Micah's 2011 Ballet Open House

Micah began another year of ballet classes.  In December, the parents were allowed to come in to see their progress.  Micah proved to be doing well.

                                

There was one other boy in their class and they both seemed to do well.

Why, Micah had no problems keeping up with those girls.

Macey Officially Starts Dance Class

While Macey was so afraid of going to dance class at her first attempt, we enrolled her in Preschool and she began to open up.  She became a little less timid and afraid of others, so we decided to try dance class once again.  This time it would be a different dance class, a local community class where she could learn tap and ballet.  

She was excited once again, but we were still wondering if she would actually go inside this time.  

She was a little nervous, but she went in!  She didn't cry, and she tried to do what the teacher asked.

She was a little wobbly at first.

But then she started to get the hang of it.

Pretty soon she was going all out.

Here's a few video clips of her first dance experiences:

Hmmm.....maybe she'd get it.....

Here's another cute one:

   

Too Scared to Dance

This is Micah and Jewelia's little sister.  Her name is Macey and she has watched her big brother and sister dance since she was a little baby.  She loved to dance around and imitate them, so when the time came that she was 3 years old, we decided to enroll her in a dance class.

She was so excited to get all dressed up in her pink leotard and skirt and get her hair put in a bun.  She was prepared with her dance backpack and new ballet shoes, but when the time came for class, Macey wouldn't go in.  

She was afraid to dance in the room with strange kids and a teacher she didn't know.  She wouldn't go.  She clung to my leg and cried and refused to go to class.  So, as dance class went on without her, she watched the monitors from the lobby and danced in the waiting room.  

So, she liked to dance in the waiting room, but she didn't like to dance in the dance class room.  Maybe she was too young.  We let it go, and decided to try again when she was older. 

2011 Dance Recital

The time had finally come for Micah and Jewelia's Spring Dance Recital.  Of course, I guess it really wasn't Spring, it was the middle of June.  We shall call it the "End of the Season Dance Recital".  

Micah and Jewelia were all dressed up fancy for the big day.  The day before they had dress rehearsal to practice.  I think most of the pictures and video I took from that, but the rehearsal came pretty close to the real thing.  They both did great!

Here is Micah rehearsing on stage in his ballet number:

Here is Jewelia posing before her number:

First Micah did an awesome tap dance.  He is such a great tapper!  We loved every minute of it!

Then here is Jewelia in her ballet dance!  If you look at this dance compared to the one she did last year at the old studio, you will see HUGE differences!  This one had such better choreography and demanded a little more from the dancers.  She was so cute!  (Oh, if you are wondering, she is the one second from the left.)

Last there was Micah's ballet number.  Let me tell you how impressed we were with Micah's improvement since the parent watch night in December!  It was incredible!  Micah was so awesome and did so well!  We were so proud!  (He is the boy on the right.)

It was a wonderful evening and they did so well!  We were all so very proud!

Good job fabulous dancers!

2011 Dance Costumes and Pictures!

 It was 2011 now and getting close to the Spring Recital.  The costumes had come in and the studio had a day for all the dancers to get their pictures taken.

We were a little worried about Jewelia this year because unlike the old dance studio that let you do your hair however you wanted for the pictures, this dance studio required all girls to have a slicked back bun with no bangs.  It wasn't the bun we were were worried about, but the bangs.  How were we going to get Jewelia's bangs to stay slicked back and not fall down?  

Well, we wet, we combed, we sprayed, we used a lot of gel, and in the end success!

Jewelia looked like such a princess in her ballet costume!  

Micah was 11 now and he had 2 dance costumes.  First, for tap he had a fun baseball costume!

We thought it was great since Micah never liked sports.  To him, dancing was a sport.  In all his school papers when asked what his favorite sport was, he would say dance.  

For Micah's ballet costume, it was a traditional white kind of fancy shirt and some nice black dance slacks.

Here he with Jewelia thinking something must be pretty hilarious!

Here are how their actual dance professional pictures turned out.  

First cute Jewelia:

Then Micah's tap and ballet:

So handsome!  

They both looked great!

We couldn't wait for the Spring Recital!

The New Dance Studio

   Micah and Jewelia had started at a new dance studio this year.  Jewelia was 5 years old and Micah was almost 11.  We hoped that the new studio would be able to better instruct Micah in ballet as a boy and that Jewelia would learn a little more dance steps and be challenged more with better choreography.

Right before Christmas they allowed the parents to come into the classroom to watch.  

