Zara the Ballerina

This blog has been sorely neglected over the last year and I feel a need to catch up, if only as a repository for my memories and recollection. Expect to see a lot more posts in the coming days/weeks.

First up, ballet for Zara. 

I've wanted to sign Zara up for dance lessons for awhile but kept putting it off. This is a girl who checks out ballet videos from the library and watches them for fun. Seriously. She's watched the Royal Ballet's "Sleeping Beauty" ballet about a dozen times. 

What I didn't realize was that most dance studios function on a school calendar system. Basically, you sign up for a class which runs from August through May. You can't just drop in and out as I expected you could do. (Some allow this, like the dance classes at the YMCA, but the more professional studios do not.) 

Since school starts at the beginning of August here, my window of opportunity for getting Zara into a spot in a dance class was starting to dwindle. I finally decided that I didn't want to wait any longer despite my reservations. I started Googling dance studios within a 15 miles radius of us. There were a lot of options but none that had what I was looking for. I wanted a place that could provide a fun, child-friendly environment with teachers who were experienced at working with children but that could also--depending on if we both stay in the Atlanta area and Zara wants to continue dancing--provide more rigorous training in the future. It seemed that the studios either focused on little children but offered nothing for more advanced dancers, necessitating a switch to a different dance studio later on, or offered intensive training that would not be a good fit for a novice beginner. 

Finally, I asked for recommendations from the women at the my church and several recommended Rhythm Dance Center who's claim to fame is being the training ground of Melanie Moore, the winner of the 8th season of "So You Think You Can Dance." 

It's a really fun, vibrant place with specialized classes for pre-k/kindergarten kids but plenty of more advanced options in all different styles. They have a tap/ballet combo class, jazz, hip hop, or a Fairytale Ballet class for 3-5 year olds. Naturally, I signed Zara up for the ballet class, once a week, on Tuesday afternoons.

On the first day of class, Zara did not want to go (even though she excitedly talking about it the whole drive there) and I had to wrestle her into her new purchased ballet clothes and shoes and literally drag her into the studio. 

But afterwards, she was quite happy. She really enjoyed her class and her teacher--Anna--is fabulous.

She was so excited she even fell asleep on the car ride home.

Before her most recent lesson, Zara told me I had to take some photos and then ran happily into her class all by herself. I hope this turns out well. I think Zara will make a beautiful ballerina.