Second Act!

Lila is a born performer with a huge imagination!  She is always dressing up, singing, dancing, playing her guitar, playing make believe, and the list goes on!  So, last summer we were told that a local dance company had a great session for 3 year olds called Tinies, we figured it was a shoe-in for our girl considering her mantra really should be, "life's a stage!"

We ordered all the leotards, the tights, the ballet slippers, the tap shoes, and a cute skirt or two for good measure...we were ready to get our dance on!  Boy how wrong could we be?!  The first class she was shy, the second class she was even more shy, the third class she basically cried the whole time, which left Mike and I asking what we were doing?!  She required one of us to be in the studio with her the whole time and even with us there, she wouldn't really move from our side, so as the classes ticked away with very little participation on her part, we decided to talk to her teacher and ultimately made the decision to be done for the summer and try again next year! 

Her teacher, Charlie, was so good to us and shared that many kids are very shy the first time, especially if they haven't done preschool yet, so he was confident that we would see a completely different girl if we just waited until the next summer.  The time came for us to register for class again this summer and Lila was super excited!  Both excited to get back to dance, but even more excited because her good friend Henley would be joining her this summer!!!

Once again we ordered the leotards, tights, a few skirts, ballet shoes, and tap shoes in hopes that she would be more excited about dance this time around! 



Summer 2012 Dancer and Summer 2013 Dancer - what a difference!

We got to class and it was the big moment where we shipped her off into the studio while we watched from the windows out in the hallway.  Confidently she trotted right into the room and sat in the circle.  It wasn't until they stood up and had to spread out that she was a bit unsure, but one of the assistants grabbed her hand and lead her to a spot and the rest was history...she loved it!!!


 

Getting to know Charlie & the other dancers!



Tap shoes on!  Making soup!

 

Lila and Henley enjoying themselves!


 

Little ballerinas!



This is more like it!



On their tippy toes!



Ending class with some tumbling!

As close as Mike and I are to our friends, it is moments like this where I am so thankful that we have kids the same age!  Watching Lila and Henley together in class is so fun and I know as the parents our hearts burst with pride, not only because they are so brave to try something new, but that they are making everlasting memories together from such a young age!  Who knows if either of them will end up dancing well into their lives?!  Either way, they are having a whole lot of fun doing it now!