Jewelia was doing much more than last year.  Her class even had a Christmas dance prepared.  

She is the one with the light pink leotard.

Micah was learning all sorts of new moves, and it was nice, because his ballet class had 2 other boys besides him.

Micah was also taking tap.  They were practicing a number for the Spring recital that involved baseball bats.

He still was pretty awesome at his spin tapping:

They were going to dance to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".  Here they are working out the first section of their dance:

Micah Wins in Dance Choreography at School!

At the kids' elementary school they have a program called "Reflections" where the kids can compete in different categories in the arts. They have a literature category, music composition, photography, art, and dance choreography category. Micah decided to enter in dance choreography and see if he could place.

He was 10 years old and in 6th grade now, and he decided to come up with a tap dance. In order to compete he had to come up with choreography to a dance and video it.

First, he had to pick a song to dance to. He chose a song by ColdPlay called Viva La Vida. We took the words out, and recorded it only with instrumentals. Then Micah began working on his dance. Soon, he was already to perform it and we videoed him so he could turn it into the school.

Here he is dancing on the stage at church.



He did pretty good, and it isn't often you see an entry in dance from a boy, so Micah ended up getting a prize! I think he took 3rd place in his age category.

He even got a medal!

The Decision to Change Dance Studios

Micah and Jewelia were having a lot of fun at their dance studio, but when the year was over and the new schedule came out for the following year, it just wasn't workable. Too many days, classes spaced too far apart. We didn't want to live in the van in between classes, and we didn't want to drive back and forth.

Plus, it seemed as if Micah wasn't advancing too much in his ballet class any more. Did this studio really know how to work with boys?

So, we began the search for another dance studio.

We came across another studio just up the street. We checked it out and found that not only did they have some other boys who danced there, but they even had men teachers! Their schedule seemed to work great. It had Micah's level class at the same time as a class for Jewelia, and so we were sold! We had Micah come and try out some of the classes and he was ready to go.

For the first time, Micah would be in ballet class with 2 other boys! He was still the only boy in tap, but he didn't really care. Jewelia decided to take only ballet, claiming her feet hurt when she tapped. She would take a class with girls 5-8 years old.

Micah and Jewelia's 2010 Dance Recital

The big night had arrived and Jewelia and Micah were excited to perform in their spring dance recital! Lots of friends and family came to watch!

Here is Grandma and Aunt Summer, some of their biggest fans!

First was Micah in his tap number. This turned out a little difficult for Micah because all during practice they had him pretending to hold a horn, but when the dance recital came, they gave him a huge heavy antique trumpet to carry and dance with. This made things a little harder on Micah since he wasn't used to the weight and size. He still did alright though.

Next was Jewelia's dance. There wasn't much to this dance. For some reason her teacher was never there most of the month and always had a substitute for dance classes. This caused Jewelia's dance to not have much variety since they didn't practice it very often. Even though it lacked choreography, Jewelia did a good job at her first tap dance.



Last came Micah's ballet dance. Still the only boy, most of the dancing came from the girls circling around him, but Micah was great and very handsome.



They both did great and we all celebrated after the recital by getting icecream shakes.

Dance Costumes 2010

Jewelia was almost 5 years old now and this was her 2nd year of dance classes. Micah had just turned 10 and was going on his 3rd year of dance. They were excited when the costumes came in for their Spring recital.

Jewelia was going to be in a tap number with this snazzy outfit.

Micah was to be in a ballet dance with his blue outfit above, and also a tap number dressed as an army guy below.

Micah in the 2009 Nutcracker

December of 2009, Micah finally got to perform in the professional ballet production of the Nutcracker downtown. It was very exciting. He had been going to rehearsals for a long time.

Micah played the part of a party boy in the sailor family. He did very well. Although we have some professional pictures of his costume and with the cast, we aren't allowed to post them due to us signing a contract with the ballet company, so if you really want to see them you'll have to ask Micah to show you them himself.

He had a great time, and many friends and family came out to see him perform.

Micah and Jewelia's 1st Christmas Recital Together

In December of 2009, Micah and Jewelia got to be in a Christmas dance recital together! It was sort of like a play, but with dancing.

Jewelia danced as a gingerbread cookie.

Micah danced as a penguin.

Micah has learned a while ago that since he is the only boy in the studio that he has to sit out in the hallway instead of in the dressing rooms with all the girls. It's OK, he just brings a lot of books.

Micah Makes the Ballet West Nutcracker!

