Alternately titled, the post with 35 photographs. Yes, I counted.
I’ve mentioned that Ella is on a competition dance team several times, but I’ve not gone into much detail about what that really means. I put Ella in a “tiny dancer” ballet/tap class at a local studio right before her third birthday. She was such a mature child and really in need of some organized extra-curricular activity. She loved it from the very beginning and danced with that same group of girls for three years. At the end of last season, her instructor mentioned that they would have a competition team this year for girls aged 6-8 and told us she had referred Ella for that class. At the time, we thought she would have to audition and decided to let her make that decision when the time came. Fortunately for us (and not so fortunately for our bank account), they ended up hand-picking fourteen girls for the team and she was one of them. We talked long and hard about the commitment and explained that she couldn’t change her mind half-way through the season. Honestly, this class has been the best thing for her.
She is learning ballet, tap and jazz this year and meets with her class two days a week. It tripled her studio time and came close to tripling the cost. There is an attendance requirement and she has to wear a uniform to her classes. It’s more strenuous than her previous years, but she has really thrived. Her technique has improved and she’s made so many great friends. The time commitment was hard, especially considering she started kindergarten this year. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, she changes clothes at school and goes straight to the studio in the afternoons. One of those days she dances for almost two and a half hours, grabs dinner with her dad while I’m at Bible study and crashes into bed at night. We are finally used the schedule and I can say that she has loved this year of dance more than any other.
They have competed in tap and jazz twice this season and are practicing hard to add a ballet routine for their upcoming end-of-the-year recital. In March we travelled to Montgomery on a Saturday for our first experience as a dance family. It was a long day and she was nervous and exhausted, but we had such a great time watching her do something that she loves.
she & her daddy before the competition
my turn (and it isn’t fair that Josh’s picture was so much better than mine!!)
our pre-competition sound track, that girl loves some Taylor Swift
the Montgomery Performing Arts Center
the girls doing some shopping before getting ready
costume and accessories on, hair up, now time for makeup.
she despises eyeliner and mascara, but it’s required, so she does her best
all prettied up!
she and Brooke are the tiniest girls on the team, so they’re always up front!
Ella & mom backstage
watching Kynnedi have her makeup done
Brooke, Ella & Kinlee
waiting on her to perform (we weren’t allowed to photograph during the event unless we wanted to risk exclusion from the competition)
a few stretches backstage
and a quick sassy face since she refuses them during her performance!
a pep-talk from her instructor
Paige & Kinlee backstage before their second performance
posing in their Hercules-inspired costumes
strong muscles!
they were super excited to be out of costume and relieved to be finished
getting ready for the (TWO HOUR) awards ceremony
showing off their many awards
super happy to see Nana after the show
my parents & K made the trip, too, and brought Taz along for the ride
this is right after I shelled out $50 for a water bottle and a t-shirt?!
with her instructor, Ms. Karen, whom she loves
In April, we competed again, but this one was a little closer to home. It was in Birmingham, close to my office, but they didn’t dance until after dinner and the awards ceremony for her division was scheduled for 11 o’clock at night! The fun part was that they performed at the Historic Alabama Theatre, which is beautiful and the girls were super excited to be on stage there. We let Josh & my dad head home after her performances this time, but we stayed for the entire night and let the girls enjoy watching other dancers and cheer on the other teams from our studio.
posing outside of Alabama Theatre / all dressed up for “Zero to Hero”
I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of her on stage this time, she is the dancer standing up right in front of the dog house
the requisite post-competition family portrait
kynnedi, sophia, ella, paige, ella #2 and phoebe enjoying dancing & popcorn
the awards ceremony
Although the girls didn’t win as many awards the second time, I think their performances were the best of the season. They were more experienced, more practiced and really knew what to do this time. It has been such a wonderful year with these dancers and their moms. I have made so many great friends and so has Ella. She’ll have a few months off over the summer, with the exception of a week-long dance intensive in July and we’ll start the whole thing over again in August. We really considered letting Sophie take a “tiny dancer” class next season, but I think we’re going to give the studio one more year to prepare for her!
