes with her preferred (and my preferred) studio. And Ellie started taking ballet class.
Full disclosure, I took ballet from kindergarten (okay, so it was intro to movement) until Junior High just after my parents bought me my second pair of pointe shoes. I liked it, but I realized I was never going to be a prima-ballerina and had much more talent with piano and saxophone. However, I truly value those years of ballet class 2-3 times a week. The lessons i learned with ballet included discipline, balance, coordination, awareness of my body, and develop a real appreciation for the art form. Those are the lessons I want Ellie to learn and to enjoy every minute of it.
So far she is. She loves going to ballet. She is getting more flexible with the stretching that they do before each class. She is improving her coordination. She is focusing and becoming aware of how to control her movement to match her teachers instructions.
She adores her teacher and Miss Natalie has such a great way with the kids. They are engaged, focused, disciplined, but yet smiling and having fun. She gives them to space to explore and yet correct their technique and movement to be correct.
Each class they do some of the same exercises. Every ballerina had to practice her plies and her tendus. They do barre work and exercises in the middle of the room (those are harder!) They also practice arm work, leaps, jumps. And all sorts of other fancy moves.
They have also started learning combinations including a sashay combo which involves some fancy arm work and releves and also a tendu combo which has a change of weight in it. Yeah, Ellie has mastered that one.
But the best part? Our little entertainer LOVES to combine her love of singing with dancing. She likes to practice her moves and show off during her princess dances. Other kids follow the teacher, but Ellie is always on her own, doing her own moves, and loudly singing to the music.
(And now you get to have that song stuck in your head, because its been stuck in my head since before Christmas when Ellie and her memory memorized every single word and started singing it constantly after seeing the movie for the first time...)
So I'm excited that Ellie and I found Miss Natalie. It's not a studio that she can stay at for years but its perfect for her right now. She is loving it and learning quite a bit. What's important to me is she comes home and wants to show off her new moves. She wants to practice. And she talks non-stop about her ballet class. Success!!
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