All of this dancing started many years ago when Micah, as a 1st grader, went on a field trip to a professional ballet performance of the Nutcracker downtown. From there he was fascinated with dancing and hoped that someday he could be in their Christmas performance of The Nutcracker as well.

We told Micah if he worked really hard in dance that someday we would take him to audition to be in the professional Nutcracker.

He was 9 years old, and that was about the age where they would let kids audition to be a part of the ballet.

We took Micah downtown to audition. He got a number and waited his turn to be evaluated.

It was a long time to wait. There were hundreds and hundreds of girls auditioning, but not so many boys. We did count about 30 or so boys.

It was awful to see how they did it. They would send groups of girls in and then hours later someone would come out and announce that they were going to let some girls out to see their parents, but these were the ones who did not make it in. So you would see all these girls come out crying and it was just so sad.

That would be the 1st cut, and then there would be another cut and another and you would see group after group of girls bawling and sad. Oh, awful!

So it was a little nerve racking to see this and be waiting for the boys' turn.

Their turn came and we waited anxiously for someone to come out and announce something. A lady came out and explained that they were going to release the boys first who did not make it. We watched on edge as boy after boy came out of the doors. 1,2,3,4,5,6 boys out, no Micah yet. 7......8......9......not Micah......and they didn't all come right out. It's like a few here, a few there, and you didn't know if they were done coming out or not.

Finally, I think they were done coming. There was no Micah. That was it. Did that mean he made it?

The lady came out again and said the rest of boys who would come out next had made it into the Nutcracker! He had done it!

Micah came out with a congratulatory letter and instructions of what to do next!

We were so excited for Micah to be able to live his dream!

Micah and Jewelia's Dance Recital 2009

Micah and Jewelia were very excited to perform in their first dance recital together.

Jewelia had just turned 4 years old, and this was her first performance dancing on stage.

We got some video from the rehearsal the night before.

Here is Jewelia dancing to "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now!"



She seemed to know what she was doing the whole time. She was great!

Here is Micah in his ballet dance:



He did great!

And surprisingly enough, all the other kids in Micah's tap class moved or dropped out except for one other girl, so Micah's tap dance turned into a tap duet! He was totally awesome!

2009 Dance Costumes!

Jewelia and Micah got their dance costumes for their recital.

Jewelia was so excited about her blue princess dress!

Micah didn't really care much about his costumes, but he had one for ballet,

And one for his tap dance.

I thought he looked quite handsome!

Jewelia Finishes Up Community Dance

Although Micah had an awful experience with the local community dance class, his sister Jewelia enjoyed it, so we decided to finish up the year.

She had fun being a dancing princess.

Starting the next dance season, we would keep both Micah and Jewelia in Micah's dance studio a little farther away from home. It seemed more professional, and I think they taught more things.

Micah's 2nd Year of Tap

Micah started his 2nd year of tap classes and he started to learn more steps. He had a very small class, as people kept on moving or some would just not come.

Here he is starting to learn their recital dance:



He also began learning how to tap and spin.

It made him a bit dizzy!

Micah's 2nd Year of Ballet

While we tried out the local community dance place and they treated Micah awful, we decided to keep him at his old dance studio where the classes were small and they were a lot nicer.

The first year he was in a combined tap, ballet, and jazz class, but now he was in a 2 separate classes; one for tap and one ballet. They called this "Level 1 Ballet" and Level 1 Tap".

He seemed to favor ballet more than tap, which surprised me a little.

He was still the only boy, in fact, he was the only boy in the entire studio, but he didn't care.

Here is a video of his work at the bar:

And here is another of him learning a new move. I think it is funny how he keeps leaping, smiling at the camera even after he reaches the other side and there is no where to go.

It was almost April now, and they began learning the dance they would perform for the end of the season recital. Here is a bit of what they were working on:

Jewelia Starts a New Dance Class

While Jewelia was doing well at the local dance class for her first try at dance, we decided since it didn't work out for Micah, that we would take her to dance at the studio where Micah actually enjoyed dancing. So, not a big deal, but a little frustrating

trying to get things organized.

Jewelia didn't care so much. She mostly just loved having different princess dance outfits to wear.

We started her in a new class in January of 2009. It was a much smaller class with only about 6 girls.

It was probably better that it was small, as these girls mostly just stared or cried during class, as you can see from some of the following videos.

As you see here, she is the only one dancing! I think it is hilarious!

They started learning a dance routine for the spring recital, and Jewelia picked it up really well. We were glad she wasn't shy about dancing!

