Lucy's Dance Class - January 16, 2013

With the start of the New Year came some new activities for Lucy. I've been really excited to start Lucy in dance class because she loves to dance so much and is always prancing around the house. She has also been asking to take dance for a while and was equally excited to start. Since I have no dance experience myself (besides lip synch concerts in high school and one beginner's jazz class during college), I wasn't really sure where to start. Fortunately, my mother-in-law gave me a great recommendation before she passed away on where to send Lucy for dance once she was old enough and I always remembered it.

So once Lucy turned 3 1/2 years old (the minimum age to start classes), I enrolled her in the Virginia Tanner Creative Dance Program at University of Utah for the next semester. My mother-in-law taught creative dance to young girls and I think that she modeled her teaching on this program. The idea is that children need a good foundation in creative dance before they can really get much out of the stricter practice of ballet or tap or jazz or whatever. It's all about fostering a love a movement and mostly having fun.

Sounds good to me! Tanner dance classes were more expensive than some other dance classes offered in the community but I liked that it was a reputable studio. I also found out later that although the classes were more expensive, I wouldn't have to worry about expensive dance shoes or costumes because all dancing was done barefoot, the girls just had to wear a leotard and footless tights to class, and they didn't participate in a recital until they were in kindergarten or first grade. I also really appreciated that parents weren't allowed in the class with the exception for the first and last dance class of the semester.  

Here is Lucy in her very first dance class. I was a pretty proud mama to see how well she listened although I tried not to compare her to the other girls in the class.

And what great posture she has! She certainly didn't inherit that from me. Maybe it is from her Baba.

And fortunately, I didn't even have to spend any money on leotards because Lucy received lots of hand-me-downs from her cousin (Thanks, Maya!). We just needed to invest in some footless tights for her. I think that Lucy was actually a little disappointed that she couldn't wear ballet shoes to class but considering how often she is barefoot, she was probably more in her element.

Pretending to be monkeys hanging from the trees

I don't know how these teachers have the patience to work with 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 year old little girls with such short attention spans but Miss Jasmine manages to do it. There is a live pianist who just improvises music according to whatever the theme is. Miss Jasmine reads from a children's book throughout the class and the girls pretend that they are snowflakes or shooting stars or whatever is in the book and have little props they use. It was great to see them working not just on their movement but on listening skills and taking turns.

Here is looking forward to a great new activity to continue throughout the years. I think she would have made her Grandma Susan proud.