First Christmas Recital

December 2008, Micah was 8 years old and almost been dancing for a year. He got to perform in his first Christmas dance recital.

He was to dress up like snowman and dance to "Frosty the Snowman" for tap class.

And he would be dressed up as a reindeer to dance to "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".
Sorry, no pictures of him in his reindeer costume, but it was similar to his classmates costume in the picture below.

He did alright, although during the reindeer dance his antlers broke off and were hanging there like dog ears, so that posed as a bit of a distraction.

Trying Out a New Dance Place

Micah was doing pretty well dancing at the studio he was at, but we wondered if we could find something a little more local. But, at the same time, we didn't want to give up his place in the studio he was at, so we decided to do double-time. He stayed in his old dance classes, but on Fridays, he began going to a local dance studio to see if it was as good.

Well, this place was a little picky, and they wouldn't allow him to be in any class except for very beginning dance because he had never danced with them before. So, he did, but he already was far advanced and pretty bored. They didn't care though. They decided to do some sort of country line dance for their Christmas recital, which wasn't really ballet or tap.

Micah tried hard, but it was hard to be in 2 dance studios. There was one day that he had to miss class and the new studio decided to change around his whole routine the day before the recital and it left Micah in a mess. Here he had worked so hard and then they changed everything on him the night before recital and there was no way for him to figure it out with only a dress rehearsal left. He was so upset for the recital although he did the best he could with what they had done to change all his parts.

So, anyway, so sad we couldn't find something local, but Micah ended his short trial with the community dance place and went back to the old. He did look cute in his sparkly sequenced vest though.

Jewelia's Dancing

Jewelia was loving her first dance class. She loved to be a princess ballerina, and she loved to tap. Here are a few thoughts and dance moves from Jewelia:

Micah's First Formal Dance Training

While Micah's first dance class was kind of a fun class for kids age 5-7 to figure out what kind of dancing they liked, in the fall of 2008, he began his first formal dance classes specifically in tap and ballet. This time there were 2 separate classes for each dance instruction. Here he began learning more distinct moves in both his ballet and tap.

Again, he was the only boy, yet it never seemed to matter to Micah. He still loved to dance. While he was quite shaky at first, he was learning. Somehow he would figure out how these other kids kept their balance and kept so coordinated.

Here is Micah in his level 1 ballet dance class:

He even began learning some small jumps:



In tap he began practicing for an upcoming Christmas recital:



He still had a lot to master, but he was having a lot of fun!

Jewelia Begins Dance

Jewelia, as a little 2 year old, had watched her big brother start dance and be in a recital and she wanted a part of it too.

She wasn't old enough for dance yet, but when she turned 3, we found a little dance class and signed her up. She absolutely loved it!

I think mostly she just loved the princess ballet dance clothes that she got to wear.

It wasn't much, but she got to do a little bit of dancing. She wasn't so clueless as the other kids, as she had a big brother to watch.

Here are a few videos of Jewelia's first dance experience:

This first one is for tap,

And then a little Princess ballet:

Dance Lessons for a Boy?

Micah was about 7 years old when he first came to me asking about dance classes. He was a different kid. We had put him in sports but he didn't seem to like them. We tried gymnastics, t-ball, and soccer, and he didn't want to have anything to do with them.

When he was in 1st grade, he went on a field trip to see the Ballet West Nutcracker at Christmas time, and then after that it was all he talked about. He wanted to dance too, and not just any kind of dance, he wanted to dance ballet!

Micah had a thing where he walked mostly on the tips of his toes. It was a bad habit, and we had fought to correct it, but nothing much was working. I suppose he already looked like a ballet dancer the way he could prance around on his toes without much thought, but maybe we could stick him in tap classes as well and he would be forced to hit those heels down. Hmmm.....

We looked around and we found a dance class that offered kids from 5 to 8 ballet, jazz, and tap all in one. So, our little Micah boy went to learn to dance.

Here is a video of his first dance experience. This was during the tap section. (Sorry it is sideways!)

I thought how cute for a little boy to be in a dance class. Not so sure what my husband thought, but he was very tolerable and wanted to give Micah a chance to try something new that he wanted to do, so he allowed it. Cute Micah was the only boy in the whole dance studio, but he seemed so happy and enjoyed it.

We started him in dance in April of 2007 when he was 8 years old, and he was able to perform in his first dance recital 2 months later. He looked so cute in his little yellow suspenders and bow tie!

Here he is performing "Banana Phone":